Hey! I’m Jamie Cartwright, and this is my third year as part of the Cyber Blue robotics team. I began in FIRST when I was selected to be a part of Cyber Blue’s trial VEX team that competed in the 2005 Indiana Robotics Invitational. Since then, I have been involved in robotics through the first Perry Meridian Middle School FIRST Tech Challenge team and through Cyber Blue itself.

My freshman year I was selected to be one of two Scouting Team leads. The Scouting Team is a group of students responsible with collecting data on robots and other teams during competitions. Over the past two years, I have helped to create a powerful scouting program using Pocket PCs and Microsoft Excel.

During the build season, I am part of the manufacturing team. The past two years, I have mainly been involved with assembly. However last year I began learning to use a mill, and this year, a fellow student Sam Gadbury has continued to train me. The mill is exciting because it can perform many operations in very exact ways. With its three axis and multiple tools, objects can be cut, drilled, trimmed, and of coursed milled very accurately. It is an exciting machine to be taught.

One of the reasons I especially enjoy robotics is because of how quickly one can see the results and work he/she has put in. For example, at the end of the season, there is always a robot sitting before you, and even if you don’t win any awards and even if the robot isn’t working correctly, it is still something of which to be proud.

Cyber Blue is especially a great team of which to be a part because not only can I take pride in it, but we always have something going on. Most of the time, it doesn’t even have to do with a robot. In a lot of ways it’s like being part of a shop class wrapped up in a service club wrapped up in a sport. It takes more time than anything else I do, but the feeling I get at the end of the season is better than anything else all year.