Category Archives: Robotics

The Beal City First Robotics Competition Robotics Team are heading to a competition at H.H. Dow High School in Midland this weekend.

Were hoping to be able to make it to playoff rounds at the competition, Beal City Middle School and High School robotics coach Kathleen Rau said. We compete again April 8-10, 2022.

The high school First Robotics Competition (FRC) team was started in 2016 and the middle school First Tech Challenge (FTC) team was started in 2018. There are around 15 kids on the FRC team and 12 on the FTC team.

Beal City has Pre K through high school robotics and each team has a season where they design a robot to compete, Rau said.

For competitions, FIRST engineers will design the game which is later released at a kick-off event. The teams will design a robot to play the game in a match play competition.

The Beal City Robotics Team. Photo provided by Middle School and High School coach Kathleen Rau.

The Beal City Robotics Team prepares for competition. Photo provided by Middle School and High School coach Kathleen Rau.

The Beal City Robotics Team prepares for competition. Photo provided by Middle School and High School coach Kathleen Rau.

The team has three sub-teams that consists of the build team, the programming team and the marketing team.

The build team fabricated most of the robot parts this year, thanks to grant funds we received to buy equipment to build the robot, Rau said. The build team is guided by their building mentors Nathan Finnerty, Nick Finnerty, Kenny Myer, and Stacey Fox. The programming team programs the robot in Java under the guidance of their mentor Bill Scott. The marketing team designs or branding logos and have done several things such as bulletin boards, webpage building, 3D printing of awards for competition mostly with me.

Recruiting events for both teams are generally held in the spring.

For more information, visit firstinspires.org or weberjack222.wixsite.com/pegacyborgs.

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Beal City Robotics Team gear up for competition - The Morning Sun

In this past weekends Austin Daily Herald, we hope you had the opportunity to read about Brownsdales young robotics team of Daniel Grush, Abe Phillips and Eric Blust, who are making waves while gearing up for competition on both the national and world stage.

The trio make up an independent team, which means they are not supported by school and despite that have made strides in just three short years that have elevated them from a novice team to a competitive team.

Its the perfect time to point out just how pivotal a robotics curriculum truly is in todays education. Those who compete in robotics competitions are learning skills that will put them in a state of readiness for their days after school.

It teaches them problem solving skills, engineering skills, computer skills and perhaps most importantly working with others to demonstrate the best possible outcome.

This is illustrated in a couple different ways for our Brownsdale trio, who not only have established a team-based mentality among themselves, but with the robotics team from Southland, where they have formed friendships and partnerships.

With a spirit of STEM education, robotics further builds young competitors into better people by starting them on a path of being the technical leaders of tomorrow.

A poignant question remains. Grush, Phillips and Blust have been able to find this level of success in just three years what does the future hold for them?

Its a question that becomes even more poignant when you expand it to include the potential of all kids taking part in robotics and when the question is left that open-ended then in reality the only answer need be: the skys the limit.

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Our Opinion: Robotics a step toward the future - Austin Daily Herald - Austin Herald

New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute collaborates with Google Research to identify new cellular characteristics of disease in skin cells from Parkinsons patients.

A study published today (March 25, 2022) in Nature Communications unveils a new platform for discovering cellular signatures of disease that integrates robotic systems for studying patient cells with artificial intelligence methods for image analysis. Using their automated cell culture platform, scientists at the NYSCF Research Institute collaborated with Google Research to successfully identify new cellular hallmarks of Parkinsons disease by creating and profiling over a million images of skin cells from a cohort of 91 patients and healthy controls.

Traditional drug discovery isnt working very well, particularly for complex diseases like Parkinsons, noted NYSCF CEO Susan L. Solomon, JD. The robotic technology NYSCF has built allows us to generate vast amounts of data from large populations of patients, and discover new signatures of disease as an entirely new basis for discovering drugs that actually work.

This is an ideal demonstration of the power of artificial intelligence for disease research, added Marc Berndl, Software Engineer at Google Research. We have had a very productive collaboration with NYSCF, especially because their advanced robotic systems create reproducible data that can yield reliable insights.

