Category Archives: Robotics

Team 624 (CRyptonite) from Cinco Ranch High School won the Greater Kansas City Regional qualifying tournament and in the process established themselves as one of the top scoring teams in FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (FRC) teams so far this season.

As part of the tournaments fourth-seed alliance with Team 1987 (BroncoBots) from Lees Summit, Missouri and Team 5801 (CTC Inspire) from Independence, MO., they faced the high-scoring number one seed alliance in the best-of-three semi-finals - an alliance that included a local team which has won this tournament four of the last five years.

They defeated the top alliance robots in straight matches 418-377 and 397-329.

In the first semi-final they did something that hadnt been done by any alliance in the 6,402 matches that had been played all over the world to that point delivering enough gears in autonomous to start two rotors (An animated explanation of the 2017 FRC game, STEAMworks, is at: http://www.firstinspires.org/node/3651 )

In the two minute, 30 second teleop (driver-controlled) phase that followed, the three alliance robots delivered enough gears to start all four rotors turning, for a 100 point bonus, which had been achieved by very few teams world-wide at that point in the season. All three Alliance robots climbed their ropes before the end of each semi-final match for another 150 points.

All three of the robots in our alliance could score gears in both autonomous and teleop and they were consistent climbers, said sophomore Amelia Kleiber, the teams head of scouting at the tournament. This was critical in being able to defeat the powerhouse number one alliance.

In FRC tournaments, teams are ranked top to bottom based on performance during the qualification matches. Before the start of the elimination matches, all teams send a representative to the field and the top eight teams choose their first alliance partner. Then the number eight seed chooses their third partner and picking works its way back up the rankings with the number one seed having the final pick.

Scouting is very important, and like most FRC teams, we have scouts at every tournament, Kleiber said, We evaluate every robots performance in all the qualification matches. Then we have a meeting with other team members and come up with a pick list of robots we think will help us the most in the elimination round.

CTC Inspire was also high on Broncobots pick list, Kleiber added. When we were standing down there on the field waiting as the lower seed alliances made their [second and then third] picks, we were wondering how are they still available? We were so happy to be able to pick them and they performed exactly as our scouting predicted they would.

The CRyptonite alliance won the final in straight matches, winning the final match by scoring a tournament-high 494 points.

We improved our performance over Hub City [first tournament of the season], said sophomore Danny Perego, the teams driver. We made a few small mechanical changes which helped our scoring in autonomous and also our ability to shoot.

At Hub City, we faced a lot of defense, so we practiced against defense before Kansas City, said senior Jan- Felix Abellera, the teams robot manipulator and one of their programmers. We tuned the [robot] controller to Dannys liking and that played a big role in better turning and maneuvering around other robots defending against us.

Also, Danny and I are working better as a team, Abellera added. When we go behind the opponents airship, we lose sight of the robot. Even though we have an on-board camera, many times Dannys actually driving the robot backwards. Hes better now at positioning himself in the drivers station to be able to see the robot and I watch the camera view on our laptop and tell him references like, theres a robot behind you or in front of you. Yes, hes my eyes, Perego said with a smile.

For the second time in as many tournaments, CRyptonite won the Industrial Safety Award. Sponsored by UL, the award celebrates the team that progresses beyond safety fundamentals by using innovative ways to eliminate or protect against hazards.

CRyptonite will be competing at the FIRST Robotics Competition World Championship tournament in Houston April 19-22.

Each year, all FRC teams receive that seasons challenge the first week of January. During a hectic six-week build season, the robotics students, working with adult Mentors, design, prototype and construct a robot to accomplish specific tasks required to compete in that game.

The FRC 2017 season game, STEAMworks, has a steampunk theme in which two adventurers clubs (alliances of three teams) compete to prepare steam-powered their airships for a long distance race.

alliance robots score points in one of three ways:

1. Build steam pressure. Robots collect fuel (balls) and score it into their boiler, which has a low and high goal.

2. Start rotors. Robots deliver gears to pilots (human players) on their airship for installation. Once the gear train is complete, they turn the crank to start the rotor.

