A Rapid-sponsored team have performed strongly in a national robotics competition.
The Ipswich Makerspace team were runners-up in Pi Wars, one of the leading events in the Raspberry Pi community. The guiding principle of this challenge-based competition, held in Cambridge last weekend, is that all the robots have to be controlled using a Raspberry Pi.
The team included 10-year-old Amy Willis, her father Phil, team captain Keith Ellis, Jon Leach and Steve Chalkley.
The event attracts teams from all over the UK, in a range of categories open to various types of Raspberry Pi user, from beginners to professionals and encourages participation from schools and families. The Ipswich team competed in the Professional category and started as one of the favourites based on their 2nd and 3rd placed finishes in the past. Various challenges for the robots included negotiating their way around a maze, a speed test, a duel with another robot, an obstacle course and even a Crazy Golf game.
The team's robot, Tractorbot, had a difficult start to the competition, having been knocked out of the Pi-Noon robot duel in the first round despite some skilful moves by the driver Jon. Then, in one of those situations that no one could train for or anticipate, the bright sunlight interfered with the robot’s sensors during the Maze and Speed challenges. The team’s fortunes improved with strong performances in most of the subsequent rounds, including a "blistering" time for the Crazy Golf with Phil Willis at the controls.
Teams are also judged on the strength of their designs and the Ipswich team clearly impressed Dr Lucy Rogers, who recently appeared as a judge on BBC’s Robot Wars series. The Ipswich Makerspace team are pictured above with Dr Rogers collecting their prize for second place.
“This was our third PiWars and we’ve been in the top three every time”, said Steve Chalkley. “We’re very proud of our team and grateful to Rapid Electronics in Colchester for their sponsorship. It allows us to be more adventurous with our designs and produce winning robots”.
Keith Ellis, the team captain, said: “It’s amazing what we are able to achieve with modern technology. The parts for our robot were laser cut and 3D-printed, we had custom circuit boards made and we even made use of Open Source computer vision software; 10 years ago we couldn’t have built something like this”.
The Ipswich Makerspace group meet regularly in a collaborative workshop and community space, and organise a range of educational activities. These have included three successful Raspberry Jam events. The next Ipswich Raspberry Jam is due to take place on 6 May at the University of Suffolk. The Ipswich Makerspace is entirely self-funded and having recently moved into new premises, is keen to welcome new members and those wanting to support its work.
It was also a successful weekend for Rapid, as once more we did a roaring trade at our stand in the foyer of the Cambridge Computer Laboratory.
www.IpswichMakerspace.com
