The Wrap-Up for VEX Round-Up 2010-2011 Season:

This year VEX had over 3,600 teams compete in the VEX Round-Up Competition Game.  Out of those, approximately 416 teams from China, Canada, Spain, Malaysia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Singapore, New Zealand, Guatemala, and Colombia participated in this year’s World event.   This does not count the teams which competed in the college division and in the new middle school division .We had two robots which qualified outright and we were called specifically by the president of Robot Events to bring a third to fill in for a late cancellation.  As a team we decided it would be too big an expense to overnight the robot, pay the $750 for registration, and it would stretch us too thin during the competition to have it, so we declined.  He applauded the team on such an adult decision.

 

We competed in 2 divisions, Science and Technology.  Robot 563B, driven by Michael Ebeling and DJ Llorente Blankenburg and built by Kristian Chavez and Connor Hess-Covozio, finished 42 out of 104 teams in the Science Division, same division where the eventual team of 3 World champions came out of.  We finished 5-4 and were ranked as high as 15^th after going 4-1 early on Friday during the early part of the qualifying rounds.  We had some amazing rounds competing by our self after our partner tipped over in one round and being matched with some lower ranked robots.  But overcoming adversity is part of the challenge.  We had a slim chance of being picked as an alliance partner, but we obviously did not.  Through out the tournament, both teams were complimented by VEX staff members repeatedly on their performance and effort.

 

Robot 563, driven and built by Mikkel Sandberg, had a much more complicated time.  His first match was scored incorrectly, and after I sought out the change, we succeeded in getting a score change from 30-16 to 30-26.  I did not have conclusive evidence that the score was still in question to get a rematch or judges decision, so we had to accept the defeat.  His second match saw his robot loose field connection and the VEX techs madly work to solve the problem, but again to no avail.  Friday saw a much different competition from his robot where he was able to high hang and perform more to his capabilities.  He finished 96^th out of 104.  It was a difficult tournament for him but he prevailed with his spirits up and a team leader.

 

So how well did we really do?  We finished the highest we have ever finished, 42 of 104 teams in our division at Worlds.  We had some unfortunate mishaps with our partners and technology, but so did others.  So how does one measure one’s success?  Larry Hoekman, one of our counselors at Nipomo High School, asked me to rate the overall experience without wins and losses on a scale from one to ten since the numbers of wins and losses would not adequately gauge our success or failure.  I felt overall our whole trip was an eight out of ten.  The maturity we demonstrated, the adversity we overcame, and the camaraderie the team members shared was well worth the exhausting effort it took to get to the World Championships in Orlando, FL.  I think they all learned a great deal and were impressed by what it takes for a team to make it to the World competition.  The team is already working on next year’s game, VEX Gateway, trying to solve the problems and challenges it presents.

Every one is preparing to travel early Saturday morning to Orlando, FL.  The robots have already arrived and will begin to be delivered to the ESPN Sports Complex starting Monday April 11.  VEX has uploaded the pit maps and layout of the ESPN area early.  You can see the expanse of it all and the links to sites for live streaming broadcasts of every match from the World Competition.  We should be uploading news each day with some of our own pictures for those following us to view.

2011 VEX Robotics World Championship Agenda (PDF)
2011 VEX Robotics World Championship Event Map and Schedule Handout (PDF)

We have finally reached our goal, we have qualified 3 of our robots to this year's VEX World Robotics Championships in Orlando, FL.  We participated in 4 tournaments this year where we won 3 and won an Amaze Award for one robot at the fourth.  At Hesperia, 563B won and 563 finished in the Semi-Finals.  We then competed at our biggest tournament at Bellarmine Prep with 51 teams and had 563 and 563B both earn Alliance Captain positions where they both lost in the Quarter-Finals along with 563C which was picked by 563B to be on their alliance team.  For the first time ever we had a chance to compete locally in San Luis Obispo where 563B and 563C finished second and third in alliance standings.  563C paired with 563, a robot we have worked hard to make a competent scorer and is able to high hang.  They lost to 563B in the Semi-Finals who went on to win the tournament and claim its second first place trophy. Our last tournament was to be at LA City College in Van Nuys which was canceled due to some scheduling woes, all be it after we drove three hours down there at 4:00 am.   However, as fate would have it, one last chance was available at West Hills College in Lemoore.  We took three robots and threw all of our eggs into this last basket.

January 29, 2011, San Luis Obispo, California.

Only two weeks after the tournament in San Jose, we’re back at it again, this time a little closer to home and with four robots in tow. The tournament had a surprisingly good turnout, teams from SLO High School, Mission College Preparatory School, and schools from Danville. The best way to describe the day for the Titans was “hectic.” It was nonstop from the time we arrived to the time we finally left, doing things like building a functional yet legal robot in twenty minutes, or last minute hardware fixes and tightening bolts, even reprogramming the autonomous programs to accommodate for a different starting position. At the end of the qualifying rounds, 563 place 16th, 563B placed 2nd , 563C placed 3rd and 563D placed 14th. In the alliance selection process, 563 was picked by 563C and this team made it all the way to the semifinals only to be knocked out of the competition by 563B and their alliance. From there, 563B’s alliance made it to the finals and emerged Tournament Champion. With one more victory for the Titans, we called it a day.

The team has been working hard analyzing, modifying improvements, and practicing with their robots.  Robot 563B is getting better and better with it's abilities.  It can now place rings on the side wall goals and with a modified omni drive set itself to offload much more quickly.  Robot 563 can score, high hang, and has two different autonomous programs available.
We have also made significant headway on Robots 563C and 563D.  563C will be a very good contender with the ability to score and remove opposing rings off of the goals.  563D is still a little too long for competition so we are working to shrink it or get another robot ready for a competitive run.

" We are going to Disney World!"

Congratulations are due to the NHS Titans Robotics Team.  On Saturday, November 13, 2010,  we took two robots to the High Desert VEX Tournament in Hesperia, CA.  Robot 563 went 3-2 in the qualifying matches and then 2-1 in their quarterfinal match and lost 1-2 in their semi final match.  Robot 563B finished their qualifying rounds 4-1 and went 2-0 in their quarterfinal, 2-1 in their semifinal, and 2-1 in the finals.  The team had and outstanding tournament and showed great sportsmanship.  With this win we qualified for our fourth consecutive VEX World Robotics Championships which this will be held at the ESPN Sports Center at Disney World in Orlando, FL. We will still compete in at least two more area tournaments before the April Worlds Tournament as we try to qualify more robots.

 The team members are Mikkel Sandberg (4 years), Nefi Lazalde (2 years), Kristian Chavez, Michael Ebeling, DJ Llorente Blankenburg, Scott Gaddis, Ali Gomez, Mandy Liu, Mona Liu, Victoria Kaml, and Selene Avila (rookies).  They meet after school one to two times a week to plan, build, try, fail, rebuild, and succeed with a robot design which can successfully compete.

Attached is a flyer with information about our Open House on Saturday, December 4^th, 2010, from 1-4 pm.  There will be free food, opportunities to check out our robots, play with some of them, try your hand at the game for this year, discuss your ideas with the students, and enjoy with us our success.  We will have desserts available for a donation, t-shirts for sale, and for showing up you may receive a wonderful door prize.

This is just another example of our students doing a fantastic job and demonstrating 21^st Century skills with the high standards taught by the great people of the Lucia Mar District.

Also, please help us in our fund raising endeavors over the next five months to raise our target budget of $30,000 to return to the World Championships once again.