3. Prepare for flight. Robots must latch on to their airship before the end of the match by ascending their ropes and activating a light which signals that they are ready for takeoff.

Each 2 minute match begins with a 15 second autonomous period in which robots operate only on pre-programmed instructions to score points. This is followed by the teleoperated period in which the drivers control the robot.

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Cinco Ranch Robotics team wins Greater Kansas City regional qualifying tournament - Katy Times

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HARTFORD -- The toprobotics teams in the area battled it out this weekend hoping to advance to the New England district championship next week at the University of New Hampshire.

You could say robotics runs in David Nisky's blood.

My brother was on the team and my dad was actually one of the founding mentors. Once robotics season comes around its nothing else just robotics. Its as much dedication if not more than any other sport, said Nisky.

Nisky is part of the Gaelhawks Robotics team from Shelton High School. He and his teammates have spent the last six weeks raising money, designing a team brand, and building a robot to go head to head against 40 other high schools.

Oh Im very proud. it makes me happy. Its something I love and Im happy to be a part of it, said Nisky.

In the classroom theyre learning basic science and technology skills. This is putting it to practical use, said David Givens, the Production Manager for FIRST Robotics Competition.

The students spent weeks programming and practicing their robots. They worked alongside professional engineers in the process.

We have to do a lot in a short amount of time so we have a lot of schedules and we have to work fast and together, said Amanda Kiley.

Brianna Gaynor and Amanda Kiley came from Massachusetts to represent Agawam high school.

I want to own by own business someday so being in marketing and being the nontechnical co-captain really helps be because it gives me a chance to be like, hey, this is what I have to do and this is what I need to learn how to do it, said Gaynor.

Its a career jumpstart for many of the students who are already thinking about how to pay it forward.

I cant wait till I can mentor, till I can be an alumni volunteer. And I cannot wait till my hopefully future kids can be a part of this so they can have a bright future, said Nisky.

41.770265 -72.691970

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Student robotics teams from area battle for top spot - FOX 61

PARK CITY When Park City Elementary sixth-grader Gavin McCord heard there would be a robotics competition at this year's Junior Beta State Convention, he decided to finally join the club.

And then I was like, 'I have some friends who I do robotics with,' McCord said. So we went and recruited every single person who did robotics with me.

PCES sixth-grader Hunter Wilson describes the sixth-grade group as a team of friends, consisting of himself, McCord, Caleb Janes, Megan Shirley and Daniel Shirley.

We started (robotics) in third grade, but we've all been friends since kindergarten, Wilson said.

Park City Elementary School sixth-graders, from left, Gavin McCord, Hunter Wilson, Caleb Janes, Megan Shirley and Daniel Shirley.

The theme for the inaugural Beta robotics competition was Movers, Shakers and Creators.

After brainstorming many ideas, the PCES robotics team decided to bring their project to Gotham City. The premise of their presentation involves the Joker escaping prison and Batman being unable to help.

Their robot, BatBot, comes to the rescue.

To fit the theme of the competition, BatBot moves along a board, creates the batman symbol with a sharpie and then shakes up the Joker's plans by putting him back into jail.

Eric Riemer, PCES Beta Club robotics sponsor, said when they went to the state competition in Lexington, most of the other team's robots followed a line using optics technology.

Ours actually created the line, Riemer said of BatBot, adding that the students had to program the robot one line at a time.

It took them over ten hours just to program, Reimer said. And over 40 hours with all the testing and modifications.

VIDEO: Park City Elementary robotics presentation

Reimer said the students started the project at the beginning of this school year, meeting once or twice a week. The students added that they began meeting three to four times a week as the competition got closer.

At the state competition, PCES Principal Anthony Janes said the team had one chance to get it right. They would have to start their robot and let their programming do the rest.

