Robotics team needed




To the Editor:

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a story in the Garden City News about the Garden City Robotics League (GCRL). The article was published shortly after the School-Business Partnerships of Long Island (SBPLI) Robotics competition was held at Hofstra University from April 4-6. The driving force behind this competition is Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway, who in 1989 started an organization called “For the Recognition of Science and Technology”, better known as FIRST, to encourage students across the country (and the world) to choose a career path along those lines. The basic idea was to use Robotics as a tool to pique their interest and to have competitions akin to those in traditional sports to further arouse their enthusiasm. Realizing that the earlier the students were exposed to the scientific and technological concepts, the better the “shot” at them making a career choice along those lines, so the organization came up with 4 different programs, based on age but with an underlying Robotics content, to stimulate the students’ imagination and to progress from one program to the next. In general, the youngest participants start at the “Lego” level, making simple Robots based on that technology, and advance to the high school level, where the Robots are typically 4 to 6 feet high, weigh in at about 100 lbs., and are designed and built by the student teams using real world, industrial components, such as motors, gear boxes, compressors, etc. At each level, there is a competition, where winning is important but with an added emphasis on teamwork and what FIRST calls gracious professionalism. I took the following quoted directly from the FIRST website; “With Gracious Professionalism, fierce competition and mutual gain are not separate notions. Gracious professionals learn and compete like crazy, but treat one another with respect and kindness in the process. They avoid treating anyone like losers. No chest thumping tough talk, but no stickysweet platitudes either. Knowledge, competition, and empathy are comfortably blended.” A lot more information about the organization can be found on their web-site at www.usfirst.org.

My main reason for writing this letter is to express my dismay as to the lack of a Garden City FRC team at the high school level (or as I found out, at ANY level). I am a retired Electrical Engineer that has acted as a mentor for the Roosevelt High School Robotics team for the past 9 years as well as a 27 year long resident of Garden City. When I saw the article, I thought that the GCUFSD was finally taking some steps to introduce these programs into the school system, but found in attending last night’s meeting that it was a group of parents that had started this effort at the grammar school level. At the meeting, I met with both the coaches of the teams as well as the student participants. The effort that they have shown and their capabilities in building and programming the Robots that they designed were amazing. A grass roots effort like this needs support from this entire community; in my mind, there is no reason that it shouldn’t be integrated into our school system. My real question is, with the resources that this community has vice those that Roosevelt possesses, why is this not an up and running program? Clearly, these are the types of careers that our country sorely needs in order to maintain our global leadership, so the miniscule resources that would be needed to support this effort pale in comparison to the benefit to be gained. In my tenure with the Roosevelt team, I have personally been rewarded by seeing the team members go off to colleges on scholarships won through participation in the program to pursue engineering and scientific careers. The program further is useful in having the students learn about teamwork, design-to-cost, the proper use of both power and hand tools as well as the thrill of seeing something that has been “imagined” come to life and actually work.

That being said, I would strongly advise GCUFSD to consider kicking off an FRC team in the coming year. I certainly would be available for mentoring and helping in any way possible. Thanks for your consideration.

Edward J. Lancevich, PhD



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