Go 2252, go! EHOVE students walk away the winners

They only had six weeks, but they made it work. EHOVE Career Center Engineering Technology students built a robot with guidance from EHOVE Instructors Jim McIntyre and Steve Spriggs, and Engineer Mentors Alex Yeckley of Sierra Lobo, Rich Evans of NASA Plum Brook, and James Draper of BGSU Firelands/Lorain County Community College. They put together a winner.

On Saturday, at the ninth annual FIRST Buckeye Regional Robotics Competition held at the Wolstein Center of Cleveland State University, the EHOVE team, 2252, walked away with the top prize. Their regional win qualifies them to attend the national FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Ga., on April 15-17. The competition this year included over 60 teams hailing from Ohio to New York to Wisconsin.

FIRST, founded in 1989 by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen, combines extreme sports with engineering and technology to inspire young people's interest and participation in science, technology and engineering. Sponsored by the NASA Glenn Research Center, the event challenges high school students, with guidance from professional mentors, to design and build a competitive robot to play in a game called Breakaway. The game is played on a 27 foot by 54 foot field, with two groups of three teams attempting to earn points by collecting soccer balls in goals or suspending the robot in air at the end of the match.

EHOVE Engineering Technology student Alex Prosser, Bellevue High School, said, "The process starts with a kick-off event with an opening ceremony, where we review the rules. Then our next step is brainstorming."

The members offer up ideas that turn into prototypes that eventually turn into the robot. "The best part is putting it together, then firing it up," said Prosser. Their method seems to have been right, as the group also won the Innovation in Control Award, for their gyro control, which allows the robot to move in any direction, regardless of which way it's facing.

There's a lot of testing involved too. "We test the code a lot to see if the robot has good reactions and strong components," said EHOVE Engineering Technology student Aaron Ohlemacher, Norwalk High School. Several of the team members felt they were well prepared. "Our robot was very reliable," said Ohlemacher.

"Our sponsors have been great. We couldn't have done it without them," said McIntyre, who is working to find additional funding for flights and hotels, so the students can attend the National competition. McIntyre and Spriggs have thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the process from day one. To them, it's worth putting in many extra unpaid hours to see their EHOVE students succeed.

EHOVE Career Center is a renowned career tech school in Milan Township. This high school and adult education facility draws students from a variety of locales, and serves multiple school districts as well in Erie, Huron and Ottawa counties. Students are given the opportunity to take challenging academic classes in a customized and relevant curriculum to prepare them for a specific career or college, and learn skills to advance in the trade of their choice, for now or the future. A wide variety of career paths and training opportunities are available for many professions. More information is available at www.ehove .net.

Sponsors -- Sierra Lobo (primary sponsor), Riley Contracting, Elektron Forge, John McIntyre Jr., Schlessman Seed Company, Carol Kuns family, JBT Foodtech, Smart Consortium, Martha Holden-Jennings Foundation and NASA .