3A
THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 19, 2017
Robotics team qualifies
for international event
Clatsop the only
college team
from Oregon
Lazarus
“This robot was built from
the ashes of Maggie,” Oates
Larsen, a team member since
2013, said of the new robot.
“Lazarus is meant to have
everything we thought other
teams did well” last year.
Original charges
included claim
of kidnapping
By JACK HEFFERNAN
The Daily Astorian
By EDWARD STRATTON
The Daily Astorian
Clatsop Community Col-
lege’s underwater robotics team,
the only collegiate qualifier in
Oregon for the finals of an global
competition, needs help getting
to Long Beach, California.
Lazarus Industries, the
eight-member team of students
competing in Marine Advanced
Technology
Education’s
remotely operated vehicle com-
petition, recently qualified for
the international finals at Long
Beach City College in late June.
Their
self-built
robot,
Lazarus, is tasked with mock
missions helping the Port of
Long Beach install a hyperloop
for transporting cargo; repair
a fountain in a water and light
show; assess and cap contami-
nated sediment; and identify and
map cargo that fell off of a cargo
ship into the harbor.
Last year, the team was the
only collegiate Oregon qualifier
for the finals at NASA’s John-
son Space Center. The team per-
formed well last year with its
submersible, Magnificus “Mag-
gie” Praesegmen, but stumbled
in marketing and product demon-
strations, placing last among 31
competitors from North Amer-
ica, Europe and Asia.
This year, the team expanded
to include CEO Haley Werst,
Chief of Business Opera-
tions Jennifer Jordan, Head of
Research and Development
Georges Oates Larsen, Chief of
Manufacturing Sam Daire and
multiple engineers in hopes of a
more rounded performance. The
team is advised by college phys-
ics instructor Pat Keefe.
Washington state man gets
30 days for fleeing police
Submitted Photo
Lazarus Industries includes, from left, Head of Research
and Development Georges Oates Larsen, CEO Haley
Werst, Chief of Business Operations Jennifer Jordan, Chief
of Manufacturing Sam Daire and team adviser Pat Keefe, a
physics instructor at Clatsop Community College.
A Washington state
man who led police on
a 20-minute car chase
from Seaside to Astoria in
April was sentenced to 30
days in jail Thursday after
reaching a plea deal.
Christopher Rogich, 24,
of Roy, Washington, was
arrested originally on mul-
tiple charges — includ-
ing kidnapping — after
driving away from a traf-
fic stop with his girlfriend
and 4-year-old daughter in
the car. As part of the deal
reached with the Clatsop
County District Attorney’s
Office earlier this month,
Rogich pleaded no con-
test to coercion, attempt-
ing to elude a police officer
and two counts of recklessly
endangering another person.
Seaside
Police
responded to a disturbance
call at a residence on the order with his girlfriend
1300 block of Second and daughter. Any super-
Avenue just after 8 p.m. vised visitation must be
on April 19. Rogich’s car approved by a probation
was spotted driving away officer.
from the area when police
Rogich
repeatedly
arrived.
referred to his religious
When police stopped beliefs and thanked public
the vehicle, Rog-
officials in an apol-
ich did not com-
ogy to the court.
ply with officers’
“I hope that
requests first to
I am reconciled
lower the driv-
before the court
er’s side window
and before him,”
and then exit the
he said. “I accept
car. He instructed Christopher this rebuke.”
his girlfriend to
Rogich,
who
Rogich
do the same. He
originally
faced
drove away from the scene up to 22 years in prison,
moments later.
previously had no crim-
His girlfriend allegedly inal convictions. James
called 911 and asked him von Boeckmann, Rog-
to pull over during the pur- ich’s court-appointed law-
suit, which led to the orig- yer, said it is difficult to
inal kidnapping charge, understand how a young
Seaside Police Chief Dave man with no criminal his-
Ham said. The chase ended tory would make such a
on the Youngs Bay Bridge, decision.
where Rogich was taken
“He has very strong
into custody.
ideas about what is right
His sentence includes and wrong,” von Boeck-
credit for time served in mann said. “If he had fol-
jail since the arrest and lowed instructions and
three years of probation lowered his window, we
that includes a no-contact wouldn’t be here today.”
Join us for a
Celebration
of Life
for
Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian
Jennifer Jordan holds a tether while the team practices
with its submersible, Lazarus, at the Astoria Aquatic Center.
Named after the biblical
narrative of the raising Lazarus
from the dead, the robot is
built around an octagonal
metal frame with six thrust-
ers to completely control nav-
igation underwater, cameras
facing every direction, buoy-
ancy chambers on top and a
fiber-optic tether running to
the controls on land.
The college’s upstart team
operates each year on a shoe-
string budget compared to its
opponents, cannibalizing last
year’s robot for the next gener-
ation. Jordan, a physics student
R obeRt H aRRis
“b ob ”
e ngblom
in her first year with the team,
said it receives only $500 in
dedicated funding through the
college, with the rest coming
from fundraising.
The team needs to raise
money for housing, transpor-
tation, motor upgrades and a
manipulator to grab objects
in the competition, and has
formed a GoFundMe page at
http://tinyurl.com/mzoky55.
From 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday,
the team will hold “The Art
of Robotics,” a demonstration
and fundraiser at the Barbey
Maritime Center.
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