Robotics team wins Community Involvement trophy

December 2, 2009

By Gary Raham

The Wellington

 

Although Wellington Middle School’s robotics team won’t be going to state competition this year, members can justifiably smile with pride by bringing home a Community Involvement trophy for their research on the “green” driving choices of Wellington residents.

“The Wellington robotics team is a rookie team this year,” said coach and science teacher Vicky Jordan, “so for us to take a trophy at the regional tournament is a pretty big deal.”

That tournament took place Nov. 14 at Poudre High School. Forty-eight teams competed. WMS placed 26th overall. The team included sixth-grader Zach Shea and seventh-graders Alisa Petersen, Dylan Jordan, Kevin Houser and Kailee Bosch. Their inexperience in programming and building the LEGO robots used in the competition cost them points in some areas, but the originality of their research project based on this year’s theme of alternative transportation impressed the judges.

The team brainstormed several ideas and discovered a local expert in alternative transportation in the form of Dr. Gary Caille, director of the Systems Solutions Group for Colorado State University Ventures. He introduced them to the concept of a “run profile” graph, which charts the efficiency of different types of vehicles against the speed at which they are usually driven. This led to the notion of surveying members of the Wellington driving community to see if they were driving vehicles that best matched the kind of driving they did.

Team members surveyed 35 residents over a two-day period, asking them what kind of car they drove, what kind of vehicle they would like to own, and what kind of driving they actually did.

The latter question helped determine if people’s wishes and actual choices for vehicles accurately matched energy efficiency, because speed of travel, length of travel, and the number of stops and starts determines which kinds of vehicles are best to use. Internal combustion engines (ICEs), for example — the kind of cars most people drive — are quite efficient for driving long distances at high speeds. Totally electric cars work best for relatively short distances at lower speeds (as in some urban driving patterns). Hybrid vehicles, with electric motors for lower speed, stop-and-start travel that kicks over to an ICE at higher speeds, does best for mixed driving conditions.

Although everyone surveyed drove with an internal combustion engine, 5.7 percent wanted to own an electric vehicle and 42.8 percent wanted a hybrid. Based on driving habits, however, 28.5 percent should have had an electric vehicle and 17.1 percent needed a hybrid. In other words, 40 percent of people were already driving the kind of vehicle best for their kind of driving, and the rest preferred hybrids over electric cars, even though an electric might have served their needs more efficiently.

Team members Zach and Dylan were most drawn to the competition because of working with the robots.

“I was really impressed with other people’s robots,” said Dylan, “especially at the championship match.”

Alisa said the results they got surprised her most. She became involved with the team because she knew friends on previous teams who enjoyed the experience. (She had never touched a LEGO before trying out for the team.)

Rookie coach and former WMS teacher, Katie Zenisek, said of the fledgling team, “It was exciting to see them not only grow and learn as young scientists, but as young people forming bonds of friendship with one another and their mentors.” She hopes to return as a coach next year.

All team members expressed excitement with getting involved in 2010 when the theme will be biomechanical engineering. The competition better watch out. They won’t be rookies any more.