Jessica MacNeil

Team Hyper begins its robotics season
October 3, 2008

Every Wednesday at Quincy High School’s Center for Technical Education in Quincy, MA, students from the school and nearby North Quincy High School meet as Hyper Robotics Team 69.

Team Hyper’s name is an acronym for its purpose: helping youth pursue engineering and robotics. Sponsored by Quincy Public Schools and Gillette, the team designs and builds robots to compete in regional competitions and nationally in the FIRST Robotics Competition.

In its 12 years, the team has received 18 awards and honors, many of which are displayed as banners above their workspace.

Though the design and building process for the FIRST competitions won’t start until January 2009, the team has a lot of non-engineering work to do in the meantime.

An important part of their preparation will be safety training and learning how to use the necessary tools and equipment. Students will attend weekly meetings and training sessions this month to ready them for competition.

Also this month, the team will be focused on raising money for supplies and to travel to their competitions. On October 4 the team will have a can/bottle drive at Quincy High School and will have a booth at Quincy’s Oktoberfest. On October 14, team members will fundraise at Senator Michael Morrissey’s informational event on alternative energy at the Quincy Historical Society. The team also plans to design and sell Hyper t-shirts to supporters.

The team’s first competition, the LEGO League Competition, will be held on December 6 at North Quincy High School.

Another aspect of this team that you may not consider is the work the students get to do in areas outside of robotics. To prepare Team Hyper 69 for next year’s competition, a number of students will be working behind the scenes at photography, marketing, and Web design to help promote the team.

Though Team Hyper is run like a well-oiled machine, the students are not allowed to lose sight of their academics. Just like any high school athlete, the team members must turn in good academic performances to stay involved with the team. Report cards are reviewed by team mentors, and students are encouraged to do homework at meetings if necessary.

A crucial part of this program’s success is its mentors. Teachers, engineers, and public relations representatives all dedicate their time and energy to teaching the students and making the program work.

There are mentors from within the school, who use their skills as math, science, and welding teachers to train and advise the students. Paul Mauriello is a former engineer who is involved with the Quincy School Department and a leader and coach of the team.

Also among the numerous mentors involved with the team is Brian Smith, who has been with the team for 12 years and spent ten years at Gillette. Smith helps train students to use video equipment, in photography, and in TV production, and was a coach at last year’s FIRST competition.

A number of Gillette engineers, mechanics, and machinists have worked with the team. The team’s chief engineer is Rob Gordon, a graduate of Quincy High School, who has been working with the team for 11 years. Gordon helps with the mechanical engineering of the robots, but is also involved in other aspects like fundraising.

Kirsten Whitten of G.T. Graphics & Marketing in Hanson, MA not only helps with the public relations for the team, but will be mentoring any team members interested in what she does.

Check back for more, as I continue to follow Team Hyper's progress and feature the team and its members in subsequent posts.

Posted by Jessica MacNeil on October 3, 2008 | Comments (1)