BIDDEFORD — In October, Biddeford High School launched its first-ever robotics team, and just four months later it was competing in the Maine State VEX Robotics Championship, which was held at Hampden Academy on Feb. 21.

Michelle Lane, a BHS technology education teacher who created and coached the robotics team, said last week that she’s proud of what the team ”“ which is actually made up of two teams, with two students on each team ”“ was able to accomplish with such little time to prepare.

“At our first competition I was just hoping we didn’t finish last,” she said.

The two teams did a lot better than not finishing last. In their first competition, at Cape Elizabeth High School in November, BHS seniors Zach Petermann and Ben Nason ”“ Team 1596A PRIDE ”“ placed first, qualifying for the state championship, while BHS juniors Mike Cantara and Phillip Huoth ”“ Team 1596T Tiger PRIDE ”“ lost in the semifinals. 

In the teams’ second competition, at Greely Middle School in January, Petermann and Nason lost in the quarterfinals, while Cantara and Huoth placed second. Lastly, at the state championship in February, both teams were knocked out in the quarterfinals.

Winning or losing aside, the four students said last week that the experience was both fun and beneficial, and Cantara and Huoth said they plan to compete again next year along with Devin Cheetham-Wilmot, a BHS freshman who helped the teams out at the Greely competition.

Lane said she already had one robot before deciding to start the team last fall, so she challenged Petermann, who was already taking a robotics class, to create another.

“Instead of building Legos and stuff I got nice metal pieces and everything dropped in front of me, and (Lane) said, ”˜We need a robot,’ so I went along and built one,” said Petermann.

He said it took a couple of months of rigorous work to build it.

“But then I realized it had to actually work properly,” he added with a laugh. It was ready for competition a few weeks later.

In a word, Petermann’s machine, which is small enough to rest on your lap, is simple. “Mine’s as simple as you can get,” he said. “It’ll move forward and backwards and turn, and (its claw) will go up and down and grab stuff.” 

And there was no question among the teammates that simple is the way to go.

“Simple is better than complex, that’s for sure,” said Cantara.

Other schools’ robots were very complex, the students said, and that often spelled trouble for them when competing.

“The complex ones would be so complex that one thing would go wrong, and then you can’t use the robot because it would just fall to pieces,” said Petermann.

This year the competitions involved four robots within a ring at once ”“ two working against two ”“ and were scored by a fairly complex point system.

With what resemble Xbox controllers at first glance, the competitors drove their robots around the ring, essentially trying to build towers out of red and blue hollow blocks and yellow pins. The more pins they stacked on top of one another and the more blocks they stacked around those pins, the more points they scored. Lane later clarified that the competition will be different next year, as it changes from year to year.  

But regardless of what the robots are doing, a large chunk of any competition involves remedying technological problems that come up unexpectedly, said Petermann.

 “If something went wrong, you had to … try to troubleshoot it as fast as you possibly could ”“ like screws falling out, motors not working, stuff coming unplugged,” he said, adding that competitors could only rest for a couple of minutes at a time for the duration of a competition.

 Beyond the technical knowledge gained through competing, the students said the experience allowed them to forge friendships, build teamwork skills and simply have a good time. 

“It definitely made school more enjoyable,” said Cantara.

“It’s nice to be able to go and do things outside of school,” said Huoth.

As competitions are structured so that schools must form alliances with other schools, the Biddeford students were not only able to get to know one another, but they were able to meet many like-minded high school students across Maine, as well.

“They weren’t hard to get along with,” Cantara said of other schools’ competitors.

In an email last week, Lane thanked the team’s sponsors ”“ the Robotics Institute of Maine and the Perloff Family Foundation ”“ and added that, since travel and other expenses can start to mount, anyone interested in sponsoring the robotics team should email her at mlane@biddefordschooldepartment.org.

Lane also said her ultimate goal is to grow BHS’s robotics team.

“My goal for next year is to have at least three teams competing, so I can get more students interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) career fields,” she said. 

— Staff Writer Angelo J. Verzoni can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 329 or averzoni@journaltribune.com.