By MARIA KACIK | Staff Writer

GRANGER TWP. — Technical jargon was being tossed around a Highland High School classroom after school Monday as students fiddled with wires and air compressors and typed complex codes into a laptop computer.

Their modifications paid off when a 5-foot metal and wood contraption started throwing foam balls across the floor.

“It works! We got it going!” Nicholas Tyietz, a 17-year-old senior, said as he threw his hands in the air. Suddenly noticing his fervent celebration, he put his arms down and laughed. “I can’t believe I just did that.”

The Highland Robotics Team is an extracurricular activity where students use science, math, engineering and technology to build robots that can perform everyday activities.

Robert Wingerter (center), 17, gestures as he works Tuesday with fellow Highland Robotics Team members in Konstantinos “Gus” Matheou’s classroom at the high school in Granger Township. Also on hand were (from left) Erik Olson, an engineer with the EBO Group, Nicholas Tyietz, 17, and Lauren Aberegg, 17. (Andrew Dolph | Staff Photographer)

Konstantinos “Gus” Matheou, the science teacher who founded the group, said he wanted the students to have an after-school activity that would let them put to use some of the things they learn in their classes throughout the school day.

“Our country is going to be in a crisis real soon with China and India and the technology revolution and all these kids across the world are sort of learning this pretty quickly and I think we sort of need to play catch-up there,” he said.

“The kids here are so focused in technology entertaining them rather than finding useful ways to apply it,” he later added.

Robotics, Matheou said, is one of the easiest ways to apply technological concepts, and the kids enjoy it, too.

“I think most kids are intimidated when they see a bunch of tubes and wires and they think it’s too complicated,” said Matheou, who will teach the school’s first robotics class next year. “But it’s not.”

Last week, three members of the Highland Robotics Team and Matheou were in Columbus for the eTech educational technology conference.

The conference included a robotics competition for students. On the first day, the students learned robotics concepts. On the second day, they were told to build a robot that could push and pile foam cubes. On the third day, the students put their robots to the test, showing off what they could do and competing against other teams.

The Highland team brought home a first-place trophy.

“We went for simplicity and we ended up winning. Everybody else went for these complicated robots and they didn’t work,” said Calvin Arter, a senior who participated in the conference.

“We were excited to win. But Mr. Matheou was the most excited. He ran out to the ring and the officials started yelling at him,” Arter said.

The next challenge the Highland Robotics Team will face will be in Cleveland at the end of the month. At the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) competition, a robot built by the students will compete against other teams’ robots in a game in which the machines emulate picking up and throwing rocks on the moon.

The students have been working on their robot for six weeks. Next week, the robot will be sent to Cleveland and they won’t see it again until the FIRST conference.

“We’ve had to rebuild this plenty of times,” said Zach Steve, a senior who competed in the eTech conference.

“We don’t have a custom machine shop, so we can’t just make components that would fit it,” said Lucas Gsellman, a sophomore who also was at the eTech conference.

Steve and Gsellman were working on the mechanism that would load the foam balls Monday afternoon while other students worked on the device that would shoot it. The students were testing different materials on the launcher to see which ones would shoot the farthest.

“It’s a little exciting and it’s a little stressful,” said Andrew Sims, a senior. “You encounter new problems every time you try something innovative.”

While the students did some troubleshooting on the robot, Erik Olson of EBO Group in Sharon Township watched over them. His company is a sponsor of the group and Olson has been assisting the students as they finish the robot.

“The things they’re learning here are directly what they’d be using once they enter the engineering field,” he said.

He later added: “These kids have wonderful ideas.”

Kacik may be reached at 330-721-4049 or mkacik@ohio.net.

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