Portland, Maine – October 10th, 2014 – Abilis Solutions Corp has provided a significant sponsorship, for a second year, to the Iron Tigers team from Gardiner Area High School, in Maine USA. Abilis would like to congratulate the Iron Tigers students for the great accomplishments.

About the Iron Tigers

The Iron Tigers team is based out of Gardiner Area High School, with a quite a few home school students. They are totally funded by corporate sponsorships and fund raising done by the students. They just finished their fourth season, and the participation has grown every year. The robotics program is the only place for students to get programming experience in the District. It is also the only place to get hands on building experience, as budget cuts have caused the shop classes to be closed down. They compete in FIRST (For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competitions (FRC). The team is registered to compete at the Pine Tree District event in March held in Lewiston Maine, and plans on also competing in the Reading event in Reading Massachusetts also held in March. They hope to qualify in order to compete in the New England District Championships that are held in WPI (Worcester Polytechnical Institute) in Worcester Massachusetts.

Employees at Abilis stand out for their contribution

Aaron Basford (developer at Abilis Solutions Corp) is the program Lead Mentor. He interacts and coordinates with the school district administration and staff to ensure compliancy with the School’s requirements (parental permission, student grade requirements, build space coordination with other school groups like the engineering classes). He ensures all paper work is done and submitted to FIRST, as well as registering for any events. He also directly interact with students to guide them through the electronics and wiring used on the robot, as well as guiding the programming team. The team has 4 sub teams, spirit team (marketing), build team, development team (robot coding in Java, web site), and media team (press releases, videotaping at events, sponsor and student recruitment materials). Aaron is also the Committee Chair of the Pine Tree District event that is held in Lewiston (Maine), responsible for the overall planning of the event.

Paul Seed (senior software developer at Abilis Solutions Corp) is the engineering mentor for the robotics team. He works with the students on the design, programming, fabrication, and construction of the robot. He guides students when they are making engineering/fabrication decisions. He also provide guidance to the students in the safe use of the tools and encourage the student to try new things and challenge themselves.

Abilis would like to thank Aaron and Paul for their active role and contribution in this program.

For more information:

• FIRST Team 4041 Facebook page
• FIRST Team 4041 website
• FIRST Team 4041 YouTube channel
• FIRST Program web site