Oak Ridge Today

Secret City Wildbots struggle in opening rounds, but rebound in later regional rounds

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Secret-City-Wildbots-Team-4265-2016-Smoky-Mountain-Regionals

The Secret City Wildbots of Oak Ridge High School are pictured above at the 2016 Smoky Mountain Regionals in Knoxville this week. (Photo by Angi Agle)

 

Note: This story was updated at 12:45 p.m.

KNOXVILLE—The Secret City Wildbots struggled somewhat in the opening qualifying rounds at Smoky Mountain Regionals on Friday, falling to a rank of 32nd after lunch, but the team rebounded strongly in the last three of the day’s eight rounds, finishing with a ninth-place rank.

At the end of qualifying rounds at noon on Saturday, the top eight teams select an alliance partner, and those eight groups of two select their third partner team. In the event that one of the top eight chooses another from the top eight, the next ranked team moves up to team captain post.

Following Q41, the Wildbots moved up to number 13 by playing on their core strength of crossing defenses and scoring low goals in rapid succession. In Q51, they continued playing to core strengths but added a feat that only a few robots in this competition have mastered: climbing the tower.

In Q59, the final match of the day, the Wildbots again finished strong and in an excellent position to face the final two rounds Saturday: Q-70 at approximately 10:26 a.m., and Q-81 scheduled for 11:57 a.m. (the next to-the-last qualifying round of the tournament). [Read more…]

Smoky Mountain Regional robot competition kicked off Thursday with practice

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Smoky Mountain Regionals Team 4265

Photos by Angi Agle

 

By Angi Agle

The Smoky Mountain Regional robotics competition kicked off Thursday with practice rounds, and qualification matches began Friday morning.

The theme of this year’s game is “Recycle Rush.” Robots are to pick up recycle bins, put foam noodles in trash cans, and stack all of them in the center of the field. Additional points are gained for the number of containers stacked.

Human players feed foam noodles into the trash cans as the robots hold them up to a hole in the plexiglas, as well as feeding gray recycle bins into the field for the robots to stack.

Team 4265, the Secret City Wildbots, experienced some technical challenges, which were expected to be resolved Friday morning. [Read more…]

UT College of Engineering helps kick off robot season; Secret City Wildbots take part

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Oak Ridge Secret City Wildcats

From left to right, Eli Charles, Olivia Mahathy, Steven Charles. and Moire Gabor, part of the Secret City Wildbots from Oak Ridge High School, work on the initial stages of their robot. (Photos courtesy UT)

 

KNOXVILLE—For many, the end of football season usually means attention turns to basketball, but for more than 400 budding scientists and engineers who came to the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on Saturday it marks the start of something else: robot season.

FIRST Robotics kicked off its 2015 game, Recycle Rush, with a live reveal broadcast online to teams around the world, including 29 teams who gathered at Cox Auditorium on the UT campus.

“Saturday marks the first time that any of the teams get to see the challenge of this year’s game,” said L.J. Robinson, Tennessee’s regional director of FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology). “The kickoff event is a big deal in its own right, with gatherings held around the world to watch the announcement.

“Certainly, it’s an exciting moment for those new to the competition.” [Read more…]

UT, ORNL, NASA, TVA help robotic ‘football’ kick off this week

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FIRST Robotics' Aerial Assist

This image shows what a game of FIRST Robotics’ Aerial Assist, a football-like game played by robots, might look like. (Photo courtesy University of Tennessee)

KNOXVILLE—Football season is still months away, but those needing a quick fix before fall can get a chance to see a version of the game played by competitors functioning like well-oiled machines.

The FIRST Robotics Competition Smoky Mountain Regional returns to the Knoxville Convention Center March 26-29, and is centered around a game featuring strong elements from football and soccer called Aerial Assist.

The idea behind Aerial Assist is that the 50 teams at the competition—from as far away as St. Louis and as close as the L&N STEM Academy across World’s Fair Park—will each build a robot capable of throwing, kicking, or running with a round ball with the goal of scoring a goal at each end of a field, or one capable of playing defense.

The University of Tennessee’s College of Engineering in Knoxville helps sponsor the event along with various technology and industry organizations such as NASA, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. [Read more…]