Batavia students get robots ready for world championship competition
After putting in hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars into their work, the Batavia Robotics Team will be competing at the highest possible level next month.
Each of the three teams from the Batavia High School club have earned berths in the FIRST Tech Challenge World Championships in Atlanta in April.
"I'm very proud of these teams," said head coach Ron Karabowicz.
Each year, FTC competitors are presented with a different challenge. This year, the task is to build a robot that will pick up as many rings as possible and put them on a PVC pipe pole in a specified time period.
Robots can be no larger than 18 inches long, wide or high at the beginning of a match, but many of the teams have components that extend beyond the guideline once a match has begun.
The teams have to program their robot to move for 20 seconds to pick up the colored rings, but then can use remotes to control the robots for two minutes. There are four robots in the 12-foot-by- 12-foot playing field at once, on two teams.
For team Pwnage -- a name derived from a gaming term for beating up on opponents -- their robot was doing fine, but wasn't bringing enough rings to the goal.
"Then we thought maybe it would be easier to just take the goal with us," said team member Jacob Baran.
The result was a set of curved arms that hook a goal and drag it along behind the robot.
No one has ever been able to take the goal back, team members boast.
All three of Batavia High's teams earned the "Inspire" award -- similar to a good sportsmanship award -- at different competitions, which automatically qualified them for the international competition.
That top award also takes into consideration a 10-minute presentation groups make to judges, answering questions about their strategy, reasoning and teamwork.
That's something Dane Christianson's team, the Robo Gophers, strives for.
"We hope to make sure everyone gets a say," he said, while tinkering with the team's robot.
Students estimate they have spent more than 100 hours on each of their robots. Some took their robot apart and completely rebuilt it after a competition.
It's not cheap. Each robot has about 10 motors -- that cost $20 each -- remotes, steel, sensors, wheels, transmitters and receivers. It adds up to about $700 to $1,200 for each robot. The club spends time fundraising in order to buy parts.
Many of the students involved are interested in majoring in engineering in college, and like the experience and the camaraderie they gain in the group.
"Once you get into it, it's really addicting," said club member Diya Majumdar. "We can't stop."
Each team has a parent coach, all of whom seem to be having as much fun as the students.
Karabowicz, the head coach, isn't a teacher at the school. He was a parent volunteer at the middle-school level when the group first started six years ago. After the sponsor retired, he took over leadership.
"I love to see the kids work, I love to see the light bulbs go off," said Karabowicz, known as "Mr. K" to the students.
The middle school teams -- who make robots with Legos -- and the high school teams now boast more than 50 members.
The high school club is seeking sponsors to help defray travel costs to the worldwide competition. For information, e-mail info@bataviarobotics.com.