Firebots a Winner in West Fulton

By David Avitabile

WEST FULTON - If robotics are the wave of the future, the West Fulton Firebots have a great head start.

The Firebots, a team of seven teenagers and coach Bruce DeLaet, have been meeting almost every Friday since September at the West Fulton firehouse to work on a tech challenge issued by the international robotics organization for a competition.

This is the first year for the West Fulton team and it has been a successful one. The team is made up of two teenagers from West Fulton, two from Middleburgh, two from Jefferson, and one from Gilboa. Some of the team members were previously on a team in Berne.

The participants spent the first few months to put together the robots, using parts that look like old Erector sets, Coach DeLaet said.

The robots have been built to meet this year's challenge. The robots are to collect blocks in a 12-foot cube. The challenge begins with a 3-second autonomous routine that is based on code. Then the the team has two minutes to collect as blocks as possible and put them in a basket and a "human scoring zone" in the corners. At the end, the team can earn extra points if the robot can "hang."

In December, the Firebots attended their first competition as a team and were very successful winning four out of the five qualifying matches, ending the qualifying round in fifth place, securing them a spot in the playoffs. They wound up captaining the #4 alliance. Their alliance lost its first match, won their second, and got knocked out by losing their third, giving them a fourth place finish, out of six in the playoffs. They also won second place for the connect award.

There are more than 27,000 members in the international competition, though not all members are active, Coach DeLaet noted.

The organization was formed to foster the love of Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM), he added.

"There's nothing in this area like this," Coach Delaet. He hope for more teams in the area. "We're a rookie team."

Coach DeLaet, a diesel mechanic, has been added by parents and adults including computer engineer Patrick Milano.

Team members are: Camryn DeLaet, Caleb DeLaet, Clyde Shaul, LeGrand Shaul, Ethan Spivak, Dewey Young, and Kayden Allen.

Last weekend, the Firebots came in second place out of 26 teams in qualifying matches which allowed them to be the captain of an alliance in the playoffs They bested four other alliances consisting of eight teams to finish in second place as the second place alliance captains of a two team alliance. They are moving on to the state competition at MVCC in March. The world competition is in Texas.

For more information, check out their Facebook page under West Fulton Firebots 27239.