The Girls Scouts of Herricks Cadette Troop 1887 plan to build a better robot as they prepare for the VEX Robotics World Championship in Anaheim, Calif. next month.
The eight Herricks Middle School Girls Scouts on the team qualified for the world championship when they won the Excellence Award at the Southern New York State VEX Robotics Championship held at Adelphi University on March 8. But the arm on their robot didn’t actually pick up inflatable balls as it was intended to, but instead pushed the balls along on a course.
So troop leader Kristin Pepper said the team is working to improve their machine for the Anaheim competition on April 26 through 28.
“The girls are super-excited to work with a robot. And we’re working to make it a better robot,” Pepper said.
The girls’ work started in September ago after Pepper, a computer science adjunct professor at Adelphi, learned the troop could obtain a loaner robot from the Robotics Education and Communication Foundation. The foundation provides parts for robots produced by VEX, a subsidiary of First International Inc.
So she obtained the loaner robot parts and encouraged the girls in her troop to take up the challenge to bring it to life.
“I was excited about robotics. When I found out I could get the loaner robot, I couldn’t pass it up,” Pepper said. “Being in a competition can spark a kid and turn the hard work of building a robot into fun.”
Her daughter, Carie Smithing, already had experience from a previous robotics competition, so she assumed a lead role in the project.
For the Adlphi competition, each of the girls took on a design task needed to build a small robot that could pick up inflatable balls and deposit them in receptacles along a course. Pepper said the girls learned quickly and earned the Excellence Award in part because they had no prior experience with robots.
“Girls don’t usually play by breaking apart the part and putting it back together,” Pepper said.
She said Troop 1887 qualified for this month’s state championship, which included high school and middle school teams, by earning a Sportsmanship Award at an Adelphi Toss Up Qualifier on Feb. 8.
Pepper said the Adelphi robotics competition are part of a Science Tech Entry Program originally intended to draw underrepresented ethnic groups into robotics.
The competitions are played with five-inch “bucky” balls and 17-inch inflatable balls. The robots must have an 18-inch cubic starting position, but can expand to any size after the match begins.
The two-minute matches pits two robot teams against each other. Points are scored when a team places a ball in different zones separated by a bump and a 12-inch high barrier or a 24-inch high goal.
In the process, Pepper said the girls have acquired engineering knowledge and skills applicable beyond robots.
“They now know not only what a bearing is, but why it is needed if you want your motor to keep turning through an otherwise square hole,” she said.
As they work on improving their robot, the girls are selling Girl Scout cookies, planning a car wash and looking for other ways to raise funds to get to the world championship in Anaheim.
Anyone interested in making a contribution can contact Pepper at krispepper@verizon.net .
Pictures and videos of the team in competition can be found online at https://www.octagonsys.com/girlscouts/troop1887robot/index.html.
