Embedded Files
“Three, two, one, fight!”
A breathtaking sumo robot fight started after the countdown. Controlled by Angel, the cone-shaped robot on the right attacked aggressively and made consecutive turns to ram the wedge-shaped robot control by Cloud. However, Cloud’s robot responded to the attack immediately, and used the side board to block the right wheel of his opponent. It continued its turn and eventually squeezed its sharp edge beneath Angel’s sumobot. Then came the final blow when Cloud’s robot suddenly accelerated and pushed his opponent out of the arena. The crowd burst into excited shouts. The fight ended in just 8 seconds!
Welcome to PRISMS second annual sumobot competition — a true robot carnival!
Nearly 20 PRISMS students participated in this robot competition.
“This is one of the most exciting engineering projects I’ve ever had,” said Howard Hu, one of the participants. “I spent more than 15 hours in the design and construction of my robot. Errors always pop up unexpectedly. The interference between different parts of my robot, failure in bluetooth communication — this project is definitely more challenging than what I expect! Also, the relatively few rules give me the freedom to be creative. All the efforts will pay off when my Sumobot proves itself in the fights.”
Sumobot fights, or robot-sumo, is a sport in which two robots attempt to push each other out of an arena, or dohyo. The name “sumobot” comes from the Japanese sport of sumo wrestling. The sumobot fight held at PRISMS is classified as mini-class, meaning that the sumobot should weigh under 500 grams and its dimensions should be smaller than 10cm by 10cm. The dohyo is a 2.5-feet circle painted black and white. PRISMS introduced sumobot fights as one of the main projects of Applied Engineering courses in 2015.
According to Mr.Kemp, the Head of PRISMS’ Engineering Department, labs like the sumo robot are not introduced merely as competitions, but also as tools for students to gain specific skills and concepts.
“Whether it’s sumo robot or other robotic projects, they teach students about the wireless data communication, computer interface, basic programming, manufacturing process and other fundamental techniques that make a project successful. Through this process, our students not only have fun — I can see the smile on everyone’s face, but also build the basic knowledge that will be useful for higher level robotics. I think robot is a great teaching tool,” said Mr. Kemp.
Mr. Kemp also mentions that Thomas Jeffersons High School have similar engineering challenges, which inspired him to organize this sort of project at PRISMS.
“The freshmen at TJ make robots to go through a maze and compete in a beauty contest. We also do search-and-rescue missions, in which we build a small house in the school, and students have to build robots to complete a series of tasks,” Mr. Kemp added.
With the experience gained from the last year’s Sumobot fights, the competitors this year designed robots with numerals improved features. Several students adopted the wedge-shape design for the enclosures of their robots. According to Howard, such designs can increase the chance of lifting the opponents’ wheels off the ground. The students from Dr.Herman’s class all used a secret recipe to make their wheels — an unexpected combination of silicon sealant and corn starch. The sumobot fights last year suggested that this material can significantly increase the maximum friction achievable by the wheel. “But that pungent smell is a problem,” said Cloud with a bitter smile. “Sometimes I have to hold my nose!”
After 45 minutes of intense fighting, Savva with his gold-painted sumobot emerged as the winner of the PRISMS Second Annual Sumobot Competition.
Report abuse