The PCES robotics team not only took home first place in the state competition, their presentation received a perfect score.

They will travel to Orlando, Florida for the National Junior Beta Convention in June.

They were faced with a real-world problem, Anthony Janes said. They truly had productive struggles through solving this problem. And what I see now, they've won state but they're still working through the logistics of how to continue to make this even better.

It's real life. They're living an engineering job right now, and it's really cool to see that. They are truly engaged in the learning of this process.

Problem solving is a life skill that can be applied to everything, Riemer said, adding that he is really proud of the students.

It's quite an honor and a wonderful opportunity that they're going to remember for a lifetime, he said. I know they'll represent Park City very well.

BatBot moves the Joker into the Gotham City Police Station.

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Park City robotics team headed to national competition - Glasgow Daily Times

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MASSENA With a stellar performance at Clarkson University under their belts, nine members of the Nightengale Elementary School Robotics team are headed for the next level of competition, which will take them to St. Louis at the end of April.

Members of the Flying Nightengale Nighthawks were one of 22 elementary and middle school teams that competed in the 10th annual FIRST Lego League Robotics Tournament at Clarkson in January, where they earned the right to compete in the world championships in St. Louis.

The team, which is coached by William Lint, includes fifth and sixth grade students Ethan Blais, Hailey Boyce, Nolan Goolden, Tessa McGay, Hayden McGregor, Sal Perretta, Scotty Prue, Emma Stickney and Ella Tusa. All of the team members had participated in a two-week spring Robotics program at the school and came back in the fall to continue their Robotics experience.

Every year, FIRST Lego League releases a challenge thats based on a real-world scientific topic. Each challenge has three parts: the Robot Game, the Project and the Core Values. Teams participate in the challenge by programming an autonomous robot to score points on a themed playing field the Robot Game. They also have to develop a solution to a problem theyve identified.

Each year the FIRST Lego League program comes out with a theme. They have a research project, Robot Game and core values, how they work as a team, Mr. Lint said.

This year, its an animal theme called the Animal Allies Challenge, with students competing in animal-themed Lego competition.

Its how humans and animals interact, Ms. Boyce said.

The real-world problem the Nightengale team members decided to address and solve was the problem of interaction between humans and eagles. Ms. Tusa said they wanted to come up with a way they could observe eagles without disturbing them.

Mr. Lint said Blanche Town, Region 6 fish and wildlife technician for the state Department of Environmental Conservation, met with the students to give them information about eagles.

They did research on bald eagles, he said.

The students created a Lego structure with windows that only allow human to see inside. It contains solar panels on the top and tinted glass for the one-way viewing.

We created a structure where the eagles cant see you, Ms. Tusa said.

It would be placed a short distance from the nest, she said, allowing observers to get close without disturbing the eagles.

In addition to solving that problem, students also had to work together to build, test and program an autonomous robot using Lego Mindstorms technology to solve a set of missions in the Robot Game. The robot is programmed to complete 12 missions on the game board, which must be done in 2 minutes, 30 seconds, and the only time team members are allowed to touch their robot is to send it off on a mission.

Mr. Lint said the Nightengale team nearly maxed out the points they could accumulate during the Clarkson competition and, rather than resting on their laurels as they wait for the St. Louis competition, they went back to add new missions and alter the order.

They set the bar higher, he said.

We try to minimize the time, Ms. Tusa said.

The St. Louis competition runs from April 26 to 29.

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Flying Nightengale Nighthawks preparing for St. Louis Robotics competition - WatertownDailyTimes.com

Robotics teams from all around the world are set to compete this week at the 2017 CREATE U.S. Open Robotics Championship tournament.

More than 2,500 students, educators and spectators are expected to participate in the event held at the Mid-America Center which starts Tuesday and continues through Saturday.

