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HILLSBOROUGH: Kid-built robots battle it out

By Gene Robbins, Managing Editor
   Robots made by youngsters in grades six to eight competed Saturday at Hillsborough High School.
   All of the teams started with the same basic mechanical components provided by the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) organizers, but the youngsters were free to use their ingenuity to create appendages made out of Lego pieces.
   The main part of the competition during Saturday’s “BoroBlast” involved 20 teams facing off against each other on top of a table with high bumpers. Robots gained points by going around a course and performing designated tasks — lifting, landing at a designated spot, and, as the coup de grace, revving up the robot to climb multi-tiered steps and stop on a platform.
   Some of the tasks were to be achieved by a robot that had been programmed to move certain distances and turn at prescribed angles. Other movements were controlled by students at a joystick control.
   The idea is to introduce youngsters to real-world engineering challenges by building Lego-based robots to complete tasks on a thematic playing surface. FLL (First Lego League) teams are guided by their imaginations and adult coaches, said the organizers.
   Three Hillsborough teams were among the 20 to compete. Teams came from Livingston, Edison, Elizabeth, Skillman, Lambertville and West Amwell, among other places.
   Part of the competition was for Lego teams to invent and design a project that meets a defined broad theme, which this year was senior citizens.
   The Robo Runners team focused on invention of a shoe that can open and, using small electromagnets, close around the foot by remote control, perhaps by a Bluetooth-like device.
   The team designed a prototype for the shoe, then had to explain to a team of judges how it would work and why it was needed. The team said the shoe could be a boon to people who couldn’t bend down to put on or tie shoes. It even could have a GPS implanted in the sole to be able to track a wandering senior’s whereabouts.
   The team ran the idea by their volunteer “senior partners,” Peter Seitz and Lois Evan. Ms. Evans said she wanted it to be lightweight, the Robo Runners said.
   The high-school-age RoboRaiders hosted the qualifying event for the state tournament. The RoboRaiders had their past two years’ robots on display for kids to try to operate with a joystick control and had workshop tables that showed kids techniques in animation and mechanical engineering as well as how to make a more effective presentation in future FIRST competitions.
   Six years ago, the RoboRaiders birthed two Lego teams at the intermediate school, said Betsy Skeele of the high school team.