Impossible Robotics – the team of Dutch students who built a robot to compete in the 2017 FIRST Robotics STEAMWORKS competition – spent a great couple of weeks in Florida!
FIRST Robotics is a not-for-profit organisation whose world-vision is to find, encourage and enable the young engineers of the future. For 25 years they have been running exciting game-based competitions which encourage talented students to be the best they can.
Yet their programmes are not cut-throat! At the same time as working to build their own all-conquering robot, students are awarded points for helping competing teams to overcome problems encountered whilst building their robots; that way students will learn most. The games are highly-competitive – yet they’re held in an atmosphere which is fun, collaborative, supportive, and friendly – the ideal atmosphere, in fact, for creativity to thrive!
FIRST Robotics say: “Most of the time you will fail but you will also occasionally succeed. These occasional successes make all the hard work and sacrifice worthwhile.” Perhaps it was the power of these words that carried the Impossible Robotics team from failure to success?
Their first practise day didn’t go according to plan – a safety problem with their robot’s bumpers meant it didn’t pass the official inspection. Working late into the night, and lacking the required materials, they improvised a new bumper. First thing next morning it was sent for inspection – and passed!
During the first and second matches they employed their robot in a defensive role – hindering the opposing team’s robots. They used the time between matches to improve their robot. Their ultimate goal was to endow it with an ability to climb a rope …which in terms of winning points is a very valuable asset.
With the collaborative help of other teams, particularly Florida-based Tech-Tiger Robotics 1251 they finally achieved their goal and could scarcely wait for the next match so that they could watch it perform!
Defeat pulled from the jaws of Victory
As luck would have it, owing to human-error, when the Impossible Robotics team’s great opportunity arrived the robot wasn’t able to climb a rope – because no one had thrown a rope down for it to climb! Worse was to follow: in the next match their robot didn’t work at all!
Victory pulled from the jaws of Defeat
When the last match came their robot was performing at its very best. During the last thirty seconds of the game – the time when the robots that can climb do – the Impossible Robotics team rushed their robot toward the waiting rope – and Hurrah! …it climbed!!
Energy and persistence conquer all things. Benjamin Franklin.
Victron Energy are sponsors to Impossible Robotics – we are proud to encourage tomorrow’s engineering talent.
