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The first thing the casual observer notices about the first robotics competition this year is that teams will be using a 40-inch ball. The Southold Junior-Senior High School team advisor calls it a “fast action game” that’s like a robotic NASCAR race.

“It’s controlled, high-speed chaos on the field,” Tony Kryl says. He has been guiding Southold robotics team to championship finishes since 2001and has lost none of the energy and determination he demonstrated at the outset. But, he admits, he’s tired, the result of working full days teaching classes and then late nights and weekends readying his team for two competitions in March-one in Hartford, Conn., and the other at Hofstra University.

This year’s team has 17 students, fewer than in past years. That’s largely a result of scheduling’ those who participate in robotics have little time for other extracurricular activities. From the time team members get the materials to build their robots until the first competition at the Hartford Regional Convention Center, there’s virtually no time for anything but academics and robotics, according to team co-captain Katie Oster.

“We’re used to change,” she says, noting that several team leaders graduated last year. Those who remain, and the new members who have come onboard since, are “very strong and everybody does a good job,” she says. “everybody here is committed; it’s like an addiction.”

“I’d rather be here,” sophomore Katie Schelin says, while acknowledging that it’s hard to balance her studies with the demands of robotics. “This is always going to be the best,” she says.

The fact that team members are also really good friends means they can “count on each other,” says co-team leader Mike Fouchet. This is his third year on the team and he’s not only working on the technical aspects of building this year’s robot, but trying to enlist new sponsors. Miller Environments remains the team’s main sponsor. A sponsoring company that had assisted in building the chassis for precious robots had to drop out because of financial constraints. A difficult economy has affected some other companies that had preciously sponsored the team. Coming from a relatively small community, Southold’s team has been noted for having more sponsors than others because there’s not one large corporation that could bear the cost.

This year’s team will borrow some ideas from previous Southold robots, Mr. Kryl says. Because of the high speed and difficulty of the challenge- amazing points not only for the number of revolutions the robot makes on the track, but also for its ability to shoot that large ball not over and under a six-foot goal- the machine has to be able to withstand a lot of battering, Mr. Kryl says. Billy Macdonald, a junior in his second year with the team, is realistic in knowing that the best laid plans can run amok. But he’s optimistic that the team has the expertise to deal with whatever is needed to perform well this year.

That’s because everyone on the team “always works and doesn’t slack off,” according to junior Michael Skopelitis, a third-year team member.

And despite the loss of veteran team members who have graduated, a lot o mentoring took place last year to ready this year’s remaining members to perform well, according to their adviser.

“They’re really performing at an outstanding level right now,” Mr. Kryl says. And that’s what keeps him and his co-adviser, Joe Crimi, motivated. This is Mr. Crimi’s first year at Southold, where, by day, he functions as a guidance counselor. Robotics gibes him an opportunity to get to know students on another level, he says. He also advises the junior high school Lego team, whose members typically go on to join the robotics team in high school.

Not only has Southold fielded winning teams in past years, but five Southold students have won substantial scholarships as a result o their participation in the competition, Mr. Kryl says. He’s hoping not only to have another championship team, but to be able to raise the funding necessary to send the team to national competition at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta April 17-19. That would take not only a winning performance, but money the team doesn’t yet have, he says.

Southold’s first competition is in Harford March 12-15. Then it’s on to Hofstra March 27-29, when they’ll go for the gold and a chance to qualify for nationals.

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TEAM READY TO KICK 'BOT'
Robotics club works for one more big win

