New robotics team aims to win world championship

Date: 12/1/2008

By Courtney Llewellyn

Reminder Assistant Editor



EAST LONGMEADOW The little hex bugs the East Longmeadow High School Robotics Team is selling to help them raise funds for their trip to Dallas in the spring are amusing little feats of programming they scurry along until their antennae feel something, then they change direction.

The Robotics Team itself is working on something a bit more complicated.

Peter Van Buren, a physics teacher at the high school, applied for a $1,000 grant from ELEEF, the East Longmeadow Educational Endowment Fund, to fund the team, which came together this March.

Once that original team came together, they had 10 days to build a robot to enter into a competition at Boston University. Despite the short amount of time they had to work on the project, the team took second place at that competition.

On Nov. 7, the Robotics Team won the title of overall tournament champions. This award is the reason the team will be traveling to Texas from April 30 to May 2 there, they will be competing in the VEX Robotics World Championship. Last year, teams from 10 different nations competed in the world championship.

According to the VEX Robotics Web site (www.vexrobotics.com), "giving students the opportunity to work with the VEX robotics systems promotes education in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math and teaches critical life skills such as teamwork, project management and problem solving."

But what does working with robotics entail?

"We try to build creations out of specific hardware," team member Max Lu explained. "We build robots to fulfill specific tasks."

The robot the ELHS team designed for the competition at Boston University participated in the game "Elevation," in which a robot has to place foam blocks into goals. Each match consisted of 20 seconds of autonomous play the robot working under its own volition -- followed by two minutes of driver-controlled play.

The design the ELHS team came up with meant the robot could hold as many as 10 foam blocks at a time.

"'Efficient' is a key word," team member John Tarbell said. "A robot with a claw can pick up one cube at a time, so it gets the job done, but not very efficiently."

Van Buren said his team basically taught themselves to program their robots.

"You have to figure out what you want the robot to do first, then next, then next," Tarbell explained. "We program as we go along. We build a part, test it, build a part ... We build in steps."

Lu said the team writes a code to tell the robot what task to perform, then downloads that code to the computer on the robot.

The robot that won the competition at Boston University -- the 817 model -- is currently being deconstructed and rebuilt by the team in preparation of the 2009 world championships.

"We're looking to make it faster and more efficient," Lu said.

Van Buren said the team has been checking out their competition by watching videos on Youtube.

"We have a very good chance [of winning] if we can do what we need to do," he said.

Team members said they are both nervous and excited about heading to the world championships.

"It's gonna be big," team member Liz Prentice said. "A lot is going on in three days."

"This is gonna be cool," member Frank Oglesby added. "We're really going places."

The Robotics Team does need some support to go to those places, however. The team of nine students, plus Van Buren, need to come up with funds to pay for airfare, hotel accommodations and the postage for shipping their robot to Dallas. Van Buren said the group is looking for both private and corporate sponsors for their trip.

He thanked those who have already lent their support: LM Tarbell Inc., SAFCO Foam Insulation LLC, Webster Bank, Dr. Belisa A. Basile and Alden Credit Union.

Anyone interested in supporting the team should contact Van Buren by calling (774) 289-6669 or by e-mailing "a href"mailto:PVanBuren@eastlongmeadowma.gov">PVanBuren@eastlongmeadowma.gov.

The hex bugs are available from the students on the team, are $10 each, and, Van Buren added, make great stocking stuffers.