The Becker High School robotics team, which operates at the “Coalition of Independent Students #4607” during the competition season, kicked off their second year with a pancake breakfast fund-raiser last Saturday morning.
The day’s activities also included a video feed in the auditorium which allowed spectators to see the requirements for the new robot as laid down by the First Robotics competition judges.
For 2014, the competition is titled “Aerial Assist”, and consists of a 25’ x 54’ playing field, bisected by an aluminum arch with high- and low-goal openings on each end. Robots will be required to gain control of a large air-filled exercise ball, which must then be passed to a robotic teammate and directed to one of the goals.
Coach Mark Kolbinger said the rules do not allow for shot blocking or any means of disrupting the opposing robots activities, very different from the shot-blocking and general mayhem the robots and their handlers enjoyed last year. Guiding a ball into the “low goal” will be worth one point, according to the video, and lofting one into the “high goal” will net 10 points.
Veteran team members Ryan Swanson and Alex Kolbinger drew a chalk outline of the design for the new machine on the board at a team meeting Wednesday. The new machine will feature a hydraulic catapult that can be raised quickly to shoot the ball or more slowly for passing or carrying, as well as a propulsion system.
Coach Alex Jurek told his team materials ordering is now the first priority at the Wednesday meeting, since the “build time” for the project must end on Feb. 19. The robot must then be sealed in an official container, and cannot be opened before the regional competition in March.
Robot building, designing portable containers for tools and parts, marketing strategies for recruiting and joining other teams in alliances and learning to run and repair the robot under the stress of competition are all part of the game now as the team copes with a fresh set of challenges.
