High School Students and their Robots Play Ball at FIRST Robotics Regionals 2014 #makereducation

First robotics nyc 02 0414 de

Two weekends ago, High School Students from across the globe competed at the New York City FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition. The students faced the challenge of creating multi-talented robot athletes that could proficiently play both volleyball and hockey, via Popular Mechanics.

The 2014 edition of the high school robotic Olympics asked kids to build machines that could compete in a hybrid hockey/volleyball game. Box-shaped goals were positioned at each corner of the rectangular court, and high goal slots sat above each end. Each team was paired up with two other teams for the 3-on-3 matches; robots scored points for getting balls into the squares or shooting them into the higher slots. The robots had to run autonomously for the first 30 seconds of each match, after which their human operators could take over.

The cleverly named Fe Maidens—Fe is the chemical symbol for the element iron—from the Bronx High School of Science wanted to make their robot a top-goal sniper. “We assumed it would be like a volleyball game,” Ashley Hu, 18, said. So the team went for height. The Maidens’ bot uses a ramp that descends with a roller at the top to drag a ball into the machine. Pistons and bungee cords lift the assembly back up, and another piston punches the ball out using compressed air, shooting it toward the goal.

The Mechanical Bulls from Smithtown, on New York’s Long Island, wanted their robot to be primarily an offensive shooter, so they built in a catapult molded to fit the game ball. A single-motor winch brings the scoop back and launches the ball up to 19 feet. Brian Sheridan, 17, said that the team molded the catapult arm out of two PVC pipes, making it durable and flexible. In fact, the Mechanical Bulls are working on a patent for their model.

Read more.


Adafruit_Learning_SystemEach Tuesday is EducationTuesday here at Adafruit! Be sure to check out our posts about educators and all things STEM. Adafruit supports our educators and loves to spread the good word about educational STEM innovations!


Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards

Join Adafruit on Mastodon

Adafruit is on Mastodon, join in! adafruit.com/mastodon

Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.

Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Join over 36,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org


Maker Business — “Packaging” chips in the US

Wearables — Enclosures help fight body humidity in costumes

Electronics — Transformers: More than meets the eye!

Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Silicon Labs introduces CircuitPython support, and more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi

Adafruit IoT Monthly — Guardian Robot, Weather-wise Umbrella Stand, and more!

Microsoft MakeCode — MakeCode Thank You!

EYE on NPI — Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — #NewProds 7/19/23 Feat. Adafruit Matrix Portal S3 CircuitPython Powered Internet Display!

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !



No Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.