On the Road (August 2002, From Caravan #1)

On a cold March morning, Gynn and I headed into Penn Station to catch the Long Island Railroad. Our destination: the First Robotics Long Island Regional competition. Gynn’s brother was in town with the NU-Trons, a team made up of students from several Boston-area high schools along with volunteers from Northeastern University’s engineering program. Chris met us at the train station and we headed over to the Suffolk University Gym, the site of the competition. We really had no idea what to expect, and the event itself is really something that has to be seen to be believed.

Picture all the atmosphere of a high school football game, complete with mascots, cheerleaders, screaming fans… Except that the star players are the school nerds (used in the most complimentary way, of course). First has been running these competitions for ten years, and they put on an incredible show, complete with a spectacular light and sound rig. The competition arena occupies the center of the gym, surrounded by “crew pits” where the engineer volunteers work on last minute repairs and adjustments and the students prepare for the event.

The robotics competition uses a different game every year, so that new designs and new strategies are always being created. This time around it was “Zone Zeal”, in which the robots attempted to place soccer balls into moveable goals and then maneuver the goals into a scoring area before returning to their own starting zone before the end of the time limit. The game was fast-paced and very competitive. Once you got used to the scoring parameters, it was fairly easy to follow along with the action.

Alas, the Nu-Trons finished pretty low in the standings due to some mechanical difficulties with their robot and some mishaps during their matches. We stayed and watched the finals, which featured some very competitive match-ups. The event was a great display of school spirit, sportsmanship, and of course, weird technology. We’re looking forward to seeing what First comes up with for next season.

 

 

 

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