Team 1370 Blue Charge

Middletown Robotics, Team 1370

The end of an era...

by Aaron Schultz, Sept. 2006

2006 Robotics Team

Three years old and going on four, Middletown Robotics has changed a lot since it first began. Students graduate, mentors move on, but for all those involved at some point or another, it has been a source of pride and joy to remember forever. Now, with the loss of our final two original teachers, Mrs. Shemanski and Mrs. Wainwright, the 2007 season marks the beginning of a new era, an era to be shaped and formed not by elders, mentors, teachers or parents, but by ambitious students with an unceasing drive to succeed. It is as this change, this tremendous movement away from tradition, occurs that we look back upon our past, to remember the days of old, reminisce about times once had, and use them to build a better tomorrow.

As Brad Sheets put it:

What would a group of super smart kids do in the downtime of a Robotics competition? I can tell you that it’s definitely not normal. I can remember the group driving around and exploring the sights that Pittsburgh had to offer. With a hill in front of us a hundred feet tall, we decided to ride on a giant lift that raises you over the sky line. It had been running for decades and never had serious problems. Of course, our team has the worst luck. I thought something would happen so I stayed at the bottom.  The rest of the team rode it up to the top and got off, and another group of people got on. Well, then the lift broke and I was right for once. Jen [Hummel] and I were stuck at the base of the hill. The funny thing was the trolley hit the window right behind me. I ran for my life as Jen laughed at me, and even now I still get made fun of. We were left there at the bottom of the hill for 2 hours before the rest of the team caught up to us."

Jen had her own story to tell. Asleep in the van on the way to one competition, she remembers waking to "screaming, blood, and... a pole going through an invisible man's gut." No one was harmed, of course, since it was only the movie Hollow Man, but the moment was still a fine representation of what she jokingly remembers as "a team filled with crazed lunatics, science and math nerds, and lazy people who know how to work power tools."

As we have come to know, this is what robotics is all about — not just the work and competition, but the wild ride that keeps everyone chugging along happily. Bethany McCabe became a "Smoo Smarkly Smurf" as she and Jen diligently painted the robot's shipping crate that would later become the centerpiece to our competition pit, her arms covered in silver and blue paint and her attitude a bit more cheerful. Nick Keane became the infamous videographer, obnoxiously filming the team's work in the shop while informing his audience of the wonders of Adam the "Magical Leprechaun." Mr. Morton became the one-hand clapper, Adam DiNetta always had pockets full of random tools, and the "Thrustmastas" had more fun with zip ties than they could deal with. Meanwhile, Pierce Lopez was doing backflips, proving that even programmers can have "mad hops."

So what have we gleaned from all of this excitement? Well, not only has robotics become an experience that we all look forward to year after year, but the fun we have had has made our team like a second family. We talk, we hang out, and through all this we build relationships that can reduce the stress of the competition season. We know how to deal with each others' faults, we know who has what skills, and we are all the better for it.

Now, with an organizational change unparalleled in our team history, we are using these foundations to build up a force to be reckoned with. Our veterans have become mentors and our rookies have become ambitious veterans, creating a team run almost entirely by the its own past participants. Watch out, because this is a new beginning.