Robo Time. Tacoma robotics are gearing up for a successful season of FIRST Robotics Competitions. Here, SOTA student Charlie Bichnich works on the Tacoma team's bot as the tight competition deadline approaches. (Photo by Clare Jensen)
Tacoma Public Schools "Robotics Alliance" is getting down to the wire on a high-stakes deadline that could take them to the world championships of robots for the third time.
The team that started as School of the Arts' SOTA BOTS in 2008 has since morphed into a larger alliance, centered in Stewart Middle Schools' shop rooms, and now includes students from SAMI, SOTA, Stadium, as well as Stewart Middle School students.
The Alliance, which covers four levels of difficulty in student engineering through the US FIRST program, moved to Stewart last year to further increase the bond among SAMI, SOTA and Stewart students, all who share a common principal Jon Ketler.
Stewart's extra gymnasium space has also been morphed into a "practice field" for the student robot pros (who work in the highest tier of bot building, FIRST Robotics Competitions) to practice maneuvering their bots on a field similar to the big-league setting.
And because it is the only legitimate FIRST practice field in the South Sound, the alliance welcomes competitors from throughout the region to come practice in their space as well.
"It's the spirit of gracious professionalism," said SAMI junior Alex Kidder, referring to FIRST robotics programs' emphasis on building solid character traits as much as exploring engineering and technology. "We have to help people even if we have to compete with them."
That helpful and gregarious attitude is what has earned the SOTA Bots (who still compete under their original name) a nationwide reputation as the most friendly and outgoing team according to robotics head coach Ken Luthy. This has helped them progress through the competitions much more than they could have imagined.
In 2008, SOTA Bots' first year competing, that attitude is what scored the Tacoma team the "rookie all-star" award, taking them straight from their first-ever regional competition to the championship level.
Since then, the team has made it back to the world championships once more, and place in the top rankings of the regional competitions year after year.
This year, the SOTA Bots team of about 45 high school students, parents and professional mentors are in it to win it. Since mid-January, the team has been spending their after-school hours designing and building their robot, which they think is a contender for the championship in this season's basketball-themed challenge.
"Our goal is building not just something that works, but something that wins," Luthy said.
With a little less than two weeks to complete their task, hours are getting longer and the tension is rising.
"There are times when you want to hit your head against the wall," Kidder said. But robotics team members say all the hard work is worth it in the end. As freshman Matthew Nelson put it: "When everything comes together and you're seeing something that you've built function properly, it's an amazing feeling."
The SOTA Bots will be heading to the regional FIRST competitions in Portland and Seattle next month, and are hoping their regional performances will get them another ticket to the FRC Championship in St. Louis in April.
For more information on the SOTA Bots progress, how to help sponsor the team or to volunteer as a mentor, contact Ken Luthy at (253) 549-6721.