Thursday, January 18, 2007
By Julie Lane

Anyone who has ever played a spirited game of Connect Four – what? Connect Four isn’t so spirited? It’s just a two-player board game in which players take turns dropping discs onto a vertical grid to try to form lines of four?
Well, Southold’s championship robotics team is about to turn that quiet board game on its head as 21 students and their faculty tackle Connect Four in a frenzied high tech battle. The challenge this year is to construct a robot capable of tossing plastic pool rings onto vertical and horizontal rows on a 10-foot high octagonal field. Not so simple, according to team advisor Tony Kryl, while boasting that previous models his teams have built give this year’s competitors some advantages. That’s because the team’s 2005 championship model and its 2004 robot that was a semifinal winner can play this game.
“We can do a lot of practice now with the bots we have,” said Mr. Kryl. At the same time, there’s a real challenge in building the 2007 robot. It starts with the fact that the kit Mr. Kryl brought back from New Hampshire, where the FIRST Robotics kickoff was held earlier this month, doesn’t have a lot of parts previously supplied to teams.
“They’re forcing us to rethink our drive train,” said Mr. Kryl, referring to the components that generate power to move the robot.
The team will have to choose a weight class for its robot and that decision will determine the team’s competitive positioning. There’s an advantage to building a tall robot that can reach higher ranges of the playing field, but the team would have to limit the bot’s weight to 100 pounds and ensure that it won’t be top-heavy.
“If you want to go for the elite rings, you sacrifice weight and you might tip,” said Mr. Kryl. Alternatively, the team could opt for a mid-range robot at 110 pounds or a low-zone robot that could be as heavy as 120 pounds. Then there’s the issue of offense and defense. If the team’s robot is judged to be overly aggressive with other robots, it could be disqualified from one or more rounds of competition.
There are also bonus challenges with enough points involved to make a real impact on the final champions in a close race. And final competitions are always done in conjunction with other teams, so each group must scout out its competitors to determine which alliances are likely to be most advantageous.
Mr. Kryl isn’t tipping his hand, but said that he wants this year’s robot to be able to perform one task with “total perfection” and then be as good as possible with the other aspects of the challenge.
About 50 percent of this year’s team are new and four seniors, who have been with the team since its inception, will graduate in June.
“We’re just trying to train the new crop,” said 17-year-old Luc Schlager, one of those veterans. He’s already impressed with the new freshmen, many of whom had experience with the Lego teams in the last year.
“This is one of the best teams we’ve had,” he pronounced. The Lego training “really helped.”
Mr. Kryl agrees. There’s a training curve for all aspects of the project, but it’s particularly steep for those charged with programming the robot. But Mr. Kryl is seeing some real talent emerge among younger team members that gives him optimism for the future.
The Lego competition “helped us a lot,” said 14-year-old Evan Ackroyd. But competing with the high school team is “a lot more exciting,” he said. He’s bringing his carpentry skills, learned from his draftsman grandfather, to bear on the project. And he may be a newcomer to the team, but he’s well aware of college scholarships that have been won by former team members who have gone on to attend some of the nation’s best colleges. He’s thinking about an eventual career in architecture and wouldn’t mind earning one of those scholarships to help defray his college costs.
“These kids are getting experiences and it’s steering them into careers they might not have though about,” said Mr. Kryl.
Katie Schelin, 14, is another freshman on the team who’s “learning a lot
and enjoying being one of only two girls on the team. “I thought it would be easier,” She enjoys joking around with the boys on the team and said they treat her “pretty much like one of them.”
For juniors Katie Oster, 16, a team veteran, having Ms. Schelin along means she’ll have someone to share a room with at competitions, she said. She describes this year’s team as “powerful” and said it might be more of a challenge in 2008 without the graduating seniors.
“This is the least panicked I’ve ever been,” said co-advisor Kim Palermo, who is confident the team knows how to build a robot that can achieve the challenges it faces.
“We’ve seen this before,” she said.
Students and teachers are well into the long days, nights, and weekends since their robot has to be shipped in February to its first competition in Rochester, N.Y, in early March, to be followed by a regional competition at Hofstra University at the end of March.
“Food keeps these kids going,” said Mr. Kryl who hopes restaurants that were so generous last year will come through again. Parents have been sending in food, he said. He also needs volunteers with the experience in programming, engineering, metalworking, machinery, pneumatics, or marketing. And there’s plenty of work for volunteers with none of that expertise who can handle the myriad details attendant to the competitions.
Sponsors and volunteers are crucial to the team’s success, said Mr. Kryl.
“People need to come to the regional competition at Hofstra,” said Mr. Kryl. “Nothing is as exciting and competitive. They won’t be disappointed.”

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Anyone who has ever played a spirited game of Connect Four – what? Connect Four isn’t so spirited? It’s just a two-player board game in which players take turns dropping discs onto a vertical grid to try to form lines of four?

