Students' robots compete

YOUNGSTOWN -- Big robots, little robots, colorful robots and even smoking robots filled the Beeghly Center gymnasium at Youngstown State University.
Area high school students participated in the Northeast Ohio Robotics Competition on Wednesday after spending the last few months building robots using their own materials and those provided from the NEORC programming committee.
The committee supplied the transmission and circuit pack but left the rest of the design and technical difficulties to the team members.
Participants in the events included students from Boardman, Austintown Fitch, Canfield and Howland high schools and many others.
Requirements: The teams also were required to go through an inspection process before their robots could enter the competitions. The robots had to fit in a 12-inch frame, be identified with the team name and number and had to be functional at the time of inspection.
Arlene Floyd, NEORC coordinator and director of YSU's Office of Associate Degree and Tech Prep programs, said, "This is a learning experience for the students that is contextual and applies math and science to increase their awareness in engineering and technology."
Mauro Jadue, one of the NEORC officials who conducted the inspection process, said the competitions have been successful in past years, and this year the students did a great job putting their robots together.
"This competition sparks technological interest in the students so they can succeed after high school," Jadue said. "The kids enjoy the sense of competition and get pumped the day of the races."
Each team received the required kit at the beginning of the year so they could begin the robot assembly. The two categories of competition, novice and advanced, were judged based on an event involving speed, incline and an obstacle course.
Work involved: Joseph Johns, a student from the Trumbull Career and Technical Center, said, "Our biggest challenge was learning to work together to accomplish a happy medium and learning to adjust to each other's personalities."
Some students spent more than two months working on their robots.
Karl Land, Boardman coach, said the students worked hard after school to finish the project.
"They worked on the robot to be sure when the wheels hit the sides of the obstacle course, they [the wheels] would turn and go the other way," Land said. "It is the beginning of logic for many of these students."
The students and coaches from Austintown Fitch wore T-shirts revealing the phrase "Nerd Herd," across their chests. Their coach, Debbie Schell, said the students even worked Saturdays on the robot.
"The students learned to apply principles that they learned in the classroom to build their robot," Schell said.
The Mahoning County Career and Technical Center team, coached by Dave Abrams, was forced to drop out of the competition after their robot malfunctioned.
"It started smoking," Abrams said. "We fired the [robot's] components and it was too late to make repairs."
Sponsors: The competition, created in 1998 by a consortium of engineering technology programs, is sponsored by YSU, Akron Area Tech Prep Consortium, DaimlerChrysler Corp. Fund, Delphi Automotive Systems, Drake Manufacturing Service Co., Kent State Tech Prep Consortium, Home Savings and Loan Co., the Hoover Co., Lakeland Tech Prep Consortium, Mahoning Area Tech Prep Consortium, Ohio Edison Co. and General Motors Corp., Lordstown.