Robotics competition challenges young minds

THERE HAS been an accident on the international space station. The astronauts are trapped and running out of oxygen.

With only eight weeks to plan and execute a rescue mission, could you design, program and build a robot to save them?

West Columbians Walt Destler, 14, his brother, Nathan, 10, and their teammates accepted the challenge in this imaginary scenario. Walt's team, called "One Armed Bandit," brought home two trophies in the FIRST LEGO League Challenge, held in New Britain, Conn., this month.

The FIRST LEGO League Challenge is a high-tech competition in which children, ages 9 to 14, build autonomous robots using the LEGO MINDSTORMS Robotics Invention System.

Co-sponsored by the LEGO Company and the nonprofit foundation FIRST -- an acronym for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology" -- this year's participants were required to build and program a robotic arm similar to the one used by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. But the arm built by the youngsters had to be made of LEGOs.

The robots had to carry out a series of tasks on an obstacle course.

Hobbit's Glen resident Rebecca Johnson, Walt and Nathan's mother, home-schools her sons. She learned of the competition on the Internet.

"I believe learning should be exciting and hands-on," she said.

When the opportunity came along for her boys to learn about engineering, robotics and computer programming, she recruited children for the competition. She found them in the home-schooling support group that she and her family attend -- Howard County Home Educators -- and organized two teams for the competition.

The "One Armed Bandit" team included Walt Destler; Luke Goodmuth, 14, of Granite; Rusty Rockstroh, 14, of Ellicott City; Erik Slack, 14, of Elkridge; and Ben Link, 11, of Oella.

The "Seekers" team -- of which Nathan was a member -- was composed of engineering novices and younger siblings Crystal Slack, 13; Kathy Rockstroh, 11; Jake Goodmuth, 11; and Ezra Link, 9.

Johnson registered the teams for the competition in August.

"At that point, you're kind of signing up for an unknown," she said. "You know you're going to be participating in a robotics challenge, but you don't know much more about it. LEGO's idea is to give the teams about eight weeks to work on the project -- similar to what they would experience in industry."

The teams received specific information about their task in October, including instructions for building the 8-foot-square table on which the robot executes its mission and a series of compartments and ramps in the table's center.

"It's like a 3-D pinball machine," Johnson said. "If you've been able to follow the directions LEGO sends you, you should have a table that will be similar to what you'll find at the competition."

Her husband, Bill Destler, vice president for research and dean of graduate studies at the University of Maryland, College Park, signed on to build the table.

Johnson said materials for the table cost about $300, and the MINDSTORMS equipment costs another $300. Then add the expense of snacks for the 10 youngsters as they met for a couple of hours a week at the Destler home. The participating families shared expenses.

The two teams programmed their robots' action strategies on a personal computer and then downloaded the programs to the "RCX" -- a tiny computer that comes with the MINDSTORMS kit -- via an infrared transmitter (also part of the kit).

After downloading, the robots can function independently of the personal computer.

The robots are required to release tiny LEGO astronauts from a wooden compartment by pulling a lever. The little figures slide down a Plexiglas platform to a "safe" compartment.

The robots must deliver oxygen canisters (foam rubber balls) to the astronauts by dropping them into one of two compartments in the center of the table.

Contestants have three minutes to release the astronauts. They score points for each ball delivered to the target.

On Dec. 3, the children and their families traveled to Central Connecticut State University to compete against 29 teams in the robotics challenge. The contest was held Dec. 4 in a tennis bubble on university grounds.

Competitions were held in nine states this month.

"It was really loud and noisy, with people cheering like at a football game," Johnson said.

"It made me nervous as heck," Walt said.

He was surprised by how good the opposing teams' robots were. "Some had 100 percent accuracy. Ours wasn't that accurate, but it was very fast," he said.

At 1 foot tall, the One Armed Bandit was bigger than most entries. (The robot and the team share a name.)

"We put big wheels on it and used two motors instead of one like most of the other teams used," Walt said. "We made so many trips that we got enough [balls] in to just barely win the competition."

Walt's team won the first-place trophy and a trophy for most innovative design. Nathan's team placed 15th overall with its robot, which incorporated touch and light sensors.