Robotics
October 1, 2018
As a little kid, robots seem like something futuristic out of Wall-E or Star Wars. Now, students at Warren have a chance to build them through FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team 4296 Trident Robotics.
Trident is the school’s robotics team, and it is currently in its eighth year. It consists of almost 40 students, and its mentors are Mr. Greene, Mr. Vanpay, and Mr. and Mrs. Garward. Additionally, various engineering mentors come in to help out the team, bringing their real-life experience to the robot. Each student puts in over 100 hours in the six week build period in the spring, in addition to training in the fall, and intense competitions. It’s a large commitment, but the end result is something amazing.
Trident Robotics is a FIRST Robotics team, and each year they have to build a robot that fits the theme of the year and plays the game set by FIRST. In 2018 spring, the theme was Power Up, an 80s video game-inspired challenge. It required robots to pick up cubes and deposit them on scales, get power ups, and work with two other robots to defeat the opposing alliance. To accomplish all of this, Warren’s team put in hundreds of hours to create their robot. First, the mechanical subteam constructed the robot. It has a claw to grab cubes, an arm to support the entire robot’s weight, and, if that wasn’t enough to accomplish in six weeks, it needs everything else it could possibly need to move and defeat the other team. Once it was ready, it took the controls subteam a few meetings to wire up the entire robot just so that it could move even an inch. Of course, during this time, the software subteam was coding everything the robot would need to move, both with and without human controllers.
Though it takes a lot of work, it’s worth it at competition.
Each competition is filled with other teams comprised of equally passionate individuals who have spent weeks working on their robots. The teams at competition are very competitive, which is to be expected anywhere people are pitted against each other, but there’s also camaraderie. All of the people there have had a similar experience through the build season, toiling over their robot and hoping they win, and that feeling unites everyone.
In the pits where each team works on their robot between matches, there are people wandering around, asking questions to other teams, and learning new things from every person they talk to. That’s not to say that no one cares about winning; each team wants to come out on top, and each short match is thrilling to see. Trident Robotics goes to two competitions each season. They are each three days long, during which the team stays in a hotel and spends time bonding with the members. The sheer excitement of competition shows why the team spends so long on the robot.
Building robots is all well and good, but that’s not all that Trident Robotics does.
Along with the dozens of hours each member puts in at school, learning and building, each member must spend 20 hours helping with STEM outreach activities in our community. This can take on a variety of forms, with a large part of it taking place at Warren Newport Public Library.
Over the summer, Trident Robotics provided volunteers for multiple STEM related events, most notably Mission to Mars and STEMbots. Both of these programs met once a week over several weeks, and are aimed towards young kids in an attempt to foster a love of engineering through assembling Lego robots and programming them to recognize color, distance, etc. These programs not only provide kids in the community with hands-on experience, but also shows the robotics team as role models in the STEM community.
Though there are other STEM volunteer opportunities in the library, such as Hour of Code or 3D printing workshops, the teams also gives back to the community in other ways. For example, in the past the team has volunteered at a Libertyville church to help provide food to families in need. Also, Trident Robotics is currently preparing to host a girls only STEM workshop for 9-13 year olds to engage and encourage young girls to pursue STEM related activities, and hopefully careers.
Trident Robotics is already working hard to train new members and build new skills. Their aim this year is to win their way to the world championship.
Sources:
firstinspires.org