The study leveraged NYSCFs vast repository of patient cells and state-of-the-art robotic system The NYSCF Global Stem Cell Array to profile images of millions of cells from 91 Parkinsons patients and healthy controls. Scientists used the Array to isolate and expand skin cells called fibroblasts from skin punch biopsy samples, label different parts of these cells with a technique called Cell Painting, and create thousands of high-content optical microscopy images. The resulting images were fed into an unbiased, artificial intelligencedriven image analysis pipeline, identifying image features specific to patient cells that could be used to distinguish them from healthy controls.

These artificial intelligence methods can determine what patient cells have in common that might not be otherwise observable, said Samuel J. Yang, Research Scientist at Google Research. Whats also important is that the algorithms are unbiased they do not rely on any prior knowledge or preconceptions about Parkinsons disease, so we can discover entirely new signatures of disease.

The need for new signatures of Parkinsons is underscored by the high failure rates of recent clinical trials for drugs discovered based on specific disease targets and pathways believed to be drivers of the disease. The discovery of these novel disease signatures using unbiased methods, especially across patient populations, has value for diagnostics and drug discovery, even revealing new distinctions between patients.

Excitingly, we were able to distinguish between images of patient cells and healthy controls, and between different subtypes of the disease, noted Bjarki Johannesson, PhD, a NYSCF Senior Investigator on the study. We could even predict fairly accurately which donor a sample of cells came from.

The Parkinsons disease signatures identified by the team can now be used as a basis for conducting drug screens on patient cells, to discover which drugs can reverse these features. The study also yields the largest known Cell Painting dataset (48TB) as a community resource, and is available to the research community (https://nyscf.org/nyscf-adpd/).

Notably, the platform is disease-agnostic, only requiring easily accessible skin cells from patients. It can also be applied to other cell types, including derivatives of induced pluripotent stem cells that NYSCF creates to model a variety of diseases. The researchers are thus hopeful that their platform can open new therapeutic avenues for many diseases where traditional drug discovery has been unsuccessful.

This is the first tool to successfully identify disease features with this much precision and sensitivity, said NYSCF Senior Vice President of Discovery and Platform Development Daniel Paull, PhD. Its power for identifying patient subgroups has important implications for precision medicine and drug development across many intractable diseases.

Reference: Integrating deep learning and unbiased automated high-content screening to identify complex disease signatures in human fibroblasts 25 March 2022, Nature Communications.DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-28423-4

About The New York Stem Cell Foundation Research Institute

The New York Stem Cell Foundation (NYSCF) Research Institute is an independent non-profit organization accelerating cures and better treatments for patients through stem cell research. The NYSCF global community includes over 200 researchers at leading institutions worldwide, including the NYSCF Druckenmiller Fellows, the NYSCF Robertson Investigators, the NYSCF Robertson Stem Cell Prize Recipients, and NYSCF Research Institute scientists and engineers. The NYSCF Research Institute is an acknowledged world leader in stem cell research and in the development of pioneering stem cell technologies, including the NYSCF Global Stem Cell Array, which is used to create cell lines for laboratories around the globe. NYSCF focuses on translational research in an accelerator model designed to overcome barriers that slow discovery and replace silos with collaboration.

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Hidden Signatures of Parkinsons Disease Uncovered by Artificial Intelligence and Robotics - SciTechDaily

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Raider Robotixs robot hangs on the hanger high bar with its alliance partner FRC Team 41-RoboWarriors on the lower bar during the Rapid React game.PHOTO COURTESY OF KAREN RAMSDEN-ZAHLER

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FRC Team 25-Raider Robotix with their Finalists award from the competition at Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School.PHOTO COURTESY OF HARSHAL DALAL

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Raider Robotixs robot hangs on the hanger high bar with its alliance partner FRC Team 41-RoboWarriors on the lower bar during the Rapid React game.PHOTO COURTESY OF KAREN RAMSDEN-ZAHLER

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FRC Team 25-Raider Robotix with their Finalists award from the competition at Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School.PHOTO COURTESY OF HARSHAL DALAL

NORTH BRUNSWICK North Brunswick Township High Schools robotics team, FRC Team 25-Raider Robotix, is celebrating 25 years of competition in FIRST Robotics this season.

