Robotics team headed to world championship

• A robot created by high school students from Wayne and Preble counties was a winner last weekend.
• Robots-R-Us created Destiny, a qualifier for the FIRST Robotics Competition championship.
• The 21-person team includes students from Richmond, Preble Shawnee and Eaton high schools.
• Major sponsors are Eaton Computer and Henny Penny Corp. in Eaton, Ohio.

A local robot has qualified to compete for a world championship.

“Goal accomplished,” said Spencer Lanman, captain and lead programmer of Robots-R-Us, a team of 21 high school students from Wayne and Preble counties.

Lanman is a senior at Richmond High School, which has six members on the team. Other members come from Eaton (Ohio) High School and Preble Shawnee High School in Camden, Ohio, or are home-schooled. The team’s workshop is at Eaton Computer, which is a major sponsor along with Henny Penny Corp. in Eaton.

The team’s robot, Destiny, was one of three teams to qualify for the championship at last weekend’s Georgia Southern Classic Regional of the FIRST Robotics Competition.

It wasn’t an easy victory.

First, Destiny failed inspection for being 11 pounds overweight. Team members figured out how to take off the excess while keeping the robot functional. Then, during the team’s first match, there was an accident that made it impossible to drive the robot. Once that was fixed, a gear box powering an elevator enabling Destiny to lift objects developed a problem that required repair.

“So for the first three matches, our robot wasn’t fully functional,” said member Dallas Heil, also a senior at RHS.

“That’s usually how it goes,” Lanman said. “You fix one thing, then you have to fix something else. You just kind of pray that’s the last thing.”

Heil said it especially was rewarding to win after facing so many difficulties.

The championship competition will be April 22-26 in St. Louis, Mo. Before that, Robots-R-Us will take Destiny to a second regional competition on April 1-4 in Cincinnati, which will give them more time to practice, make adjustments and work on strategies.

FIRST — For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology — is a Manchester, N.H.-based organization that issues annual technical challenges for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Each year, high school teams must design and build a robot to complete a specific task and games are created to test the robots’ abilities.

The St. Louis championship will include more than 600 teams from all over the United States and around the world.

“We would be lucky to do well,” said Heil.

Lanman agreed but said whatever happens, he’s just happy the team is going, something they have been hoping to do since their formation six years ago.

“We’ve already accomplished our goal, so whatever we do is beyond what we expected,” he said.

Support your local robot

•Henny Penny Corp. has donated the $5,000 required to register for the St. Louis Championship, but the team needs an additional $6,000 to offset the costs of travel, lodging and meals. Donations may be sent to Robots-R-Us, c/o Eaton Computer, P.O. Box 42, Eaton, OH 45320.

•Cheer on the team at the Queen City Regional on April 1-4 at the CINTAS Center, 1624 Herald Ave., Xavier University, Cincinnati. The event is free and open to the public. More information at www.queencityfirst.org.

•Learn more about the team at robotsrus.org.