Plum excels in battle of bots
When Alex Udanis started watching the "BattleBots" television series a couple years ago, he thought it might be fun to try his hand at building one of the remote-controlled gladiators himself.
So Udanis, 15, a freshman at Plum Senior High School, built a robot. Next, he made his way around the state entering his robot in competition with others.
When high school teacher Rick Volker earlier this school year decided to enter his energy technology class in the Southwestern Pennsylvania BattleBots IQ competition, Udanis, though not in the class, was the logical choice as the group's captain and remote control man or "driver" of "Shockwave," the name team members selected for the robot.
"The object is to disable your opponent (robot) like a boxing match and get in as many jabs as possible," Volker said.
Earlier this month the hard work and dedication of Udanis and the other six team members paid off.
Plum's team "Intensity" is on its way to the national competition April 12 to 15 in Miami after taking first-place honors at the local round at Century III Mall in West Mifflin on March 3.
Seventeen teams participated. The Plum team won after a half-dozen rounds. The team got a trophy, plaque, medals and a $250 book scholarship usable at the Westmoreland County Community College for each team member.
This is the second year for the local competition and Plum's first time competing. Lenape Tech in Ford City won last year.
Work on "Shockwave" began in November when Udanis and other team members -- seniors James Greene and Matthew Resnick and juniors Jeffrey Bice, Joseph Constantino, Cody Harris and Joseph Kotvas -- made a cardboard mockup of the robot.
After a wooden mockup, the team put the final product together with different materials including metal and rubber wheels.
Volker said in addition to getting experience in engineering, metal working and electronics, the students learned how to get along as a team and honed their problem-solving skills.
Greene, 18, described the competition as "nerve-wracking" as "Shockwave" progressed through the rounds and eliminated other schools' robots.
He said the team will use the next couple of weeks to round the edges of the robot and add some stronger material to get ready for the national competition.
The Plum team's success has come with a little help along the way.
Jennison Corp. of Carnegie, a tool and die manufacturer, is the Plum team's corporate sponsor.
In addition to an initial $2,000 commitment, Jennison paid Plum's $250 entry fee and just gave another $1,500 to pay for two of the students to go to the national competition.
"There's a lot of engineering that goes into one of these things," said Paul Sirney, Jennison's vice president and general manager. "They do learn a lot."
