Robo Girls gear up for competition
Robo Girls (from left to right) Isabel Curry, 13, Maddie Ebel, 12, Jocelyn Beich, 9, and Lauren Beich, 11, perfect their robot for the First Washington's Technology Challenge.
MOSES LAKE — With two weeks left until the Washington robotics competition, the Robo Girls are a bit stressed.
They don’t know if they can get Gadget, their female robot, moving in the right direction at the moment.
“Oh! Why didn’t she go left? We programmed it to! It didn’t go far enough. It was so close,” said Isabel Curry, 13.
She is one of seven members of Girl Scout Troop 1238 competing in the annual robotics competition and the main builder of the Robo Girls’ robot.
But Gadget’s problem is part of Maddie Ebel’s function in the group. She is the group’s primary robot programmer.
“I have to go back to the computer, plug in the robot and then figure what went wrong,” said the 12 year old.
It’s a concentrated effort between three adult helpers and girl scouts, involving trial and error and lots of note-taking in order to make Gadget go.
“OK, wait. We need to go back a few more inches from last time because the robot didn’t reach the area,” said Ebel.
The Robo Girls are competing for a spot in the state robotics competition, in the nine to 14 year-old age group with 17 other registrants in Richland.
Last year, the girls entered the competition for the first time and placed third.
“We were one of three all-girl groups in the competition. We didn’t feel like we belonged,” said Ebel.
Most of the Robo Girls know that the robotics competition, which utilizes pre-prepared Lego kits to create a computer-programmed robot to maneuver around various obstacles, is a “boy’s thing.”
“It’s cool to be part of this competition because not a lot of girls like science and math,” said Lauren Beich, 11.
“It’s cool to be a nerd,” said her younger sister Jocelyn, 9, who will be attending the competition for the first time.
The girls say once they finish perfecting their robot, they will decorate their robot with daisy Legos to make it look “pretty.”
“It must function first. Looking pretty isn’t really necessary, but once we figure how to make it work better, we will decorate it some more,” said Ebel.
Kat Stebbins, one of three adult helpers in the competition, said the competition is a great way to encourage the girls to think about their future.
“When they calculate the angles, they are doing algebra. Some of these girls are only in fourth grade. This competition really allows them to expand on their knowledge,” said Stebbins, who is a science teacher.
The 2010 robotics competition theme is the human body.
The girls collect points each time their robot successfully completes an obstacle in under two and half minutes. If they have to pick up the robot, they will be docked points.
In addition to the robotic portion, the competition required groups to research a current health problem and present a solution.
The Robo Girls decided to research the idea of using a special grip, made out of a gecko’s foot hair, on prosthetic hands to make picking smaller items easier.
“During our research we learned that there already had been studies of how powerful the gecko’s hair is,” said Curry.
The girls hope their second time to the competition shows their group progress since the last time.
“I am excited to see how much we learned from last time,” said Lauren Beich.