Champion robotics team on a high
TV crews descended on the high school. A sign outside trumpeted the team's win. Inside, the halls buzzed with news about how some of Governor Simcoe's own defied nerves to win a world championship in front of 17,000 screaming fans.It's an honour usually bestowed on top sports teams. But this week, the attention at the north-end high school is on a different kind of hero: the future engineers on the school's robotics team.
The Simbotics won gold Saturday in the annual FIRST Robotics Championship, one of the world's largest robotics competitions. In total, 1,500 teams from eight countries vied for the prize, competing in regional competitions to advance to Atlanta, Ga., where the Simbotics leapt over the competition this weekend. The 25 students have been on a high ever since.
"I still don't know if it's sunk in for them," said Joanne Pruniak, team "supermom" who volunteers and travels with the Simbotics.
The win is a highlight during years of success for the team, which is sponsored by General Motors. Started in 2002, the team began as 11 students and tech teacher Greg Phillips, who recalls taking them to a Texas competition and trying to keep them organized and motivated.
Now, 80 students entering Governor Simcoe in September cited robotics as their reason for choosing the school. Would-be Simbotics have to submit resumes.
"People whose kids are in Grade 6 are following us around now," Phillips said. "We have robotics groupies."
Simbotics members keep a grade average of 75 per cent and must be involved in the community.
The team takes its demonstrations to malls and schools and works year-round. The only time off is in August, said team member Melissa Doornekamp.
The team also practises several nights a week, often until midnight. Doornekamp has seen a shift from celebrating traditional athletics to celebrating science and technology.
"In the future, we're going to see a lot of people look up to science and technology people," Doornekamp, 16, said. "I've seen that at our school, too. We're known as a technology school now, too. It's something we're proud of."
Fifty-seven people, including Governor Simcoe students and parents, travelled to the FIRST competition, which ran Thursday to Saturday. Some members, including Doornekamp, scouted other teams, compiling their stats and noting their strengths and weaknesses. The competition task was NASCAR-based: building and programming a robot that would race around a track and throw balls at targets. Governor Simcoe's robot was Simbot S.S.
There were three students and a mentor on the field at the Georgia Dome, where 350 other teams competed. Brandon Pruniak, 16, was the "driver," the student who controlled the robot's direction, while operator Chris Lyddiatt, also 16, controlled the throws.
The time commitment doesn't bother Pruniak, who aspires to be an engineer. The pressure doesn't bother him, either. After winning three regional competitions this year, the team went to Atlanta "with a bull's-eye on our back," he said.
But the schedule left little time to be nervous. The team woke at 5 a.m. to be at the Georgia Dome by 5:30 a.m., when the first robotics teams trickled in to practise. The day ended at 7 p.m., followed by team meetings until 9 p.m.
The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) competition, started by inventor Dean Kamen, was attended by former U.S. president George H.W. Bush, the governor of Georgia and corporate leaders from Microsoft, Google and other companies. The Simbotics won the Galileo division before advancing to the finals, named after Albert Einstein.
Following their win - which included the Robowranglers from Greenville, Texas, and the ThunderChickens of Sterling Heights, Mich., as teams formed alliances of three - there was a huge party in Atlanta's Centennial Park.
For Pruniak, the recognition is nice. He was scheduled to head to Toronto this morning for another TV appearance.
"Some of the technology we use in this competition, you see being used in industry the next year," he said. "The whole world is changing."