Teams from the United States, Canada, Hong Kong, China and Lebanon are registered to compete. Each team will operate a robot theyve designed and built to achieve the highest score. The teams are paired with each other to test not only their competitive skills and understanding of technology, but also their ability to collaborate.

We have 500 teams registered from across the country and teams coming in from China, Hong Kong and Canada, said Jim Schulte, president of the Create Foundation. Its one of the largest competitions of its kind in the world.

This particular competition removes almost all the constraints found in most other kit-based competitions by allowing the use of any control system, 3-D printed, laser cut or even handmade parts, according to the press release.

This year, teams from Abraham Lincoln and Thomas Jefferson High Schools will compete in the competition.

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, competitors in grades two through eight will compete against each other in the elementary and middle school division championships.

On Thursday, the high school and middle school robots will be inspected for compliance for certain technical requirements.

Throughout the event, judges will assess the teams to determine the winners of several different awards and competitions. On Friday and Saturday, competitions will take place in the qualification rounds, followed by the final head-to-head competition on Saturday afternoon, to decide the CREATE U.S. Open Champions.

The event will close on Saturday evening with an awards ceremony.

All competitions are open to the public and admission is free.

Robotics competitions are to get kids interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and we are retiring a lot more engineers than were graduating, Schulte said. These competitions help to spur that interest in engineering.

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US Open Robotics Championship to be hosted at MAC - The Daily Nonpareil

The Trumansburg High School Team 5254:HYPE (Helping Youth Pursue Excellence) competed March 15-18 in the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Finger Lakes Regional event

Despite qualifying outside of the top eight teams they were invited to join the sixth ranked team as a first-round playoff pick. Team HYPE joined Alliance Captain Team 6490 Panther Robotics, a rookie team from Geneva, and Team 3838 Roc City Robotix from Rochester in the playoffs.

The team rose to the heightened competition level and guided their alliance to a quarterfinal win over the third ranked alliance. Advancing to the semifinals (the equivalent of the Final Four of regional competitions) the alliance lost their first match against the second ranked alliance by only seven points then were eliminated from the competition in match two after one of the alliance teams robots was disabled during the match.

Over the four days of practice and competitions the team gained valuable competition experience through scouting, team building, programming, strategizing and optimizing the robot.

Harrison Farnham a Junior CAD designer, builder and driver admitted that robotics is really hard but really rewarding at the same time. He enjoyed testing things that we didnt think worked or didnt know worked.

At FIRST events you meet a lot of cool people through your team and mentors and get a lot of real-world experience that you might not get in school. Freshman builder and lead scout Emma Williamson had intelligent conversations about robots that she wouldnt have been able to have at the beginning of the season.

For Emma winning would have been cool but it wasnt in the forefront of my mind. Building the robot for the competition was most important to me. I learned so much about the team effort it takes to build a robot in only six weeks and made a lot of friends along the way.

Program Manager Brad Farnham summarized the weekend as lots of fun, hard work, smiles, and yes a few tears. I am so grateful to be working with such a great group of young adults.

Hoping to win a berth to the World Championships in St. Louis the team will be traveling to Long Island to compete in the SBPLI Regional event March 29th-April 1st.

Team HYPE is 100 percent community supported. Through company sponsorships, grants, donations, bake sales, bottle and can drives and dinners Team HYPE has raised close to $20,000 to fund their regional competitions.

The team is striving to make it to St Louis again this year for Championships and needs to raise an additional $20,000 to attend. To help support the team, visit gofundme.com/5254-team-hype.

Come shake off the winter blues at the Robo-Jam fundraiser (chicken bar-b-que, three live bands and a silent auction) on Saturday April 8

from 2-6 p.m. at the American Legion in Trumansburg.

For more information visit their webpage at http://www.frc5254.com or Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/FRC5254. Brad Farnham

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Robotics Team Reaches Semifinals in Competition - ithaca.com

There's a lot of talk these days about the dangers of automation and the threat of robots stealing our jobs. But new research published today in the journal Science Robotics imagines a brighter future where robots train us, heal us, and help us get back to work.

