Robotics in work

Students in the Industrial Technology and Robotics Class at Marshall Technical School are focused this week as they work together and build a robot to compete in the annual BEST Robotics Competition at Wallace State Community College.

The team, Marshall Technical Systems, is a start-up company created by Marshall Technical School students from Douglas, Asbury, Brindlee Mountain, DAR, Boaz and Guntersville. The purpose of the "company" is to rapidly design, develop and build robots for the primary purpose of competing in the BEST Robotics competitions.

Ted Mahler and Steve Marcum of Texas founded B.E.S.T., which stands for Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology, in 1993.

From the first competition only having 14 schools and 221 students, the competition has since grown to involve more than 11,500 middle and highs school students from around the nation.

Last year, the Marshall Technical Systems team received the overall BEST Award at the regional competition at Wallace State and they are planning this year to defend their title.

Each year the theme changes and new techniques and strategies are to be developed by the teams.

This year's competition theme is "bugs." The team must develop and build a robot capable of maneuvering over different terrains and then move "bugs" from a containment area and deposit them into bins.

Brindlee Mountain High School senior Adam Mathews is the head of mechanical development for this year's robot and is in charge of its design.

"This is my second year to be the head of mechanical development in this competition," Mathews said. "We have redeveloped a previous design from last year and made some performance modifications. Everything looks to be going great so far and we hope to win this year."

Douglas High School sophomore Justin Luna is the head of software development and handles all the programming aspects of how the robot will move and function.

"The robot isn't completely done, so right now I'm working on mapping out the controls and checking my numbers," Luna said. "This is a really big responsibility to have. You can't drive a robot that's not programmed. I first set all the diagrams up on the computer and then I will move into wiring the board for the robot controls. I'm thinking of getting a degree in engineering or possibly robotics, and this project is a great opportunity for me."

Glenn Bruce, the industrial technology and robotics instructor for the MCTS said the project is student led.

"The students are given two boxes of parts to build their robot with and six weeks to have it complete," Bruce said. "There is a greater difficulty level this year and the students are really working hard. We won the regional competition at Wallace State last year and we hope to win again and go back to compete in Auburn."

Along with the building of a robot, the student-led team also has the task of developing a business structure, a fundraising campaign and a marketing strategy for the project.

Patrick Smith, MCTS counselor who works with the team, says the students benefit from the competition in many ways.

"This project gives students the opportunity to use concepts they have learned in math and science and put those practices to work," Smith said. "One of the main objectives of the competition is to offer these students a real world experience."

Smith says there are many people who have helped the team this year.

"The team owes a special thanks to local retired electrical engineer Charles Robertson who has volunteered countless hours working with our team in the development stages of the robot; and retired Harris Corporation executive Don Pankey who has assisted our team in the reorganization of the company. These two men both offer a lifetime of experience in industry and have been invaluable to us as we develop our business."

Marshall County Technical School Principal Cindy Wigley says another important aspect of this competition is working with local industry.

"Few people realize the amount of time it takes to bring something like this together in such a short period of time," Wigley said. "We try to involve all of our programs in the competition and our instructors have responded by donating countless hours of their own time to assist our students. I could not ask for a more committed group of people to work with."

The team also thanks TS Tech, the Marshall County Manufacturing Association, Harris Corporation and TOCCO for their support this year.

The students and their robot will compete at the Wallace State Community College Regional Competition on Oct. 29.