Mind over machine

MOSES LAKE — The programming was not quite precise enough. Oh, the robot finished the course all right, but it rolled outside the course boundaries, incurring a time penalty.

“Can we try again?” asked Kailer Cappel-Baker. “Because we got it perfect once.” Unfortunately that was the team’s last chance – their time had to stand. But that’s the way it goes at Mission Explore robot camp.

The four-day camp at Frontier Middle School was paid for through a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said FMS science teacher Diane Reid. The camp focused on the scientific challenges of the exploration of Mars.

It is impossible, of course, to reproduce Martian conditions in the FMS library. So the camp presented kids with a series of challenges.

The challenge on the last morning of camp involved the robot going up and over a simulated hill. Brice Vanerstrom was a little bit obsessed, tweaking his programming, running multiple tests. The robot almost finished the course – but not quite. It came down to one last attempt as Reid and teaching partner Esmeralda Raza were telling the kids to move on to the next project

Brice’s last test run was perfect. The robot turned the corner, rolled up the incline and down the pile of books, made its last turn and came to a stop. “Yes!” Brice exulted.

The timed course was flat, but full of tight turns. Jesus Lopez explained that the kids calculated their programming based on the distance the robot traveled with each turn of the tires, and on keeping the robot within the boundaries of the course.

And if the robots were consistent, it would be pretty easy. “We just need to stay on the course,” Kailer said. But the robots aren’t consistent. “It (robot activity) changes every time,” Jesus said, as one adjustment throws something else out of whack. “Sometimes it’s frustrating.”

The science and exploration is three-dimensional. The camp finale involved drones. Kids were required to program their robots to navigate a course they could only see and map by using the drone.

Eric Dominguez was the pilot for one of the three teams. “It’s not that hard to fly, but it’s hard to land it. And rotate it.” And it was pretty difficult to get good pictures, he said.

“Lots and lots of trial and error,” Kailer said. But a lot of fun, the kids said.