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In photo, in front from left to right; Ryan Fisher, Frederick Tessier; back from left to right; John Trygier, Eric Ambrus, Alex Bunk, Nick Zhao, Alexandre Tessier and Isabelle Tessier. Photo provided.

A robotics team comprised of students from the Lakota, Loveland and Mason school districts placed third at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics World Championship recently in St. Louis.

The top 128 robotics teams in the world qualified for the event, which was held at the Edward Jones Dome and drew teams from 35 states and 17 countries.

The local group, Team 4530 Infinite Resistance, consists of freshman Eric Ambrus, sophomore Isabelle Tessier, senior Alexandre Tessier, freshman John Trygier and freshman Ryan Fisher, all from Lakota West High School; Loveland sophomore Alex Bunk; Mason sophomore Nick Zhao; and Lakota Ridge eighth-grader Frederick Tessier.

The team has been invited to compete at the Asian Pacific International Open in Sydney, Australia, in July. The group decided Friday that they could afford the cost of the trip. To donate to the team, visit 4530robot.org.

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Tags: Tags: Alexandre Tessier, Eric Ambrus, Frederick Tessier, Infinite Resistance, Isabelle Tessier, John Trygier, Lakota Robotics, Lakota West, Lakota West High School, Ryan Fisher, Team 4530 Infinite Resistance

Members of the state champion Infinite Resistance robotics team, from left: front, Ryan Fisher (Lakota West), Freddie Tessier (Lakota West), Isabelle Tessier (Lakota West), Alex Bunk (Loveland), Nick Zhao (Mason) and Eric Ambrus (Lakota West); back, Scott Fisher (coach), Sylvie Tessier (assistant coach), Alexande Tessier (Lakota West) and John Tryger (Lakota West). Photo provided.

Team 4530 Infinite Resistance composed of students from Lakota West, Loveland, and Mason schools placed first overall in the First Tech Challenge Ohio State Championship Saturday at iSpace on the Scarlet Oaks campus.

First Tech Challenge is a robotics competition developed by FIRST comprising more than 1,600 teams from the U.S., Canada, Mexico and other countries worldwide.

Infinite Resistance team members Nick Zhao of Mason, Alexander Tessier of West Chester, Alex Bunk of Loveland and Ryan Fisher of West Chester make some adjustments on their robot at Scarlet Oaks Career campus in Sharonville during a previous competition. Photo taken by Tony Jones.

The Ohio Championship consisted of 24 finalist robotics teams that had previously been selected from regional qualifying events in Cleveland, Columbus and Dayton held last month consisting of more than 60 teams. The championship is the culmination of six months of effort by teams to design, program and test their robots to meet the criteria in this years “Ring It Up” challenge.

The team has been invited to compete at the FIRST Robotics World Championship in St. Louis beginning April 24. In addition, Team 4530 Infinite Resistance won the PTC Design Award. This judged award recognizes design elements of the robot that are both functional and aesthetic. All successful robots have innovative design aspects; however, the PTC Design Award is presented to teams that incorporate industrial design elements into their solution.

Infinite Resistance team members are:

• Lakota West – Eric Ambrus, Isabelle Tessier, Alexandre Tessier, Frederick Tessier, John Trygier and Ryan Fisher.
• Loveland – Alex Bunk.
• Mason – Nick Zhao.

FIRST Robotics is catalyst for getting students interested and involved in science, technology, engineering and math. The program creates a challenging learning environment for these students to practice hands on involvement in designing and programming sophisticated machines to carry out tasks. The skills learned are directly applicable to real world devices they will be involved with designing, engineering and programming as technology professionals.

In addition to the technical challenge, teams work to create community outreach to promote science and engineering to other students. Team 4530, with its corporate sponsors of SentriLock , Christ Hospital, and Amerigroup participated in bringing robotics to inner city S.T.E.M. schools by donating Lego Mindstorms Kits and spending time teaching other students how to build and program as well as enabling students to go to iSpace camp through scholarships.

Additionally, Ryan Fisher of Team 4530 Infinite Resistance was honored with the Nelson Vincent Award which recognizes an outstanding high school volunteer. Fisher gave countless hours of time and talent volunteering at iSpace robotics programming camps and working with underserved youths to foster an interest in science, technology, engineering and math.

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Tags: Tags: Alexandre Tessier, Eric Ambrus, Frederick Tessier, Infinite Resistance, Isabelle Tessier, John Trygier, Lakota Robotics, Lakota West, Lakota West High School, Ryan Fisher, Team 4530 Infinite Resistance

Michael D. Clark reports:

The hands that one day help American students close the international gap in math and science skills may be those of their homemade robots.

Robotics clubs in grades K-12 are growing in popularity across the region and nation. Educators and high-tech experts embrace the mechanized invasion, saying the task-oriented competitions require science and math abilities and may eventually boost the nation’s international standing in those skills.

“This is a good thing, and the kids are passionate about this stuff,” says Dan Humpert, director for the University of Cincinnati’s Center for Robotics Research.

Patrick Wensing, co-chair of a national robotics student activities board and a researcher on robotics at Ohio State University, says, “It’s crazy what these kids can do. And if we can get to the point where more of them are learning science and math, it will be good for our country and good for our economy.’’

The United States could use the boost.

For years, American students have lagged behind those of many industrialized countries. This month’s release of the 2011 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study revealed that students in Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Finland and other nations still outperform American fourth- and eighth-graders.

A 2011 study by Harvard University’s Program on Education Policy and Governance ranked the U.S. behind 31 other countries in math proficiency. Similar studies for years have shown similarly low rankings for science and technology aptitude among American youth.

The broader appeal of robotics clubs, already popular internationally, might eventually help change that.

Humpert estimates there are about 300 elementary and high-school robotics teams in Greater Cincinnati, twice as many as three years ago.

Fred Strange, a staffer at Grant’s Lick Elementary in Campbell County, is a veteran robotics team coach.

“Ten years ago there were about 20 teams in Northern Kentucky, and now there are about 150-180,’’ he says.

Earlier this year a team composed of Lakota, Mason and Loveland high-school students finished seventh among 2,000 domestic and international competitors in a robotics championship in St. Louis. (more…)

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Tags: Tags: Fred Strange, Lakota Robotics, Lakota Robotics team, Patrick Wensing

The Lakota Robotics team made it to the semifinals of the Buckeye Regional FIRST Robotics competition in Cleveland, this past weekend, April 7-9. The team was given the “Engineering Excellence” and the “Cooperatition” awards.

“I am very proud of the 35 students that we took on the trip and the 15 others who couldn’t make the trip,” said Lakota Robotics mentor Doug Noxsel.

“They put heart and soul in solving this year’s complex engineering challenge.”

The Lakota Robotics team earned the “Cooperatition” (combines cooperating and competition) award by loaning one of their minibots to a competitor, who was having problems with their minibot. According to the news release provided by Lakota, the competitor almost defeated Lakota with the minibot.

“That is the culture and legacy of our team,” Noxsel said. “Three years ago we gave a competitor a replacement motor so they would not be eliminated from play … they beat us in the final match with that motor and we were happy for them.”

A total of 59 teams from Canada, Ohio, Indiana, Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania participated in the event.

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Tags: Tags: Buckeye FIRST Robotics, Buckeye Regional FIRST Robotics competition, competition, Doug Noxsel, Lakota East, Lakota Robotics, Lakota West