Frisbee Golf Robots Will Highlight NJIT Competition on March 4

The robotics club at New Jersey Institute of Technology is hosting a Vex U competition in March that's open to university teams from around the world.

Hosting their own event has been a longtime goal for the current crop of NJIT robotics club members, along with the generation before them. But now, after reaching the World Championship level in 2020 and substantially growing their club membership, officer Yash Patel believes it's time to produce their own show.

"I'm expecting 150-200 people," said Patel, who serves as the event organizer, team captain and robotics club treasurer. Early registrations include teams from Dartmouth College and Florida Institute of Technology. Teams from Rutgers University and Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology are expected to register soon, plus many more. NJIT's Wellness and Events Center practice fields will serve as the venue for the March 4 competition.

NJIT's own robots are constructed partially in the club laboratory and partially at the university makerspace. The club lab has a pair of 3D printers, but the makerspace has bigger equipment such as sanders and bandsaws, he noted. On the software side, the club is working on code to automate their robotic aiming, which is currently controlled by mere human minds.

Competitions are standardized by the non-profit organization that sanctions Vex events, with this year's competitions being a disk-tossing challenge. Each team has a large robot and a small one — NJIT's are named Highlander and Lowlander. The goal is to shoot foam rubber discs into a net and block opposing teams from making their shots. Robots operate autonomously and under human remote control, during different times in a tournament.

Still, teams can customize their events. "We have the freedom to personalize it. If we want to, we can hold scrimmages which are informal, or we could hold a full competition or a special event that could last multiple days," Patel explained. To entice other college teams to attend, "We're having a more formal ceremony which includes catering. Usually at these competitions you have to find food for yourself."

Sponsors include Raytheon and Stryker. Employees of those companies will serve as judges, not NJIT club members, so that the NJIT club can participate without bias.

Patel said that leading his high school competition taught him event management skills. He noted that the 2020 team was led by engineer Yichao Zhang and programmer Dale Nacianceno, the latter influencing Patel since their days at South Brunswick high school which itself hosted competitions.

After college, Patel's dream job is to work on robotic rovers for NASA or for a company like SpaceX. First he's looking to conquer the campus.