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Peoria Area Students Win Robotics Competition

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 March 2006, 00:00 CST

By Steve Tarter, Journal Star, Peoria, Ill.

Mar. 21--PEORIA -- Student teams from central Illinois didn't show any first-time jitters in their first encounter with the FIRST Robotics Competition.

One central Illinois team took first place in regional competition in Chicago and advanced to international competition in Atlanta next month.

Another central Illinois team picked up an award in Chicago and some of its members will be heading to Atlanta, as well.

FIRST, which stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology," was founded in 1989 by Dean Kamen, inventor of the Segway Human transporter.

Kamen, who spoke in Peoria last year, said he started the competition to make science, math, engineering, and technology as cool for kids as sports are today.

In the first year Peoria-area high school students formed two teams to design and assemble a robot capable of performing a specified task in competition, both picked up awards in regional competition last weekend at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

Students participating in the robotic competition came from eight area schools, including the four Peoria District 150 high schools as well as Dunlap High School, Peoria Christian School, Peoria Heights High School and Peoria Notre Dame High School.

The Argos team, captained by Eric Ward, a junior at Notre Dame, captured four awards, finishing first among 31 teams from states throughout the Midwest. "We're told that it's the first time a rookie team won a regional competition," said Martin Willi, a program manager in engine research at Caterpillar Inc. who served as an advisor to the robotic teams.

Argos team members now move on to the Georgia Bowl in Atlanta in April when more than 350 teams take part in international competition.

The other area team, dubbed Robot Casserole and captained by Notre Dame senior Adam Tilton, received a creativity award in Chicago.

Both teams made a hefty investment in time in order to participate in the competition, said Willi. "We started with engineering instruction back in September but began working on projects intensively in January," he said.

"We find that the kids that have their plates full make a run for it without letting their studies drop," said Willi, noting that students worked four or five nights a week along with Saturday sessions over a six-week period.

Robots designed for the competition must be five feet tall and about two feet wide, with six robots competing on a 28-foot-by-54-foot floor at one time, said Ward.

For Tilton, who came up with names for the two teams, the experience was enlightening. "I'm definitely going to be on a robotics team in college," he said.

While at the Chicago competition,Ward said he was impressed with what other teams came up with. "You find yourself wondering why we didn't think of that," he said.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Journal Star, Peoria, Ill.

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Source: Journal Star

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