Socially assistive robotics, or SAR, is a growing field of research and development in which engineers design intelligent, socially interactive machines that can help people in specific circumstances. As a field, it can be considered an offshoot of the more established field of medical rehabilitation robots.

Unlike traditional rehab machines that physically interact with patients - providing mechanical resistance during a muscle exercise, say - SAR systems are deigned to be principally social in nature. These are the bots that will sit with you during long weeks of physical rehab, offering coaching, monitoring, and companionship. SAR bots could also be deployed in elder care facilities or early childhood education.

In fact, several different kinds of robots have already been tested in these areas, said Maja Matari, director of USC Robotics Research Lab and author of the Science paper. Her lab has participated in studies using SAR bots in stroke rehabilitation, mental health care, and autism. She's also used more kid-friendly SAR bots to help children learn about health and nutrition.

RELATED: This Rolling Robot Porter Follows You With Your Stuff

The advantages of SAR helper bots are readily apparent, Matari said. Studies show that patients - and especially kids - tend to engage with robots better than traditional computer screens or tablets. The trick is developing robots that patients will feel comfortable, well, hanging with.

"Evidence from neuroscience shows that our brains respond with higher levels of activation to interactions with humans, pets, and robots than they do to screens," Matari said. "So we are more engaged, learn more, and enjoy more interactions with those real, physical agents."

But first, engineers must get past the uncanny valley effect, that odd phenomenon where humans get creeped out by robots that are almost, but not quite, human. To address this dilemma, roboticists are working hard to improve the capacity of SAR bots to interact with humans. It's a unique design challenge involving physical appearance, speech recognition, body language, and the endless other elements that we unconsciously process during interaction and conversation.

"Evolutionary theories implicate complex social structures as a major driver of human intelligence," Matari writes in the paper. "SAR designers must determine ways to achieve similar, compatible, socially interactive embodied systems that smoothly integrate the physical, cognitive, and social aspects of the robot."

The devil, as usual, is in the details. For example, research shows people get turned off if a robot responds too quickly in conversation - or too slowly. With humanoid bots, subtleties of facial expression, head orientation, eye contact, and verbal cadence all play a role. The challenges of human-machine interaction are one thing when dealing with recreational companion bots or digital personal assistants like Google Home or Amazon Echo.

But when you're designing hospital bots to help people though medical issues, the stakes are higher. If SAR bots are going to be genuinely helpful in therapeutic scenarios, Matari said, the field will need input from dozens of disciplines in medicine, psychology, computer science, and engineering. She's particularly interested in getting young people into the field.

"Robotics is developing and changing and growing so quickly, that whatever one does in school today is going to be just the foundation for what will be possible when they get out to actually create real machines for people," she said.

WATCH: Why You Shouldn't Fear AI

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Socially Assistive Robots Could Make You Healthier, Not Jobless - Seeker

TechCrunch

Scientists use magnetic fields to remotely control biologically ... TechCrunch The field of soft robotics has been the subject of increasing interest in recent years for the alternatives it presents to the rigid machines we tend to.. Researchers Figured Out How to Control Soft Robots With Magnets ...Inverse all 2 news articles »

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Scientists use magnetic fields to remotely control biologically ... - TechCrunch

Andrew Krieger, left, and Skyler Zimmerman unload paper into a bin during "Shred Day" at Vacaville High School, Saturday. The fundraiser, sponsored by Shred Solution, raises money for the Vacaville High School Robotics Team 2085, "The Robodogs." (Aaron Rosenblatt/Daily Republic)

VACAVILLE The Vacaville High School Robotics Team 2085The Robodogs brought in several hundred dollars Saturday with apaper shredding fundraiser at the high school parking lot.

The team is raising money to continue on to the next competition the second week of April.