The team was founded in 1996 at the high school and in its career has been a two-time world champion during the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (FRC) in 2000 and 2012.

In addition to the World Championship victories, Raider Robotix has earned many banners and awards in local and regional competitions during the last quarter century.

During Raider Robotixs first competition of the 2022 season, the team competed at the FIRST Mid-Atlantic (FMA) robotics event held at Bridgewater-Raritan Regional High School March 5 and 6. The team was pitted against 35 other robotics teams from New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the FMA region.

Team 25 finished qualifying rounds ranked as the No. 3 seeded team.

For the semi-finals, the No. 2 seeded team, Watchung Hills Regional High Schools FRC Team 41-RoboWarriors, selected Raider Robotix as an alliance partner to form Alliance No. 2. Teams 41 and 25 then selected FRC Team 4285-Camo-Bots (Honesdale High School and Western Wayne High School, Pennsylvania) to complete their alliance to play against the seven other alliances in the semi-finals.

Alliance No. 2 emerged from the semi-finals to face Alliance No. 4, which was composed of Team Captain FRC Team 75-RoboRaiders (Hillsborough High School), FRC Team 3142-Aperture (Newtown High School) and FRC Team 2577-Pingry Robotics (Basking Ridge High School), in the finals.

Alliance No. 4 defeated Alliance No. 2 in the first Finals match by a score of 68 to 50.

Team 4285s robot was disabled during competition, so FRC Team 6897-Astraea Robotics (East Brunswick High School) replaced Team 4285 in Alliance No. 2.

In Match 2 of the finals, Alliance No. 4 won by just one point, 44 to 43, and they emerged as the winners of the event, while the teams in Alliance No. 2 were declared the finalists.

The next scheduled FMA event for Raider Robotix FRC Team 25 will be April 2 and 3 at Montgomery High School. It is anticipated that if Team 25 qualifies, the team will travel to Lehigh University in Pennsylvania to compete in the FIRST Mid-Atlantic Regional Championships April 6-9.

Due to COVID concerns, all FIRST competitions are closed to the public and spectators, but the robotics events can be viewed live or recorded online at https://thebluealliance.com.

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Raider Robotix celebrates its 25th year competing in FIRST Robotics - centraljersey.com

SEOUL, South Korea, March 25, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- KEENON Robotics, the world's leading service robotics company, has recently announced its strategic partnership with Hyundai Robotics. The pair will team up to drive autonomous transformation in multiple commercial settings in South Korea.

Keenon Robotics and Hyundai Robotics have reached strategic partnership.

At the International Franchise Show(IFS) running from March 24 to 26 in Seoul, KEENON Robotics and Hyundai Robotics are presenting a joint display of their latest products, including KEENON's food delivery service robots. KEENON is also showcasing the South Korea debut of its T8, an indoor delivery robot. T8 will hit the market for sale in late April.

Visitors at IFS showed great interest in Keenon T8.

"It is a great honor for KEENON Robotics to build a strategic partnership with Hyundai Robotics and showcase our latest endeavor at IFS. We look forward to a partnership that will bring higher efficiency robotic solutions made specifically for the local market," said Yaxin Li, Head of KEENON Robotics South Korea.

Sejin Joo, Head of Hyundai Robotics, said that Hyundai Robotics are very excited about the partnership with KEENON in commercial service robots. KEENON has developed advanced technologies in the field, making their products a leading player in the industry. "We believe that the partnership will fuel innovation in South Korea's retail landscape, bringing autonomous transformation to its hospitality and food sectors thereby lowering labor costs," said Sejin Joo.

Facing issues such as an aging population, higher labor costs and the impact of pandemic, businesses in South Korea are showing growing demand for professional service robots to automate certain dangerous, menial and time-consuming tasks. KEENON service robots are built for the digital transformation in a range of commercial settings, offering greater accuracy in navigation. They can be used in a variety of complex settings and can even navigate their way through narrow passages to reach their destination.

About Keenon Robotics

Keenon Robotics, founded in 2010, is committed to using AI technology to empower surrounding life. It is the world's leading commercial service robot company.

