Robotix Starz’ Time in Pittsburgh
Story by ROBOTIX STARZ of Chamberlain (Aze Allen, Ti'Asia Allen, Nicholas Alston, Taronne Garland) Photos by Parker Wilson of Woodridge
The Robotix Starz went on a trip to Pittsburgh, PA to compete in a robotics competition. The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) sponsored it. We had to compete against different middle schools with a Lego Mindstorm NXT brick (which means "brains"). We did not win the amount of points we needed to win the competition, but our presentation was the bomb. But the trip was the "nuclear" bomb! Let us tell you about our time in Pittsburgh.
When we first got to Pittsburg we had to register to get into the hotel. The first day we chilled out and checked into the hotel. It took us a long time to register because we had to get the keys for the rooms and figure out the rooms everyone would be in for five days. There was a restaurant in the hotel. Mrs. Poole told us to unpack so that we could see what was going on with the robot. We went up to our rooms, watched TV and ate snacks. Also, we had to get used to the hotel, so we all went to the exercise room and got in the pool. Soon it was night, so it got dark enough so that we could have a pillow fight. Just when Aze was about to hit Taronne with the pillow, Ms. Poole said, “Let’s go down to eat.”
When we went to eat Aze had a cheeseburger with fries and ranch dressing. Taronne asked for some honey mustard for his food. Five minutes later they brought him mustard back. Taronne said, “I asked for honey mustard, not mustard.” The lady said, “Sorry.” Some minutes later they brought him back even more mustard! Aze said, “Wow.” Taronne got mad so he showed the lady how to make honey mustard! Aze’s jaw dropped (with a little ranch on the side). My friend Parker let me play his video game while we were eating.
While I played the game I barely ate food. I will say I was in the zone: I didn’t see that Ms. Poole was trying to take a picture and get my undivided attention! After we finished eating we went to upstairs and worked on the robot in Mrs. Poole’s room. The next day was going to be a practice day so we could get better for the competition.
In Pittsburg we were going to compete against middle school teams from around the country. We saw teams that had robots that could pick up cans and bottles. Our robot could pick up a ball, but not every time. Taronne, the Mechanical Engineer, built the arm for the robot so our robot could pick up the ball. The type of arm that he made was a claw. The claw could close and it could drag the ball. Aze, the Computer Engineer, programmed the robot and arm. Aze used Lego Mindstorms education learning guide to help Aze program the robot. Aze said: “I loved it, because the program taught me to do many things I did not know how to do. It inspired me to work harder and never quit.” One time the arm went haywire on TiAsia, the Industrial Engineer. Aze said, “the durability and speed of the arm was set too high.” When it stopped TiAsia asked, “Is the program done?” So Aze fixed the program so it wouldn’t do it again.
The competition was kind of hard because the Engineers kept arguing and blaming each other on problems. We got past it because Mrs. Poole gave us a pep talk. After the pep talk we started working together and learned how to not blame each other for our mistakes. Sometimes programs didn’t save to the robot, so we could not move the robot. We felt kind of angry because we felt like we embarrassed ourselves. This was the group’s first experience ever making a robot or going to a competition. We would do it again because it is a lot of fun building a robot. It’s fun because you have to create your own style of robot. We worked very hard and we had a good time.
At the Gala TiAsia got crushed by the high school kids. Nicholas missed it because he went to dinner with his family but didn’t get back in time. At the awards ceremony some groups kept saying, “Too Hype!” (Mrs. Poole said it was for the District Two crew.) A little boy said, “Deuce, deuce, deuce, deuce, deuce, deuce,” over and over again.
I loved the trip and the judges were very nice. They gave us lots of chances because it was our first time. They said, “You can have another chance.” We were thankful and grateful that they gave us another chance because we did our best and we almost did it!
In the robotics team you will have to work together, be respectful, get along with other kids, and be serious about your work. It is good if you never give up. Write down what you do and what happened. Write stuff down to learn from your mistakes.
When we finished the competition we took a group picture of Friendship campuses.
Nicholas Alston, Aze Allen and Taronne Garland are 6th Graders at the FPCS Chamberlain campus. Ti'Asia Allen is a 5th Grader at FPCS Chamberlain campus. Parker Wilson is an 8th Grader at the FPCS Woodridge campus. (He is not a member of the Robotix Starz)