By Carol Martin
SooToday.com
Sunday, January 04, 2009

Less friction does not mean less stress.

Just ask Jonathan Budau and Mitchell Case, shown after Saturday's annual kick-off simulcast event for the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition.

Budau is coach and Case the captain of Team 1535, the Knights of Alloy Robotics Team.

Yesterday, the team learned that the new drivetrain configuration and robot prototype they've been working on for this year is somewhat unusable.

Since last September, the Knights have spent a lot of time and effort since September designing a chassis and tweaking the drivetrain to make maximum use of friction.

They were trying to get the jump on their competition in past FIRST Robotics competitions, all of which were played on carpet.

But during yesterday's simulcast, the team learned that this year's game will be played on a low-friction surface.

Their robot will have to use special competition wheels that will be provided in a standard kit issued to all competing teams.

They won't be allowed to use the cool little wheels seen affixed to the ultra-low chassis seen in this photograph with Budau and Case.

"Some of what we've done will be usable for this year's game," said Budau. "Some will have to be put aside for a future game."

Either way, the team is excited about the competition this year and its challenges.

Every year, it's a different game.

This year 1,686 teams from the U.S., Brazil, Canada, Chile, Germany, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Turkey, and the U.K. are participating in the game of Lunacy.

Team 1535, the Knights of Alloy Robotics Team, based out of Korah Collegiate and Vocational School, is one of them.

The Knights are aiming to send a robot to the regional finals in Mississauga in just 44 days.

The special floor and wheels created for this year's game combine to create lunar-like friction conditions, roughly simulating the friction that would be available at one-sixth Earth gravity.

All the teams learned about Lunacy for the first time during the simulcast from Southern New Hampshire University in Manchester, New Hampshire, hometown and headquarters of FIRST.

The Knights of Alloy have 44 days to design, build, test and perfect their robot design before it's shipped to Mississauga.

"This is the team's fifth year in this league and they will be attempting to qualify for their third world championships," said Budau, gathered with team members and mentors in the school's auditorium to watch the simulcast.

After the simulcast, everyone grabbed a few sandwiches in the cafeteria and got down to business.

Brainstorming commenced even as the sandwiches were swallowed.

Budau says that starting next week, team members will be spending about four evenings a week working on the robot.

As the deadline draws nearer, the team will be spending a lot more time on it until whatever they've built, in whatever state it's in, is sent off to Mississauga.

During the simulcast, FIRST Founder Dean Kamen said he created FIRST because the world is a mess and somebody's got to fix it.

"We create wealth using the tools of science, engineering and technology," he said. "The robot is just a tool. What we hope we're doing is creating real relationships with companies that do this and with the kids we hope are inspired to do this."

As Budau, Case and the Knights of Alloy rise to the challenge of Lunacy they also hope to forge more and deeper relationships with local companies.

Case said a team in St. Catharines is already well on its way to its fundraising goal with little or no effort from team members.

"GM made a donation and sent them some engineers," he said.

Members of the Knights of Alloy Robotics Team each pay $400 to join the team and they spend considerable time and effort raising funds to pay for the opportunity to participate in the FIRST Robotics competitions.

Budau said it will cost the team about $30,000 to get to the Mississauga regionals.

If they go all the way to the world championships in Atlanta, it could end up costing the team more than $70,000 for the 2009 competition.

Budau said he hopes that past supporters like Essar Steel Algoma and Tenaris Algoma Tubes will be at least as generous this year as they were in past years.

He also said that the people who've come to help out from those companies as well as from Sault College and EPOH have proved to be positive examples of gracious professionalism.

They're also a whole lot of fun to work with, said Case and Budau.

Their work with the team has fostered a culture of teamwork, leadership, and self-confidence in what FIRST organizers call a unique varsity sport of the mind designed to help high-school-aged young people discover how interesting and rewarding the life of engineers and researchers can be.

"Everyone has something to offer, everyone is welcome," said Case. "It's more about the team and finding creative solutions than it is about the robot or the points."

But that doesn't mean they're going to let the commencing design work slide while they try to make physics their friend and contend with a low-friction playing surface.

They'll have to pull together to create a robot and a trailer for it to pull around the game floor.

The object of the game will be for the robot and its team to put as many nine-inch game balls, or 'lunar rocks' into the trailers of opposing teams as they can in two minutes and 15 seconds.

Additional points will be awarded for dumping a special game ball, the Super Cell, in the opponents' trailers during the last 20 seconds of the match.

The robots and their trailers will have to have bumpers on them and ramming will be allowed.

Well, as much of a ram as one can get in a friction-deprived environment.

For more information on FIRST, visit the website.