Some athletes train for hours each day, sometimes twice a day to prepare for a competition. The Gunn Robotics Team (GRT), however, spends more than 60 hours each week preparing and building one robot. In preparation for the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) national competition, the team has spent six weeks building a robot (G-Force) that can complete tasks around a track with a 40-inch diameter ball.

More than 1450 teams nationwide participate in the FIRST competition, including neighboring schools such as Los Altos High School and Palo Alto High School.

Physics teacher and current advisor Bill Dunbar founded the team in 1996. “There were no other robotics teams like Gunn back then,” he said.

In contrast to other teams participating in the contest, GRT takes a more student hands-on approach. According to Dunbar, other teams have professional engineers and adults build the robots. The students are then given the remote to operate the robot at the competition. “My role is more of a coach than a teacher,” Dunbar said. “I make sure the students have the tools and resources they need to do amazing things. I just offer my advice and guidance when needed.”

GRT meets two class periods a day (F and G) and has about 45 student members and six adult mentors. The team is divided into two separate groups: Animation and Robotics.

The Robotics group is split into multiple subgroups, each responsible for a specific part of the robot: drive train, elevator, gripper, welding, popper, electronics and programming.

FIRST representatives announced the prompt and guidelines for the robot on a live broadcast on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) television network Jan. 5. “The announcement is made live across the nation to ensure that no team has an advantage and begins building earlier,” senior GRT member Aki Kobashi said.

Each team has six weeks to build a robot to compete. The objective of the robot is to travel around a 27 feet by 54 feet oval track to score points. The robot must also be able to launch a 40-inch ball over and across a 6.5 feet high overpass.

The animatronics team is also given a prompt from FIRST. The team has six weeks to create a 30-second long computer animation related to the topic. FIRST asked animators to produce a clip “describing an invention that helps your community.”

For six weeks, team members work on the robot from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., Monday through Friday; on weekends, team members work from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. All work hours must be logged and submitted to FIRST.

GRT will travel to San Diego and San Jose to compete in the Regional Division of FIRST in March. If the team does well in the regional competition, it will move forward to nationals, which will take place in Atlanta, Georgia. Some team members bleach and dye their hair bright red before leaving for the contest.

In previous years, the computer animation team has won first place twice, while the robotics team has placed in the top ten teams in the country several times. “Since our team is more student-centered compared to other teams, it is difficult for us to compete against the corporate teams,” Dunbar said.

Costs for materials and parts alone for the robot have totaled to more than $20,000. The team does not receive any funding from the district or school other than for the building they work in. Instead, the team relies on donations and grants to cover expenses. This year, GRT has two corporate sponsors, Roku and SRI International.

The team is also actively involved in the community. GRT members constructed a haunted house for Fairmeadow Elementary School last Halloween. The team built a moving detached hand holding a skull and a functioning guillotine which severed bloody heads. The team was given a six-week timeline to complete the animated house so that members could learn how to work under deadline.