Headquartered in Shanghai, Keenon Robotics has more than ten years accumulated in the field of mobile robotics. With stable, efficient and practical commercial service robots as the business core, the company offers intelligent solutions for various scenarios such as restaurants, hotels, hospitals, government offices, elderly-care communities, banks and airports. Keenon robots have been deployed in more than 30 countries, serving over 10,000 customers worldwide. For more information, please visit http://www.keenonrobot.com.

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KEENON Robotics Forges Strategic Partnership with Hyundai Robotics to Showcase at 2022 IFS - The Korea Herald

Seoul Robotics

Joint application integrates Seoul Robotics 3D perception software with Herzogs occupancy detection suite to ensure greater safety for rail passengers, operators, and pedestrians

IRVINE, Calif. and ST. JOSEPH, Mo., March 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Seoul Robotics, the 3D computer vision company using deep learning Artificial Intelligence (AI) to power the future of mobility, and Herzog Technologies Inc. (Herzog), a leading railroad systems and technology integrator, today jointly announced the introduction of an automated obstacle detection and warning system aimed at making the interface between the railroad and the public safer. Critical Asset Monitoring (CAM) combines Seoul Robotics 3D perception software, SENSR-I, with Herzogs occupancy detection platform with the goal of reducing future railroad incidents.

CAM is an integrated solution that utilizes a multi-sensor hardware platform and 3D perception engine to track and classify objects. This edge detection is coupled with business intelligence, which allows the system to analyze the information in real-time and make timely decisions for notifying the appropriate entities. CAM can detect humans, vehicles, bicycles, and other foreign objects, enabling it to provide unparalleled safety insights. A powerful component of the system is the ability to evaluate the situation according to complex conditions as well as the behavior of the objects being monitored. This enables the system to make smart decisions that are specific and unique to each area being monitored.

We pride ourselves on equipping our partners with solutions that will improve safety and efficiency. CAM provides customers with the ability to monitor aspects of their critical infrastructure in ways previously unavailable. With this innovative technology, our goal of improving safety is now within reach, said Glen Dargy, Vice President of Technology at Herzog. By integrating our products and services with Seoul Robotics software platform, we are providing an industry-leading solution.

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Since 2011, over 23,000 incidents have occurred where trains have struck trains or people, resulting in 2,700 fatalities and 9,500 injuries, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Railroad Administration. By using CAM systems at crossings, bridges, tunnels, stations, and other areas of critical interest along the corridor, train conductors and operations personnel are programmatically alerted to hazards detected in monitored areas. The solution is being implemented by Trinity Railway Express, a commuter rail operator between Fort Worth and Dallas, Texas, with engineering underway for several additional bridges, crossings and passenger stations with other operators.

"For a rail detection system, every second is critical. Trains need adequate time to fully stop and require advanced warning to reduce the chance of a collision. This is only possible with an accurate, highly granular 3D perception system like ours, said Jerone Floor, Vice President of Product at Seoul Robotics. Through our partnership with Herzog, we are making this technology available to any rail operator, ensuring they can cost-effectively access these insights and make every second count.

Seoul Robotics proprietary software, SENSR-I, uses deep learning to analyze and understand 3D sensor data with unrivaled accuracy. SENSR-I enables the detection of more than 500 objects up to 200 meters ahead, predicts motion up to three seconds in advance, and provides real-time object perception. SENSR-I is compatible with more than 75 different types and models of 3D sensors and even supports systems consisting of different brands of sensors, making the technology cost-effective and scalable over large geographies. SENSR-I also comes equipped with dynamic weather-filtering AI that enables CAM to glean and decipher obstacles even through harsh weather conditions, such as snow or heavy rain.

Seoul Robotics will be showcasing CAM and its full suite of 3D perception-based solutions at Intertraffic from March 29 - April 1, 2022, at the RAI Amsterdam. Visit Booth #05.466 to learn more about the companys field-proven technology for smart cities, ITS, autonomous mobility, and more.

To learn more about Seoul Robotics, visit https://www.seoulrobotics.org/. To learn more about Herzog, visit https://www.herzog.com/.

