PORT TOWNSEND — Success surprised the Port Townsend Robotics Team earlier this year.
“We went to the world championship this year,” team coach Austin Henry told about 25 people Monday at a Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce luncheon.
“It was a stressful experience, more stressful than building the robot itself, because we had to raise $20,000 in two weeks.”
The team had scored well in the Pacific Northwest District Championship on April 4 but not enough to move on.
However, a few days after the regional competition, they were told another team had canceled, and they then qualified for the World Championship in St. Louis in late April.
They raised the money — but it is not a process they want to repeat.
“This [school] year, we hope we get the money raised before two weeks before the world championship so we don’t have to go around begging local businesses for money again,” Henry said.
“It works, but it’s not sustainable.”
Henry expects the size of the team will double this school year, with 30 students now signed up in comparison with this past year’s 15.
The first few months are spent on practice and theory, amping up in January when the sponsors, telecommunications company Qualcomm and FIRST — an acronym for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology — issues the same challenge to every participating team.
The team has six weeks to build a robot, which must perform a specific task.
“We’re fairly certain that it will be a robot, and that’s about it,” Henry said.
Henry said team members are warned about the time commitment. Parents are told that team members will have time for only two of the following: robotics, homework or sleep.
Sleep gets the short shrift, he said, and that is the reason only one team member, Port Townsend High School junior J.R. Kienle, attended Monday’s presentation.
“The kids are all exhausted,” Henry said.
“We decided to give them part of the summer off.”
Although the team didn’t place at the world championships, J.R. said all the work was well worth it.
“It was a lot of fun and totally worth raising $20,000 to go,” J.R. told those at the luncheon.
“If I have to do it again, I will, but I really hope I don’t have to.”
The team is required to be adept at problem-solving, often at a moment’s notice, J.R. said.
He told of reprogramming a module within minutes when it stopped working in the middle of the competition.
The skills taught aren’t restricted to the technical, and the fundraising requirement added value, Henry said.
“A lot of the kids know how to build a robot,” he said.
“We are looking to teach them how to build a business.
“We made the world championship, but we don’t know if we can do that year after year,” Henry said.
“If we can pull it off, I see the program lasting for several decades into the future before it winds down.”
Henry said students, volunteers and sponsors are all needed for the program.
For more information, email Henry at austinh054@gmail.com.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
