Robots and rebounds: Malverne Mechanical Mules planning slam dunk

If one were to sit in the back of room 214 in the Malverne High School around 5:30 p.m. on any day weekday between now and the end of March, he would witness a concentration and excitement seldom seen in the teenage world — at least, when it comes to school.

What holds the teens’ attention is the tremendous task they’ve undertaken: building a robot that can shoot basketballs. The Malverne Mechanical Mules have six weeks to design and assemble the machine, and then it’s off to the initial, regional round of the FIRST Robotics Competition.

Long Island’s50*6 regional event is held at Hofstra University, where the Mules will compete against 60 other schools. If they are one of the top six to win that round, they will qualify along with 300 other teams (six from each of the 50 regional events) for the world championships, the theme of which this year is Rebound Rumble. Winning the championship in late April would mean beating 4,000 other teams worldwide — a dream Mules’ coach Charles Vessalico believes to be attainable.

“I think our team has a really good shot of making it,” he said. The Mules came close last year, winning second-place in the regional round and moving on to the championships, which took place in St. Louis; The team had to fundraise in order to actually get there — a trip that costs more than $6,000 — and managed in the course of a month to acquire $3,000 from NASA and the rest from local sponsors.

What will launch the Mules into the running for nationals is their ability to collaborate, according to Vessalico. He believes the top regional honor, the Chairman’s Award, is theirs because it recognizes teamwork and, with 55 members and still growing, the Mules have that down pat. The second-place team earns the Engineering Inspiration Award and the best rookie team earns the Rookie All-Star Award. Three other winning teams are selected based on their robots. To coordinate their efforts, the Mules have eight team leaders, all of whom are juniors or seniors, and two team captains. They don’t have many mentors, but Vessalico’s father, Andrew Vessalico, often volunteers his time to the team, as does Assistant Coach Erik Kucich.