The robot wars
Posted Mar 25, 2010 02:37:34 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Robot soccer warriors, and a few hundred high school kids who built them.
That, plus a whole lot of cheering, is what you’ll find at the University of Waterloo today for the Day 1 of the FIRST Robotics Competition.
Rob Gorbet, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UW, explains “FIRST” stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology,” and this is the sixth year for the competition at the University.
He says the competitive event changes each year, and for 2010 teams of high school students have to assemble robots that can gather soccer balls while navigating through a playing field of humps and competing robots.
Referees oversee the contest and judges give awards for design, technology, sportsmanship, and commitment.
Twenty-six teams involving about 400 students will participate in the Waterloo event – 24 from Ontario, one from Quebec and even one from Indiana.
The team from Eastwood Collegiate in Kitchener has high hopes for their robot, called “Low Rider.”
Eastwood Grade 12 student Daniel Fererro says their robot sucks the ball up and shoots it with vacuum power.
Fererro says this is a great way to showcase the talented students at his school.
Eric Hadley from Wheeler High in Valparaiso, Indiana, says he and his team joined this competition on the spur of the moment — they just felt like coming to Canada for their Spring Break.
The teams compete this week for a spot at the world finals, April 15 to 17, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
