UCS robotics team receives accolades in safety animation competition

UTICA/SHELBY TOWNSHIP/STERLING HEIGHTS — A safety animation video by Crevolution Robotics, a Utica Community Schools FIRST Robotics team, will be played during FIRST competitions after being selected as one of the finalists for the Safety Animation Award.

FIRST means “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology,” and FIRST Robotics challenges high schoolers to design, build and program robots for games resembling sports.

The Safety Animation Award through FIRST Robotics asks teams to submit an animation video that goes with the competition’s theme. Crevolution Robotics is one of only three teams internationally, and the only one from the United States, honored as part of the competition’s Safety Animation Award.

A team from Mexico placed first and a team from Canada was named the other finalist with Crevolution Robotics. The winner and the two finalists’ animations will be played in between final matches at every competition during this season domestically and internationally.

This year’s theme is “Unearth Safety,” and the Crevolution Robotics video features a cat named Mays leading a historical overview of safety and sustainability in the workshop. The video can be found online at youtu.be/VPbjQodAzwM. The team’s marketing sub-team completed the entire animation, script and designs. The sub-team then recorded a voiceover of the student CEO reading the script to put behind the animation.

“It was definitely a new experience,” said primary animator Iva Popovic, a senior at the Gene L. Klida Utica Academy for International Studies. “I had dabbled in animation and drawing and all that stuff a while ago, but I wasn’t really into it, and then . . . I was like ‘OK, why not volunteer for the animation?’ … It was definitely a learning experience, and I did some practice animations, and as I did more, I got better and better and quicker. It was definitely, like, a big learning experience, not just learning how to animate and draw and all that stuff; it’s more of time management and working with other people and multitasking.”

As one of the finalists for this award, Crevolution Robotics will receive a $250 award and have its animation featured during the playoff rounds of the international FIRST competition, set for late May in Houston. This was the first time Crevolution Robotics submitted an entry for the animation project.

“I was so happy but also in extreme disbelief,” Popovic said in a press release. “I couldn’t believe that I helped accomplish this in my first year on the team and seeing as it was the first year Crevolution has ever submitted a safety animation.”

Other team members felt the same way about the win as Popovic, and the video’s star, Mays, is growing in popularity.

“It really is awesome,” Bryan Battaglia, Crevolution mentor and Gene L. Klida Utica Academy for International Studies teacher, said in an email. “When they played our video at the competitions it was so fun and we have received great feedback from the robotics community. The students have been so enthusiastic about seeing their work at our competitions. The marketing team has gone to new heights using the publicity from this to generate excitement for our team. They made special buttons with the main character from the video and made a stuffed plushy to give away at each of our competitions.”

Crevolution Robotics was formed in 2008 and has six mentors and 35 students who come from every UCS high school and specialty program, according to the district. The team has qualified for the international FIRST competition five times, including the past two years. For more information, visit uticak12.org.