Rock ‘em and Sock ‘em

By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times

When we hear the word robot, most of us picture something like a metal person. Maybe you picture something with wheels or tracks instead of feet, like Rosie the robot maid from the Jetsons. But the overall image for those of us raised on science fiction and pop culture is usually some type of anthropomorphic automaton. 

The reality, though, is that most of the robots we’re likely to see today are more akin to a Roomba than to C3PO; small, flat, wheeled, and programmed or designed to do a singular task. They vacuum the rug on a set schedule. They mop the kitchen at our prompting. Or mow our lawns with the aid of guide wires and remote controls. 

Or, if you’re a robot built by a robot gladiator team, you beat the tar out of your opponent. 

It’s this last one that students at West Carter High School are focused on with one of the school’s newest extracurricular activities. 

If you’ve ever watched the show BattleBots, that’s basically the idea. The students involved all work with the same base model robot, team coach Gary Coffman explained, which they build, program, and then modify to suit their play style and offensive and defensive strategies. 

“This is a new thing this year,” Coffman said. “Newton’s Attic, which is a group of folks up in the Lexington area, kind of tested the idea of having these at Morehead State University the past couple of summers in a summer camp, but they decided they want to take it statewide. So, this year, we have eight schools across the state of Kentucky that are actually being the first guinea pig groups to compete and to try these out.” 

“It’s kind of like BattleBots, the TV show, same idea, but we’re actually making a competitive sport essentially,” he continued. 

He compared it to the schools new esports program, “but this is robotics, so we’re actually doing death matches.”

He said they already have their melee events scheduled, with each school putting three of their robots up against three competitor robots. 

“It’s like a three v three kind of arena match,” Coffman explained.

He said they have two matches coming up soon, then every two weeks they’d have another melee event, followed by a championship – which will be held at MSU. 

The Morehead matches will be the closest to West Carter this year. Coffman explained that since there are only eight schools involved, they are holding matches at just four of the schools this year. In the future, however, West Carter could play host to a competition, especially if the sport continues to grow. 

As noted, each of the robots is built on an identical kit, with controls handled through a pair of controllers. 

“Each robot takes two remotes,” Coffman explained. “There’s one that takes care of the drive system for the two wheels, and each wheel drives independently, kind of like a tank. Then you have another remote that’s going to control all the weapon systems, which is like pneumatic systems and things like that.” 

Students will do all the work of building the robots, designing the weapon systems, and programming the remotes themselves, as well as working together to machine the necessary parts. 

“They’ve built all of this themselves, and you’ve got to program the remotes to take care of the air system, the pneumatic systems, all the electric motors, the pumps, and that’s just to drive it,” he explained. “But then all of this also powers the weapons systems. So, we’ve actually been coming up with some ideas of how we want to put armor on, and what kind of weapons we want to put on there. We’ll have to engineer all of the armor designs, and all the weapons, all the mechanical systems, and how to control them with this basic chassis.” 

Those chassis systems come from Newton’s Attic, and each and every one is identical. 

“They provide the chassis parts for us, and the instructions on how to put it together. Then, all of the armor and weapons we actually have to machine ourselves.” 

Coffman said he had a load of steel currently sitting on his front porch, at the time of our interview, and that the students would begin machining those additional elements as early as that same week. 

“We (all) have the same batteries. We have the same basic air systems. That way everybody’s on a fairly even slate there. But then, what you do with that power from the armor to the weapons is really up to us.” 

The team competed in their first match at Eminence, KY over the weekend, where they were scheduled to face off against Russell County. Their next match is scheduled for March 9, in Morehead at Rowan County High School, where they face off against the host in a 10 a.m. match. 

For more information on recent and upcoming matches, you can visit the Robot Gladiator League’s online portal at https://www.rglhub.com/. 

Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com