Students test newly built bots

While much of America is caught in the grips of Linsanity, students from Colfax and Palouse high schools went Bot Crazy for the first time Saturday afternoon.

For the past several months, the Palouse Area Robotics Team (PART) Sci-Borgs, as they have dubbed their team, have been working to figure out computer programs and engineering designs for their robot which will compete in an April contest in a battle with other robots built by students from around the country.

“We’re rookies. We’re rookies of the rookies,” said Dave Tharp of Palouse who helped organize the team. “But we’ve got a group of sharp kids, here. I think we’ve got the potential to do very well.”

The robot has mechanical arms which scoop tiny basketballs into its body. A series of gears then lifts the balls up the neck of the robot into a cue, where they are shot out at hoops.

Where New York Knicks sensation Jeremy Lin has gripped the national spotlight with his floating jump shots, the local robot team’s shots looked a bit more like clunky free throw shooter Dwight Howard.

“We had a tough start,” said Tharp. “But our goal is to be shooting like Kobe when we get to the competition.”

That may be tough.

The robot was stuffed in a plastic bag Tuesday, and, under rules set out by the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology foundation, or FIRST, cannot be unwrapped until the April 5 contest at Eastern Washington University.

“We sure could use a lot more time to practice,” said Tharp.

The robot’s parts came donated from FIRST and NASA in January. Students then had just a few short weeks to build the robot out of plans assembled in the previous months.

Their first real test of the robot’s shooting skills was Saturday afternoon in the Mader Farms shop just north of Pullman.

There, they marked off an arena to replicate the coming Cheney field with masking tape and orange cones and watched the arm sweep up balls as they aimed and felt the right touch on joysticks controlling the robot’s shot.

The team consists of 18 students, five from Colfax, and 14 adult volunteer mentors who helped the students analyze specs and draw up plans for the bot.

Tharp said the robot is made of about $22,000 in donated parts and technology.

Along with FIRST and NASA, the group also received donations and volunteer help from 4H, Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories and Digilent.

Before it is shipped off for the contest, the robot will be available to be inspected, through its plastic bag, at an open house the team is hosting from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday in its workshop at Digilent in the Pullman Industrial Park.

A 4H benefit will also be in the Pullman Industrial Park at Merry Cellars Winery, beginning at 4 p.m.