Robotics team adapts to new competition rules – The Local Ne.ws

If a pandemic wiped out mankind, would robots still enter competitions?

We havent reached those points yet (smart robots organizing their own society or human extinction), but COVID-19 did kill last years First Robotics Competition (FRC).

Just three days before the big event in 2020, organizers were forced to pull the plug. The pandemic had arrived and the country shut down.

They basically dropped it and all of our work for that year was lost, said the robotics team captain. A Rowley resident, he transferred to Ipswich specially in his junior year just so he could compete in First Robotics.

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Now in its 30th year, FRC was founded by Dean Kamen, the inventor of Segway. Almost 4,000 teams with 97,000 students compete. Most are from America but dozens of other countries are represented.

The competitions values are gracious professionalism which embraces the competition inherent in the program, but rejects trash talk and chest-thumping, according to Wikipedia.

Another value is coopertition where teams can cooperate and compete at the same time.The goal of the program is to inspire students to be science and technology leaders, it added.

This year, the pandemic is still with us and its still not safe to hold large competitions in enclosed spaces. So FRC organizers have issued a modified challenge: High school students have to build a robot as they always do. The difference this time is that they have to video their bot at work and send the movie along.

Team coach and robotics teacher Ethan Powers said students received instructions in the new year on what they had to do. Tests included timed trials around a measured course and throwing objects through a hoop 8.5 feet off the ground.

With a submission date of April 8, its getting down to the wire in the music room at Ipswich High School. The robotics club moved there from one of the hallways they are using and found their times improved. It had nothing to do with acoustics and everything to do with flooring. The music room carpet had better traction than linoleum tiles and results improved on the timed trials.

The team has different groups with diverse responsibilities such as programming, mechanics and electronics. There is even a business sub-team that goes out to find sponsorship for what is an expensive build. Analog Devices, Institution for Savings, Tedfords and DJ Fabricators all helped there.

Although assisted by volunteers Dan Boone and David Platt, Powers said the coaches are white glove. That means they are not supposed to build or program or touch any equipment. All of the work must be done by the students.

Taking the robot through its paces last week, sophomore and operator Pia Stewart used two joysticks to guide the machine around a 15-by-30-foot course. She has to drive the robot around a pre-defined path without touching any cones. There is a five-second penalty for doing that, she explained.

Stewart said she drove one course 30 times before she got a good-enough score. You just progressively get better because you are doing it so often, she noted.

In addition to their coaches, the students have other advisors, Couvelon said. Every now and then an alum comes by and catches up with the team, he noted.

One of the them was Peyton Fitzgerald, now an engineering student Northeastern. Student Abi Dixon said he offered this advice: Slow is smooth and smooth is fast. In other words, get the driving and course right before trying to do it fast.

Stewart said she wants to be a mechanical or aerspace engineer and credited First Robotics with developing her skills. It has definitely helped me grow my passion and make me realize how much I love engineering, she said.

Dixon, a sophomore, said she also has designs on a career in the field. She also operates the robot and has worked on mechanics and early design concepts using CAD, she said. She would like to study mechanical or biotechnical engineering.

Caralyn Conrad is strategy lead for the team. That entails stuff like scouting at competitions, but my role is obviously different due to the pandemic, she said.

If I were to say what I do in a nutshell, it would be troubleshooting roadblocks to team safety and efficiency and creating systems to fix problems. In addition, Ialso do quite a bit of mechanical work on the robot itself, and Im currently heading a project to createa team tool cart to store everything we need to work on the robot, all in one place, she said.

Senior Ian Maher said he has been on the team throughout high school. I showed up as an eighth grader and everybody was very confused, he said. Powers said eighth grade students are now sometimes allowed on the team.

Because of Covid, the team doesnt spend as much time working on its robot as it would in a normal year, Powers said. They work from 2:30 p.m. to 6 p.m., four days a week. There is no access to the building on Wednesdays or weekends, he noted.

He said the team has 20 to 25 members but of them, 10 to 15 are really serious and dedicated.

Boone, a retired engineer, expressed admiration for the students and their work ethic. When I think back to when I was that age, I didnt have my stuff together the same way, he laughed.

Meanwhile, the deadline draws near. Last week, the team was happy with one of its course times but still had plenty of work ahead of it. We think were in good shape now, Powers laughed, but I promise you on April 7

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Robotics team adapts to new competition rules - The Local Ne.ws