News

Local boys Push and Grab their way to world competition

Print this story | Email this story

Robots Pushy and Grabby, made and programmed by two local home-schooled boys, will have their skills tested this weekend at the World Robofest 2008 Competition.

Kaden Solsbery, 11, of Liberty Hill, and Cody Sanders, 13, of Cedar Park, make up the Electric Mayhem team that will be competing at the world competition on Saturday in Michigan. The team took first place in the Junior Game Division at the Austin Robofest on April 12 and earned enough points to qualify for the world competition.

The boys participated in the Robofest Game Competition, which requires a team to accomplish different robotics missions and objectives using two fully autonomous robots. They were required to do a search-and-rescue mission.

They had one to two months to build and program their robots, which were made of Legos.

They had the option of making their robots from Lego robotics kits or metal Vex robots. Kaden and Cody chose the Lego kits for their robots and then used rubber bands, tape and other miscellaneous items to help the robots meet their objectives, said Heather Solsbery, Kaden's mother.

Kaden's robot, Pushy, was the “search” robot in the mission. As the debris-clearing robot, it had to knock full tissue boxes off of a table without falling off or knocking itself over.

Cody's robot, Grabby, was in charge of the “rescue” part of the mission and had to retrieve aluminum foil-covered tennis balls from the other end of the table.

It was a difficult task because Kaden and Cody had to calculate the correct speed to go in order to not damage their robots as they knocked the boxes over and carried the tennis balls, said Heather.

The competition had two rounds and took an overall score from both rounds to determine the winner. Though Electric Mayhem came in first, that did not guarantee them an invite to the world competition; the score had to be high enough to qualify.

The Austin competition consisted of teams mostly from the Central Texas region, but two teams came from Louisiana, said Heather.

Both boys were excited and shocked that they won first place in the competition. “I was really surprised we had won first,” said Cody. “I thought we were in second.”

Kaden said, “When I heard we won, I exploded with whoops and cheers.”

This was Cody's second Robofest competition. He competed once before and came away with third place honors. Though he was a veteran of the competition, “This time I was nervous because we were up against some good teams, but I knew what to expect too.”

Kaden, who is in the fifth grade, competed for the first time this year because previously he was not old enough. “I was really nervous and excited too. I had mixed feelings about it,” said Kaden.

Both boys are very excited and anxious about their trip to Michigan. “I'm excited and a little nervous, but not as much,” said Kaden. Cody said he is also nervous about some of the international teams competing.

No matter their showings at world competition, both boys would like to continue to participate in Robofest in the coming years. “This is one of my favorite things,” said Cody.

Kaden said he wants to compete again next year as well because it's fun and “now I have some experience.”

The boys received donations from local business to help with the expenses from their trip. Smokey Mo's donated $300 toward the trip. They also received a $25 gift card from Wal-Mart and a $400 donation from Fully Rugged Depot.

Robofest is an annual competition that was started in 2000 and has spread throughout the United States and several other countries. The competition uses autonomous robotics competitions to focus on learning STEM (Science, Engineering, Technology and Math).

Students in grades five through 12 are eligible to form teams to design, build and program robots. The goal of Robofest is to create an interest in STEM among students and promote their creative and innovative thinking.

E-mail jennifer@hillcountrynews.com

Reader Comments