This spring, IEEE Club members from Mechanical and Electrical Technology and related programs, along with Professor Gary DiGiacomo, made their yearly expedition to Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, for Rage in the Cage, the National Robotics League’s combat robotics competition. The weekend was a sharp snapshot of how much the club has grown.
Last November, the same students put 1 lb robots on the line at the Watson Combat Robotics League: Team Just in Time took first, Team Cache 22 second, and Team Rust in 
Peace rounded out a three-bot effort. Rather than coast on those machines, they went back to the shop. For Bloomsburg they rolled out three new 3 lb robots (Cache 22 and Stinger), 100% student designed, manufactured, and assembled. Nick Bilotta, Ty French, and Marko Boyko carried Cache 22 forward from the fall league work; Colin Bradbury and Haroutune Kerjilian put Stinger on the floor. Same ambition as the fall, heavier metal, and the work stayed in student hands from sketches to final torque checks.
At the event, matches came fast. Robots met in the cage, took damage, and students had narrow windows to fix what broke and get ready again. In the 3 lb bracket, SUNY Broome shared the field with strong high school and regional teams. Cache 22 went deepest for the college, reaching losers round three. Stinger kept pressing through the bracket. The students who had brought them up to spec shifted their attention to pit work and logistics so Cache 22 and Stinger could keep cycling through the cage.
First-year student Justin Ondrako, a veteran of robotic competition was the club’s ace in place. While mentoring the club’s teams he also designed and built Crimson Calamity and Super Striker for 3 lb, but were having mechanical issues when we got to the competition so he shifted and concentrated on driving the 15 lb robot, Push Comes to Shove. That heavyweight is a different kind of project from the scratch 3 lb builds. After repairing the bot from last year’s competition; fortifying the armor, rebuilding the plow, and keeping the bot reliable under fire. This spring it took the 15 lb division after a split judges decision required a hard run through the losers’ bracket including a rematch win over the #1 seed, and two tight finals against the last undefeated rival.
None of that happens in a vacuum. Gary DiGiacomo has been a steady presence as Club Advisor and Technical Mentor: clearing the path for students to own the builds, stepping in with guidance when it matters, and making trips like this one possible. The SUNY Broome IEEE Club earned this season’s results through that mix of fall learning, spring execution, and a championship night in the heavier class. They are already thinking about what to rebuild and what to bring back to Bloomsburg next time. SUNY Broome’s IEEE Club is open to anyone that is interested, this semester, meetings are Thursdays in the Applied Technology Building, sign up and check Swarm for more details.
Submitted by: IEEE Club/STEM Division
Tags: STEM Division
