Funds Enable Regional Competition
Aurora Flight Sciences Awards
Robotics Team $5,000

By Bjorn Westergard (November 23, 2005)

The Robotics Team was awarded $5.000 last Saturday for completing five (out of a possible seven) building challenges at Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation’s research and development facility in Manassas last Saturday.  The visit was the culmination of several weeks of concerted efforts by the team to complete a series of challenges set forth by Aurora using a vast stockpile of Lego Mindstorms kits. The challenges included building replicas of competition robots from previous years, a robot that followed a line to an object and measured its temperature, and robots that could walk a minimum of 10 feet.

As an incentive to conquer these objectives, Aurora generously agreed to donate $1,000 per objective met, up to a maximum of $7,000.  The donations would go a long way towards funding the rapidly approaching 2006 season. After inspection by three Aurora engineers, the team was granted $5,000 dollars.  The team still has the potential to make an additional $2,000 with Lego prototypes after the 2006 season starts. "I think it's fantastic... we love these guys!" enthused Mr. Ballou, the team's sponsor and tireless advocate, echoing the general sentiment among the team. The majority of work on these “Lilliputian”-scale contraptions was done by the Robotics Team's significant contingent of underclass and eighth grade students.

Members of the GMHS Robotics Team, flanked by club sponsor Mr. Ballou, left, and Mr. Taylor, proudly display their creations, at Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation’s research and development facility in Manassas, Virginia, where the team was awarded a total of $5,000 for five small robots constructed from Lego Mindstorms

"[These challenges] provided an opportunity for the veteran members of the team to teach elementary mechanical design and programming concepts to new recruits, who we now hope will be able to more meaningfully contribute during the competition season," commented the team president and lead programmer Bjorn Westergard. 

A "climbing" robot ready to tackle some steep gradients!	A robot built to walk down a line to an object and measure its temperature.	A "lifting" robot demonstrates its capabilities.

Aurora Flight Sciences designs, manufactures, and operates unmanned aerial vehicles for scientific and military applications. The company's president, Dr. John Langford, conceived the unique partnership and gave the team a tour of the facilities.  He encouraged the students to "continue to pursue engineering careers." Students witnessed first-hand the engineering process as they saw awe-inspiring, completed aircraft as well as the discarded designs that led to the most current models. The parallels between the GM robotics program and the reality of professional engineering were very evident.

The George Mason Robotics Team (also known by its Latin moniker "Vae Victus") will need the funds for its third year of participation in the international FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics competition.

Every year a new and entirely different game/task is announced in early January. Teams receive a kit of parts that includes a common radio interface, processor, motors, and assorted electronic components. Teams then have six weeks to design and build a robot that will use the kit of parts to play the game both under remote control and autonomously (operating based on programmed algorithms and sensor input).  The only constraints are creative ability and a few rules to ensure safety. The program aims to give students a feel for what engineering is like, not only in the sense of applied math and science, but also in other ways, such as working within team, working with other teams, meeting deadlines, and even marketing oneself to the public.

With this most recent donation from Aurora, the team has collected a total of $8,000.  Other sponsors of the team include the Falls Church Police Association, Digital Design and Imaging, and GMHS itself.  These funds will go towards the $6,000 entrance fee for the FIRST regional competition in Annapolis, Maryland in March, as well as the aforementioned kit of parts. While the team is ecstatic to have secured the funding needed to compete this year, they remain dedicated to reaching their fundraising goal of $12,000, which would allow them to compete in the international championships in Atlanta, Georgia or attend a second regional competition.