On Friday, March 10, three teams from the Sharon Youth Robotics Association (SYRA) took part in the New England Regional Vex Event (NERVE) at the new Hartford Convention Center.
Most of the members of these teams of Sharon High School students have previously competed with great success in the grades 4-8 FIRST LEGO League competitions.

Now they compete in the FIRST Vex Challenge (FVC), with the "Half-Pipe Hustle" as this season's challenge. They use Vex robotics kits marketed by Radio Shack, and mix programming and remote control operation with their mid-size robots. Long hours of preparation have paid off as all three Sharon teams had an excellent outing, and will advance to the international FIRST robotics tournament to be held in Atlanta from April 27-28. Follow their adventures at http://eaglevex.syraweb.org.

The Sharon Myotonics team was part of the competition-winning three-team alliance, in the field of 32 teams from eight states and Canada. This group of teams - Impulse (FVC 160), Sharon Myotonics (FVC 78) and Gompei Avengers (FVC 43) - won the FVC Winning Alliance award. The Myotonics also won the FVC Connect award for the highest score in autonomous competition.

The Sharon Eagle Unlimited (FVC 13) and the Sharon AngelBots (FVC 44) formed an alliance with a Canadian team (Block Robotics Learning - FVC 175) and made it to the semi-finals, before being defeated by the Impulse-Myotonics-Gompei Avengers alliance. The AngelBots won the FVC Think award for their creative approach to problem solving, and the Unlimited team were finalists for the FVC Create award for the top robot design.

The FIRST ("For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology") program aspires "to create a world where science and technology are celebrated . . . where young people dream of becoming science and technology heroes," according to founder Dean Kamen, a prominent inventor and technologist.

The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) began in 1992 in a high school gym in New Hampshire. This season the "Aim High" challenge includes over 1000 teams building and competing with large (over 100 lb.) robots, at 33 regional competitions and the international Championship.
The new FIRST Vex Robotics Challenge (FVC) started in 2005, with the successful demonstration tournament in which Sharon participated. Spring 2005 is the pilot season, with hundreds of teams building and competing with mid-size robots at six regional competitions and the international Championship.

The FIRST LEGO League (FLL) was created in partnership between FIRST and the LEGO Company in 1998 (the pilot season) with 200 teams participating, and Sharon has been represented since 1999. This past fall more than 7000 FLL teams all over the world accepted the "Ocean Odyssey" challenge (themed to the Earth's water resources), engaging them in small robot design, as well as technological and social research. This coming fall it is expected that many more teams will focus on one the Nano Quest challenge (themed to the cutting-edge topic of nanotechnology).

Continuing activities of the Sharon Youth Robotics Association teams can be followed at http://www.syraweb.net. From there, links to all FIRST robotics content as well as information on Sharon and regional robotics activities and competitions can be found, with lots of photos. A new season will be underway in the fall of 2006, with an organizational meeting in late August, and all Sharon students (grades 4-12) are welcome to participate.