May 22, 2002
Robot creators match wits and weapons in arena clash
East Junior High students create battlebots out of spare parts, critical thinking
By GARRET LEIVA
Herald editor
Smashing a fellow student's class project to smithereens is a sure way to earn a trip to the principal's office, not a passing grade. In Scott Diment's class, however, utter annihilation just might qualify for extra credit.
For the last month, students in Diment's Technology III class at Traverse City East Junior High have designed and built romp-'em, stomp-'em robots. Behind all the gladiator arena mayhem, however, resides intricate design elements and critical thinking.
"This project requires complex systems that must work together to accomplish a task," Diment said. "I'm not aware of any other junior high or middle school in the state attempting to build bots like these."
In order to bring these hand-built robots to life, Diment drew inspiration from both academia and cable television. Diment shared his ideas online with Walter Deal, an associate professor at Old Dominion University, who has created task-oriented metal "beetle bots." The EJH class project also paid homage to the "Battlebots" on Comedy Central encased in Lexan and costing thousands of dollars to build.
With budget constraints of roughly five dollars per robot, students relied on sturdy designs not exotic materials. Starting with a wood chassis, students incorporated nine volt electric motors, wooden dowel axles, faucet washers and gears plundered from junked VCRs. Another fiscal design decision was powering the robots electronically through joysticks versus costlier remote control units.
Beyond dollars and cents, the robots also had to meet several safety guidelines, which nixed such ideas as spinning table saw blades and WD-40 and butane lighter flame-throwers.
Before the robots rumbled in the battle arena, students first tackled the drawing board. After drafting multiview concept designs, the class of eighth and ninth-graders began building their bots. During the three week construction period, students learned to utilize electronics, simple levers and gear ratios.
However, Diment noted that some designs put the proverbial spinning disk of death before the drive system.
"They got excited about beating each other up and forgot the chassis must effectively carry the weapon or that weapon is useless," he said.
Despite all the scientific concepts and systems thinking involved, most students reluctantly put down their soldering iron.
"This is fun for me as a teacher because the students are excited about the project. I'm having to kick them out the door when the bell rings at the end of class," Diment noted.
For eighth-grader Chuck Sampson, an ambitious battlebot design necessitated staying after class. "I wanted something that would tear up everyone else," said Sampson, whose masonry-blade sporting robot remained grounded because of vibration concerns.
While drive train bugs still plagued his battlebot "Mighty Lunchbox," eighth-grader Jay Henfling remained optimistic about his brute force creation. Although he admitted his toughest competition might just be himself.
"The hard part is actually making it all work," Henfling noted. "I use hot glue like life support epoxy to keep the wheels from coming off."