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Robots Go Wild at the USFIRST.org Robotics Competition (Video)
The Robots Rock. They Sock. They Rebound. And they *SCORE* at the USFIRST.org Robotics Competition, which is open to high school teams all over the U.S. -- including the Michigan competition where Robert 'samzenpus' Rozeboom shot this video. He says, "Pretty neat competition, made me wish we had a team when I was a kid."
I actually got the opportunity to watch this in Oklahoma City about a month back. It is very entertaining.
I did the game announcing for the Dallas Regionals this year. The game is a combination of autonomous and teleoperated. The bots that won took advantage of higher point score values during the autonomous period and/or did strategic moves like gathering up ammunition during that period and it made a difference even though it was only 15 seconds long. Some ball targeting was really impressive. It was also the first time since Battlebots that I've seen 1000+ people cheering robots.
It would be great if more people would get into this sort of competition. It combines some skill with a lot of talent just like other sports just less physical. I see the need for physical sports too obviously but think of how far we could go if we devoted even 1% of the energy we spend on other sports onto something like this.
Wicked echo on the voiceover there, can you record that stuff in front of a curtain, or hang cloth over the walls or something. Its the little things.
But yeah this looks like a lot of fun.
Back in my day it seemed the big high school project was the hover craft on the basketball court. I think the robotics competition draws a bigger crowd!
I had the honor of being a judge at the Lake Superior REgionals this year. These kids are AWESOME! I heard a great statement, "Sport Robotics is the only sport where everyone can turn pro!" This year, students can letter in robotics in the state or Minnesota! Another fact, in MN there are 156 high school hockey teams and 154 high school robotics teams.
I've had some family members compete and I've had the opportunity to attend some of the regional events over the last couple of years. Very cool! I know the organization is very heavy into developing mentor/mentee relationship. That's something that works very well and encourages the younger team members to step up the following year. One thing I'd like to see them change is allowing the adult mentor to stand behind the students during the competition. Some of those adults are a little too competitive and for me them shouting instructions during the actual competition is a bit too much. You've help the students enough. Please let them compete without interference.
I ran across the FLL last year while looking for some extracurriculars for our homeschoolers. My two oldest are in the range for FLL so I looked into our options for local participation. I was pleasantly surprised to find five or six teams in our small town (population 50,000) and at least a dozen within an hour's drive. The local 4H clubs work with NASA to sponsor teams, which eliminates most of the cost barriers. I am coaching a team this year and will be responsible for perhaps $200 (depending on tournament and travel costs); the 4H is covering over $700 in national registration, robot, practice field, etc. If I want to bother with soliciting, it should be simple to get the remaining costs covered by businesses or colleges.
NASA also works with colleges and other groups to bring training to you. I recently attended a free all day training at a local Montessori school - it was targeted at teachers who want to use LEGO robotics in the classroom but included several homeschool parents and even a local artist who wants to give life to some of his work. The class provided a great introduction to using the NXT software and some suggestions for projects that can be used in math and science classrooms; attending it also qualifies me to checkout their loaner lab for a week or two at a time, which includes 9 stations (laptop with NXT software, robot, and lots of extra parts).
These are expensive toys for sure, but a bit of creativity and looking for local support can get them in your hands for next to nothing.
Title: Robert 'samzenpus' Rozeboom Takes You to the Michigan FIRST Robotics Competition
Description: They rock. They sock. They rebound. They SCORE! at the USFIRST.org Robotics Competition.
00:00) <TITLE>
Scenes at the robotics competition are shown throughout the presentation.
The SlashdotTV logo bar reads "Robert 'samzenpus' Rozeboom Takes You to the Michigan FIRST Robots Competition" before fading out.
00:03) Robert>
Part pepperly[?], part battlebots and part rewards ceremony.
The non-profit FIRST Robotics Competition allows kids to learn about technology in a hands-on way and have fun doing it.
Founded by Dean Kamen, this year marks the 21st season of the competition.
The FRC has grown from one event to almost 60, and from 28 teams to over 2,000.
00:05) Robert>
Each team is made up of 10 to 25 high school aged kids, who work with a group of adult mentors and engineers.
The teams get 6 weeks to build robots from a common set of parts.
Once the build season is over, teams compete locally - with a chance to go to state or even national championships.
The FRC is giving out almost $14M in prizes and scholarships this year, ranging from a one-time $500 prize to a 4-year full right scholarship.
01:41) Robert>
This year's competition is called 'The Rebound Rumble'.
Each team uses 3 remotely controlled robots, to score as many points in 2:15s matches possible.
The match begins with a 15-second hybrid period, in which robots operate independently of driver input.
During this period, 1 robot in each team may be controlled using a Microsoft Kinect.
In the remaining 2 minutes, drivers score as many baskets as they can with their robots.
The higher the basket, the greater the number of points.
