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JM team learns nuts and bolts of robotics

February 11, 2009 12:35 am

By CATHY DYSON

James Monroe High School students who want to build robots have to be part MacGyver, part member of the Geek Squad.

They need to know how to use a file, a level and a tape measure as well as how to tear apart computers and put them back together again.

One day after school, they might go over the safety procedures of using a drill. Another time, they might write an algorithm, the technique that tells a computer how to do a particular task.

The students use the tools of woodworkers and engineers as they blend old and new technologies.

"It's pretty cool," said Luca Terziotti, a senior who also works in a guitar shop. "I'm kinda used to working with tools, but I never really had any experience with robotics and the computer-science part of it."

A club called JamesMonroebotics offers him the chance to learn.

Carl Bailey and Bryan Steckler, both JM juniors, formed the club last year. The team signed up for the FIRST Robotics Competition; FIRST stands for For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

The team got a kit of odds and ends with instructions on what their robot had to do.

During a six-week period, the team assembled what they affectionately called "The Guillotine."

Don't worry, safety experts. Students gave it that name--not because underclassmen were beheaded during testing--but because it had a lifting mechanism shaped like the deadly device.

Like other teams, the JamesMonroebotics club can use community mentors to help, so they called on local teachers, woodworkers and scientists from Dahlgren.

In their first year of competition, the students went up against larger schools with teams sponsored by high-tech giants such as Motorola.

"The fact that we came very close to placing in the quarterfinals is amazing," said Tom Litant, a computer scientist who lives in Spotsylvania County.

The JamesMonroebotics club hopes to do even better this year. Early last month, the group learned that "lunacy" is the theme of this year's challenge, in honor of the 40th anniversary of men walking on the moon.

The James Monroe team is building a robot that can maneuver the moon's slippery surface. The moon's gravity is only one-sixth of the Earth's--a fact that JamesMonroebotics members spout often as they work.

Team members are still tweaking the final design, but they've decided this year's robot will include a paddle device that picks up balls--or moon rocks--and another that shoots them out of a cannon. An onboard camera will track the distance to the target and the trajectory.

Bailey points out that the device that launches the missiles is similar to the catalyst on an aircraft carrier. A motor, the kind that powers a car window, will make the cannon work.

Most of the motors and chassis items are included in a kit that each school team gets for the contest.

These parts aren't cheap. One is a National Instruments CompactRIO, a programmable controller that costs more than $2,000.

"This is some pretty advanced stuff that we're able to do," Bailey said.

He is the team captain and leader, the person who keeps copious meeting notes and lists of what else needs to be accomplished.

Bailey wants to spread the science and technology bug through the entire school--and to elementary and middle schools. He'd like to bring back the annual science fair.

"He is a wizard," said Sheryl Crouch, a substitute teacher and electrical engineer who helps mentor the club. "All the students look up to him, which is wonderful."

Cathy Dyson: 540/374-5425
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com