Boston robotics competition drives innovation

By Chris Pineo

The crowd at the Agannis Arena cheered as a man walking on robotic legs welcomed them to an event showcasing robotics and powered by innovation, industry, and science.

Hugh Herr, director of the Biomechatronics Group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, kicked off the Boston For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology Regional Robotics Competition in March. Herr -who lost his legs below the knees in a climbing accident on Mount Washington- focused his presentation on the potential for the field of robotics to advance in countering disability caused by loss of use of human limbs.

He narrated a video featuring a soldier with a conventional prosthetic limb with limited functionality played for the crowd.

"This gentleman was hit by a blast near Baghdad," Herr said. "He's missing three limbs: two legs above the knee, and one arm below the elbow. This is what current technology can provide."

"To me this is unacceptable. We need to do a better job."

In each previous year the robotics competition underwent a complete change. The game played at the competition changed, as did the scoring system. In this way teams faced a new design challenge for their robot every year. In 2005 robots stacked objects built from PVC pipe called "tetras", scoring points based on an extremely complex system. In 2010 robots could score two points by suspending above a raised platform or one point by kicking balls into any of four nets on the playing field. With six weeks to design, fund, and build a robot capable of scoring points students innovated their robot designs. One team from New Jersey was up to that task.

Team 1923 The Midnight Inventors of the West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional School District designed a robot that could not only hang for two points but could also score three points without the aid of an operator or a driver, during a 15-second autonomous period at the beginning of each game.

The team's entrepreneurship captain said the innovative nature of the competition drives student ambition toward addressing such challenges as Herr described.

"FIRST robotics is a prep...it's like a prep for making robots that help people to make a change," Krishna, 17, said.

Mentors and volunteers who helped run the event and coach the teams came from a variety of backgrounds.

Mark Bean, a mentor for entrepreneurship for team 1923, works in wealth management. With the Midnight Inventors he works to ensure the continuity of the team.

"It's one thing when you build a robot," Bean said. "It's another thing when you have a robotics team that can survive and go on year upon year."

Jack Kentfield, a plumber by trade, told a story demonstrating the innovation level intrinsic to the event. In 2006, the team he was coaching discovered that scouting opponents and potential allies -teams ally with two other teams for each match- could be very important. They put one member in the stands who crunched the numbers on the other teams. He found an unlikely ally in a team in 58th place, out of 60 teams.

"He found that this team won, or scored up to two to three points every match because they were uncontested," Kentfield said. "Because it was a team that nobody was afraid of, and through the statistics he also found that most matches were won by two to three points."

After choosing that alliance partner, Kentfield's team went on to win the championship.

At one of the industry display booths, Chris Budny an autonomy engineer of Textron Defense Systems said the science that the event inspires drives technology.

"The students, they can see they have a goal to strive for. They can really achieve that goal to be the best. That's what's going to drive this innovation, drives the competition for better things, increases technology, and makes a better world."