The cost for doing this is really high, said Brian Kim, team mentor. It can be from $20,000 to $25,000 to do the competitions.

The competition changes each year, requiring a lot of money to build the robots and attend the competitive events, which can run $5,000 to attend.

Shred Solution helped, co-sponsoring theShred Day for the students. Sara and Rich Hostteter donated their time, truck and equipment for the event, with all the proceeds going to the robotics team.

Brent Krieger is a robotics dad who brought his own documents down for shredding in a show of support for the team.

I love it, he said. The constant movement and noise is exciting.

His wife, Cindy Krieger, finds the fun they have building robots with their son Andrew was better than when they were in high school.

I feel like Im back in high school, and its really fun, she said.

But its not all about the fun.The VEX Robotics program presentssome serious opportunities for participants.

They give out $50 million in scholarships, Brent Krieger said. A kid could get a full ride to college.

He said he hopes to see his son turn the skills he gains from the team into a career.

Taylor Ross, 16, the only female on the team, has big dreams of joining NASA after college and finds her skill-set ever-expanding by being on the team.

I am learning leadership skills by being director of engineering this year, she said.

Those skills of math, science and leadership will help her in college and beyond.

Im going to major in either astrophysics or aerospace engineering, Rosssaid.

The team is still taking donations. Contact Brian Kim at331-9000 for more information.

Reach Susan Hiland at 427-6981 or [emailprotected]

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Vacaville Robotics team fundraiser helps for next competition - Fairfield Daily Republic

Team celebrates win, gears up for next event at Lake Oswego

The Scappoose High School Robotics Club earned a second-place title during the first competition of the season at Clackamas Academy of Industrial Sciences on Saturday, March 25.

The team, which goes by the name Byte Sized, has been competing in FIRST Robotics competitions for several years, but last week's silver-medal finish marks the highest ranking in team history.

In FIRST Robotics competitions, teams are tasked with creating an autonomous robot that can maneuver around obstacles and complete tasks. Team alliances are selected and the teams engage in multiple battles over the span of a weekend. During those battles, the teams earn points by completing various goals, like shooting balls into a basket or loading metal gears onto a platform.

During the competition, Byte Sized experienced some complications when its robot, which was top heavy for some maneuvers, tipped over in one of the alliance battles in the final round. After the robot wasn't able to correct itself, the team was knocked

out. However, the points Byte Sized scored ahead of the

robot's toppling were sufficient to qualify for second place.

"We had a pretty good run up to that point," Beau Groom, senior, said of the mishap. "At first we were upset, and then we just kind of accepted it."

Team members said they were excited and thrilled about their accomplishment. Last June, the group of seniors who helped found the club graduated and, at the start of the season, some club members were concerned about how they would fill those shoes.

"We're excited that we got to a point that we've never gotten before," said Hayden Liao, a senior on the team.

Now that Byte Sized has taken home some hardware after the competition, its members are ecstatic about doing better than they ever have before. Liao said the team also owes a lot of its success to the newer, younger members who have stepped up.

Next, the team heads to Lake Oswego High School to compete over the weekend of Friday and Saturday, March 31 and April 1, where three Columbia County high school robotics teams will face off. The St. Helens High School Robotics and Engineering Club, or SHREC, and the Vernonia High School team, the LoggerBots, will also be at the competition.

For the three high schools, it will be the final competition of the season where they will try to score enough points to qualify for the Pacific Northwest Regional Championships. The teams must earn a total of 80 combined points in a competition season to qualify for district championships and are given two competition events to do so.

Currently, Scappoose and St. Helens are neck and neck in the statewide rankings at 75th and 76th place, respectively. The teams have also score similarly in terms of points. Scappoose has earned 38 points, while St. Helens has earned 36.

Sophomore Trent Lamont said he is looking forward to the competition this weekend as an opportunity to take home another team trophy.

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Scappoose robotics takes second in opening competition - Pamplin Media Group