As sponsors of the Center Moriches High School Robotics Team, Biodex was proud to host the group at their Shirley, New York headquarters to get a demonstration of their latest robotic creation. Students enjoyed a captive audience for their robot demonstration and a tour of the facility.
As four-year sponsors of the team, Biodex has seen it grow from a handful of members to a diverse clan of around forty students. Each year the team competes in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, a national program that challenges teams of students and their mentors to design and build a 130-pound robot in six weeks under specified guidelines.
During their visit to Biodex, the group gave a demonstration of the robot they competed with last March, a finalist at the North Tech Valley Regional and a quarter finalist at the SBPLI Regional last competition season. This robot was able to pick up balls from the floor, shoot at a goal, climb a rope and grab a gear to complete a cog. Some tasks had to be accomplished autonomously by the robot, while some required a student’s control. The team even invited Biodex employees to take a turn driving the robot.
Team representatives Kevin Gmelin and Pablo Saravia talked about how this year was a year of firsts: the first time making it to the finals and the first year they competed in two competitions—the latter being made possible by sponsors like Biodex, according to presenter Saravia.
All fundraising for the club is organized and executed by the students. Jason Roy, the group’s advisor and a technology teacher at Center Moriches High School, describes the students’ self-sufficiency: “They do all the fundraising, make all the phone calls themselves, do all the building, welding, and programming.”
Biodex will proudly help support the team again for another year, and looks forward to seeing what new creation will be produced for the FTC this upcoming March.
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