I recently attended the FIRST Tech Challenge as a volunteer judge at California State University Northridge. Before I share my experiences with you a brief introduction to the FIRST Tech Challenge is in order.
FIRST Tech Challenge
FIRST is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting science and technology among young people. The focus of the event I attended was in robotics, specifically geared to high school age students. Students are required to use the VEX Robotics Design System to create a robot which can compete with other robots to score points, in both an autonomous and remote controlled mode. In this year’s event, called the Quad Quandary, the robots were required to lift a ring from the floor of the arena onto one of various goals, each of which earn a different number of points depending on the level of difficulty to acquire and reach the goal post. Since the goals themselves are on wheels there are many ways to score points, including the movement of the goal into one’s own territory. As you could imagine this also complicates life for the opposing robot which may be trying to place a ring on a goal that is actively being moved by a competing robot. Things can get a bit confusing for the spectators since so much happens at one time with two teams comprised of two robots each, all moving simultaneously. For the official scoop on the Quad Quandary go here. You should also go here for an animation sequence demonstrating each scoring opportunity.
Volunteering as a Judge
I volunteered for one day to work as a judge at the FIRST Tech Challenge, held at the California State University in Northridge, on December of 2007. Judges work together in small groups and visit their assigned teams while they wait in the pit area for their turn to compete. We graded the teams on many different factors, ranging from the innovation of the robot design as documented in an engineering notebook, to their level of community involvement to build awareness about their participation in this FIRST event.
After our preliminary impressions were recorded on a form, all judges convened in a small room to make their case for one team or another that should be specifically recognized for achievement in a particular category. If there was disagreement among the judges, we would call the team into the room to be “interviewed”. This was useful for the other judges who didn’t have an opportunity to meet the team during their preliminary evaluation in the pit area.
Though I was there only one day (others volunteer many weeks of time) being a dedicated engineer I could easily give you more details, by I just can’t continue typing until I give you my personal impressions.
My First Impressions
First, let me say how impressed I was at the quality of the work done by all of the students we interviewed. In many cases the engineering notebooks contained detailed drawings of proposed robot designs, along with results on how the proposed design fell short of expectations and was later modified. Some of the notebooks read more like scrap books, but it was clear that all of the teams understood how a notebook could be an invaluable tool to record the progression of ideas which lead to an eventual breakthrough, with both negative and positive consequences, while instilling the value of the experimental method as a means of testing a hypothesis.
The students were also quite ready and able to explain and demonstrate their designs, some of which were outstanding. There was one in particular that operated like a fork lift, loading each ring in turn into a vertical conveyer belt that grabbed the rings from their inner diameter. This is hard to explain, but just picture a stack of rings, loaded onto two rotating belts. These belts would then rise above the height of the “high goal”, and would be released as a group for one big infusion of points. One judge, also an engineer, said that he would certainly have hired the students if they were older. I would have to agree. See below for a picture of this robot in action.
Mechanical Engineering Focus
I did have one impression that you may not agree with. It was clear that the focus of the competition was mechanical. The team with the best mechanical design had a big advantage, and then later their skill in the remote controlled operation of the robot, would determine just how effective this design was in scoring points. If you subscribe to the notion that robots must be autonomous to be called a robot, as I do, then you would want to see more emphasis on the autonomous capabilities of the robot, i.e. on the robot’s software. There is a short “autonomous mode” which occurs at the beginning of the round, but this generally earned only a few points for the team, and consisted of a preprogrammed motor sequence.
So I have to ask myself, why such a strong emphasis on the robot mechanics? Is it because the software would be too difficult to create for high school age students? Is it because the competition would be less interesting, and might attract a smaller number of students? It is possible that the creation of a more autonomous robot would fundamentally change the nature of the competition. The objective of the robot competition would need to be dramatically simplified, and the level of group interaction would certainly become more complicated. Creating software in a team is something that I still struggle with from time to time. Creating a mechanical design, however, is something that all of us could produce instinctively, though the designers with a greater understanding of robot mechatronics would certainly produce better results in less time.
Achieving the True Objective
Okay, so perhaps an emphasis on robot mechanical design is a good thing. More students with varied backgrounds can jump-in and immediately contribute to the team effort. And the scoring objectives of the Quad Quandary are far more complicated than even most professional software engineers could accommodate in a just a few months of development time. So perhaps the emphasis on remote control has value as well.
No matter where my personal bias may lead me in the perception of the best way to stage such a competition, one thing is clear. The true objectives of the FIRST organization were definitely achieved. Here were a few hundred high school students, competing with the same level of excitement and drama as any sporting event could produce. They were using their minds to solve a problem, and then trying it out in front of their peers and discriminating adults. They were learning first hand why math and science are important!
I, for one, was changed by what I witnessed. I have always believed, as much of the press reports, that the interest in engineering among the younger generations has diminished and that the U.S. is losing its competitive advantage. Volunteer at your local FIRST event for one day, and then tell me if you still believe such propaganda. Before my very eyes, I witnessed both young men and women living the excitement of the creative process that is the essence of good engineering. I could see the “thrill of victory, and the agony of defeat” in their eyes, and I knew that they would be changed by such an event, and that some might even become great scientists and engineers. I left feeling proud of American youth, and I held my head just a little higher as I imagined that one day I may be working for one of these kids when they create a startup company dedicated to the creation of fully autonomous robots.
If you have the time to volunteer for something, and you would like to receive far more than you donate in time, check out your local FIRST event.