HILLSBOROUGH: RoboRaiders ready for low-gravity competition

By Eileen Oldfield, Staff Writer
   Members of the RoboRaiders, Hillsborough High School’s robotics team, expect a great season.
   With just a week to go before their first competition, the 70-student team needs just a single component to ensure a winning season.

‘We’ve built a fantastic robot and have one of our best drive teams in a while. All we need is a strategy.’

— Rohith Surampudi

   ”We’ve built a fantastic robot and have one of our best drive teams in a while,” team member Rohith Surampudi said. “All we need is a strategy.”
   ”I think our robot will be really successful this year, as will our team, with being graciously professional,” team captain Brittany Capalbo said. “Overall, I think it will be a very successful year.”
   The students demonstrated this year’s robot for their sponsors, Johnson and Johnson, at a ship-off event Tuesday. At the end of the event, the students packed their creation for shipping to the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) competition New Jersey Regional, Feb. 27-28 at the Sovereign Bank Arena in Trenton. The 13th annual competition expects to feature 61 teams competing in a game called “Lunacy,” requiring the robots to pick up 9-inch game balls and placing them in trailers hitched to opposing robots during a two-minute, 15-second match.
   The team will compete in a second regional competition at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., March 19-21. The team could qualify for the FIRST Championships in Atlanta, in April, if it scores well at both regional competitions
   The six-week design and build cycle came with several challenges, however. The FIRST challenge mimics a low-gravity environment with a low-friction playing surface and low-friction wheels.
   ”We’re dealing with the new surface, so we’re dealing with a very low coefficient of friction,” Rohith said. “It’s meant to mimic the moon’s surface, so our drivers have to learn to drift it (the robot) rather than expecting it to respond instantly.”
   ”With the robot, it’s going to be different because it gives the effect of driving with 1/6th gravity,” Brittany said. “It’s going to be interesting to see how the robots react to slipping and sliding all over the place.”
   Common challenges include meeting and training new members, and completing the robot on time, Brittany said. Regardless of how the team does, however, the experience remains educational, she added.
   ”Besides having a great time with everyone, meeting new people and making new friends, everyone learned about science and engineering and life skills,” she said. “Skills that will benefit us in college and beyond.”