Juneau Economic Development Council

2009/2010 FIRST® Season

Techies on the Tundra: LKSD Students and Their Robots Go the Distance!

This past weekend, LKSD hosted its inaugural high school FIRST Tech Challenge robotics competition at BRHS. Students, teachers and judges alike called it huge success! It was the culminating event for a school-year-long series of pilot courses through VTC instruction in LKSD. A total of eight teams from Kwethluk, Napaskiak, Oscarville, Akiuk, Tununak, and Kwigillingok participated.

Download the Event Program (PDF)

This year's challenge was "Hot Shots", with the object to work as a team to design a robot that would score whiffle balls in either a low, high or off-field goal while incurring as few penalties as possible. Matches consisted of a 30 second autonomous period followed by a 2 minute teleoperated period. Alliances composed of 2 teams with the highest scores win a match. Robots were programmed using National Instruments' LabView v9.0 language and consisted of a programmable brick, servo and motor controllers, Logitech teleoperated joysticks, Bluetooth connectivity, gears, wheels, motors and servos. Teams were also allowed to use other materials from a supplementary list of parts.

The competition and activities format was as follows:

  • Mechanical Engineering Inspection
  • Software Inspection
  • Pit Area (mechanical and programming stations to fix stuff and receive tech help)
  • Team Engineering Notebook
  • Team Interview
  • Practice Matches and Field Control System software training
  • Tech Help
  • 7 Qualifying Matches
  • Alliance Team Selection
  • Alliance Matches Single Elimination, best 2 out of 3 advances
  • Multimedia Presentation "Our Journey" by students from Oscarville

Each and every student put in their best effort and had fun with this challenge!!

FTC Awards and comments by judges

(numbers refer to official FIRST Tech Challenge registered team number)

Finalist Alliance: This trophy is awarded to the runner-up alliance of teams represented in the final match.

  • 3497B: Kwethluk (Magical Monkeys)
  • 3503: Oscarville

Winning Alliance: This award goes to the teams in the winning alliance represented in the final match.

  • 3498B: Kwigillingok
  • 3496: Napaskiak

Connect Award: This award is given to the team that is most connected with their local community and the engineering community. The recipient of this award is recognized for helping the community understand FIRST, the FIRST Tech Challenge, and the team itself. This year's team demonstrated gracious professionalism throughout the competition -- cooperating with other teams and helping where needed.

  • 3499: Tununak Coasters

Think Award: This award is given to the team that best reflects the "journey" the team took as they experienced the engineering design process during the build season (as demonstrated in their Engineering Notebook.) The engineering notebook for this year's team was amazing. The notebook showed incredible documentation, good detail, and a sense of humor.

  • 3500: The 3 Stoogets from Akiuk

Innovate Award: The Innovate Award celebrates a team that not only thinks outside the box, but also has the ingenuity and inventiveness to make their designs come to life. The judges were very impressed with this year's team's ability to make innovative modifications to their programming at the competition.

  • 3497B: The Magical Monkeys from Kwethluk

Inspire Award: This is the top award -- the Grand Champion. This award honors the team that truly embodies the "challenge" of the FTC program. They are role models in the FIRST community. The team is a top contender for all other judging categories and is a strong competitor on the field. Inspire Award winners are an inspiration to other teams, acting with gracious professionalism both on and off the Playing Field.

This year's Inspire Award winner was very enthusiastic throughout the tournament and the judging process. They designed a sturdy, well-built robot with many unique functions. They were also the only team that could score in the outer goal. It is a great pleasure to give this year's Inspire Award to:

  • Team3503: J-Clank from Oscarville

Special thanks go to BRHS for hosting the event, and the judges: Amy Wald - Kuskokwim Campus, Brian Rendell - LKSD Career and Technical Education, Agusta Lind - Alaska Statewide Teacher Mentor Network, Matt Cullin - UAA College of Engineering, and Tom Johnson and family - UAF College of Engineering and Mines.

For more information on FIRST activities in the Lower Kuskokwim School District, please contact:

    Marc Leinberger
    LKSD Career and Technical Education Specialist
    FLL and FTC Robotics Coordinator
    VTC Instructor
    Ph: 907-543-4836
    Fax: 907-543-4924