JAY — Spruce Mountain Area Robotics Team 3930 (SMART) is two weeks into the build season for this year’s FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) and realizing how much engineering is involved.

Advisor Daniel Lemieux said, “It blows my mind how complex this game is. People don’t realize the amount of engineering involved.”

Spruce Mountain Area Robotics Team 3930 is in the midst of building their robot for this year’s FIRST Robotics Competition game Destination: Deep Space. Pictured from left are Jonathan Brenner and Hunter Quirrion as they work on part of an elevator system for their robot. (Livermore Falls Advertiser photo by Pam Harnden)

Monday SMART members spent much of the day at the high school.

Mentor Rick Dorey was helping Hannah Coates cut lengths of electrical wiring.

Lemieux cut a piece of wood from a model that would eventually be a metal structure. The final design will be used to place hatches on the game’s rocket ship then deliver cargo to the ship.

One challenge comes from the 48 inch limit on the height of the robot but having a 76 inch high portal where some cargo pods must be delivered.

SMART plans to use a cascade elevator to lift the pod (a bright orange ball about the size of a soccer ball).

Spruce Mountain Area Robotics Team 3930 is in the midst of building their robot for this year’s FIRST Robotics Competition game Destination: Deep Space. Pictured from left are mentor Rob Taylor, Orion Schwab, Quinn Fournier, Jonathan Brenner, Hunter Quirrion (facing away) and Drew Delaney while they consider how to get a cargo pod into the top hole in their rocket ship. (Livermore Falls Advertiser photo by Pam Harnden)

Drew Delaney suggested making the elevator’s carriage smaller to get it to reach higher.

Orion Schwab said the problem is the cargo is too low and a way must be found to get it higher.

Mentor Rob Taylor said, “It’s not a a lot of distance but any distance is a problem. We’re using a multistage system with gaps in between. It’s achievable but not simple.”

The FRC game this year is a tribute to the first walk on the moon which happened 50 years ago. Alliances made up of two teams compete against each other.

Each alliance has two rockets, a cargo ship and a habitat area. Points are scored by attaching hatches to the rockets and cargo ship so that cargo pods can be loaded on them. Returning to the habitat before the end of the match will also earn points. The winner is the alliance with the most points at the end of a match.

Spruce Mountain Area Robotics Team 3930 is in the midst of building their robot for this year’s FIRST Robotics Competition game Destination: Deep Space. Annabelle Collins works on her laptop to finish a team update. (Livermore Falls Advertiser photo by Pam Harnden)

SMART has just under four weeks to finish building and programming its robot. Team members are also working on a business plan, the Chairman’s Award essay and video and spirit materials for the FRC Destination: Deep Space game.

pharnden@sunmediagroup.net