The match ends with robots attempting to balance on bridges located at the middle of the court.
02:15) Robert>
Watching a bunch of 150-pound robots crash into each other and shoot baskets, is a pretty good way to spend an afternoon.
02:29> <TITLE>
The SlashdotTV logo bar reads "Robert 'samzenpus' Rozeboom Takes You to the Michigan FIRST Robots Competition" fades back in.
I'm a mentor for one of the teams and the program is actually quite meaningful if done right.
Before a significant involvement of some engineers, the teachers ran the program like a shop class and hardly any time and thought was put into the design of the robot.
After a few years of introducing concepts like modularity, center of gravity, design with CAD, and brainstorming sessions, the team performs much better and the feedback from the kids involved has been much better. Before, the kids took math because they had to. Recently, with some work on figuring the angle of chain off a sprocket for spacing, the kids have been telling me they now understand why trigonometry is useful.
The big tragedy, though, comes when the kids don't get to work alongside scientists and engineers. They don't get much appreciation of science and engineering and are still stuck in the shop class version...
Years ago I participated as a coach for a few years. It is exciting to watch but in my opinion the competition has a lot of issues. First of all it is expensive to enter. When I did it was over $8,000. Second the sponsors for the most part build the robot. Certainly all the robots that place in the top half are built by the sponsors. The kids have minimal involvement in the design and building. The main sponsors are car companies and defense contractors. Several told me they almost shutdown their machine shops for several weeks to get it built. The winning robots probably cost over $150,000 when you add everything. I think the better robotics competition is Best. It is free to enter. The kids design and build the robots. Sponsors spend a few thousand for things like T-shirts, building a practice field and maybe some travel.
I'm a mentor for FIRST Team 4095 Team RoXI of Pius XI High School out of Milwaukee WI. It was our rookie year this year and we didn't do all that well, but we were there with more than a plywood box (but close though). I was also a student on FIRST team 13 of Johnsburg IL 1996 through 1998. FIRST is a great project for those interested in STEM and Business and Marketing students too. Our team was a team of 12 kids and 2 mentors. While most teams are double or triple the number of participants. When starting, most of our team didn't even know how to use a drill. After the very short and intense 6 week build season, they all have that figured out, and have better learned the engineering portion of the event. They also got into mathematics of projectile motion. All to build a robot that is 28"x38"x60"tall and max weight of 120lbs. The event changes every year, and the size constraints change a little bit every year. The other interesting thing with FIRST Robotics is the way they made the event more than just cheering on your own robot. You are teamed up with two other teams for the event. For this last year a game of 3 on 3 basketball. So teams cheer themselves on along with 2 other teams who earlier were opponents to them. There is a lot of opportunity to volunteer being a mentor to a local team as well or even sponsor a team. I know our team is looking for all types of mentors and sponsors, ME, EE, Machinists, CS, programming, Business, Marketing. If you're even a little bit interested check out http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/frc/get-involved for more information. -Nate
What happened to "we listened" over the slashdot tv blowback? Why is this retarded piece of garbage on the front page at all? If it has a place *at all*, it should be in idle, or just in the TV section, where I can safely ignore it.
The editors seemed earnest enough last time they posted a lame video that blew up in their faces. Did you guys just hand the keys to some marketing morons and give up? It just seems so ridiculous to take all that heat, answer back with promises of improvements, then shoot *another* of these dumb things, and post it on the front page instead of where it belongs!
STOP WITH THE IDIOTIC VIDEO STUFF! If you must create videos, put them on youtube where they belong. YOU ARE NOT REPORTERS. You are editors, and if you're wasting your time creating (bad) videos, then you're not spending the time you need to effectively manage the submissions and post News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters.
As a kid (now 3rd of mechanical engineering degree) who competed in this competition for two years it is a great opportunity for people to get into engineering and can really help people who don’t want to do a traditional sport or language. Anyone who can help their local team do it is good for everyone involved.
Team 759 Systemetric forever. Brits showing the yanks how it’s done since 2002
What this country desperately needs is all the fortune and glory of American Idol channeled into this. IMHO, if kids thought they could become technological rock stars instead of ostracized nerds, technical fields would get a much greater influx of talent. Unfortunately, the people seem to be addicted to the bread & circuses.
However I'm pretty sure that they needed a lot of help making them because creating these things require college level electrical engineering knowledge, but the fact that this exists is just plain cool! I wish more sports like these existed and at a higher-level, maybe even a good range of autonomous battles. >: D
My son started high school this year and joined the robotics club and I became a half-assed mentor to the team. We've been to a couple of regionals now and they are a lot of fun. A surprisingly intense 3 days-
The first day you arrive, unpack the robot (after bag inspection- there's a strictly enforced 6 week build period at the conclusion of which you have to bag the robot and put a security tag on it, though you can keep up to 30 pounds separate to continue work on), setup your pit area in a 10' X 10' square (some teams have very elaborate pits), ready your robot for competition and pass final inspection (extensive- robot weight (minus battery) 120 lbs. or less, size constraints, bumper constraints, thorough electrical and hazard inspection) and do any practice rounds you can get in. All the while folks are coming by to see your robot and talk to you about it and we're scouting everyone else.
