The secret geniuses of LMHS

By Haley Zuritzky

On January 3, Dawgma Robotics, LM’s FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition team, took part in the annual kickoff event, jumpstarting an intense six-week-long season. The students in Dawgma have until February 14 to design and build a functional robot, which will to compete against 150 other teams in the Mid-Atlantic region.

This year’s game, “Recycle Rush”, is a recycling-themed game played by two alliances of three robots each. Robots score points by stacking boxes on scoring platforms, capping those stacks with recycling containers, and properly disposing of pool noodles, which represents litter in the recycling containers.

Robotics is not just about building robots, however. In addition to the mechanical branch (building the robots), Dawgma has a programming branch, awards branch, and public relations branch. The team has been heavily involved in the build season, working for nearly 20 hours each week, drafting, scouting, and building.

In the mechanical department, LM robotics members are using an older robot as a prototype for new robots, making alterations as they see fit. They experimented with three different designs for acquiring totes: hooks, rotating wheels, and a claw. Matt Schwartz ’15 and Evan Block ’17 helped prototype the hook design. In Matt’s words, “It was fun to build and prototype the hooks to see how it would function when used to lift a tote.” LM robotics decided on the claw, because the hooks and rotating wheels did not attach to the totes as well as the team had hoped. They still have much work to do regarding the attachment of the claw to an elevator that will support the totes, and the electronic and wiring aspect of the robot.

Meanwhile, the programing team has been finishing the code for the robot’s autonomous mode. In autonomous mode, the robot is controlled by a code premade by the programming team. This is necessary, because, for the first 15 seconds in the game, the students cannot touch the controller. Each team can win points if a robot either moves and/or picks up a tote during this time. The programmers are now working on the teleoperation coding for the robot so that a human can control it. At times, this coding can be confusing and overwhelming, so it is helpful to use analogies as a way of making the technology less esoteric. LM Robotics’s head programmer explained the teleoperation coding using flowers instead of numbers. An appreciative programmer named Hannah Si,’17 said that it was “very creative and helpful to compare something in math and science to something that is a part of everyday life”.

The awards team is also tapping into its creative resources to nominate its mentors and members for awards rewarding organization, leadership, and teamwork. It has been very busy putting together essays to demonstrate the team’s organization and its contribution to FIRST and to the community. Awards are a big part of FIRST because they give teams the opportunity to show how they have gotten involved in the community to help spread the ideas of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math).

The public relations branch has been updating social media sites to show what the team has accomplished over the past three to four weeks. It has reached out to potential sponsors who are interested in donating money, parts, mentors, etc. A major sponsor this year is Lockheed Martin, a company dedicated to math, science, and technology.

Every team in LM Robotics is hard at work and is expecting to have a successful performance on February 14. If you would like to find out more, feel free to email LM Robotics or follow their progress throughout the season by exploring their website and social media pages:

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