About Seoul RoboticsSeoul Robotics is a 3D computer vision company building a perception platform that uses AI and machine learning to power the future of mobility. Founded in 2017, Seoul Robotics has partnered with OEMs, system integrators, and government agencies around the world to diversify the use of 3D data. The company has developed its own proprietary software, which is compatible with nearly all commercially available LiDAR and 3D data sensors, to increase accuracy, efficiency and ensure safety across a range of industries and applications. Seoul Robotics has offices in Seoul, Silicon Valley, Munich, and Detroit and is backed by leading global financial institutions. For more information, visit http://www.seoulrobotics.org/.

About Herzog Herzog is an employee-owned company founded in 1969, headquartered in St. Joseph, MO. Comprised of five divisions, Herzog is the only company in the U.S. that builds, operates, and maintains rail systems in North America. With more than 2,300 field and office personnel located across a network of construction and transit offices, Herzog operates in 36 states and maintains a large presence in California, Texas, Florida, and Missouri.

To remain at the forefront of a growing rail services landscape, Herzogs subsidiary, Herzog Technologies, Inc., provides extensive technology and operations-centric solutions to its clients ranging from traditional wayside and grade crossing systems to advanced communications, network, and Positive Train Control (PTC) systems. When partnered with Herzog, railroads are provided critical information for their track environment, allowing customers to make data-driven, operational decisions.

The safety of our employees, subcontractors, railroad counterparts, and the traveling public is what drives Herzogs continued investment into the development of specialized maintenance-of-way equipment and custom technology solutions. Our commitment to improving on-track safety is further demonstrated through rigorous safety training and daily toolbox talks, and is reflected by an outstanding industry safety record year after year.

Media ContactAnn Gargiulo ann.gargiulo@seoulrobotics.org

LaunchSquad for Seoul Robotics seoulrobotics@launchsquad.com

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Seoul Robotics Introduces Critical Asset Monitoring Solution In Partnership with Herzog - Yahoo Finance

A team of students from the University of Alabama in Huntsville made it to the finals in the University Rover Challenge. It is the world's premier robotics competition for college students.

"I'm feeling excited! Pleasantly surprised that we made it," Shelby Tull said.

She's the team leader of UAH's Adaptable Service Transport Research Apparatus, or ASTRA for short. She's proud of the team of 21 students, who were able to design and build this rover from scratch.

"It's crazy to see it here, built and actually working, in person," Thomas Bennett said.

The team started working on the project in February 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic.

They faced many challenges as they worked remotely, but that didn't stop them.

"We put in the effort, did all our homework. Here's our design now, let's actually build it and see our finished product," Michael Sorrell said.

However, the project is more than just building a rover. It actually has to go through four missions in the desert sands of Utah.

The rover must be able to detect life, pick up heavy objects and take them through difficult terrain, fine manipulation, before making its way to a designated spot all while avoiding obstacles.

"All by itself!" Tull said.

The team's software lead said it was tricky, but they were able to transfer some of their work from prototypes to the actual thing.

"It worked beautifully," Areeb Mohammed said.

The rover caught some eyes while out on UAH's campus Thursday afternoon.

The team says they're glad all of their hard work is paying off, but they know it couldn't be done without each other.

"It's really incredible being on a team with such skilled and talented people, each on their own focus areas," Andrew Adams said.

The UAH team will head out to Utah in late May for the competition in June.

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UAH makes it to finals in robotics competition with their Mars rover - WAAY

photo used with permissionGMR Robotics student team members (L-R) Sawyer Strand, Berlyn Burkel, Holly Wiskow, Lauren Stenberg, and Ray Tarala stand with their robot at the Northern Lights Regional in Duluth, an event the team won to qualify for the FIRST Championship in Houston, April 20-23. Outside Stenberg and Tarala, this regional was the first robotics competition any of the teams student members had participated in, thanks to FIRSTs two-year pandemic shutdown.

photo used with permissionTeam 5172s operator Berlyn Burkel (left), team drive coach John Langaas (center), and team driver Sawyer Strand (right) stand together behind the teams robot at the regional in Duluth. Langaas continues to help the team as a mentor, one of several former student members continuing to give back to the program.

Several of Team 5172, GMR Robotics, team members mentioned to team mentor Mary Anderson how she forgot to bring the teams blue banners to its first 2022 regional. These banners are awards given to teams for various FIRST Robotics competition achievements. She didnt forget; her action was intentional.

