Ending last year’s season with a seventh place finish at the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics World Championship, the Walpole High School Robotics Team seeks to acquire similar success in their upcoming season.
January 3 and 4 marked the kickoff of the RoboRebel’s 2015 FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) season, where they learned about this year’s game and began their initial brainstorming of a machine design.
While the research step of their process is currently underway, the RoboRebels began preparing for their upcoming season three weeks ago. Displaying their engineering talents, ten teams from across Massachusetts gathered at Walpole High School on December 14 to join the RoboRebels at the first annual RoboRave Competition. Along with two teams from Andover High School and Gann Academy, teams from Dartmouth High School, Canton High School, Cohasset High School and Lexington also went up against Walpole’s 64-30 and 64-31 teams.
The RoboRave ran smoothly, as organizers of the event received positive feedback. Walpole’s 64-31 team finished 9th out of the 10 teams and 64-30 placed 6th overall. “It was very fun and exciting; however, we dealt with a lot of code issues,” said sophomore Ryan Merrikin.
Not only did the RoboRebels face problems with their hardware, but they also ran into trouble when some of their mechanisms were ruled illegal. “We weren’t working with final products, but with a perfected machine, we will be able to slaughter teams this season,” said junior Artis Street.
Despite working hard to prepare for the competition, the RoboRebels acknowledged that they need to improve their team chemistry moving forward this season. “We need more communication,” said sophomore Ryan Merrikin. “Once we have a better division of labor, success will come.”
While highlighting areas in which the team will need to focus on in the coming weeks, the RoboRave was able to draw a large crowd, stirring excitement for this year’s season.
Both of Walpole’s 64-30 and 63-31 teams—about 30 students all together—will come together this season to compete in two large FRC competitions, hoping to qualify for the New England Championship this spring.
“This year’s game is very unique and different from anything we have ever played before,” said Mr. Dustin Scott, an advisor of the Robotics Team.
Instead of head to head matches like in past years, this year’s game has a tournament-like setting; rather than one team winning, teams will move on to the playoff rounds based on the amount of points that they score in regular play.
The game consists of a playing field that contains several scattered tote containers, and teams must grab and stack these containers in order to receive points. Also, bonus points are awarded to teams who are able to incorporate the available recycling cans into their stacks. A third manipulative of this year’s game includes the placing of a pool noodle into the top of a stack, which adds points to a team’s total.
The game presents challenges, especially with a robot that cannot exceed 6 ft 6 inches in height and a stack that will be taller than the robot. Despite this possible difficulty and the uniqueness of the game, Mr. Scott said, “The strategy involved is solid and the challenges are good.”
The RoboRebels plan to focus on the first two manipulatives by making two stacks of six and adding the recycling cans for extra points; however, the third piece of the game—the pool noodle—is not currently of high priority to the team.
After learning of this year’s game a few days ago, the Robotics team has begun identifying the problem and analyzing the game. The second step of their process includes a great deal of research and brainstorming, which they are working on this week.
On Sunday, January 11, the RoboRebels will compete in a FTC league event held at Dartmouth High School. “We hope to decide soon on the type of mechanism we want to utilize for the game. We want to have a finalized concept going into this weekend,” said Mr. Scott.
After being ranked number 7 in the world last season, the Walpole High School Robotics Team hopes to qualify again for the FIRST World Competition in St. Louis later this year. The first step to reaching their goal comes this weekend, as they will be competing in their first league event of the season.
The RoboRebels have a promising team this year; in particular, the team has several new members, whose fresh eyes are appreciated by the veteran students. “Their enthusiasm is absolutely awesome,” said Mr. Scott. “Combining these underclassman with the experienced students who know how to deal with stress is definitely a recipe for success this season.”
