Connecting the World of School with the World of Work

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

The roving, remote-controlled robot—with its chunky wheels, movable arm and gripper hand—looked like it could be exploring the surface of the moon on a NASA mission. But the masterminds controlling this little marvel were working on a more earthly endeavor: the creation of an urban search and rescue robot capable of maneuvering around and over obstacles to locate and remove simulated explosive devices.

It had taken CLC engineering students Ben Otterbacher and Eduardo Zarinana several months—and a mastery of basic mechanical and electronic robotic systems, coding and telerobotics (the control of robots from a distance)—to design, build and program the bot for the 2021 SkillsUSA Illinois Robotics Urban Search and Rescue: Explosive Ordnance Disposal competition. Now the moment of glory was just around the corner—and the bot was almost ready for prime time. Otterbacher and Zarinana heaved a sigh of relief. They were finally past the early, trial-and-error phase of the project, when the robot was routinely getting hung up on course obstacles, tipping over on turns and fumbling as it tried to extract the simulated explosive devices from the course boxes with its mechanical arm.

Today it was whirring efficiently around the competition field, expertly extracting the simulated ordnance (military parlance for ammunition and explosives) and completing the course within the competition’s 12-minute time limit. The camera mounted on the front of the robot was transmitting a clear view of the course to the monitor, enabling the students to guide the robot with ease and accuracy.

with the World of Work

Otterbacher and Zarinana made a few more adjustments and then looked at one another and nodded. The bot was ready for its 12 minutes of fame. It was time to see how they stacked up against other Illinois college students who had entered the regional robotics competition.

In a normal year, Otterbacher and Zarinana would be boxing up their bot and traveling to the designated SkillsUSA Illinois competition site. But, with COVID cases still on the rise, students were competing virtually on their own 12’x12’ competition fields built to SkillsUSA specifications.

When the virtual competition day arrived, Otterbacher and Zarinana did a final inspection of the robot, the remote-control system and the competition field’s wooden ramps and boxes. With faculty members present to monitor the process and verify the results, they set up their video cameras to record the run for the contest judges and pressed the “go” button. The robot rolled straight to a first-place finish in the regional competition and a second-place finish when they advanced to the national competition in June. CLC engineering instructor Rob Twardock, who served as an advisor on the project, sees the team’s triumph on the regional and national stage as fitting recognition for a job well done.

Otterbacher sees the months he and Zarinana spent on the SkillsUSA project as an investment in their future success.

“Ben and Eduardo created an award-winning robot that was innovative, functional, reliable and structurally sound, and they gained valuable career skills in the process. In many ways, this project replicated what it’s like to work for an engineering firm, with a list of required specifications, as well as time and budget constraints.” – CLC engineering instructor Rob Twardock