Imagine a place where robots dance, play soccer and even go on rescue missions.
This electronic fantasy came to life on Sunday, April 11 at the New York Hall of Science’s 2010 RoboCupJunior Tournament.
Students nationwide develop technical abilities through hands on experience with electronics, hardware and software, making this a highly motivating opportunity involving teamwork and sharing technology with friends.
“It took almost five months of dedication to create the robots,” said the “Under Sea Chase” team of Gabriel Marks, Tariq Khan, Andy Kato, Ben Schneer and Brammy Sturley. “We learned how to work better with sensors and know what to expect for next year.”
Their Under Sea team won both best entertainment and first place in the dance challenge and was one of the seven teams that participated in creating robots that moved creatively to music and wore costumes according to their scenery.
“We now know that before trying out something new we must create a checklist with pros and cons. This will create a better turnout for our robots,” said one of the creators of “Robo Rock Stars,” which received third place and best construction for the dance challenge.
Most people don’t consider that watching a robot soccer game would cause feelings of anxiety, but that was the atmosphere in the room as eight teams participated in the soccer challenge, where their robots played games with an electronic ball in an enclosed field.
“Flawless, strong and sexy,” were the three words high school students Darius Glover and Brandon Adams used to describe their second place winning soccer robots.
But it was kicker “Sir Gigglebot III, Esquire” and “Goalie Thomas” who were undefeated for the soccer challenge. These robots were more than winners to their creators, Alan Cha and Eric Liu, whom had spent over two months putting all the pieces together.
“It was definitely stressful but we learned to work as a team in difficult situations,” said both Cha and Liu.
The creator of “Mr. Geek,” Michael Xie, won first place in the primary rescue. “Mr. Geek” and fifteen other rescue robots raced to identify victims lost in re-created disaster scenarios.
“Though my robot was very simple, it was strong enough to win,” said Xie proudly as he jumped for joy.
