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OPINION 2

CAMPUS 3-1
AErE 10

SPORTS 11

Illinois Tech Robotics competes at JSDC

Kori Bowns
BUSINESS MANAGER

While it might not be an uncommon
thing at IIT to pull allenighters working on a
final architecture project or studying for an
exam, few students would choose to stay up all
night working on something when there isn’t a
final grade looming over their head However,
the Illinois Tech Robotics team proved them,
selves dedicated to bringing prestige to their
school as they worked from sunset to sunrise
over the past week prepping their robotic cree
ations for competition

This past weekend, Illinois Tech R07
botics (ITR) made their way to the University
of Illinois at UrbanaeChampaign to compete in
the 26th annual Jerry Sanders Creative Design
Competition (JSDC) JSDC is a twoeday come
petition sponsored by AMD that ITR competes
in each yearl JSDC is one of the oldest robotics
competitions in America, and routinely draws
competitors from schools across the Midwest
This year, the 26 robots competing represented
both the Chicago and UrbanaeChampaign
campuses of the University of Illinois, College
of DuPage, Valparaiso University, Northern Ile
linois University, and, of course, Illinois Insti
tute of Technology

The game challenge varies each year,
and this year, teams had to build robots that
could pick up and manipulate flexible disc
conesl In each match, four robots competed
against each other, each robot responsible for
cones of a certain color on the field In order
to score points, robots had to be able to pick
up cones of their color from various locations
on the field, and then hang the cone around a
peg When a robot did so, it became in control
of a “zone" on the field surface below the peg
For every 10 seconds a robot controlled a zone,
it would receive 1, 3, or 5 points, depending on
the location of the zone

On Thursday afternoon, 25 students
and five robots departed IIT and were hauled
down to Kenney Gymnasium on UIUC’s came
pusl This year’s entries from ITR included a
few tried and true robots and some newer r07

bots that had been created this year Notable
among ITR’s entries is Fenrir, a twoewheeled
gravityedrive robot, who moves by using its
motors to shift the frame and center of gravity
of the robot forwards to propel it, somewhat
like a Segway Another of ITR’s fearsome come
petitors was Goliath, a heavy robot that aims
not only to score points, but to keep other
teams from scoring points through aggressive
defensel

On the first day of competition, Illie
nois Tech Robotics faced many challenges and
struggled to compete in any of their scheduled
matchesl Coding difliculties a.nd manipulator
problems plagued all of the robots, but luck,
ily, the majority of the other JSDC competie
tors had the same problems and were likewise
unable to participate in matches or score any
points After the day of mediocre matches, the
ITR team stayed late at the competition venue
to work out any kinks, grabbed their tradi
tional dinner at Champaign’s Chinatown Buff
fet, then rushed back to their hotel rooms to
continue work, many members staying up late
into the night

By Saturday morning, things were
beginning to look up for the ITR team; all of
their robots were moving and the majority of
them had functioning manipulators Other
schools had no idea what to expect from the
Illinois Tech students, as they had few chances
to observe their work in the first day of match,
esl ITR fought hard through their remaining
general matches before elimination matches
began, showing that they had the skill and the
heart to be contenders in the competition.

After two grueling days of round
robin competition and elimination matches,
the finalist robots were determined While the
first place competitor was a creation from the
UIC Engineering Design Team, ITR’s Goliath
and Fenrir fought valiantly and advanced to
the quarter final matchesl At the end of the day,
even though ITR didn’t take home any medals,
the team showed their skills in both engineer,
ing design and teamwork, taking home a lot of
lessons and ideas to be implemented in coming
competitions

 

 

Photos by Ryan Kamphuis & Karina Powell