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  • Jan-Michael Stump

    TC ROBOTICS COMPETITION

  • Jan-Michael Stump

    TC ROBOTICS COMPETITION
March 5, 2010

Robotics teams to compete at TC Central

School to host soccer game with robots as players

BY SHERI McWHIRTER

TRAVERSE CITY -- Andrew Burke helped build a robot, a really cool robot.

Burke, 16, of Traverse City, is among nearly 40 students on a Traverse City Central High School robotics team. They will compete today and Saturday against dozens of other teams from across Michigan in their school gymnasium.

The challenge: Build a robot that can win a soccer game.

"I think this year we should do pretty decent. It's working really well," Burke said.

The team's robot, a 110-pound aluminum contraption with a moving "kicker" and loads of electronics and computer chips, reflected a group effort. Many students contributed with ideas, moving parts, software programming and all the things to make the gizmo move.

And move it does -- forward, backward, side-to-side, all without any multi-point turn-abouts.

The competition will involve two alliances of three teams who try to avoid obstacles and net soccer balls into four goals at the field's corners. Teams earn bonus points if, at the end of the match, their robot hangs above the field from one of two towers.

"This robot can kick the ball really well. It's very accurate and can kick the ball 30 or 40 feet," said Josh Norris, 16, of Traverse City, another student on the team.

For Burke, the best part about the robotics competition is "getting my hands dirty building something."

And that's a big part of the idea, to teach students high-level engineering in a hands-on way, said Tony McGinty, a Traverse City engineer and parent mentor. His son, Quinn, 16, is on the robotics team.

"As we know, the classroom has become a real theoretical setting," McGinty said. "This changes their competence and their confidence. All in all, this is absolutely fantastic."

Math teacher John Failor said the robotics competition -- a nationwide program with about 2,000 organized teams -- tries to take a sports competition model and encourage students to dream of being engineers, rather than professional athletes.

"There are some kids who were interested in engineering already, and this reinforces that interest. For some kids, I think this awakens them to the fact they could do this for a career," Failor said.

Teams have six weeks to build a robot, and the work involves mechanical engineering and intense computer programming and electronics components, he said.

Each team must pay $5,000 to compete, and Central's team spent another $5,000 on additional parts, travel and team T-shirts. In addition, it costs about $10,000 to run the competition, Failor said.

Traverse City Area Public Schools doesn't contribute toward those costs, so more than a dozen local sponsors chipped in to help.

The competition begins today at 10:30 a.m. in Central's gymnasium and will continue Saturday at 8:30 a.m. Admission is free.

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