URI Robotics Club claims regional crown, move on to championship

03/10/05 - The University of Rhode Island's Robotics Club championed the BAE Systems Granite State Regional FIRST Robotics Competition this past weekend at the Verizon Arena in Manchester, N.H."It's really exciting," Robotics Club Vice President Joe Menassa said. "This year after working really hard it was really good, especially because we have so many people who have never done this before."

The club's five-foot tall robot "Rhode Warrior 8" defeated teams from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Northeastern University, Robotics Club President Rick Blight said.

The club competed in a form of tic-tac-toe in which their robots had to lift and stack tetras to form winning rows. Teams were required to work together in alliances of three.

After winning the qualifying round, URI picked two partners for the following matches and went on to remain undefeated through the finals.

Menassa said four state high school systems were also involved on the team: Middletown, Portsmouth, Tiverton and Mount Hope. The high school teens built the robot with the help of the Robotics Club and Naval Undersea Warfare Center engineers.

"Other teams made complicated robots," Blight said. "The high schools aren't really involved [in making the robots]. The colleges push for more complicated things."

"We played the game smarter and we were more prepared than most of the other teams," he added.

The club used a minimalist strategy for Rhode Warrior 8.

"It was very simple," Menassa said. "We thought we would be consistent and reliable. Other teams had functions that you don't need."

It is also easier to fix a simple robot than a complicated one in case a part breaks, club member Geoff Sitnik said.

The cost for robotics competitions is pricey. Clubs pay $6,000 to sign up for a competition and receive parts, Blight said. Then they need at least an additional $2,000 to spend on raw materials.

Some of the teams had intricate robots because they were funded by their respective schools and companies such as Texas Instruments and Intel. The URI team does not receive a large amount of funding from the school, Blight said.

He added that instead, the URI Robotics Club applies for various grants and fundraisers.

NUWC also provides the team with a storage hangar to help prepare for the competition, Blight said.

"Other teams will have engineering firms that dedicate a whole floor and machine shop time," Blight said. "We overcame those adversities to win it all."

Teams were given parts in early January to build their robots for six weeks. The URI team worked every day during that period, Menassa said.

Members worked during the week from 6 to 10 p.m., and then on the weekend from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The Robotics Club will compete in the championship at the end of April, Menassa said. Until then, the club will check out their future competition and continue raising money for their funds.