TMCNet: Robotics offers Helena students bright future

[February 01, 2013]

Robotics offers Helena students bright future

Feb 01, 2013 (Independent Record - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A ROBOT NAMED TOBOR -- that's "robot" spelled backwards -- zipped around the floor of a Capital High classroom on Sunday afternoon.

Capital High students Patrick Sever and Walker Lamb were using video game controllers to direct the robot wirelessly as it picked up donut-sized plastic rings and hooked them on a vertical three-by-three grid similar to a tic-tac-toe board.


"We're trying to get the rings on the pegs to score as many points as possible," said Scotty Tilton, as he watched his teammates operate the robot, which the students have spent several hundred combined man-hours building.

The students were preparing for the First Tech Challenge high school robotics state championship, which takes place today in Bozeman at the University of Montana. Five teams from Helena will be competing in the event, which is more complicated than robots simply playing tic-tac-toe.

The teams' remote-controlled robots have ramps built into them. Additional points are scored when a teammate successfully drives a robot up onto another robot.

The teams have also been working on "autonomous" robots that have to be pre-programmed to pick up a plastic ring and hook it on a peg without being operated by a human.

Last year students from Helena made it all the way to the first world championship in St. Louis, where they finished 24th out of 11,200 teams from around the world, said Capital High science teacher and robotics mentor John Miller.

The energy in the room was high as Tilton, Sever, Lamb and about 20 other students worked on the their robots under the mentorship Miller and several others. In all, about 35 students are currently involved with the robotics program.

"You guys are about ready to tip over their robot," Miller said to some as students as two robots bumped into each other. "Half these kids started this fall with zero (robotics) experience. Now they're building robots and programming." Miller said the students are programming at the level of college sophomores and juniors.

Building robots and participating in robotics competitions provide remarkable college and professional opportunities for students, he said.

"MIT right now, 40 percent of the students they accept have First (robotics) experience," Miller said.

Each one of the robots the students have been building costs $1,000. Registering for Helena's five teams for the First Tech Challenge competition cost $2,500. But through donations from community members and businesses and the grants Miller has applied for, students have free access to the robotics program.

"There's nothing better for me as an educator to see student embrace some part of this. (It) is just terribly satisfying for me for me to see that light go on in they're head," Miller said. "When I was in high school there was no way you get me to come down to school every Sunday for four hours for anything." Miller said it's exciting to see the students solving complex problems and zeroing in on the different aspects of robotics that they enjoy the most.

"I drive the robot mostly, and I've done a lot of the manual labor," Walker said. "I theorize a little bit, but not quite as much as Patty's done." "I'd like to say Patty's done at least 70 percent of the work on the robot," said Tilton, who specializes in programming, of his teammate.

According to Walker, Torbor should actually be called "Mini Pat." The team agreed that their robot's unique ring-grabbing system, which Sever designed, should help them do well in the competition.

Tobor has a single hand made from a piece of tin folded into a circle. The circle is wrapped in rubber bands that are constricted or loosened by a servo that the Sever controls remotely.

Sever explained that this makes it so he doesn't have to be too precise when directing the robot to grab the plastic rings, which is important because each round of the competition is timed.

"It self centers," Sever said of his design. "Ours is the only one (robot) clamping here. Everyone else has a scoop, which I think is less efficient." "Our hand is a lot more efficient than any other robot," Walker agreed.

Tilton, Lamb and Sever all said that being involved with robotics has been fun and will definitely help them move forward academically and professionally.

"It's one of those things, it's kind of like a drug," Miller said. "These guys develop a passion for robotics and what's so cool about it -- it's a very positive thing and it will carry them a long ways in life." ___ (c)2013 Independent Record (Helena, Mont.) Visit the Independent Record (Helena, Mont.) at www.helenair.com Distributed by MCT Information Services

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