NORTH BRUNSWICK — Inspired by the pack mentality and persistence of wild dogs, the North Brunswick ICE Wolves (Inspire with Conviction and Enthusiasm) robotics team hunted down its challengers during a competition in Australia this summer.
Yash Parikh, Jeevana Chirra, her sister Keertana Chirra, and Athmika Vaseeharan of FTC Team 3568 traveled to the 2015 Asia Pacific Invitational FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics competition at Macquarie University in Sydney from July 12- 14.
The group initially built the 18-by-18- by-18 inch robot at the Chirra house at the beginning of the school year, when the parameters of the robot and the game were provided by FIRST.
The three rounds of the main game consisted of driving the robot off the ramp and scoring 200 golf- and wiffle-ball sized balls into a rolling goal and parking one rolling goal; scoring balls in the 30-, 60-, 90- and 120-centimeter rolling goals and moving the goals onto the ramp; and scoring in the center goal, lifting one rolling goal off the field and parking the robot on the ramp or parking zone.
After competing at meets throughout the year, the team did not qualify for the world championship in St. Louis, Missouri, in April; however, because of their close success, Athmika said the team decided to test their skills overseas.
“It was a really great opportunity. We got to see other robots and designs,” she said. “We’ve been doing this for so long we’ve developed a great passion for robotics. … Going to Australia was a great opportunity and would take us one step further.”
“In the real world we will be dealing with people around the world … so this helped us deal with people and deal with material,” Yash said.
Jeevana said preparing for Australia took a lot of practice, basically every day after school.
“We modified [the robot] to improve the parts that did not work,” Yash said, “and practiced a lot more and tried different tactics.”
The team members then built a box to ship the robot in, which was included as check-in luggage on their flight.
“It was very nerve-wracking because they throw boxes into cargo. We were hoping they didn’t wreck it,” Jeevana said.
Joining teams from Edison and Bridgewater, the ICE Wolves made it to the semifinals, and also won the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award 2015 for enabling their robot to pick up a rolling goal and lift it 4 centimeters off the floor.
Keertana explained that the Wolves were ranked 29th out of 40 participating teams at the onset of the competition, but at the end of the second day, were ranked 15th.
“We are a really strong defensive and very consistent scoring robot,” she said.
“We felt very accomplished,” Athmika added.
The team was established four years ago by Venkat Chirra since the FTC (FIRST Tech Challenge) team at North Brunswick Township High School had disbanded. Thirteen teens initially joined the new team as a way to improve their engineering skills before joining the FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) team at the high school.
The students have taken the Principles of Engineering elective course at the school, which they credit for their knowledge of robotics.
They are also grateful to their mentors, including Venkat Chirra and Michael Lewis.
“We came in and didn’t know how to use tools. He was the one who taught us about the design process,” Keertana said of her father.
The next step for the team is to build their new robot for the season, which should be done this month. After a few weeks of designing they will build for about two weeks, then update and change the robot for about a month.
“This team is pure hard work, and we don’t give up,” Keertana said.
For more information on the ICE Wolves or to inquire about joining the team, visit www.icewolves.org or email [email protected].