2011 Issue

49 Becoming Involved With FIRST Robotics Competition Peter K. Strazdins A SERIES OF IMPRESSIONS linger from my involvement in the last FIRST Robotic Competition (2010). I dis- covered that inquisitive high school students were willing to devote significant blocks of their time outside the classroom to meeting the challenge of the robotic competition, including significant effort during the weekend - sacrificing other typical activities such as running up and down the snow covered slopes of Utah. But more impressively, I observed that some robotic competition students would de- vote up to five evenings a week with peers in a basement brainstorming; or, applying commercial software tools to mechanical or electrical design; or, standing by a work- bench sawing, hammering, drilling, fas- tening – undertaking whatever processes necessary in this rapid scheme of robot building. There was an air of excitement as teams raced to complete their robots. No team knew what to expect before the competition window opened on kickoff day. And all students were well aware throughout the following excruciatingly tight six week period that this window would very solidly slam shut all too soon. Every day in between, all students would remain immersed in the tough task which they had been given. Each team taking up the robotic com- petition challenge could hardly wait for the designated kick-off, which would be their first opportunity to conceive a solu- tion, begin, execute, and then ship their robots to the venue. There, the first of a series of competitions would be region- ally staged on a set weekend in March. Subsequent rounds would be conducted for those teams who were victorious in the preliminary rounds. As a result of their involvement, these students would gain Engineering organizations (specifically, but not exclusively, ASmE) should become integrated with students in the upcoming 2011 For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology [FIRST] Robotics Competition. one of the many facets of engineering societies is to give back to the community. practical experience, valuable in later life, not only as engineers, but also in virtually any vocation. Information on the robotic competition and the FIRST organization is available from their website http://www.usfirst.org/ roboticsprograms/the robotic competi- tion/default.aspx?id=966. It will be more valuable here to describe some of the obstacles to efficient team operation, as well as thoughts on my own involvement as a mentor with Team Implosion from Woods Cross High School competing in the 2010 event, with the hope of helping others in the upcoming contest, which begins on 8th January 2011. Glancing over the many corporate logos adorning the website, it is remarkable to discover the wealth of material being do- nated for use by the students. These are items contained in the standard project ‘build kit’ - a collection of mechanical & electrical components issued by the FIRST organizers to each team - making up a major constituent of the compulsory fee to participate. Then there are the products which are even more generously made available as a zero-cost supplement to the ‘build kit’ – tools to assist with design of the solution. Being a mechanical design engineer, I delighted in finding last year that com- panies such as AutoDesk and Parametric Technology Corporation virtually laid open their entire catalog of applications for exploitation by the student teams. Besides the basic design tools, these companies also made available comple- mentary tools, ranging from tools for initial concept sketching, website authoring, and 3-D gaming type simulation (for purpose of visual media content generation), pro- gressing all the way through to project management and scheduling and product data management systems. The commercial benefit to the company of a student’s successful adoption of in- dividual software tools (beyond when the student becomes an engineering profes- sional) is evident, yet there is a fundamen- tal obstacle to such a perfect match. How a mentor may effectively prepare to instruct a group of students is an issue. Information on the robotic competition and the FIRST organization is available from their website http://www.usf irst. org/roboticsprograms/the robotic competition/default.aspx?id=966.