Kettering University

High school teams from Troy, Saginaw, Royal Oak and Muncie, Ind., combined strengths and won the "Top Dog" championship award at the 2006 Kettering Kickoff robotics competition Saturday, Sept. 23, 2006, in Flint

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The Hammerheads of Troy (Team 226), Team Phoenix (Team 703) of the Saginaw Career Complex, the Oaktown Crewz of Royal Oak (Team 1188), and PhyXTGears (Team 1720) of Muncie, Ind. were part of a four-team alliance that won the Seventh Annual Kettering Kickoff at Kettering University. (Team Photos)

The high school robotics competition is affiliated with FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a national effort to inspire youth to explore career possibilities in engineering, science and technology. The event is a head-to-head competition between large radio-controlled robots built by teams of high school students and sponsoring engineers. The Kettering Kickoff serves as an organizing event to "kick off" the start of the 2007 competition season but still using the game, rules and robots of the 2006 FIRST national competition.

Taking second place honors were an alliance of:
** Thunderchickens of Sterling Heights (Team 217),
** Robocats of Girard, Ohio, (Team 379), and
** Tech-No-Maniacs of Royal Oak (Team 1286).

Other awards handed out included the following.

Top Score of the Day: an alliance of the More Martians of Goodrich (Team 70), Team Phoenix of Saginaw (Team 703) and PhyXTGears (Team 1720) of Municie, Ind., came together for the top match score of the day of 106 for a single match.

#1 Seed: The #1 ranked team after qualifying matches went to the Tech-No-Maniacs of Royal Oak (Team 1286).

Robot Design Excellence Award: The highest design award went to More Martians of Goodrich (Team 70) for excellence in aesthetics, performance, reliability, efficiency and innovation.

Spirit of FIRST Award: The award for team spirit, collaboration, gracious professionalism, teamwork and being ambassadors of FIRST went to the Robocats of Girard, Ohio, (Team 379).

Safety Award: The award that celebrates a team's ability to progress beyond safety fundamentals by using innovative ways to protect hazards was presented to Oaktown Crewz of Royal Oak (Team 1188).

Long Shot Award: The award that celebrates the team that travels the greatest distance to participate in the Kettering Kickoff went to the Shock-A-Bots of Rochester, N.Y., (Team 1567). They traveled more than 350 miles.

In all, 31 teams from four states participated in the robotics contest. Hosts of this year's event were:
More Martians from Goodrich/Kettering (Team 70),
Big Mo from Carman-Ainsworth HS of Flint (Team 314),
F.I.R.E. from Flint Community Schools (Team 322),
Knight Riders from Flint Southwestern and Bendle High Schools in Flint (Team 397),
Baker Explorers from Flint (Team 468),
Goodrich Martians from Goodrich (Team 494),
G.R.A.Y.T. Leviathons from Fenton (Team 1322),
Metal Muscle from Kettering (Team 1506).

This year's sponsors were Fernco Inc. and Kettering University.

Each year, the schedule for the Kettering Kickoff includes:

** opening ceremonies at 8:30 or 9 a.m.,
** followed by seeding matches until mid-day,
** a lunch break,
** an afternoon of elimination rounds,
** tournament championship rounds are between 3:30 and 5 p.m.

The 2006 participants by Team # and Team Name were:

#5, Robocards, Allen Park
#27, Team Rush, Ortonville
#33, Killer Bees, Auburn Hills
#47, Chief Delphi, Pontiac Central High School
#70, More Martians, Goodrich High School
#85, BOB (Built on Brains), Zeeland
#217, Thunderchickens, Sterling Heights
#226, Hammerheads, Troy
#314, Megatron Oracles, Carmon-Ainsworth High School, Flint
#322, F.I.R.E., Flint Schools
#379, Robocats, Girard, Ohio
#397, Flint Southwestern Academy
#447, Team Roboto, Anderson, Ind.
#468, Baker College Explorers, Flint
#470, Alpha Omega Robotics, Ypsilanti
#494, Martians, Goodrich
#503, Frog Force, Novi
#703, Phoenix, Saginaw
#815, Advanced Power, Allen Park
#894, Powers Chargers, Flint
#1188, Oaktown Crewz, Royal Oak
#1189, The Gearheads, Grosse Pointe
#1213, Friends of 1213, Waterford
#1243, Dragons, Swartz Creek
#1286, Tech-no-maniacs, Royal Oak
#1322, The G.R.A.Y.T. Leviathons, Fenton
#1502, Technical Difficulties, Chelsea
#1506, Metal Muscle, Kettering University
#1528, iPirates, Monroe
#1567, Shock-a-Bots, Rochester, N.Y.
#1720, PhyXTGears, Muncie, Ind.
#1783, Firebots, West Branch
#1856, Michigan Tech Academy, Redford

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For more information on Kettering’s popular Kettering Kickoff robotics contest, call Sally Hicks at (810) 762-9760 or email: shicks@kettering.edu.