All the banners out there (in our shop) are Team 5172s, but the people on this team are new and they need to experience what that feels like to gain their own and be their own people, Anderson said. And now they get to hang their blue banner They might not have even recognized at the competition that there were blue banners in peoples pits, because it didnt mean something to them. Now, it means something to them.

The 2022 members of Team 5172 know exactly what it means, getting to experience their very own blue banner moment. Filled with new members, Team 5172 and its two alliance partners won the Northern Lights Regional in Duluth, ensuring a trip to the FIRST Championship in Houston, April 20-23.

Several team members talked about their feelings and reactions surrounding the Northern Lights Regional and getting to just compete, and what theyre looking forward to most as the season progresses.

After not seeing her team compete in just over two years due to the COVID pandemic, team mentor Mary Anderson talked about her feelings watching her team compete again, feelings surrounding that two-year shutdown, her reaction to the teams regional win, the teams upcoming regional in Grand Forks, and what she looks forward to most as the season continues.

At this years Duluth regional, the team brought with just two students who had competed before: Ray Tarala and Lauren Stenberg. An alliance captain on this years team, senior Lauren Stenberg had some nervous energy at this competition. Even though she was in her fourth year on the team, Stenberg competed on the game field for the first time at this Duluth regional.

It was a long time coming, Stenberg said. Were basically starting from scratch since all of our seniors and juniors and all theyre gone. So (were) starting from scratch, but we came out good.

Besides Stenberg and Tarala, the rest of the students had never competed at a FIRST competition, including the teams driver Sawyer Strand and operator Berlyn Burkel, both sophomores.

I thought it was a little nerve wracking, Strand said, because theres a lot of rookies, including me, so I learned a lot there.

Burkel said it was scary competing at first, but things got better throughout the regional. The regional took place March 2- 5 from the DECC Arena/Edmund Fitzgerald Exhibit Hall in Duluth, Minn.

I think we were all really nervous, Burkel said. Weve never really experienced a regional of any sort.

We didnt really know what to expect, Strand added.

In her first year on the team, freshman Holly Wiskow worked as a human player on Team 5172 and described having some nervous energy.

Once youre out there, its a lot less nerve-wracking, Wiskow said. Everybody there is nice and helpful.

Team mentor Anderson was also nervous to start with at the regional, feeling she was throwing her team members to the wolves an experience they had not yet had. She wanted these new students to have the best experience, but felt unsure if they as mentors had prepared the students enough. The improvement she saw from the first to the last day proved evident easing that nervousness.

If we look at Wednesday to Saturday night, the growth individually was, you could see it, Anderson said. You could measure that by the smiles on their faces, by the score on the board, of course, but just their comfort level of being together and working with others and other teams.

The students also came to appreciate the other teams around them, that gracious professionalism that FIRST promotes. For example, Team 5172 team members needed gears for their robot and a team from Becker, Minn., gave some to them. Also, Team 5172 had a joystick for another team one that was on its alliance that needed it and Team 5172 gave it to them to allow this fellow team to compete.

Speaking of help, Anderson thanked and recognized all the mentors, especially the younger mentors who lost their final years on the robotics team, such as Ryan Hlucny and Thor Anderson. Talking about that two-year period without competing, Anderson was devastated to see the students who were hurt by this shutdown, individuals who had a passion for robotics.

They got everything ripped away from them and for them to turn around and give back That takes pretty big people, Anderson said, because were all hurt and they lost the opportunity. And yet they want to support giving new kids (the opportunity.)

Before the FIRST Championship in Houston, the GMR team will compete at the Great Northern Regional at the Alerus Center, March 24-26 the last place the team competed at before the shutdown. According to the most recent counts, the event will feature 50 teams, covering Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

The GMR team and the team out of Northwood, N.D., will host the event. The Greenbush American Legion Post #88 and Northwood Legion will present the colors for the National Anthem on Friday, March 25 at 8:30 am.

Sponsored by Boeing, this years FIRST game, Rapid React, centers on an airport theme. The Air Force, John Deere, Digi-Key, Marvin Windows and Doors, the UND Drone Cage, and the City of Grand Forks will be at this regional event, all having donated to it. The event is an open one in terms of masks, but they are welcomed.

