Ryan Hannahoe/NASA GSFC Robotic Refueling Mission personnel discuss robotics concepts with Montgomery Blair High School Team 448 members during the students' visit to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center this summer.

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Students from Montgomery Blair High School’s FIRST Robotic Team visited NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center this summer.

Members of Team 449, a NASA-sponsored team, and their mentors toured the clean-rooms for the Robotic Refueling Mission (RRM) of the final flight of the Space Shuttle this summer and the James Webb Space Telescope, a tennis-court-sized looking glass that will operate a million miles from Earth by the end of the decade.

Team 449 members were led by James Webb Space Telescope staffers, including Optical Telescope Element Manager Lee Feinberg, who oversaw the development of the telescope’s lightweight mirrors, lightweight cryogenic structures and wavefront sensing.

As team members learned how NASA will service satellites, Eric Huang, a senior of Montgomery Blair High School, said, “It is cool to see how we can be the next [generation of] scientists and engineers.”

The group met with Andrew Lycas, a former FIRST competitor and current NASA summer intern from the University of Illinois. Lycas grew interested in robotics through computer programming and he now uses the skills that he learned in FIRST to apply to real-world applications at NASA.

Sagarika Das, a junior at Blair, said, “My mind is blown away by what is going on here at NASA.”

For more information about the Blair Robot Project, Team 449, visit: http://robot.mbhs.edu.

For more information on the James Webb Space Telescope, visit www.jwst.nasa.gov.

‘We were in awe’

by Eric Huang

Community Contributor

I have been in the Blair Robotics Club for three years (in my 4th year now). I was elected treasurer for sophomore year and vice president for junior year. Now I'm team president, and I handle leading the team, making sure our contracts are in, etc. This past year, I was in charge of our robot's arm. I helped design the arm and led my group as we built it and programmed it onto the final robot.

When our team visited Goddard, we were in awe of the technology, design process and the massiveness of the projects that Goddard was handling. What impressed me the most was the tools that Goddard used. The drill press that sprayed cooling liquid as it drilled was very impressive.

Being on the club allows me to learn what engineering is like and also allows me to work together with my friends to build a robot. This trip to Goddard allowed me to see just how important engineering is in our exploration of space and how it can be massive in the professional world.

‘An enlightening experience’

By Doyung Lee

Community Contributor

The Blair Robot Project is more than just a club. Over the years, it has changed from a club, to a team, to a family for me.

As a member of the robotics team for over three years, I have experienced this team grow exponentially in membership, spirit, and most importantly, a sense of pride and closeness in the team. It has really been great working with both mentors and new members. With an environment with all these people, I have had the privilege to be both a teacher and a student. I don't think any other "club" provides such an experience to their members.

It has also taught me so much about engineering, robotics and organizing a team. From parts ordering, brainstorming sessions to team meetings, I've learned so much. The mentors taught me how to overcome with issues and problems in the real world, and my teammates taught me how to be a team player and a better person.

What the Goddard trip did for me was also unique. While we did have great mentors in our team who showed us the possibilities of what the future of a prospective engineer like me would look like, it wasn't very clear. This trip really opened the doors to what engineering students might do when they become older.

It also showed me the role engineering and robotics played in the real world; since I was so used to mostly competitive robotics, getting to see robots used in a practical, yet still amazing way, was an enlightening experience.

‘Very challenging, exciting and fun’

by Bowen Zhi

Community Contributor

Last year was my first year with the Blair Robot Project, in which I joined the programming subteam. The experience working with others to build and program the robot was very challenging, exciting and fun.

At first I found it rather astounding that a group of high school students just like me could build a robot of such high caliber, but once I went through build season, there was no doubt in my mind that the team could build these robots.

The teamwork required to build a successful robot is high, and that is exactly the teamwork that Team 449 had this year, in years before, and hopefully in years to come. The experience of being part of the team and contributing to it by working closely with other team members is not an easy one to get, and it makes me proud of being on the team, not to mention that one learns a lot being on the team about engineering, programming, electronics, wiring, and the like.

