TEACHING AND LEARNING EXCELLENCE
Connecting the World of School CLC’s growing participation in SkillsUSA competitions is opening doors to more realworld learning opportunities and giving students a chance to put their knowledge into action and showcase their skills on the regional and national stage
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The roving, remote-controlled robot—with its chunky wheels,
Now the moment of glory was just around the corner—and the bot
movable arm and gripper hand—looked like it could be exploring
was almost ready for prime time. Otterbacher and Zarinana heaved a
the surface of the moon on a NASA mission. But the masterminds
sigh of relief. They were finally past the early, trial-and-error phase of
controlling this little marvel were working on a more earthly
the project, when the robot was routinely getting hung up on course
endeavor: the creation of an urban search and rescue robot capable
obstacles, tipping over on turns and fumbling as it tried to extract the
of maneuvering around and over obstacles to locate and remove
simulated explosive devices from the course boxes with
simulated explosive devices.
its mechanical arm.
It had taken CLC engineering students Ben Otterbacher and Eduardo
Today it was whirring efficiently around the competition field, expertly
Zarinana several months—and a mastery of basic mechanical and
extracting the simulated ordnance (military parlance for ammunition
electronic robotic systems, coding and telerobotics (the control of
and explosives) and completing the course within the competition’s
robots from a distance)—to design, build and program the bot for
12-minute time limit. The camera mounted on the front of the robot
the 2021 SkillsUSA Illinois Robotics Urban Search and Rescue:
was transmitting a clear view of the course to the monitor, enabling the
Explosive Ordnance Disposal competition.
students to guide the robot with ease and accuracy.
CLC CONNECTS
