Impossible Robotics go all the way to the White House. Nearly.

Impossible Robotics – the young scientists from the Netherlands – have been in action again. Enjoying a spot of intercontinental travel to Washington D.C. they represented their country in the FIRST Global Challenge – a kind of a Olympic Robotic Games.

160 countries took part in the competition held in DAR Constitution Hall – not far from the White House – over a four day period last weekend (14^th – 17^th July). Impossible Robotics flew their robot across the Atlantic in a crate to compete against the robots built by other young engineers from all over the world!

The challenge sounds simple enough – robots must be capable of picking up and sorting blue and orange balls and also have the ability to climb. It’s only when anyone of us considers how we might go about designing and building a robot with such capabilities that the enormity of the task becomes apparent!

Impossible Robotics fought hard all the way – getting up early and going to bed late to overcome the many problems which beset them.

The first hitch came when, having perfected their climbing ability, their robot had difficulty in distinguishing which balls were blue and which were orange! In the first game they had to ignore orange balls altogether, and were further hindered when their supporting ‘allied’ team’s robot failed to function at all. During the second game Impossible Robotics lost communication with their robot and couldn’t get it to move …fortunately, this time, their allied team’s robot was doing enough work for both of them! In the third match their robot was whizzing-away correctly delivering balls, but it’s climbing ability failed. With just seconds to go quick action on the part of the driver saved the day and the robot climbed to win by a single point! By the third day of the competition Impossible Robotics had sorted out all the teething troubles and played a brilliant match, but as Pieter – the team’s spokesman – modestly points out, the other team were even better …so they didn’t win that one!

Never mind, these games aren’t actually about ‘winning’. The games are deliberately designed by FIRST to produce collaboration between all teams, working together. The idea is that when teams help each other, they augment their own learning by experiencing – and helping to solve – the difficulties each team has to face. As a result more innovative solutions are discovered than would be the case if each team was ‘closed’ and fiercely independent. Not only that, but mutual respect and often great friendships are formed.