The next day and a half are qualification matches for the finals- you're randomly teamed with 2 other teams on either a red or blue alliance for each round and you have at it. About 10 rounds. In the qualification rounds you get 2 qualification points for being on the winning alliance plus there's 2 more qualification points available to both alliances if someone from your alliance and the opposing alliance manage to balance together on the "coopertition bridge". After the qualification matches the top seeded bots get to choose 2 other bots for their alliance to go through the playoffs with. 8 teams are formed and this is where the scouting comes into play, you want to pick team members that complement you bot.
The playoffs are best of 3 matches and are fast and intense- not much time for repairs in between matches. We made it to semi-finals in one regional, only the quarter finals in the other, very exciting. The winning alliance is crowned at the end, but that's not the top prize- top prize is the Chairman's award which involves your total involvement with FIRST and community outreach and involvement. Of course lots of other awards are given, various judging awards and what not, everyone has a blast. I'm looking forward to next year.
-Mentor Team 832 OSCAR
We have nothing to fear but fear itself! And Spiders!
Hey what gives you dont cover the VEX Robotics High School World Championship April 19-21 which was in Anahime Calf.
http://robotevents.com/robot-competitions/vex-robotics-competition/2012-vex-robotics-world-championship.html
I chose Robofest over FIRST Robotics several years ago for a few reasons:
#1 The competition is not cost prohibitive for schools. Students ranging from lower elementary to high school can compete for the price of a Lego Mindstorms kit (~$250.00). Even home school students can participate. Each team does not need to seek a corporate sponsor, and the parts can be reused each year.
#2 The robots are 100% autonomous. There is no remote control allowed. This aligns more closely to the needs of industry. For instance, robots that build cars are not operated by remote control. Students who have to build robots that run autonomously have therefore gained highly marketable programming skills.
#3 Students have to compete on their own merit. Robots are asked to complete additional tasks and deal with unknown variables during the tournament. Parents and coaches are not allowed to interact with the students while they prepare their robots at the tournament.
On the flip side, FIRST is the larger organization. The tournaments are more spectacular, and the press coverage is greater.
Note that there are plenty of other great tournaments available for schools to participate, such as FIRST Tech Challenge and VEX robotics competition. If you are a S.T.E.M. teacher reading this post, I highly encourage you to participate in one of these competitions as it adds relevance and rigor to your curriculum.
I mentored a team in Michigan, and there are some that get professional engineering done by sponsors. But on our team the kids did most of the design, most of the construction, and all of the software. Some custom fabrication was done by sponsors, but not design or assembly. The adults were there to make suggestions and do things that were beyond the kids abilities - but a good mentor will have the kids take a crack at it first. We managed to get to nationals with a mostly kid-driven effort, and Michigan is the toughest state to get through regionals.
Nice. You can see me shooting photos at the top left, near the end. That's pretty awesome.
He is forty-eight years old, and he was part of GeekNet.
He is forty-eight years old, and he was part of Slashdot.
Only in videos will we have our own names since only in videos are we no longer part of the effort. In videos we become heroes.
And the crowds yell, "Robert Rozeboom."
The only thing worse than a Democrat is a Republican.
Saw my first one of these a year or two ago in Knoxville TN. I was from the area and didn't expect much - it is frankly a poor and dumb area of the country.
What I was surprised to find was all new Cadillacs in the parking lot. People carrying around personal cameras that were broadcast quality etc. There was nothing but money here. Most of the 'bots' were custom CNC'd and anodized, again, indicating a lot of money.
And I had to wonder, does a poor kid stand a chance?
They place far too little emphasis on autonomous operation. As organized, its just remote control basketball. (white kids can't jump, so I guess they came up with this as alternative for rich kids?)
slashdot troll = you make a compelling argument I do not like the implications of.
http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprograms/first-championship
All levels of FIRST (JrFLL, FLL, FTC and FRC) will be there. I'll have the pleasure of judging for the FLL World Festival again this year.
Admission is free--come and see if you're in the region /K
One of the longest, if not the original robotics competition, is the Jerry Sanders Creative Design Competition ("JSDC") that takes place during Engineering Open House at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. More information on this annual competition can be found here: jsdc.ec.illinois.edu
Would anyone be interested in finding out more information about JSDC?
i watched this because i was told "Robots Go Wild" and yet there were no robo-boobies. what the hell?
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
There were no robots in the competition. All the devices entered were remote controlled.
A robot is an autonomous device that makes its own decisions. (An android is a robot spiffied up to look like a human.)