Student newspaper of Illinois Institute of Technology since 1928 technewsiit.com 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