After having gone to NASA Goddard, I noticed many parallels between Goddard and Team 449. The organization, structure, design process and cooperation are rather similar between Goddard and our robotics team.

Kickoff (the time when FIRST announces what that year's robotics competition is and signals the beginning of build season) to our team is similar to a new issue being introduced at Goddard. We brainstorm what we should have as possible designs for the competition, what priorities of the competition we should have or take, similar to how the people at Goddard brainstorm about how to solve a particular problem.

When building, we are split into different subteams that work together to build a robot, similar to the different roles and jobs people at Goddard have, who work together to create a final product. The many similarities between how we and the people at NASA Goddard work show that what we are doing by taking part in the FIRST Robotics Competition is not distant from what the people working at large engineering and scientific companies such as NASA do in real-life scenarios.

Being on the robotics team to me is not like being on just some club or team. Sure, it is similar in that it is a very fun experience and takes stress out of school, but it also gives useful knowledge of robotics and gives experience and preparation of working in the fields of engineering, programming, technology and science, thus preparing us for possible careers of interest in the future.

‘Talk about commitment’

By Sagarika Das

Community Contributor

FIRST FRC Team 449 (The Blair Robot Project) isn’t just like any other team at Montgomery Blair High School — we’re a family of more than 50 kids and 20 adults. We’re a family that meets regularly on Thursdays for an hour, with everyday meetings to build our robots from January through March. We’re a family that immerses our members in the world of STEM, teaching them essential real world skills, all while having fun. We’re a family that looks out for one another, and even after graduating high school, everyone is welcome back to visit us in Room 361. Talk about commitment.

I joined the team as a freshman, initially just looking for a way to spend my Thursdays after school. My endeavours with the team began as one of the few team rookies (or freshmen) that year. I learned the ropes of the team by completing and assisting in simple tasks — maybe screwing something in, filing a sharp edge. This didn’t interest me too much.

I needed to take a couple months hiatus from the team because my dad was extremely sick. I was spending many days after school at the hospital. I needed an outlet, an escape, somewhere to let out my frustration and somewhere to be productive. That’s when our then team president, Ben Shaya, took me on as his mentee and I began working on more difficult machining and mechanical work. This is how I found my niche: mechanics. This is also how I learned about myself.

I enjoyed the feeling I got when I machined a piece of 80-20 to build the frame of our final robot or when I drilled holes that would hold the shaft that held together the kicker on the robot, an essential part to our 2009-2010 robot.

This past year I loved seeing the team come together and rocket us to 3rd place at the North Carolina Regional through our camaraderie and effort. Of course, seeing our “baby” on the field driving around with other robots always makes it worthwhile.

But most of all, I appreciated being able to work with amazingly gifted people. FIRST is about being an individual and a team. We learn and teach others how to let their creative energies flow, but also to share these ideas and abilities with other people all working towards a common goal. The core values of FIRST, gracious professionalism and cooperation, teach us to appreciate and work with others, both in and out of competition. At the end of the day, it’s not about winning — it’s about working towards the future. The impact we have on our communities and the youth in our area serve as constant reminders of why our team and other FIRST teams are so important to the future.

The trip to NASA Goddard was extremely paralleled to what we do at 449.The engineers at NASA spoke to us about designing, prototyping, understanding criteria and constraints, working with time lines and budgets — all of which we deal with at 449 — and the latest innovations and at NASA.

Our tour included learning about projects such as the James Webb Space Telescope and the robots that are being built to complete tasks at the International Space Station. We walked all over Goddard campus, viewing clean rooms, labs, and machines, and meeting with various scientists and engineers, many of whom are FIRST alumni. It was especially exciting and empowering to see our team’s banner up at NASA.

The entire time I kept thinking about how Goddard, in many ways, is a large-scale Team 449, minus the part where my mind gets regularly blown by a multimillion-dollar project that sends a rover into space. So much of what we value and learn with FIRST is applicable to the real world, as exemplified at NASA.

Tell us about your unique experience. Send it to Judith Hruz, editor of community engagement, at jhruz@gazette.net or call 301-670-2073.

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