Solving problems with robots

Identity Crisis, the Twin Bridges School robotics team, is composed of drivers, coders, engineers, 3-D printers, wheel design specialists, media relations personnel and team managers, most of whom are eighth graders and all of whom are learning about who they are. 

“What the members of Identity Crisis are learning is problem solving skills,” says coach and instructor at Twin Bridges Ben Hoffman. 

“What we try to do specifically is a very, very hands off approach to where at the end of the day, they're able to say that they built this robot and they coded it all, and they've had to work through the problems themselves,” he explains. 

The problems the members of the team face are often complex and involve learning a variety of disciplines to solve. 

It begins with a robot kit that in its stock form is reminiscent of an Erector set. Once the kit is assembled and operational, it begins a transformation based on the vision of the team and how they decide to solve the problems they face. 

“In our first match of our first tournament, our teammate bumped us and clicked our power button,” explained Merrick Hunter, who is learning how to 3D print parts for the robot. One of the projects his team is working on is a cover for the power switch to ensure the power button is protected in their next competition. 

“We use CAD,” he explained about the software used to create the 3D printed designs. “We have to draw it out, make a sketch online, and then carry that all over to the building processor. We have to download that and put it into the printer. It does the rest of the work for us.”

“There's a lot of trial and error,” he continues. “This is an error that we made,” he explained, holding up a partially constructed plastic scoop for the front of the robot. “It was supposed to go on the robot, but it ended up printing with only one of these (flanges) and so it didn't quite work out. So we reprinted it, actually. This is the second time we had to reprint it, and then our final print is on the robot right now.”

The scoop is designed to help the robot collect large wiffle balls, called artifacts, from around the competition floor so that it can shoot them into the target and score points. The machine has to be able to accomplish this autonomously for the first 30 seconds and with a pair of drivers for two minutes. 

“So basically, we have a little, it's kind of like a little mini iPad,” explains Asher Mailey who is a driver of the robot. “It's just like playing a video game. It uses the same controllers and it's really fun. It's the real thing.”

Mailey goes on to describe the competition. 

“In the beginning, there's four teams all together in one round. We're set with an alliance, and there's two other people set in this alliance. That alliances don't stay permanent through the entire competition. They're different each round. So when it starts, we start with autonomous, that little iPad. You just click the button that says, Go. It goes,” he said, describing the portion of the event where the team’s coding ability is on display. 

“Then we switch to what we call the teleop (teleoperation.) That’s  where we start driving it ourselves,” he continues. “So when the two minute timer starts after the autonomous we go into that and we just run through shooting the balls or helping out the other team get balls, because other teams have different ways of doing things.” 

“One team at our competition had to have us put in balls, since we couldn't shoot very straight, we had them shoot for us, and we got the balls for them. And so we just have to figure out how to work together with our alliance so that we can score more points together,” he concluded. 

“The really nice thing about first robotics in general is that all the other teams are working together,’ explains Hoffman. “They have their ethos built on a value called gracious professionalism, which is kind of helping your neighbor.” 

“At the competitions all the kids are out there trying to get help, and saying, ‘How can we help you do this?’”

“I would say the community around robotics is really awesome,” Hoffman continues. “That's super helpful for the kids, because it gets them to talk to other kids about, kind of like a stranger sometimes, saying, how do you do this? You know, can you teach me how you do that?”

While the kids are working on problem solving, design, coding and construction of the vehicle they are developing a wide variety of skills through the program that was made possible by a grant from the late John Osborn, who has set up a foundation to help fund the program according to Nancy Males, a retired teacher who still helps coach the team. 

“He (Osborn) said he wanted us to be the S.T.E.M. mecca of southwest Montana,” said Males. “I’m not sure we fit that, but our kids are super fortunate.”

Although none of the participants would admit that a career in robotics was in their future, Hoffman pointed out that the skills they will develop can translate into just about any career. 

“They're having to go through all the issues themselves and deal with them like you would in a real life job application,” he explained and then agreed that one of his primary jobs with the team is to help them deal with failures. 

“First of all, we take the emotion out of it and then say, OK what's our problem? Do you know what's causing that problem? How can we fix that problem?”

“We just try to give them talking points, essentially, helping them break the problem down,” he continued. 

Identity Crisis was selected to represent the state of Montana by Governor Greg Gianforte in the first annual United States Governor’s Cup in Washington, D.C. this February. In the mean-time they will continue to attempt to qualify for the state competition hosted by the Montana Robotics Alliance. 

More information is available at mtroboticsalliance.org.