Team 5172 itself has experienced success, having reached the FIRST Robotics Championship before, but for many on the team, they had never experienced their very own blue banner moments before their recent Duluth trip. Theyre continuing the teams tradition, but at the same time aided by some of those from the past making their own marks.

To see the complete story, read the March 16 issue of The Tribune in print or online.

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GMR Robotics excited about recent success, look forward to future - Page 1 Publications

MOUNT VERNON Mount Vernon robotics students will compete against students from across the world in May.

Two of its four middle school teams, composed of eight students total, qualified to compete at the VEX Robotics World Championship due to their performance in a statewide competition the weekend of March 11. All of Mount Vernons robotics students have the opportunity to attend the World competition, which will occur May 3-5 in Dallas, Texas, regardless of whether they are competing.

The district had competed at the state level prior to this year, but 2022 marks the first year the three-year-old program has advanced to Worlds.

The tasks the students will have to compete at Worlds will be similar to their past competitions. The level of competition and size of the event will be key differences, robotics coach Emily Miller explained.

But the competition itself is only one aspect of the value of Worlds, Miller said.

It is quite legitimately Worlds, meaning that you might be playing with teams from China or from Indonesia or from all over the world, and there's often language barriers, Miller said, explaining students will have to find alternative ways to communicate at times through diagrams and online translators.

So far, teams are registered from countries such as Kazakhstan, New Zealand, Australia, South Korea and Canada, as well as various other parts of the United States.

Students will also meet their competitors and learn about their respective cultures off the competition field, as each team will have a pit table where they showcase items and food from their home countries, Miller said.

We're going there to play, but the ultimate goal that I have is just the learning experience the whole team can have from it, Miller said.

A look at past performance and future goals

Mount Vernon robotics is broken up into smaller teams for competitions, with four teams at the middle school level and two at the high school level, which are all named after Mount Vernons zip code.

The teams that qualified for Worlds during the state competition include team #43050B with eighth graders Mason Chesnut (captain, head builder and driver), Isabella Sherman (coder) and Natasha Jost (engineering notebook recorder and scout); as well as team #43050C with eighth graders Aspen McMahon (captain and head builder), Lily Grace (engineering notebook recorder), as well as seventh graders Shaun Barlow (builder), Carsten Hahn (driver) and Scout Nathan Hofferberth (coder).

Ohio sends eight teams to Worlds, and there are several ways for teams to qualify. Mount Vernons teams qualified because they made it to the semifinal round of States.

When a team wins a tournament, it does so along with another team that it forms an alliance with. In States, the Mount Vernons B and C teams aligned in the semifinal round. While they ultimately lost, they still qualified for Worlds because they had made it to semifinals.

Teams can also qualify for Worlds through skills rankings.

Team captain for team B, Mason Chesnut, joined robotics last year as a seventh grader, when he also competed in States. Chesnut said he, personally, and the teams at large are working on improving various skills before Worlds, one example being rings.

The object of competitionsis to attain a higher score than the opposing alliance, which is done by scoring rings as well as moving mobile goals to alliance zones and elevating on platforms.

Mount Vernons alliance lost the semi-finals because a ring got stuck under its robot and made them unable to drive, Chesnut said.

In middle school robotics in these tournaments just around Ohio and in Mount Vernon, we don't really incorporate the rings very much, but the high school teams very much do, Chesnut said. I'm thinking at Worlds, with all these better bots, rings are definitely going to get incorporated and we need to be able to score those rings on the post, which is something we're definitely going to work on.

Chesnuts goal for Worlds is twofold: make it to the end elimination bracket and have fun.

Worlds is just going to be a really fun experience, Chesnut said, and I think it's going to be really fun for the whole team just to be there.

Eighth grader Aspen McMahon is captain for the other team advancing to worlds, #43050C. McMahon, who is also head builder, said she and her team learned lessons during States they will be improving upon for Worlds.

I learned that we need to make our clamp stronger, which is what I'm doing right now, McMahon said during an interview as she worked on a robot after school.

