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Haverhill

Haverhill students create competitive robot They've got the 'Scoop'

By Mike LaBella
Staff Writer
Published: April 2, 2008

HAVERHILL — Meet Scoop.

He (or is it she?) gets around pretty well, but doesn't always behave as expected.

Still, Scoop's creators hope for a good performance Saturday — the first time Haverhill High students compete in what is known as a Botball Tournament.

Scoop is the brainchild of the students, who also built a "sibling" robot named Sebastian.

The computer programmable devices, if they work as intended, will travel a specific path on a tabletop course and be required to successfully complete a few tasks, including collecting small balls and placing them in a particular location and searching for objects.

"I don't think we're going to win. This is only our first year competing," said Haverhill High sophomore Margaret Becker. "But at least our robots will turn on and do something."

The tournament will be at UMass Lowell.

In Botball, middle and high school students are challenged to design and build programmable robots that must achieve several tasks, including knocking down obstacles such as plastic drinking cups.

"Our design is pretty good and I think we have a good chance," said Haverhill High sophomore Nicole Gagnon, one of the founding members of her school's Robotics Club.

Computer programming instructor Elaine Mistretta encouraged her programming students to take part in this year's Botball Tournament as a way to put their knowledge of programming into action.

Gagnon got things going this year with help from Margaret Becker. It was a shaky start as the two ran into numerous problems when trying to design and build a robot that would be good enough to compete.

They had boxes of wheels, pulleys, electric motors and sensors, all of which were provided by UMass, but no clear instructions on how to create a programmable device that would be good enough to compete against the best from other schools that will be in the tournament.

"We had problems with stability and just getting our robot to move," Becker said. "Other kids who are taking programming helped us. Without their help, we wouldn't be in this competition."

Haverhill High senior Steven Jewett lent a hand by helping design and build Scoop and Sebastian.

"Making these devices is a lot more fun that just sitting at a computer and typing out programs," Jewett said. "We get valuable feedback from these devices, too."

Early in the design stage, Jewett encountered problems with getting his robot to follow instructions.

"When we programmed it to move forward it went backwards," he said. "We eventually figured it out."

Mistretta said her robotics team already received high marks from contest judges for the quality documentation her students submitted to the competition. The documentation included design details and problems encountered.

"We received a very good score and it surprised us," Mistretta said.

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About Botball

Students have seven weeks to design, build and program a team of mobile, autonomous robots as well as document the engineering process online.

Participants compete against each other on a 4-foot by 8-foot playing field in a fast-paced tournament.

The robots are programmed to maneuver on the game board without the need for remote control.

The robots are autonomous and rely on their computer programming to start, stop, and maneuver on the game board.

Botball events are held in 14 regions across the nation, as well as three international events in the Middle East.

Source: www.botball.org

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