Dine brothers to compete in international robotics compeition
BY SHINE SALT
SPECIAL TO THE TIMES
PHOENIX – When one thinks of robots, images of movies like “Terminator” or “Wall-E” might come to mind, or possibly thoughts of robots fighting. But for two brothers, robots invoke mental compeition.
“I was always a computer science person and I always wanted to go into that kind of field,” said Dillon Dayea, a student at Arizona State University. “Once I entered high school I actually met a friend who was talking about the robotics club he was in. He convinced me to check it out and I liked it. ”
After traveling with their parents and watching his older brother compete with the team, 17-year-old Dalton decided to join the club too at Carl Hayden High School (CHHS).
Being in the club had opened doors for the brothers. They were chosen to help model and rebuild an underwater robot named Stinky for the new movie, “Spare Parts” starring George Lopez.
“Throughout the movie, there will be shots of a progressed Stinky and our team had built four different types,” said Dalton. “From the beginning you’ll only have the PVC, the basic frame of it, but through the movie you’ll see it progress.”
Going from basic PVC with floaters to a high-technology Stinky, the brothers helped create a true story involving four immigrants who went to CHHS that entered into the RoboSub Competition in 2004. The competition consists of universities from around the world and the occassional high school. Only three high school teams, including CHHS, are competing this year.
While Dalton is looking forward to helping CHHS live up to its movie hype, Dillon is now sharing his knowledge at ASU. The two brothers will go gear-to-gear in the cometition.
“We did this in high school and we can take it where we want to,” said Dillon. “My friends and I brought it here to ASU, so now my friends and I are the first to start an underwater robotics team here. ”
With his compassion for robot building, Dillon continues his sophomore year at ASU majoring in aerospace engineering.
This year will mark the first time the Dayea brothers will be competing against each other rather than alongside each other at the 18th Annual International RoboSub Competition in San Diego, Calif. on July 26.
“I’m just going to lose my voice again, as always at all the competitions, but now I’m going to be cheering for both teams,” laughed the brother’s mom, Helena.
Jonathan, the boy’s father continued, “We had no idea what the kids were doing. We never see this on the reservation and we’ve never heard of building robots as a sport.”
But the parents supported their sons and questioned them about the obstacles their robots must overcome in the competition.
“The kids are using satellites on their laptops to measure out the distance and depth of the pool area,” said Jonathan. “Once you preprogram it and put it into the water, the robot will go on it’s own.”
The teams have to measure how long it will take from one area to the next, but also keeping in mind the speed of their propellers.
“If measurements are off, the robot will proceed with an off route through the course,” said Jonathan. “Dillon said there are lights that are coded, so the robots can sense those colors. If there’s overcast, it’s better off like that so the robot can easily recognize the colors. Sometimes the robots will just sit there, because it cannot recognize the color due to the sun.”
The underwater robots will be preprogrammed to follow a line, picking up boxes or going through gates.
“The thing that makes it difficult is that it’s all autonomist meaning we have no control of what happens. When you imagine a robot, you image putting a mechanical piece and having to control it, but when you have to go into autonomy you can’t control the robot,” continued Dillon. “Basically you have these entire pre-coded program in the robot that says, when the robot sees red, it has to touch the red ball. You’re teaching the robot to do things by itself.”
Dalton recalls last year when his teammates’ robot didn’t do so well during the competition, but he found ideas.
“One team had a sonar of some sort that lets out a high pitch sound where it times the distance of when the sound bounces back to the robot, which later maps out the underwater obstacle.” Said Dalton.
The ASU and Carl Hayden teams are 3D-designing their robot on computers and gathering materials within a few weeks time before they send their device by Feb. 19. If the robot’s weight is above 125, the team will be disqualified and anything less will be bonus points.
Not having much financial support from the university, Dillon and his teammates created a website called “SDRCAUV” on Facebook to fundraise for the competition.
“I’m proud of the boys. They’ve come a long ways,” said Jonathan. “Just like what they’re doing right now, they’re working. Their mind is engineering. “