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Robo Mustang team
PUTNAM --- With an important win March 10 in New Hampshire, the Putnam Science Academy robotics team, the Robo Mustangs, has qualified for the 2011-12 First Tech Challenge Robotics Competition World Championship in St. Louis.
The Robo Mustangs (team 4554) won the coveted “Inspire Award” at a robotics competition in New Hampshire. The Putnam Science Academy students will represent Connecticut in the competition, which hosts teams from around the world at the end of April. The Inspire Award “requires a team to be excellent and inspire other teams to have good relationships, to be gracious professionally in the competition and outside,” said Omer Seven, a junior at Putnam Science Academy and the team’s co-captain.
Team members include: Omer Kara , Muhammed Boydak, Ensar Tastan, Kerem On, Almas Myzatay, Yusuf Yilmaz, Omer Atas, Recep Gurbannazarov, Berkan Tuylu, Omer Beydili, Tarik Kose, Mustafa Ak, Ebubekir Yasa, Serik Tukupov, Omer Seven, Halit Sezgin.
The road to St. Louis wasn’t easy. After spending about 250 hours designing, developing, programming and building its robot, “Samantha,” the Robo Mustangs won several awards at a competition over the winter at Clarkson University in upstate New York. Still, after a recent competition in Connecticut, the team wasn’t satisfied with Samantha’s performance.
The Robo Mustangs’ coach, Erkan Cabuk, said that after the Connecticut competition March 3, the students thought the robot could be better. So, they got to work redesigning Samantha completely. “We’re on our fourth robot,” Cabuk said. “The third robot was too complex.”
The new robot is named “Iron Horse.” For competition, the robot can be a maximum size of 18” by 18”. It must operate autonomously for 30 seconds and by radio control for 2 minutes. “Samantha” picks up balls, puts them in boxes, and stacks the boxes. It might sound simple, but it is anything but. For example, one of the biggest challenges in designing and building the robot is simply keeping its size within regulation.
The Robo Mustangs feel boosted by the high-profile support they’ve gained and the awards they have won along the path to the World Championship. Among the awards are The Winning Alliance and the Connect Award (in the North New York Championship), the Finalist Alliance, Think Award, and Promote Award (from the Connecticut Conquest Championship) and the Inspire Award (from the Northern New England Championship).
The team is supported in part by RPC Associates, and WINY radio and is sponsored by Wheelabrator Co. in Putnam. It has also created and hosted the “Battle in the Quiet Corner,” a lively scrimmage that included six teams from schools in northeast Connecticut.