Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

HS Students Compete In FIRST Robotics Competition

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the robots-and-high-school-can-only-lead-to-hilarity dept.

A trio of teams have banded together to succeed in the 'FIRST Robotics Competition'. The teams Bobcat Robotics from South Windsor, Connecticut, Highrollers from Las Vegas, Nevada, and Gompei and the HERD from Worcester, Massachusetts combined to create a versatile robot geared to succeeding at a number of odd tasks. "These young people had six weeks to perfect their machines. And they had the enthusiasm of any athletic competition. From tie-dyed shirts to human hair dyed in school colors, competitors from 23 countries showed that math, science and brains can provide a lot of excitement ... Whether it is computer programming, wiring a motor or scouting rivals to develop strategy, students said the skills they develop often go beyond the contest. Clearly, the event has piqued the interest of major sponsors such as NASA, which will broadcast webcasts of the competitions."

4 of 73 comments (clear)

  1. FIRST outside North America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    FIRST is quite good - I was in a team competing from the UK, unfortunately, for teams outside the US/Canada it's fairly hard to raise the money to build the robot and get the team to the event!

    Some sort of initiative to help teams outside of North America would be good I think - there is a fair bit of interest over here in the UK.

  2. Every Little Bit Helps by realthing02 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    While this probably won't get too much play outside of the tech community, it's good to see there is at least an interest in computer science/robotics in the high school level. It wasn't until college that i had the ability to tinker with some robots, and it was a great experience and definitely taught me a lot about the field, not just theory.

    Now i just can't wait for robotics teams to get a slice of that high school football budget.

  3. Really robots? by Porchroof · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Were these really robots or were they simply radio-controlled devices...with a human in control?


    Anybody there ever read "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov? That series of short stories will enlighten you to what robots are/will be.

    --
    Fata viam invenient.
  4. To answer the questions by Puls4r · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Ok.

    FIRST stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology".

    These are not just remote-control toys. Camera systems are used for fully autonomous operation during portions of the competition. More hi-tech teams use sonar, infra-red and other devices. Indeed, for the geeks out there I'll point out that the "remove control" is actually a 900 mghz modem - not your standard little 2 joystick controller.

    Teams compete in alliances of 3 robots. 2 alliances are on the field at the same time, and each trys to score the highest. Defense (aka contact) is DEFINITELY allowed, although intentional attempting to damage other robots is highly discouraged.

    The motto of first is one of "Gracious Professionialism". I.e. - if your robot is broken at a competition, you can be sure of getting half a dozen teams all trying to help you get it back on the field.

    There are very few limits placed on the overall robot developmenet - you must use their motors, radio system, and batteries. There is also a limit on robot weight and size.

    Go over and read the rules at www.usfirst.org - or better yet, go over here and watch some of the semi-final matches at the world championships that went on in Atlanta this weekend:

    http://www.soap.circuitrunners.com/2007/movies/cur /

    The movies you want are at the bottom with the longer names - the semifinals and finals on that field. There are thousands of teams and this is competitive as all heck. Every big-name company you can think of that is involved in technology sponsers it - from Motorola to Ford.