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Robotics Club, an allegiance with machines
By Andrew Seguin
 “What do we want to make it do?” one of the Class 11 girls asked.
“It” is a robot that the Chapin Robotics Club, now in its first year, has built. The robot resembles a remote-controlled car, though the goal is to make it execute complex actions. The project offers a hands-on way to apply scientific principles learned in class, from physics to computer programming, and immerses participants in the hypothesis-test-analysis cycle so familiar to scientists and engineers.
One afternoon, for example, the club members decided to make the robot go down stairs. After refitting the machine with larger wheels, they set off to the steps outside the library to see how it would perform. It was clear that adjustments needed to be made as the robot descended abruptly, but trial-and-error is essential in robotics. “You have to figure out the logic of making it perform a task,” one of the girls said, explaining why robotics appeals to her.
The five girls in the club meet on Friday afternoons to work on their robot as practice for a national competition sponsored by For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, or FIRST. The competition involves building a robot from a standard kit of parts that can solve a problem using a common set of rules. The task at hand and the rules are a surprise each year. Each team is aided by professional engineers who donate their time and expertise to the project.
This is the first year that Chapin is competing in the event, and because of the high cost of entry and the intense involvement the competition requires, Chapin has teamed up with Brearley, which has competed for the last two years.
The Chapin-Brearley team, known as Double X, is divided into four parts: building, programming, fund-raising and publicity. There is a Web site for the team, which one of the Chapin students is redesigning. For now, the girls meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Brearley to work on practice robots; the team won’t pick up the competition kit until January 6. After that date, they will have six weeks to build the robot and program it to perform the required tasks. Last year, the robots had to defend soccer goals and try to score on an opposing team.
Upper School science teacher Prasad Akavoor, one of the faculty members involved in the club along with Tara Sanfilippo and Charles Bell, stressed the breadth of skills the robotics competition requires. “It involves hands-on building, teamwork, interpersonal skills, fund-raising and computer programming, and the girls get to work with professional engineers,” Dr. Akavoor said. “The goal is to eventually have our own Chapin team,” he added.
The girls in Chapin’s robotics program may have started by making their robot go down stairs, but soon enough they’ll be able to make it go back up.
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