Robotics team looking to repeat prior success

Hidden away in the far left corner of the music quad is a largely-unknown room labeled “Robotics” in worn letters. Despite its abandoned-looking exterior, students may have heard loud music blasting from within, indicating that it is not as lifeless as it may seem. Lately, it has been filled with bustling students working power tools and writing code.

These students make up the Mechanical Science and Engineering Team (MSET), and currently, they are frantically working on building a robot.

“We do a couple competitions now, one is called the CalGames and one is called FIRST Robotics Competitions,” president and senior Michael Zuccarino said.

CalGames has already passed, while The FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) season starts during March and ends on April 28. The team also participates in the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC), which involves rockets, not robots, during March and April.

Two years ago, the team won the FRC Silicon Valley Regional and were FRC Nationals Contestants in Atlanta. However, last year, they were not able to place, but the team is looking forward to bright prospects for this upcoming year.

The team is currently in its the building phase, which lasts about six weeks. During this time, they must design and then make the robot that will be used for both competitions.

The criteria for the robot changes each year. This year, the objective of the robot is to be able to place various ring-shaped balloons onto pegs. The robot will first be given a time frame to perform this task autonomously, then human handlers will the chance to control the robot. The higher the peg, the more points the team gains.

Another change from last year is that the team plans to build not only one robot, but two, which is the reason that the team has been reaching out to more sponsors.

Aside from their success in FIRST, the team also did well in the TARC competition last year. TARC is the world’s largest rocketry contest.

Last year, the TARC team placed 44th out of 100 teams in the National competition and hope to improve even more this year.

The criteria for the rocket used in TARC is that the rocket has to weigh less than 650 grams and carry two eggs. The eggs must reach 800 feet in the rocket and go back and forth in 43 to 47 seconds.

“Currently, we are finishing designing our rocket, using computer assisted drafting, and then we’re going to start ordering parts soon,” junior Benjamin Yang said.

Unlike the robotics counterpart, which are working on CalGames and FRC, the TARC competition is not under as strict of a deadline.

“CalGames [and FRC] definitely have more time constraints, [the TARC team] is still working,” Yang said.

The team requires no prior experience, as they supply training for Java, safety training and myriad of other workshops.

“It’s not very technical at all; a lot of people are intimidated from joining because they think they don’t know what they are doing. It’s actually really easy though,” Zuccarino said.
“After you show up for a few times you know what the deal is and you are ready to go.”