Schools
VIDEO: There's Nothing Artificial About Rockwood Rock-Bots' Intelligence
Rockwood District students compete on the world stage in the FIRST robotics event at the Edward Jones Dome.
At this weekend's For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) robotics championship, the spirit of cooperation is in the air. Every few minutes another announcement echoes through the concrete hallways of the Edward Jones Dome's exhibition space, calling for teams to donate spare parts to competitors in need. Valves, electrical switches, tubing and bolts large and small are all in demand as students tackle last-minute technical troubleshooting in their quest to make the finals.
For the members of , such collaboration is second nature. The team's two drivers that operate the robot remote controls are Mitch Hollander, a junior at Marquette, and Michael Hereford, a freshman at Washington High School. They seem to have an intuitive connection, rarely speaking as they put the yellow robot through its paces.
"To me, it's fun to watch," said Andy Hereford, Michael's father and a team mentor, "because it's so seamless how they work together."
Students from Lafayette, , Eureka and Rockwood Summit high schools—plus Hereford, whose mother teaches at Lafayette—have worked together since January, meeting three days a week to build the skills-specific robot from a parts kit provided by competition organizers. The months of learning to work with new teammates may prove to be the Rock-bots' key strength; the contests this weekend require that each team strategize and form alliances with two new teams in every match.
Currently, the Rock-Bots are ranked 22nd in the Galileo division of 88 teams; only the top eight advance. That doesn't necessarily mean that the Rockwood students are out of the running though. Those top eight teams are allowed to pick two alliance members to join them in the final round, so ultimately, the Rockwood District students' comfort with collaboration just might make them very attractive allies.