Last weekend area robotics teams took on the world.
From April 23-25 both Goodrich and Brandon robotics competed at the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) World Championship in St. Louis. The three day event drew 800 robots and more than 18,000 students from 40 countries to the Edwards Jones Dome home to St. Louis Rams.
Starting Jan. 3, robots are built in six weeks from a common kit of parts provided by FIRST and weigh approximately 120 pounds. All robotics teams, including Goodrich and Brandon, started working on a problem called Recycle Rush, a competitive robotics game with a recycling theme. Robots score points by stacking totes on scoring platforms, topping those stacks with recycling containers, and properly disposing of pool noodles, representing litter. All game pieces used are reusable or recyclable by teams in their home locations or by FIRST at the end of the season. A new challenge will be presented in January 2016.
Patrick Major, team coach for the Goodrich Martians, said the teams worked seven days a week for six weeks brainstorming the game challenges and building three robots to see how efficiently they could accomplish the tasks presented.
‘We produced two robots for competition robots and the third is a practice robot used to test improvements to the completed competition ‘bots,?? he said. ‘At the World Championship Goodrich’s Team 494 finished as divisional quarterfinalist, which put them in the top 10 percent,? he said. ‘At that level the air starts to get a little thin, Team 70 topped that and finished in the top 5 percent as divisional semifinalist and received the Creativity Award given out by Xerox Corporation.?
The award celebrates creativity in design, use of component, or strategy of play.
‘It was one of only four given out to the more than 600 teams at the event,? he added. ‘Those 600 were the elite teams out of 3,000 from across the world that attended the competition in St Louis.?
Truck Town Thunder, FRC Team 68, also attended the FIRST World Championships.
‘The competition was intense and inspiring for everyone involved,? said Andrew Spiece, of Truck Town Thunder.
‘T3 was able to finish in 10th place after the qualification rounds and was invited by FRC Team 135, Penn Robotics from Mishawaka, Ind. to the second seeded alliance to compete for the division title. To round out the alliance was FRC Team 51, Wings of Fire, from Pontiac High School and FRC Team 201, The Feds, from Troy High School. It was a privilege to have so many great teams from Michigan to compete with’out of the 607 teams at the Championships, 90 of them were from Michigan. Truck Town Thunder also got to present their Chairman Award presentation against 68 teams from all over the world.?
‘The 2015 competition season has been great,? he added. ‘Overall, Truck Town Thunder, FRC Team 68, has brought home three banners for a District Chairman Award, Michigan State Championship Chairman Award and for winning the Lansing District Event at Mason High School. They have also been recognized by winning the Industrial Safety Award sponsored by Underwriters Laboratories at the Kokomo, Centerline and Lansing districts. They received a Quality Award sponsored by Motorola at the Lansing District and an Entrepreneurship Award sponsored by Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers at the Centerline District. It has been an amazing year for Truck Town Thunder.?
Photos by Jessalyn Gonzalez, T3 team member and BHS senior.