Illustration by Christopher Philpot
When Dean Kamen introduced the Segway, he said it would revolutionize travel. Turns out, the two-wheelers are fun to ride, but not quite as popular as he’d hoped. (And have you seen my new jet pack? Me neither.)
Kamen’s FIRST Robotics Competition, on the other hand, has electrified high-school students around the globe. In case you haven’t heard yet, you will soon: The national championship for the annual contest—in which teams of kid-controlled robots are pitted against one another in sports arenas—comes to the Edward Jones Dome April 27 through 30. Now in its 20th year, FIRST changes the competition annually. The name of this year’s complex brain bowl: “Logo Motion.”
Logo-Motion
The triangle-circle-square combo is the FIRST Robotics Competition’s logo. Robots get points for dropping inflated tubes in those shapes onto pegs, and bonus points if they actually create the FIRST logo in the proper order.
Fan Frenzy
The FIRST Robotics Competition has a revival-like atmosphere. Kids wear face paint, crazy hats, and matching T-shirts with goofy inside jokes. Weeks of computer programming and robot building erupt in a burst of concentrated pressure that lasts just minutes—but there’s enough screaming and nail-biting for an entire NCAA basketball championship game.
Ubertube
Try saying “Ubertube” 10 times fast. These are the inflated donuts that a team’s robots must place on the Scoring Rack during an initial “Autonomous Period,” when they are preprogrammed to do their thing—and not under direct human remote control.
In the Driver’s Seat
It’s amazing to think that these teams of high-schoolers had just 46 days to design and build not just one robot, but an entire group of them, tasked with a variety of diverse jobs. (Some parts are provided in kits to keep the playing field level.) It kinda gives you hope for the future.
Crash-Tested
The robots are equipped with sensors to follow lines of tape on the ground and cameras to help human operators zero in on the targets. Did we mention that they often smash into each other, so they have to be built to withstand impact?
Baby Bots
Near the end of the game, some of the robots will “give birth” to smaller-still minibots (creepy!) that have to climb skinny poles. When a minibot reaches the top of the pole, a light goes on. First one to trigger the light gets big points.
