Fetch: The Next FIFA Champion
Photo Credit: Photo from Sarah Watanabe
The Presentation Robotics team 2135 displays the newest, and most robotic, member of the team: Fetch.
March 9, 2010
Kristina Ngo, manager, advertising
Filed under Features, Top Stories
Go, Fetch! No, The Voice isn’t throwing a stick for a cute little puppy to chase after. The Voice is, however, referring to a six-wheeled robot named Fetch that will hopefully make her way to Nationals this year.
Team 2135, known as Presentation Invasion, will be attending the Silicon Valley Regional this year, which is held at the San Jose University Event Center. The Robotics team hopes to qualify there for the competition in Atlanta, Georgia after all the local regional events.
This year’s Robotics team has worked five weeks and four days on assembling Fetch. They built Fetch (who is a girl!) as part of the FIRST challenge. FIRST stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”. It is sponsored by NASA . It will take place March 18 to 20. The challenge is to build a working robot in six weeks that must complete the assigned task, according to President of the Robotics team, senior Sarah Watanabe.
At tournaments, teams are assigned into an alliance. An alliance consists of three randomly selected teams that compete with a second, according to Watanabe. After each match, the members of each alliance rotate as an effort to compete or work with the other teams.
Team 2135 has been to five FIRST competitions. Last year, there were 46 local teams including Bellarmine, Valley Christian, Mitty, Leland and Saint Francis. Team 2135 beat Bellarmine last year and was chosen for Alliance. According to Watanabe, “Competition is a lot of fun to participate [in]. We meet a lot of new people while competing in a friendly manner to show who built the most efficient robot.”
Not only do the teams have a lot of fun, but Watanabe says that spectators have fun as well. “We invite all Pres students to come see what we do and cheer everyone on,” she says.
Fetch’s task this year is to engage herself as a player of Breakaway, which is like a game of soccer for robots. Fetch has to get a normal sized soccer ball into the opposing goal. Up to three team members can control the robot. This may sound easy, but there are various obstacles that are in the way. The robot is placed in a 27 by 24 foot field with two bumps that divide the field into three zones. There is a tower in the center of each bump and there is a tower under each bump as well.
In order to play Breakaway, the robots must kick or roll a normal sized soccer ball in the opposing goal. The robots can use their camera to target the goal anywhere from the field.
In the beginning, there is a 15-second autonomous period when the robot can shoot as many soccer balls into the goal. It must do so without the help of humans, which means that the robot must be programmed to do this by itself. After the 15 seconds are up, the human drivers take control and goals can be scored from anywhere.
There are three ways the robots can earn points. Simply scoring a goal is one point. If the robot can lift itself up onto a tower or platform, it’s two points. And if the robot can hang from other robots, that’s three points.
The coding and building of the robot is a big time commitment. Junior Shelby Nemeth, VP of Software Development, programs the robot and finds it stressful, yet fun. Watanabe says the team practices almost every day a week including eight hours on Saturday and Sunday. But with a good attitude and willingness to learn, robotics is suitable for everyone. The members will teach new members mechanical engineering, software programming, and business market and management.
There are about 10 consistent members who come to work on the robots. Nemeth says that Robotics is a great way to make good friends. For all those interested in joining robotics, it is a team of diversity where everyone supports each other while learning engineering and business operation skills, according to Watanabe. However, members aren’t only restricted to these two divisions. They can help build the robot as well.
The Robotics team has worked long and hard for their competition. After hours and hours of practice in the Jenvey house, they deserve to have recognition. Support the members and cheer them on at their competition. Catch your first glimpse of the robot on the soccer field as she tries to fetch the soccer ball.
Loading ...
Comments
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!