Fulton Science Academy Robotics Team Qualifies for World Tournament

No one from Fulton Science Academy Charter High School’s robotics team could have predicted that their 7:30 a.m. arrival at a small-town, Tennessee high school would begin a day that would end, 16 grueling hours later, in exhaustion, elation and the top.

The robotics team had traveled to Baxter, Tenn., to compete in the Tennessee state FIRST Technology Challenge (FTC) robotics championship.

"The small team’s journey is a study in character, endurance and the powerful things that can happen when you work hard, stand up for your principles and do the right thing," according to Principal Namik Sercan. "The team, their teacher-sponsor, Mr. Tahir Duzyol, and their parents, all hoped that they would do well at the tournament, but no one was truly prepared for the final results."

FTC is an international robotic competition created by FIRST, a non-profit mentoring organization, whose mission it is to create science and technology leaders. 

The nine students on the team began to work on their robot in September. Three months later it received a grant from NASA and JC Penny in December to form an FRC team, which builds larger, more complex robots. That took five members of the team, leaving four members to continue with the FTC.

The FTC *STAR* team began working to design, build and program a robot capable of overcoming various obstacles on a playing field in two different modes: autonomous, pre-programmed course completion; and tele-op, during which a team driver maneuvers the obstacle course using a hand-held controller.  Every year, FTC’s challenge is different and students must start from scratch and build a new robot to meet that challenge.

The FTC team had to assign a new programmer, Brennen Bukovics. They also lost their parent-mentor, so Brennen’s mom, Teresa, stepped into that role. Parent- volunteers Bruce Bukovics and Randall Morgan were on hand as well. 

Major portions of the robot were still incomplete, and the software that controlled the robot had serious design flaws. The team worked to complete the robot and rewrite all of the software during the remainder of the semester and even during the few days of free time over the winter break.

The Georgia FTC regional competition that they planned to attend was cancelled due to snow and there just weren't enough weeks left in the season to reschedule another qualifying competition. That's when the team decided to schedule the trip to Tennessee.

The weekend prior to the trip, the team competed in the last scheduled Georgia regional competition, held in Stockbridge. This was their first competition with the robot and their last chance to qualify for the Georgia state championship. They placed second at the end of the initial qualification matches. And they won the Inspire award, which essentially is the best-in-show award. The winning team must have a well-designed robot that performs well. By winning the Inspire, they were invited to the Georgia state championship to be held at Southern Polytechnic University in Marietta.

The week after their win at the Georgia regional competition, the team traveled to Baxter, Tenn., to compete against teams from Tennessee, South Carolina and Arkansas. After a grueling 16-hour tournament, the FSA-HS team again won the Inspire award, which came with a big bonus: It qualified the team to advance to the world championship tournament in St. Louis in late April.

The Fulton team will compete against 99 of the top teams in the world. More than 15,000 high school students on 1,500 teams have competed in FTC this year.

The team competed at the Georgia state championship the week following their victory in Tennessee. They were part of a three-team alliance that won first place.   

This year’s FSA HS Robotics Team is the best performing robotics team in the history of Fulton Science Academy Charter High School. The FRC team members are looking forward to their first competition with their FRC robot in the middle of March in Gwinnett County.    

Because the team didn't expect to make it all the way to the world competition in St. Louis, they are now looking for additional sponsors to help defray the cost of the trip. Kimberly-Clark has stepped forward with a gift that will pay the entire entry fee. Donations can be sent to the school, FSA-High (FTC), at 4100 Old Milton Pkwy., Alpharetta, GA 30005.

Fulton Science Academy Principal Nemik Sercan contributed this article.