StoweBots

23 March 2016

Both Stowe’s robotics teams attended the National VEX Robotics Finals in Birmingham from Friday 18 March. The teams had qualified though regional events during the year. The National Final took place over three days and included 40 of the country’s best teams (out of over 200 teams that were involved nationally).

After the first practice day it was clear that both teams were performing well, with the Senior team looking very strong and consistent. During the first day of competition, in the randomly paired qualification matches, both teams performed well with the Seniors finishing the day fourth in the rankings and the Juniors tenth out of 40 teams. On the final day, as the qualification matches continued, both teams continued to win. The Seniors qualified in third place and the Juniors in sixth. These high rankings allowed them to be selected in two strong alliances for the quarter-final matches. Both teams played well and won moving them through to the semi-finals. However, with the way the draw went they ended up facing each other in the semi-final games. The first game went to a 199 point draw, the second and third match went to the Senior team (scores of 222-180 and 228-152) meaning the Senior team progressed to the final match. The Senior teams alliance (with Stanborough and De Montford School) then faced up against one of the countries strongest robotics teams (four time National Champions) and their alliance. Despite strong performances they lost the final one game to two. However, as the winning teams already had places at the World Finals the final place was determined through the regional excellence awards and went to the Senior Stowe team. This means they now have the opportunity to join 200 of the world’s strongest VEX robotics teams in Kentucky, USA to compete for the World Champion title.

Along with the core competition the day included a one minute programming skills challenge and a one minute solo driving skills challenge in which the team had to score as many points as possible. The Senior team ranked second in driving skills and fourth in the programming skills. The Junior team finished fourth in the driving skills challenge and second in the programming skills challenge.

These results reflect the time and effort that both teams have put into their robot designs and builds over the year. It takes good design, innovation, engineering skills and good problem solving skills to build a successful robot for these events.

The World Finals take place from 20 to 23 April. The Senior team will be making some improvements to their robot in the hope of a better performance in the World Finals. They will also need to rapidly plan and find funding for the travel to the event. The game remains the same in the World Finals and involves scoring balls in a high or low goal for points. A new game is released after the World Finals and the design process will begin again for the 2016-2017 season.

Paul Thompson, MiC Robotics