Matches include both an autonomous period and a driver-controlled period. McMahons team is also working on coding more autonomousrobotsto improve the former.

Right now we only have one or two consistent autons and we're trying to get multiple so that it can fit whatever alliance we have for Worlds, McMahon said.

While McMahon had some previous competition experience going into States, for seventh grader Carsten Hahn on her team, it had been all new.

I was surprised by how many people were actually there, Hahn said of States. And I was surprised at the amount of support you can get from the Mount Vernon community.

Hahns entire family and several other families of robotics students attended States to cheer the teams on. Hahn served as a driver but also helped scout during States, meaning Hahn worked to form alliances with other teams, ready with a line of questions to ensure a good match.

Quick adaptation is a skill Hahn has honed.

When a clamp broke or the ring mechanism was not working, Hahn had to figure out how to drive without them. As Hahn prepares for Worlds, a main goal will be to ensure familiarity with some new mechanics being added to the robots.

Mount Vernons B, C and E teams were also invited to Nationals based on their award wins throughout the season, Miller said. The district decided to forgo Nationals due to the travel and costs associated as well as the timeline for registration. The team would have had to register for nationals before they found out about its Worlds eligibility.

Most of the time, teams will choose one or the other, Miller said of Nationals and Worlds.

The districts other four teams that did not advance to Worlds missed qualifying by small margins, Miller said, adding that there had still been a possibility for the others to advance as skills scores were being tallied this past week.

Overall, the program views any team's win as a win for all, which was exemplified during the state competition, Miller said.

The E team had just gotten knocked out and they came back to the stands and sat there and they were cheering and screaming for the B and C team, she explained.

And, they help each other all the time. You know, if there's a problem, our builders all go and try to figure out what the issue is, or another coder will hop over with the coder that's having a problem and fix it. So we're all one team, we just function with multiple bots.

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Emma Davis is a 2021 graduate of the University of Richmond, from which she holds a bachelor's degree in journalism and leadership studies. Emma reports for Knox Pages and Ashland Source through Report for America.

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One team, six bots: Mount Vernon robotics to compete on world stage - Knox Pages

About a dozen area children and their parents got a chance to learn a little about solar power and robotics during an event held at the Stewart C. Meyer Harker Heights Public Library on Tuesday afternoon.

The library supplied kits for participants that held everything they would need to put together a basic solar-powered robot and more, as the kits would make 12 different robots when all was said and done. It also contained the all-important solar panel that would have their robots up and moving once completed.

Library clerk Heather Heilman, who also holds the weekly virtual Science Time program, led the children in putting together first the robot bases and bodies, walking them through the instructions as she demonstrated each step. The parts and instructions were a bit involved, but with the help of Heilman, and their parents and guardians, the children seemed to have little difficulty.

The good thing is, Heilman told participants, if you mess up, its easy to pull back apart.

Noah Wilson, 8, appeared to have almost no difficulty following the directions on his own. Ive done this before, he said as he worked ahead.

He likes to build stuff, his father, Earl, confirmed. Noah would later turn his basic robot into a dog-bot because, he said, he has two dogs at home.

Bases and bodies completed, robot heads were put together and added next, then wheels were attached to the body to enable movement, and finally the wires were connected. Heilman led everyone outside to test the robots.

Why do we take it outside? she asked the children. What makes the solar panel work? The children all shouted out, The sun!

Someof the robots, like Noahs, worked the first time, though a few had to do some troubleshooting.

The robot didnt work, so Im redoing it right now, said Aaliyah Roman, 9. It worked on her second try.

Barry Holt and his granddaughter, Kennedy, 8, built the robot together. It worked a little bit, Holt said about their first attempt. After troubleshooting the gears, they had better luck on their second attempt.

It got better the second time, Holt said, adding, It finally worked pretty well. We really enjoyed it.

Noah sad he had a great time, too. His favorite part? Building it with my dad, he said.

Heilman said of the event, I think it went well, despite the fact that it wasnt easy to put together, adding that she was really impressed with the children. They followed directions really well. I was pleased with how well they grasped (the concepts) and their persistence.

Read more from the original source:

Heights library event teaches kids about solar robotics - The Killeen Daily Herald