Team members work together on the robot.

Tea parties are often associated with toddlers and stuffed animals socializing over plastic food and imaginary beverages. “Across the pond,” tea parties are sometimes classy affairs for England’s upper class.

At Parkville High School in Baltimore County, however, tea parties are all about whirring machinery and high tech robotics.

Each year, the students from Team 007, Parkville’s robotics club, send out invitations for “Tea with the Robot,” an opportunity for parents, friends, and community members to check out the team’s latest robotic creation while enjoying tea, coffee, and snacks. The event is also a big “thank you” to the mentors who devote their time and efforts to helping the team with its creative process.

A display showcased team awards and an older robot.

Team 007 was established in 1997 to stimulate student interest in mathematics, science, and technology in a way that was both fun and interactive. The team is affiliated with FIRST Robotics, a national association which allows schools to compete in a friendly environment. FIRST holds a challenge every year called “Lunacy,” where students receive kits to design and build a robot to compete in a game, the rules of which are different each time.

This year, the object of the game is to use a robot to load “Moon Rock,” “Empty Cell,” and “Super Cell” game pieces into opponent trailers to gain points. Alliances form, and the competition is fierce. Participants from Parkville even receive varsity letters for their hard work and dedication.

Thunderbot 2, a name chosen to play on the team’s James Bond theme, will be the robot from Parkville this year, and its innovative design is sure to impress at the upcoming Washington, D.C., and Chesapeake regional competitions.

Diagrams on the blackboard describe the conveyor belt system.

“The kids designed a conveyor belt for Thunderbot 2 to sweep up balls underneath the robot,” explains one of the team’s teacher advisors, George Baker. “Then, a launching system brings the balls up to launch into other teams’ trailers.”

After a practice play date on Valentine’s Day, Thunderbot 2 will go up against 75 teams from all over the world at the D.C. Regional beginning on February 26.

Approximately 25 Parkville students work tirelessly up to six days a week for the six weeks leading up to Lunacy, and the desire for victory has been mounting. Actually winning is fun at FIRST, but the team with the best robot is not necessarily the team who will take home the most gold. Awards are given on the basis of sportsmanship, overcoming obstacles, and team spirit. In 1998, for example, Team 007 received a special award for “Victorious Perseverance in the Face of Adversity.”  

Team members work together on the robot.

Regardless of trophies or medals, another kind of victory is inevitable for Team 007. The confidence and pride the participants will feel when Thunderbot 2 rolls out on the playing field definitely counts as a win, too. FIRST Robotics gives students the opportunity to see real life applications of science, and that beats waiting for chemicals to react in a beaker any day.

Robotics in Baltimore County Public Schools

In December 2008, the Office of Technology Education partnered with Dulaney High School’s Robotics Team to host the first BCPS robotics competition. Each BCPS high school was invited to participate, with the Office of Technology Education supplying one robotics kit to each school that registered for the competition.

The schools that participated were:

1. Catonsville High School
2. Chesapeake High School
3. Dulaney High School*
4. George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology
5. Hereford High School
6. Owings Mills High School*
7. Parkville High School*
8. Perry Hall High School
9. Sollers Point Technical High School
10. Sparrows Point High School
11. Towson High School
12. Woodlawn High School*
13. Milford Mill Academy
14. Ridgely Middle School

The schools identified above with asterisks have ongoing teams that participate in FIRST Robotics, which is widely considered to be the world’s “major leagues” of robotics competition.

Story by Dani Replogle, senior at Towson High School and intern in the Office of Communications. Photos courtesy of Parkville High School.

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