Eastern Shore Robotics visits Cypress Festival

Eastern Shore Robotics, FRC Team 1829, led by Chris Thompson, Chip Choquette, and Patti and Todd Winfield, visited the Cypress Festival on Saturday. Eastern Shore Robotics started as a team at Arcadia High School, and then Eastern Shore Robotics took over, thanks to the supervision and time given to Chris Thompson of SCSC (Surface Combat Systems Center). The main goal of ESR is to spread out around the shore gaining awareness in engineering and technology. They had the robot on location and also doing demonstrations throughout the day beside of their booth. The robot is made of a material called Carbon Fiber. Carbon Fiber was picked because of it's lightweight and duriability. Demonstrations showed just how the robot worked, and gave the kids at the festival a little fun, and freak out the people at the food stands. They were able to see exactly how it worked, and got to play witht the balls that it shot out. The robot was made for FRC's game called LUNACY. LUNACY is played on a 54' x 27' low friction field. Robots are equipped with slippery wheels and payload trailers. LUNACY game pieces are “Orbit Balls” designated as Moon Rocks, Empty Cells, or Super Cells. Two three-team robot alliances collect and score Orbit Balls in trailers attached to the opposing teams’ robots. Human players are positioned around the perimeter of the arena and can score from their stations. The team won the XEROX Creativity Award for the design of the robot as well as the Regional Engeneering Inspiration Award which allowed the team to go from the NASA/VCU Regional competition in Richmond, VA (March 19-21) to the World Competition in Atlanta, GA (April 16-18)

ESR is currently trying to start a LEGO League (Middle School, age 9-14) to gain awareness in more than just high school students, and to prepare people for the FIRST Robotics Comeptition.

If you would like to help out Eastern Shore Robotics, please visit http://www.esrobot.org/ to learn how to help.