The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

2 5 Frid ay, Ju ly 29, 2011 O A K V ILLE B E A V E R w w w .in sid eH A LTO N .co m By Nathan Howes OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF Oakville almost walked away with a clean sweep at last weeks robotics competition in Huntsville, scoring two of three awards handed out. The 2011 Innovation Nation Robotics Competition on July 19 showcased innova- tions from university and high school stu- dents across Canada, and provided them with an opportunity to network with indus- try experts, scientists, artists, engineers and academics. Teams from Oakville Trafalgar High School (OTHS) and Abbey Park High School (APHS) took home the Platinum Award and High School Award, respectively. OTHS walked away with $5,000 for winning best prize overall. We felt honoured that we were chosen by the judges, especially considering we were up against some amazing robots and teams, said 18-year-old OTHS team mem- ber Nick Whittaker. It felt great, and we would like to thank the CSII for organizing the conference and competition. OTHS received the award for its 120- pound robot, Harbinger of A New Kool (HANK), which was designed to pick up inner tubes and hang them on 10-foot high scoring racks, but with minor modifica- tions it could also be used as an autono- mous forklift to manage a warehouse or transport goods around a hospital, Whittaker said. HANK was designed to play in the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition, which is an international organization in which thousands of teams from around the globe compete, said Whittaker. For the third year in a row, we attended the world championships in the U.S, and this year we were ranked (22nd) in our division. Whittaker said they were limited to a six- week design and building period in which the robot was designed from scratch in 3-D AutoCAD and then built and programmed by students in the schools shop. The team has 25 active members, four of whom pre- sented in Huntsville, he added. Due to FIRST regulations, the combined cost of the robot cannot exceed $3,500. However, our team has a budget of $35,000 that must be raised each year, most of which is registration costs for our competitions, said Whittaker. Whittaker will be going to the University of Ottawa in the fall for biology, and has his eye on medical school after he graduates with hopes to be in the neurol- ogy field. APHS won the high school category and $1,750 for designing a sonic guide wand for individuals who are visually impaired. It was an electronic wand using ultra- sonic sensors to help blind people navigate in the streets. We thought it was pretty cre- ative because we tried to find something that was like what we made and we couldnt find anything, said 18-year-old Vladimir Kluev. Kluev said they had to spend a semester learning how to use electronics and pro- gramming micro controllers. The construc- tion and programming took another three months to complete. We had two people who were doing the electronics design and we enlisted the help of a tech design student because we needed to print out our prototype in a 3-D printer and we needed someone to use AutoCAD, said Kluev. We drew it out for him on paper and he just put our design into the com- puter. One of the hardest parts to creating the sonic guide wand was coming up with an original and practical idea, Kluev said. There were two obstacles to overcome in creating the sonic guide wand, Kluev said. One was coming up with an original and practical idea, and the other was funding it. We thought the most complicated robot in the world is useless unless it has an appli- cation. This was the first time our school did any kind of robotic competition so fundrais- ing is hard when you dont have a name or proper product that is already established, said Kluev. The cost of the prototype was around $550, but $400 of that was a 3-D print out. Fortunately, the company that makes 3-D printers helped us by printing it out for free, he added. As for whats next for Kluev, he will be going to the University of Waterloo in the fall for computer engineering. In my co-op terms I will probably realize what I want to do specifically, but I think helping people is a great destina- tion, so maybe something biomedical or technological like Aerospace, said Kluev. We got to reaffirm our beliefs that this is what we want to do because it seems really cool to do it and it seems really interesting. Teams claim top spots at robotics competition SUBMITTED PHOTOS ROBOT CHAMPS: Two Oakville teams claimed two of the top three spots in this year's Innovation Nation Robotics Competition in Huntsville, earlier this month. Pictured above are members of the Oakville Trafalgar High School team Eric Atkinson, Evelyn Wainewright and crouching Nick Bandiera controlling their robot which took home the top place Platinum Award. Below are members of the Abbey Park High School team Garnet Mason and Vladimir Kluev with their Sonic Guide Wand which won the High School Award. We felt honoured that we were chosen by the judges, especially considering we were up against some amazing robots and teams. Nick Whittaker, team member Oakville Trafalgar High School We thought the most complicated robot in the world is useless unless it has an application. Vladimir Kluev, team member Abbey Park High School