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| 2/18/2009 2:18:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article | Westwood Robotics to compete at regionals
LAURI ZACHRY
Education Reporter
Westwood Robotics Club members literally worked right down to the wire all day Monday to complete the robot they will enter for an upcoming competition in March.
Club members hammered and molded lightweight materials such as aluminum and lexan to create a robot that can shoot five balls a second during a modified version of basketball. They put together computer components such as wiring from a National Instruments processor so the computer can move on its own for a full 15 seconds before needing human control.
The Westwood Robotics Club will compete against 64 teams in the regional For Inspiration and Recognition of Scientific Technology competition March 26 in Houston. Club members utilized Monday's President's Day holiday by staying up for 24 hours straight to complete the robot before the UPS shipping deadline of Tuesday afternoon.
During the competition in Houston two teams will compete with three robots on each team. Six schools will be represented on the two teams.
For the competition, the object of the game is for the robots to score as many balls in their opponent's trailer (hanging from behind each robot) while traveling across the 30-foot by 54-foot playing field, aimed at simulating slick texture and friction involved with zero gravity.
Since Jan. 3 Robotics Club members have allotted several hours of each day adding more to and taking away items from the robot. For example, since there is a 120-pound weight limit for the robots, club members keep adding and taking materials away from the robot, said Westwood Robotics Club member Colin Buchan.
"This is more than just about creating a robot," Buchan said. "It's about engineering and making engineering fun again."
Westwood Robotics Club member and senior Keith Walker said he enjoyed the engineering aspects of the competition of creating different prototypes of the robot before proceeding with building the robot. His main job preparing for this competition was to control the robot using a joystick.
"Overall it was great seeing the robot come together," Walker said.
Walker's father, Mark who is also an engineer at IBM, volunteered his garage as a workshop for about 160 hours for the students to work on the robot.
"It's been interesting to see so much creativity involved with this," Mark Walker said. "These students are learning the whole engineering development process."
Along with learning about engineering, Westwood Robotics Club students learned about marketing and the corporate world by seeking corporate sponsorships. The Westwood Robotics Club received corporate sponsorships from National Instruments, IBM, Dell Inc. and 3M, said Westwood Robotics Club member and junior Vansi Vallabhaneni. The Westwood Robotics Club also received a sponsorship from Houston Robotics for $6,000, which covered the regional registration costs and the costs of the larger components. Westwood Robotics Club members then used the money they received from the corporations to purchase materials such as the aluminum, lexan, nuts and bolts, said Westwood Robotics Club member and junior Zach Richardson.
Along with creating the robot, Westwood Robotics Club members must keep an engineering project notebook, take pictures of the progress of the robot and create and update a Web site regarding the construction process. The Westwood Robotics Club Web site is westwoodrobotics.org.
In the spring, the 20 active Westwood Robotics Club members plan to take the completed robot to several Round Rock ISD elementary schools to get kids interested in engineering at an early age.
Depending upon their experiences in Houston, the Westwood Robotics Club plans to compete at the national FIRST competition in May in Atlanta.
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