AUGUSTA — Aunt Samantha, with wide eyes, bright red lips and star-spangled top hat, rolled down State Street while carting a large yellow tote bag filled with candy and kits used to craft tiny rockets.
The female version of Uncle Sam was following commands from members of Gardiner Iron Tiger Robotics Team, the robotics club at Gardiner Area High School.
“The robot drives kind of a like a bulldozer with two joy sticks,” said Aaron Basford, of West Gardiner, a software engineer who founded the robotics team four years ago. The team has five mentors, including Basford, and a number of students, most of whom turned up to march with Aunt Samantha.
This was the debut for the robotics team in Augusta’s Fourth of July parade. The group had entered last year, but the rain that canceled the parade also derailed the robot’s appearance.
“No water on the robot,” Basford said. “Water and robotics don’t match.”
The rolling robot was one of more than 40 entries in the capital city’s annual Fourth of July parade, which travels from the State House to Old Fort Western, winding along State and Water streets.
None of the entries seemed fazed by the grayish, overcast skies.
Festivities were to continue at Augusta’s Mill Park with concerts, hayrides and various booths, including a bounce house; and all of it was to be capped off by fireworks at dusk. Those events concluded the area’s Whatever 2015 Family Festival, which began June 17.
Other fireworks shows scheduled in the area included those in Winthrop, Belgrade and Mount Vernon.
People lined their lawn chairs along the parade route more than an hour before the 4 p.m. start time, many of them waiting downtown near the judges’ reviewing stand.
There, Sen. Roger Katz, R-Augusta, and State Archivist David Cheever, also from Augusta, were doing a tandem broadcast for a local cable TV channel.
As the crowd waited for the first glimpse of the lead marchers, people wearing green T-shirts and carrying clipboards and signs saying “Legalize Maine,” “Free the Plant,” and “Maine Jobs for Maine People” threaded among the lawn chairs and baby strollers, seeking support for their effort to legalize marijuana in the state.
Back at the parade assembly grounds, Rep. Donna Doore, D-Augusta, arranged and rearranged bunting on husband Tom’s green camouflage 1947 CJ2A Jeep, getting an offer of extraordinarily sticky tape from the robot crew.
Music flowed from the various floats as dancers limbered up and Scouts regrouped.
Aunt Samantha spent much of the recent school year as Victoria.
“This year our robot was a woman, and really couldn’t be Uncle Sam, because it really didn’t feel right.” Basford said.
She is the successor to last year’s robot, Not Bob.
“Unfortunately, Not Bob is not going to be in the parade this year; he’s not feeling well,” Basford said. “He’s not terminal, but it’s iffy. We’re trying to retrofit him to do some different tasks that he wasn’t designed for.”
The team designs robots to compete in the FIRST Robotics competition; this year’s robot had to stack totes, that’s why Aunt Samantha can move with the tote.
The robot rolls independently behind a pickup truck that carries the controllers along with a banner listing the team sponsors. The candy and the rocket kits packed by students were distributed by team members clad in the distinctive Gardiner Tiger black-and-orange T-shirts.
The robot, who stays in a shop at the high school, has rolled in parades before, powered by a 12-volt marine battery. Spectators might have seen her previously this year in Gardiner’s Memorial Day parade, Basford said. This past school year, the team won the team spirit award at a competition for its community work.
“This year we’ve got our sights set on going to the world championship in St. Louis,” Basford said. And if you didn’t glimpse Aunt Samantha on Saturday, she’ll be rolling again Oct. 17 at the Robot Rodeo at Gardiner Regional Middle School.
Basford’s son Ian, who will be entering his senior year at the school, is the robot’s lead programmer.
He explained the number 4041 that appears on the robot, the team shield and elsewhere.
“We’re actually the 4,041st team,” he said. The teams are numbered chronologically according to when they join FIRST Robotics.
Betty Adams — 621-5631
Twitter: @betadams
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.