ROBODOX HOSTS ANNUAL FALL CLASSIC.Byline: Alejandro Guzman The Robodox, team 599 from Granada Hills Charter High School, hosted nine other Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, robotics robotics, science and technology of general purpose, programmable machine systems. Contrary to the popular fiction image of robots as ambulatory machines of human appearance capable of performing almost any task, most robotic systems are anchored to fixed positions teams Oct. 8 in the annual Fall Classic in which robots competed for points by shooting balls through goals, a game resembling a combination of soccer and basketball. Team coach and Granada Hills Charter High physics teacher Joseph Vanderway had an exciting day running back and forth between coaching the Robodox team and serving as host and emcee for the event. Vanderway said the main purpose of the event was for the kids to have fun while taking part in and conducting serious engineering work. He is really proud about the team's accomplishments. "Looking at these machines ... It's amazing a·maze v. a·mazed, a·maz·ing, a·maz·es v.tr. 1. To affect with great wonder; astonish. See Synonyms at surprise. 2. Obsolete To bewilder; perplex. v.intr. that high school students are doing this," he said. The Robodox designed their robot, the Dermatologist der·ma·tol·o·gist n. A physician who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of skin disorders. Dermatologist A physician that specializes in diagnosing and treating disorders of the skin. , to scoop up Verb 1. scoop up - take out or up with or as if with a scoop; "scoop the sugar out of the container" lift out, scoop, scoop out, take up remove, take away, withdraw, take - remove something concrete, as by lifting, pushing, or taking off, or remove something , load and launch the balls toward goals that are on both sides of the playing field. Vanderway said he is especially impressed because the students had only six weeks to design and build their robot. But having a short amount of time to work on the robots is all a part of the challenge. For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST), the governing body Noun 1. governing body - the persons (or committees or departments etc.) who make up a body for the purpose of administering something; "he claims that the present administration is corrupt"; "the governance of an association is responsible to its members"; "he of the Robotics Competition, reveals the type of game to be held and the type of robot design necessary for the game six weeks before the event. Tasnim Hannan, a 12th-grader, described this year's event as a high- powered combination of soccer and basketball in which the robots tried to score as many points as possible by shooting balls through goals on each side of the playing field. Although the event was supposed to be a repetition of last year's FIRST game in which three robots were on each side, only two robots for each side were used. Team mentor for all-girl Louisville High's team Tarek Shraibat volunteers along with other engineers who spend time with the teams, teaching them how to design and develop robots. Shraibat, who teaches engineering at CSUN CSUN California State University Northridge , says team members learn to use tools safely and write software that programs and controls the robots. The team members receive advice from experts in the engineering field during all phases of the building process. Shraibat emphasized that participants in the robotics competition are not out to win at all costs and there are certain ethics that teams abide by. As an example, he referred to last year's competition in which Louisville's opponents gave them eight minutes of their own time so that they could repair their robot for competition. Teams have 10 to 15 minutes between matches to work out the bugs, or make repairs to damaged parts of the robot. The competition can be substantially abusive to the robots, especially when robots crash into one another. The teams perform maintenance to the robots in an area designated as the pits, where a teams urgency to make repairs is similar to that of a NASCAR NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), organization that sanctions American stock-car races, est. 1948. It held its first race in Daytona Beach, Fla. pit crew. As far as requirements for joining these teams, Shraibat said kids do not need to know anything about robotics coming in. He says one of the nicest things is that kids have the benefit of applying practical math and science skills to the robot designing process. Alejandro Guzman is a valleynews.com community reporter who covers the Northwest San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. . CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Robodox team member and Granada Hills Charter High School student David Sherman David Sherman is an American novelist who deals overwhelmingly with military themes at the small-unit tactical level. His experiences as a United States Marine during the Vietnam War show prominently in his work. Biography Sherman was born in Niles, Ohio. , a 12th-grader and the Dermatologist. Alejandro Guzman/valleynews.com |
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