Ark Valley News - Winning innovation

Caleb Scarberry (left), 15, of Derby works on a chassis with 17-year-old Blake Smith of Bel Aire. The homeschool students are part of the 45-member Wichita Warriors BEST robotics team.

Winning innovation
By Matt Heilman
Last Updated: November 06, 2013

Collective effort yields long-range success for robotics team

Like a well-oiled machine, every part serves a purpose. For five days per week over the last month, 45 high school-aged home school students have spread out at stations set up in the spacious, metal-sided shop building on property owned by Paul and Penny Weddle of Park City.

For about 20 hours per week leading up to an annual competition, students from as far as 35 miles away from the Weddle property have gathered at the site to compete on the Wichita Warriors BEST robotics team. The home school students represent communities throughout the area including Wichita, Valley Center, Park City, Bel Aire, Derby Maize, Benton, Haysville, Towanda, Goddard, Newton, Rose Hill and Belle Plaine. BEST is a national program established to boost students' interests in math, science and engineering.

The acronym stands for Boosting Engineering, Science and Technology.

On Oct. 19, the students at the Weddle property were making strides on their project of building a robot to compete at the Kansas BEST competition Nov. 2 at Hartman Arena.

The Kansas BEST winner moves on to regional level of the BEST robotics competition Dec. 6 in Fort Smith, Ark.

In simple terms, the competition requires students to construct a robot that can perform certain tasks. This year, the challenge for Kansas BEST 2013 is to design a robot to construct a Central Processing Unit over the course of three fabrication stages.

Computer-based judgment grades the robots' performance, but there's also a human element involved where aspects such as presentation and spirit are taken into account.

In line with the robot construction, students are required to prepare a notebook that goes over the robot's final design and the trial and error process of reaching the final design.

Senior Sara Harms, in her fourth year competing on the robotics team has the title of "co-BEST leader" in charge of the team compiling the notebook. Harms said the notebook is a significant part of the competition that was to be judged during a trial run of the team's robot a week ahead of the Nov. 2 competition.

Each year, the BEST Robotics competition features area teams at the private, public and home school levels. And just about every year, the Wichita Warriors are in the running to win the competition at the state level.

This year, the group expects to perform at a high level, putting forth the workload needed to compete for hardware. On Oct. 19, the collective work ethic was on full display with students gathered at stations throughout the shop.

A loft area of the Weddle's shop has been converted into a computer lab where robotics team members have worked on web page design and structural design of the robot via a CAD program.

In a corner of the room, several large trophies stand in a group. The trophies represent less than half of the awards the Wichita Warriors robotics team has won in the last 14 years, said this year's BEST team leader, Sam Burk of Wichita.

Below the loft area on Oct. 19, students were divided into separate departments. On the main shop floor, mechanical groups worked on different functions of the robot including an arm team, a claw team and a chassis team.

As the entire operation runs like a small business, another student is seen as "the department head" of the robotics team, the group that implements the design work completed by students on a CAD program.

Until Nov. 2, designated as "game day," the team requested that no photos be taken of the robot.

Burk is responsible for helping team members find a role in which they can best contribute and make sure the overall project runs smoothly.

"I'm amazed at watching these students mentor one another," said Karen Smith, of Bel Aire, whose two sons, 17-year-old Blake and 14-year-old Devin are participating in their first year with the Wichita Warriors robotics team.

Blake Smith has been assigned to the chassis team, showcasing his building skills while Devin has had the chance to expand his technological strengths by learning the CAD system.

"I'm just blown away by what these kids are learning," Smith said.

Burk, in his fourth year on the Wichita Warriors robotics team, said his involvement in robotics started with his interest in playing with Legos when he was in elementary school. He competed in the Lego Minestorm Competition before expanding his skill set into robotics.

"Legos are what really got me into robotics, but after that, robotics has really shaped what I want to get into and what I'm learning about," he said.

In college next year, Burk said he's planning to major in computer science at Wichita State University. Others in the group that share his technical affluence are looking toward similar career paths, but overall, the interests and skills of the Wichita Warriors robotics team is diverse, said David Alexander, the mentor of the organized group tagged with the title of "principal." Alexander, a network architect for Spirit Aerosystems had three of his now grown children compete on the Wichita Warriors robotics team.

He and his wife, Bev Alexander, have stayed involved to support the students, whether they be learning a design program, learning how to operate a skill saw or expressing their creativity.

Beyond programming, building and data collecting, team members work on designing t-shirts, constructing and decorating a booth, creating and editing a video project and keeping a solid rapport with fellow schools as part of the spirit team.

While the goal of the BEST program is to get students interested in engineering, math and science, Alexander said former Wichita Warriors robotics team members have gone on to fill a wide range of career paths including in marketing, teaching and physics.

Park City resident Jacob Burford, a senior who previously has played soccer for the Wichita Warriors home school team, is in his first year participating in robotics. Burford said he knew the program was successful and he joined because he was curious and "thought it'd be fun."

He said he is interested in film editing and directing film, but hasn't yet decided what area of study he'd like to pursue past high school. On the robotics team, Burford said he found a niche in building gears. His younger brother, sophomore Joel Burford said he started working on the t-shirt design team and had moved on to working on electronics.

Hudson Paris, a sophomore from Bel Aire has been designated a co-BEST leader in his second year on the robotics team. He said he's in charge of overseeing the spirit team and construction of the booth among several leadership responsibilities.

"I think especially the leadership skills that I'm learning here are going to be helpful in college," Paris said.

Paris' sister, Larkin Paris is one of the college-aged student mentors for the team that were part of the Wichita Warriors group in high school. The mentors are available for support and can offer some guidance, but they're not allowed to actually get their hands on any part of the project, Alexander said.

As the group's overarching mentor, Alexander said he's also limited on what he can do to help the students. Like a principal at a school, he indicated his primary role is basically to support team leaders and make sure that every student has a job to do.

"It's just amazing to watch what these students come up with," he said. "All we do is provide the environment for them to learn as they go forward."