Robots are the stars in competition at Neuqua
With WiredCats and Bionic Wolves, Psiborgs and Tyrannosaurus Vex competing, a tournament Saturday at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville won't be a typical clash of high school powers on the basketball court.
Although it's set to take place on the hardwood, this is a robotics competition pitting about 37 high school teams and 20 middle school squads in a battle of engineering skill, design and teamwork.
The third annual WiredCats VEX Robotics Tournament beginning about 10 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 16, will be the largest hosted by the school, said Matthew Ragusa, robotics coach and science teacher.
"It's a chance for a lot of these students to see how their designs work and share ideas with other groups on how they problem-solve through the challenges that they run into," Ragusa said. "Then they get a chance to go back and re-engineer and try to fix problems."
The competition will take place in three 12-by-12-foot competition spaces on the gym floor at the main campus, 2360 95th St., instead of at the freshman center.
Ragusa said the larger space is necessary because the competition is growing as districts emphasize robotics for students to experiment in STEM, or science, technology, engineering and math.
Most attending schools are bringing more than one robot, each built and controlled by a team of about six students. With several rounds of qualification matches to play before the single-elimination tournament begins, Saturday is set to be packed with robot motion.
"Throughout the course of the day, we'll play over 100 matches," Ragusa said. "It's a pretty chaotic day."
It takes each robotics team a lot of building, trial and error to make it to a competition, Ragusa said.
Using pieces from a robot-building platform called VEX, teams put together a machine to perform functions that will make it successful in a new game created each year.
This year's game, called Nothing But Net, challenges robots to throw foam balls into net-shaped targets at different heights and also to lift other robots off the floor. Robots work in teams and try to lift the other bot on their team at the end of each match.
Middle and high school students have freedom to combine VEX parts of their choice to create different mechanisms. Ragusa said some robots might focus on accuracy to hit the nets, some might emphasize height to reach taller targets and others might have extra strength to pick up robots.
After qualification rounds, robots are seeded and allowed to choose new partners. The highest-seeded group chooses its teammate first, and strategy creeps in as students look to choose a robot with skills that complement theirs.
Hosting the WiredCats tournament is just one way Indian Prairie Unit District 204 supports robotics. Using funding from the Indian Prairie Educational Foundation, the district also offers popular robotics teams at the elementary, middle and high school level.
Elementary teams are at Cowlishaw, Kendall, Longwood and Patterson, where students use glorified Lego kits to build and compete with robots in a series called VEX IQ.
"The response has been overwhelming," said Susan Rasmus, the foundation's executive director. "We can only take 30 at each elementary building because that's all the equipment we have. We had more than that apply at every single school."
The foundation is fundraising to bring in more support for robotics, coding and Project Lead the Way engineering programs. If the group raises $55,000 by March 1, its money will be tripled by a two-for-one matching grant of up to $110,000 from the Aurora-based Dunham Fund.
Some of those funds could go to support future WiredCats tournaments and help students get a fresh glimpse into future careers.
"The students are learning a lot in terms of what engineering concepts could look like," Ragusa said.
If you go
What: Third annual WiredCats VEX Robotics Tournament
When: 10:20 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16
Where: Neuqua Valley High School main gym, 2360 95th St., Naperville
Who: 57 robotics teams from suburban high schools and middle schools
Cost: Free admission for spectators; concessions will be sold
Info: <a href="http://www.robotevents.com/robot-competitions/vex-robotics-competition/re-vrc-16-3305.html">robotevents.com</a>