Saratoga News

Education

Photograph by George Sakkestad

The Saratoga High School robotics team completed its most successful year since the program began in 1999. Among the team members were (from left) David Lo, Robbie Paolini, Jason Chou, Ninad Sathe and Philip Sancho.

Saratoga robotics team is wired in 2006

Team comes through with its best finish

By Michele Leung

Several members of the Saratoga High School robotics team had a penchant to tinker with gadgets when they were little, and their fidgety fingers have paid off. The team closed out its year with its best finish since its inception in 1999.

The team members participated in two three-day competitions in March at the Silicon Valley Regional held at San José State University and the Sacramento Regional at UC-Davis. The two events were part of the FIRST Robotics Competition that draws teams from more than 1,125 high schools around the country and abroad. Every year there's a different task for the robots to do, and this year it was to shoot Styrofoam balls into three goals placed at different heights in a 3-on-3 format. To get into the playoffs, the top eight finishers select two other schools to be part of their team. Both times, the Saratoga robot was picked to play with the top teams.

"We've never had a robot good enough to be picked as a finalist," said senior Ninad Sathe. "Our robot didn't break during competition. It's a first. It's a good way to go."

The Saratoga students had only six weeks to code, design and test their robot.

"I like the sense of teamwork and cooperation," said junior David Lo. "It's not a one-man show. It's a nice and elegant way to solve problems."

Team members said one key to this year's success is the 5-foot robot's improved omni-directional drive system.

"It lets you turn in any direction on a dime," David said. "We learned several lessons last year in terms of how the robot handles it. We were able to correct it, and our performance immensely improved."

David worked on the software that made possible the robot's ability to maneuver in any direction. A self-taught programmer in the C computer language, David wrote code for five straight weeks. Competitors from rival schools paid attention to Saratoga's unique maneuvering feature, he said.

"It used to be we were the underdogs," David said. "We were never noticed. But we got noticed by many teams. We really showed what Saratoga robotics is able to do."

The team members first made a plywood prototype before going ahead with the sheet metal design they used for the real thing. Experience from previous years has taught them the need to test the machine ahead of time.

"We finished our robot several days before the deadline so we had time to work out kinks," said senior Robbie Paolini, who has been with the team for four years.

At the Sacramento regional, Saratoga, along with another school, was selected to be on Archbishop Mitty High School's team. However, what was supposed to be a 3-on-3 match became a 3-on-1 romp, as Saratoga's "teammates" broke down. Saratoga was felled by a loose wire on Mitty's robot.

"We should have won," said senior Philip Sancho.

Several of the Saratoga team members said the building process and the competitions were worthwhile and fun experiences that have prompted them to think about their future. Many said they hoped to seize on what they learned and continue with engineering, robotics or applied math in college.

For Philip, who worked on the design team and was the team's president, the robotics exposure has given him ideas about merging his twin interests of mechanical engineering and business. From publicity to electronics, many students worked on various aspects of the project. Philip said the experience has given him a glimpse of what working life could be like.

"I find robotics to be a microcosm of the business environment," he said. "You could pick out a position in robotics and take it into a real job. You could be picking your future."