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Robotic Competition at John Jay Brings Together Team from Across the Area

Automation on Display

By Rich MonettiPublished about a year ago 3 min read
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On Saturday, December 10 in the John Jay High School cafeteria, 11 teams across Westchester, Dutchess and Putnam County took part in an informal robotics competition. About 75 students in total, the gathering was meant to lead into more formal competitions as the school year progresses. But the task at hand still put the neural nets of both man, woman and machine to the test.

“The robot's job is to pick up cups and put them on junctions, which are big long poles,” said John Jay Robotics teacher, Jonathan Peter, who organized the affair.

Consisting of remote control and fully automated heats, the human element wasn’t absent either and was meant to grow the community across town lines. “We’re looking to exchange ideas, have informed banter with other teams, learn from their mistakes and have them learn from ours,” said Peter.

James Ingersoll of the Tin Diesel team was able to keep that process in house after their robot hit an early glitch. Failing after hitting a fall, said the John Jay senior, “We thought it was moving too fast. So I went and made a toggle. Then we could switch between slow and fast for more precise movements with the cups.”

Bottoms up, the successes are always sweet. “When it works, it’s really exciting,” Ingersoll beamed.

The MOB team ((Mechanical Operations Bureau) had their android act up but after making its final run. “Our 3D printer grabber, we had a bit of a problem where it snapped off and we’re trying to find a long term solution,” said Jack Shapiro.

As one of the builders, the problem was right up his alley, and the senior was sure his place on the John Jay soccer team was no reason to underestimate his smarts. “It’s kind of a misconception that athletes can’t be academics,” he said. “I think this is one of the ways we’re changing that.”

Of course, girls don’t have to worry about being misinterpreted when it comes to bits and bytes. The numbers have alway said this is not their field. Well, that’s the old math and an even split across the sexes verified the interest and aptitude.

At the same time, John Jay’s Kristina Fonseca made a strong case beyond just the numbers. “I think that we are really organized, and we bring a new perspective to the table that I think the guys sometimes overlook,” she posed. “We think more out of the box.”

Her interest in robotic engineering isn’t so hard to explain anyway. “I built a lot of legos as a kid. I’ve always had a lot of fun putting things together,” said the MOB engineer.

Along the same lines, Ara Beigi was in charge of the nuts and bolts for SAR (Super Awesome Robot ), but robot autonomy isn’t what really gets his gears going. “The work is very autonomously driven. The teacher has little to do with the teams,” he asserted. “We drive ourselves.”

So obviously on their own on this day, the team had a problem with disconnection. The battery and control arm were both getting cut off from power, and in dealing with the hiccup, Beigi voiced a concern every computer scientist knows. “Never trust anything to work,” he said.

A lot of work to do going forward, the John Jay senior was up for the challenge, and Gabe Tambor doesn’t let bugs clip his wings either. “It’s lots of hours, lots of hard work, class everyday and then we stay after school,” said the lead programmer of Tin Diesel.

Nonetheless, the possibilities always have him in the driver’s seat. “Robots are incredible. They are such a versatile application. You can do anything with them,” Tambor boasted.

They are a temperamental lot, though, but the road to getting the right results is a challenge Pierce Berke has gotten used to. “It’s interesting to tinker around with the hardware aspect, said the SMRT team member. “Make the little adjustments with the numbers and with the motor to see if it works and if it doesn’t. It’s just trial and error.”

The kids, on the other hand, didn’t need any modification in terms of what they got out of the day. “A great venue, the kids got a chance to develop relationships between teams, and hone strategies and evaluate their own efficacy. So we’re looking to compile our experiences and eagerly await competing for real at formal robotics tournaments,” concluded Peter.

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Rich Monetti

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