A group of Columbus students will compete against some of Indiana’s best robotics teams this weekend.
In its fifth competition season, GalacTech Team 4926 is on a space odyssey to the FIRST Robotics World Championship, called “First Destination: Deep Space.” To get there, each team must build an alliance and escape a space station, according to the robotics scenario presented for this year’s competition.
“It’s kind of a dorky thing,” said Sam Geckler, founder of GalacTech. “But that’s who we are.”
Geckler leads a team of 30 students from Columbus high schools on a year-long journey that involves training, community outreach, building a robot and competing against robotics teams from across the nation.
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This year, GalacTech is competing in two back-to-back regional competitions: one at Lafayette-Jefferson High School this weekend and another at Center Grove High School beginning March 29.
Teams are presented with a new scenario every year. Each team competes in 12 qualification matches and builds an alliance with two other teams. Two alliances of three teams race to prepare rockets and cargo ships to depart from the space station before a sandstorm hits.
All teams are ranked based on the number of points earned by completing certain tasks. The top eight teams with the highest scores participate in a draft and choose two other teams to form a new alliance, which remains fixed through the playoff rounds where 24 teams total will compete.
To guarantee themselves a spot in the top eight, Geckler said each person on Team GalacTech has a specific role. A subteam is responsible for collecting data about the other teams. This involves completing a statistical analysis of each team and watching each robot on the field during every match to collect individual performance data.
“We have students who walk into our shop and they don’t know what an Allen wrench is,” Geckler said. “We also have students come in who are more capable on that side, but they don’t know how to do any design work. Every student has multiple growth areas.”
Geckler said the goal of the program is to help students assemble skills through the preparation work and competitions.
“They can do the game analysis; they can conceive mechanical mechanisms, design those and fabricate them into a working concept,” he said. “There’s nothing else like this in terms of STEM application for their age. It’s super rewarding to see people progress to that level.”
GalacTech started building this year’s robot, named BumpersAreRavioli, in early January as soon as the game rules were announced. The team had six weeks to design and build a fully functional robot. After the six weeks, which ended Feb. 19, the team must seal the robot in a giant plastic bag. They are not allowed to unbag it until the week of their first competition.
Geckler said the students have been using a practice robot in its place to determine any modifications they want to make before going on the field.
Not every student directly works on the robot, Geckler said. Some do social media, others work on animation. Several students are also involved in the scouting process, which involves observing the other robots at each competition.
Depending on their performances at Lafayette Jefferson and Center Grove, GalacTech could advance to the IndianaFIRST State Championship in Kokomo where they’ll battle for a spot in the FIRST World Championship in Detroit, Michigan, in April.
“It’s a varsity sport for the mind,” Geckler said. “It’s part-sporting event, part-rock concert, part-science fair.”
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GalacTech Team 4926 will compete at Lafayette Jefferson High School, 1801 S. 18th St. in Lafayette, today and Sunday. The competition is free and open to the public. A live stream is available at indianafirst.org.
The team will compete again at Center Grove High School, 4800 Stones Crossing Road in Greenwood, on March 29 and 30. The competition is free and open to the public. It will also be livestreamed at indianafirst.org.
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IndianaFIRST is an organization dedicated to growing FIRST robotics programs across Indiana. The Indiana-based FIRST affiliate was founded in 2001. Since its inception, IndianaFIRST has brought robotics programming to students in grades K-12.
Sponsors include AndyMark, Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Indiana, Rolls-Royce, University of Indianapolis, Software Engineering Professionals, Allfuses.com, Renaissance Electronic Services, Allied Automation, Dow AgroSciences, 80/20 Inc., Barnes & Thornburg, Cook, Cargill and Raytheon.
For more, visit www.firstinspires.org.
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