Building your dream from the ground up is no easy feat for college students across the board, but at Ursa Mechanica, they seemed to have built their name around being the best at it.
The club was started last year by president Matthew Shibata, a fourth-year mechanical engineering major, as well as treasurer Eduardo Ramos, a third-year economics major, and vice president Nicholas Kang, a fourth-year computer science major. They were later joined by Kiana Dumdumaya, officer and fourth-year electrical engineering major. Starting out as a project team under the Society of Women’s Engineering (SWE), so that they could compete in VEX competitions as a part of the school, they found themselves branching out soon after. Their team’s goals were centered around building, programming and by testing robots against fellow robotics clubs, putting their creativity to the test and pushing the boundaries of engineering along the way.
However, the group would soon realize that they were quickly outgrowing their home at the Bourns College of Engineering (BCOE) test ground, both literally and metaphorically. The allotted space for organizations such as SWE, Highlander Racing and the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) who all share a room to work on their given projects. Unfortunately, because of the limited parameters of the room, the team couldn’t even fit the field in which they test movement and simulate the various games into their workplace, which is imperative to practicing for competitions.
Dumdumaya explained, the team wanted more people to take part in the fun and join the club as well, and there was simply no room to spread their wings. Now, one year later, the club meets at Shibata, Kang and Ramos’s garage in their house, so that members can stop by anytime to contribute to the progress of the robot during construction.
Furthermore, because the robot often needs to be continuously worked at, the club has no set meeting times, and only calls general meetings when necessary. They currently have 17 active members with a five member board, including Audrey Cho, who is the acting secretary at the club. As a part of the University circuit of VEX competitions they are allowed much more freedom in regards to the parts they can use to construct their robot, but are still required to provide documentation of their material to VEX and use VEX motors. This allows them to create different types of VEX robots that can do things like catapult objects or have claw machines like grabbers. With this in mind, despite their modest beginnings, the team would go on to achieve incredible things in that year alone by placing 19th at VEX U — the world’s largest college and university robotics competition, and as of this year — and winning two Excellence Awards for being the best overall robotics team in California.
That is not to say that their success came without struggle. Due to not being affiliated with BCOE, raising enough money for the competitions and the robots themselves was a significant challenge. As Shibata explains, fundraising must be considerable at best to accommodate the costly nature of the competitions, “To put it in perspective, just to compete in the competition, you have to pay a flat fee of $2,000, and then just to compete at [VEX U] that’s another $1,800. Each robot costs six to eight thousand dollars, with parts on the cheaper end … if you don’t put all the bells and whistles on it. So one of our main issues is, how can we make the robot better with as little money as possible?” This, along with having to pay for plane tickets, housing and accommodations during competitions, adds up, leading to some finance-induced turmoil on the path to success.
Yet, despite all the setbacks, what often combats all the stress and tiredness is what makes the club itself unique. Ursa Mechanica prides itself on its inclusive attitude toward bringing in new members and its friendly atmosphere that allows everyone to have a good time while they are finding their place in the club. As Ramos explains, belonging is a huge part of what makes being a part of Ursa Mechanica so special. She continued, “Not [every] club is very close … [but] we accept everyone with open arms … We’re all family … We’re all in it together.”
This is particularly important for those who may want to break into robotics but may face roadblocks, as Dumdumaya did when she first explored the engineering world. Dumdumaya elaborated, “I think coming here, the first things we do, like if someone new comes in is … we try to get them to touch the robot as fast as they can or … do what they want to do on the team.” Along with competing themselves, they routinely referee and judge competitions at local high schools and colleges, spreading their enthusiasm for building to others as they learn to love the field of robotics as well.
That being said, with an established identity and a solid foundation built, the last peak for Ursa Mechnica to climb is winning VEX U. With over 50 countries participating in the world’s largest robotics competition, Ursa Mechanica is determined to take their place at the top and prove to everyone that they’ve got what it takes to be world champions. The main game that will be played at VEX U this year is called the “Over Under” game, which tests the ability of the robots to grab onto and support itself on various objects by allowing teams to score points by gathering as many objects under the designated nets, and climbing over and under the various posts on the field. Ursa Mechnica hopes to set themselves apart from their competitors in Texas this April and take the world by storm with their innovative skills.
Ursa Mechanica proudly represents University of California, Riverside (UCR) with their creations and love for the field. This passion and drive is a testament to their ability to strive despite adversity while still fostering an inclusive and welcoming environment for students. If you would like to join or support them in efforts to push the boundaries of robotics, their Discord and GoFundMe are open for students to join and for donations to help fund future projects.
