NILES — During a practice round before a FIRST Robotics competition, the robot built by team 4409 Ground Zero took an unexpected hit from another robot. With major repairs needed, the team had two hours to fix the busted bot.

It was during times like these that 17-year-old Marcus Hurt said he felt like part of NASCAR’S pit crew.

Racing under the clock, the team deftly reassembled damaged parts, ripped out broken pieces and made sure their robot looked good as new before it hit the competition floor. Learning to work under this kind of deadline pressure is only one of many skills Hurt said he has gained through the FIRST Robotics competition experience.

Ground Zero was among the robotics teams that returned to compete this year alongside a number of Berrien and Cass County schools. The competition draws high school-aged students from across the globe to compete. Students can garner not only scholarships, but also valuable experience that has often led to prestigious internships and even careers.

This year, Ground Zero came close to competing at the statewide competition. The top 160 teams are selected to do so. Ground Zero’s scores put them at 166 out of 508 competitors, according to FIRST’s website.

Despite coming close to competing at the state level, Hurt said he is proud of all his team accomplished this season.

“I honestly think it is the best robot we have built,” Hurt said. “I think we did amazing.”

While students can opt to get a kit of parts to help them start to build their robot, Ground Zero chose to go rouge and build a robot of their own design, using their own materials. 

District-wide, Ground Zero competed in St. Joseph, where they earned 10th place out of 40. They went on to compete in Kentwood, Michigan where they earned ninth out of 40 competitors.

Design, code, build

On an average Monday, the community-based Ground Zero team, comprised of 19 high schoolers across the Berrien County region meet. Here, clusters of computers and shelves lined with tools and equipment make up a kind of laboratory where students spent six weeks creating and building a robot.

In this year’s competition, called “POWER UP,” competitors were challenged to design a robot that could climb, lift and strategize its way out of the confines of a video game.

Hurt has been part of the Ground Zero team for the last 10 years. He said his interest in engineering was sparked when he was 7 years old. His work on the Ground Zero team helped him to fuel that early passion. Parent volunteers Meg and Dave Edwards assist when needed, but mostly let students take the reins on all aspects of their projects.

“They are a good group of kids,” Dave said.

For more than the glory

Through FIRST, students of the Ground Zero team said they learned and applied skills in STEM fields: science, technology, engineering and math.

It turns out, building a sophisticated robot can really bring to life the textbook skills garnered in physics, chemistry and math courses.

“Everything I have learned in class, I have brought here,” Hurt said.

Such skills have opened the doors to career interests and internship opportunities with leading area manufacturers and businesses. For example, both Hurt and Conor McKiernan, 18, of Niles, have applied for internships with Whirlpool.

Alecc Janowski, 18, said this was his first year with the Ground Zero team. Within a few weeks of working with the team, Janowski said he learned a lot. When the robot had trouble driving straight and making the correct turns, Janowski said the team cracked down and uncovered an error in the encoders. 

“We ended up installing a gyroscope and that let us drive straight and turn better,” Janowski said. “By the end of the second competition, we were on par with a lot of the consistently high ranked teams.”

While no one knows what next year’s competition will hold, Ground Zero teammates will likely be up for the challenge.

“It’s cool to see the growth,” Hurt said. “I feel like we are picking up steam and really becoming one of those teams that stand out in this area. We are in the elimination rounds of both of our competitions this year and last year and we just keep moving up the ranks.”