Well, Southold’s championship robotics team is about to turn that quiet board game on its head as 21 students and their faculty tackle Connect Four in a frenzied high tech battle. The challenge this year is to construct a robot capable of tossing plastic pool rings onto vertical and horizontal rows on a 10-foot high octagonal field. Not so simple, according to team advisor Tony Kryl, while boasting that previous models his teams have built give this year’s competitors some advantages. That’s because the team’s 2005 championship model and its 2004 robot that was a semifinal winner can play this game.

“We can do a lot of practice now with the bots we have,” said Mr. Kryl. At the same time, there’s a real challenge in building the 2007 robot. It starts with the fact that the kit Mr. Kryl brought back from New Hampshire, where the FIRST Robotics kickoff was held earlier this month, doesn’t have a lot of parts previously supplied to teams.

“They’re forcing us to rethink our drive train,” said Mr. Kryl, referring to the components that generate power to move the robot.

The team will have to choose a weight class for its robot and that decision will determine the team’s competitive positioning. There’s an advantage to building a tall robot that can reach higher ranges of the playing field, but the team would have to limit the bot’s weight to 100 pounds and ensure that it won’t be top-heavy.

“If you want to go for the elite rings, you sacrifice weight and you might tip,” said Mr. Kryl. Alternatively, the team could opt for a mid-range robot at 110 pounds or a low-zone robot that could be as heavy as 120 pounds. Then there’s the issue of offense and defense. If the team’s robot is judged to be overly aggressive with other robots, it could be disqualified from one or more rounds of competition.

There are also bonus challenges with enough points involved to make a real impact on the final champions in a close race. And final competitions are always done in conjunction with other teams, so each group must scout out its competitors to determine which alliances are likely to be most advantageous.

Mr. Kryl isn’t tipping his hand, but said that he wants this year’s robot to be able to perform one task with “total perfection” and then be as good as possible with the other aspects of the challenge.

About 50 percent of this year’s team are new and four seniors, who have been with the team since its inception, will graduate in June.

“We’re just trying to train the new crop,” said 17-year-old Luc Schlager, one of those veterans. He’s already impressed with the new freshmen, many of whom had experience with the Lego teams in the last year.

“This is one of the best teams we’ve had,” he pronounced. The Lego training “really helped.”

Mr. Kryl agrees. There’s a training curve for all aspects of the project, but it’s particularly steep for those charged with programming the robot. But Mr. Kryl is seeing some real talent emerge among younger team members that gives him optimism for the future.

The Lego competition “helped us a lot,” said 14-year-old Evan Ackroyd. But competing with the high school team is “a lot more exciting,” he said. He’s bringing his carpentry skills, learned from his draftsman grandfather, to bear on the project. And he may be a newcomer to the team, but he’s well aware of college scholarships that have been won by former team members who have gone on to attend some of the nation’s best colleges. He’s thinking about an eventual career in architecture and wouldn’t mind earning one of those scholarships to help defray his college costs.

“These kids are getting experiences and it’s steering them into careers they might not have though about,” said Mr. Kryl.

Katie Schelin, 14, is another freshman on the team who’s “learning a lot
and enjoying being one of only two girls on the team. “I thought it would be easier,” She enjoys joking around with the boys on the team and said they treat her “pretty much like one of them.”

For juniors Katie Oster, 16, a team veteran, having Ms. Schelin along means she’ll have someone to share a room with at competitions, she said. She describes this year’s team as “powerful” and said it might be more of a challenge in 2008 without the graduating seniors.

“This is the least panicked I’ve ever been,” said co-advisor Kim Palermo, who is confident the team knows how to build a robot that can achieve the challenges it faces.
“We’ve seen this before,” she said.

Students and teachers are well into the long days, nights, and weekends since their robot has to be shipped in February to its first competition in Rochester, N.Y, in early March, to be followed by a regional competition at Hofstra University at the end of March.

“Food keeps these kids going,” said Mr. Kryl who hopes restaurants that were so generous last year will come through again. Parents have been sending in food, he said. He also needs volunteers with the experience in programming, engineering, metalworking, machinery, pneumatics, or marketing. And there’s plenty of work for volunteers with none of that expertise who can handle the myriad details attendant to the competitions.

Sponsors and volunteers are crucial to the team’s success, said Mr. Kryl.

“People need to come to the regional competition at Hofstra,” said Mr. Kryl. “Nothing is as exciting and competitive. They won’t be disappointed.”