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Keith McCord ReportingSome Roy High School students have been scrambling to finalize a science project for national competition. They've built a robot, and it's headed to Las Vegas to show its stuff.
Roy High School is one of 1700 schools that have put together a team to compete in this robotics contest. The team will first compete in a regional competition next month; if they do well then they'll go to the nationals!
Meet, "IRoyBot" a 5-foot tall, 120 pound aluminum "thing", with a funny-looking arm, created by 22 students at Roy High School. For the past six weeks students between the ages of 14 and 19 have designed, built, adjusted, welded, bolted, and at times damaged the robot. But with the deadline approaching, the team is now running like a well-oiled machine!
Pattie Adkins, Team Mentor: “The idea is so that kids won’t be intimidated by the science and technology, that they’re more excited to go and learn about it, and might even change their career goals.”
This robotics contest is run by the non-profit group called "FIRST"-- meaning, For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology. Six weeks ago all 1700 teams received an identical assignment, along with a package of parts-- motors, electronics etc.
The robot has to be able to lift a small plastic tetrahedron, and place it on top of a larger one.
"Team Roybotics" is getting the hang of things now, but at the beginning there were challenges, like getting everyone on the same page.
Nick Kinser, Senior, Roy High School: “Designing it the most probably. Because you have all these other people coming in with their ideas and others coming in with more, and it conflicts in some areas. But then when we got it where it works well, and we like it in the end. I’m pretty happy with it.”
There's more to the competition than just the lifting. The competition is timed, and they'll also work as a team with other robots at the same time.
By the way, the guy who started this national competition is Dean Kamen-- the guy who invented the Seqway scooter.
