WildStangs crush competition at world robotics tourney

To an outsider, it may have looked like spindly contraptions on wheels moving down a track tossing huge balls in the air.

But to the suburban students trained to remotely "drive" the high-tech rigs, the event culminated months of work creating an entry for the FIRST Robotics Competition, held last weekend in Atlanta.

The students were part of the WildStangs, a team from Rolling Meadows, Wheeling and Prospect high schools that has quite a tradition of victory.

They maintained their winning ways again this year. With 344 teams from around the world competing, the WildStangs placed in the top 10.

The Atlanta championships followed the WildStangs' second-place finish in the Midwest Regional contest in Chicago this month, and a first-place win at a competition in March at Purdue University.

"After those wins, we knew we were going to be competitive -- and we were," says Mark Koch, team leader and Rolling Meadows faculty member.

The team has always finished near the top in the championships and took first place in 2003, he says.

This year's event involved three-on-three competitions of robots moving around a track, all while pushing and throwing a 40-inch ball. Points were earned as the robots completed each task correctly.

Koch has been with the team since it started 13 years ago. He says the name is a hybrid of the Rolling Meadows Mustangs and Wheeling Wildcats (Prospect entered the scene this year).

About 50 teens from the three schools participate in the club. They meet Monday nights for a robotics class, a technology elective.

Motorola sponsors the WildStangs, giving them financial help and, perhaps more importantly, mentoring. About 20 engineers donate their time throughout the year, Koch says, "to get students interested in science, engineering and technical careers."

To cap off an already exciting year, Koch says, the WildStangs recently were chosen one of 30 teams featured in a new book, "Behind the Design: 30 Profiles of Award-Winning Robot Design," stemming from their 2007 entry.