Photo courtesy of Daniel Ernst
Author: Ben Tower, Proposal Engineer
Sitting ringside at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics World Championships in Atlanta, there are more than ten thousand high school kids, parents, volunteers and teachers watching two teams of three 120# robots tear up an arena playing a game called “Breakout.” Loosely modeled on the game of soccer with additional obstacles and scoring opportunities, “Breakout” was introduced to the student teams in early January as the game for 2010. Each team had six weeks to concept, design, build, program integrate and debug a robot to play the game before the competitions began. Of course during this period, each team had to ensure their concept would be competitive, learn how to drive the robot, develop strategies to deal with both team partners and opposition teams and raise funds for team expenses. After the six week preparation time, the robot is shipped; sealed in a bag, not to be opened until the team’s first competition.
Out of more than two thousand teams in the US, Brazil, Israel, Canada and Mexico, 340 teams qualified for the World Championships by qualifying at one of more than 50 District and Regional events over the previous five weeks. Once they reach Atlanta, they had to rise through two days of Qualification rounds then elimination rounds on one of four fields, then up to the center stage for the final semi-final and final elimination rounds. For the second year in a row, a team partially sponsored by Comau rose through all the eliminations to the finals match at the World Championships. Last year it was team 247 - Da Bears from Berkley High School, this year it was Team 469 – Las Guerillas from the International Academy in West Bloomfield. This year Las Guerillas also won the Xerox Creativity Award for the remarkable design of their robot. They also were selected by Popular Mechanics Magazine as the Best Defensive Design. (Article Link)
In his last two blog posts, Comau Inc. CEO Luca Savi discussed the importance of innovation to a company. FIRST Robotics is an innovation pressure cooker. Just remember, six weeks. That’s how much time the teams have from the introduction of the game and requirements to the start of competitions. Working with adult mentors, the successful teams use all of the tools commonly prescribed for driving innovation: Brainstorming, simulation, rapid prototyping, evaluation of existing technologies, SWOT analysis, etc. With 340 teams at the World Championships, there are 340 different approaches to robot design, controls design and game strategy.
There is also a remarkable level of innovation in the organization of the teams themselves. Some groups sponsor Lego League teams at elementary and middle school levels, ensuring a pool of talent for the future, or host robotics day camps in the summer to raise interest and team funds. There are single school teams, as well as "open" teams and industry sponsored teams.
Looking around the field today, there are representatives from various corporations (GM, Ford, Chrysler, NASA, Comau, Boeing, Northrup Grumman, Lockheed Martin, BAE etc.). Given the economic environment today, it is clear that innovation and developing a pool of interested talent for the future is a high priority for many companies.
After 10 years of involvement with the FIRST Robotics program I am still amazed at the accomplishments of the motivated teams of adults and students with limited budgets and time. I’ve seen teams develop “Shoot on the Fly” vision based targeting and trajectory control systems over the course of two days. I’ve seen rookie teams, who in their first year build a barely functional “kit bot”, return in their second year with innovative and original advanced drive and control system. And I’ve seen hundreds of students move from high school through college and into careers where they can put the lessons learned in the program to use. As the originators of the FIRST program like to say, “This is a sport where nearly everyone will go pro.”