Teams give best efforts in robotics

Aside from the robot's performance, each team prepares a five-minute oral presentation of its project.
YOUNGSTOWN -- More than 200 high school students from Northeast Ohio and western Pennsylvania came together Wednesday in Youngstown State University's Beeghly Center to put their creations to the test in the fourth annual Northeast Ohio Robotics Competition.
"We had 30 teams when the program began, and this year we have 46. This is the largest turnout yet," said coordinator Arlene Floyd, director of associate degree and tech prep programs at YSU.
Having worked in the technical field for 17 years, Floyd adopted the program as a learning tool for students.
What teams do: Each team has five to seven members who are supplied with the materials to make the robots. A teacher or coach oversees the construction and design, which the students work on from the end of December until mid-March.
The robots are tested several times before the competition. "What makes this competition different is that the robots are not remote-controlled; they are programmed to actually think on their own," Floyd said.
"They unveil the mazes maybe five minutes before the competition starts," said John Tripodi, a Niles McKinley junior.
He and his four teammates worked diligently, music blaring from their laptop computer, to prepare their robot for the second event in the novice competition.
The event: Their creature has to make it through a simple wooden maze following lights. Sounds easy enough.
The team carefully attaches photo censors, which detect the light around the maze, run test trials, change batteries, connect wires and await their turn in front of the judges from the General Motors plant at Lordstown.
Aside from the robot's performance, each team prepares a five-minute oral presentation of its project, accompanied by sketches and journals of the work.
For John and his teammates, this is their debut in the competition. They are designated team 35, also known as Dirty Hairy. Its members are enrolled in the Kent State University Engineering Tech Prep Program.
"We have 55 students from the tech prep program," said teacher and coach Walt Delaney. "We use the contest as a teaching tool so all our students attend."
Brenda Stewart of Cortland, whose 11th-grade son Scott is part of the Dirty Hairy crew, films the robot making its way along the gym floor.
Will Dirty Hairy make an appearance next year?
"Probably," said junior Jason Nutt of Lakeview High School.
Floyd suspects the NEORC will continue to grow, but she plans on some changes over the next few years.
All costs for the competition are paid by student fund-raising and corporate sponsorship of Delphi Automative Systems, First Energy/Ohio Edison, First Place Bank, GM, and Home Savings and Loan.
"I would like to ultimately have one company sponsor the event," Floyd said. "I would love to offer scholarships to the winners."