MICDS students met last weekend to compete in a FIRST Tech Challenge meet. The team competed against a clock, and then submitted their scores for comparison to other teams across the league. Travis Menghini, Upper School Computer Science/Engineering Instructor and Head Robotics Coach, reports that it actually felt like a normal robotics meet, regardless of competing on a field by themselves, masked and socially distanced. It was the atmosphere. “The excitement, joy, and even the stress was back,” said Menghini. “There was nothing abnormal about what we were doing downstairs in the robotics lab. This was a real competition; the work the students put in was real. The excitement of the accomplishments of our team was there. Most importantly, our students got a chance to engage themselves in a unique and challenging competition.”
Lucas McCarty ’21 is a Rampage leader. He shared his thoughts on how the season has been going given all the changes. “This year, our team has been hard at work creating, arguably, our best robot ever. Looking back, we have come so far since we founded Rampage three years ago. This year, the team faced a mountain of extra challenges. Chief among them was the amount of time we had to work on the robot. Necessary COVID-19 restrictions meant that we could not access the robotics lab at the start of our season, all our in-person practices were reduced to half of what they would have been in a regular season, and we could not have the entire team in the lab at once. This astronomically increased the difficulty of building, and more recently programming, a well-designed robot. Despite all that, our team has only grown closer to face these challenges. Our score at the recent meet demonstrates the strength of our mechanical design and the skill of our drivers. Going forward, we will be placing a significant emphasis on code, working to make the robot more intelligent and versatile. We cannot wait for our next competition, and look forward to the rest of the season ahead of us.”
League Meet Results
The Rampage team completed their League Meets on Saturday, February 20. Menghini reports that the team had an excellent day in the lab and finished second place in the North East 2 league, a result of their top 10 scores throughout the last nine meets. Rampage, and many teams in the league, did not submit scores for the earlier meetings due simply to not having their robot ready. Because only the top 10 scores counted, with six matches being played every week, the team decided on a strategy to focus on completing their robot for the last few weeks and submit higher scores.
Check out this video of Rampage’s highest match score (178):
Menghini said, “It really showcases the impressive work that our students have put forth this year.” To see the rules of the competition, watch the game animation. You can also see all of the North East 2 League and results here.
League Championships
Menghini reports, “I am proud of what our team has completed. Our top 10 scores from our league meets (which add up to 1,005) will carry us into the League Tournament which will be from March 7 to March 13. Our judging will be throughout the duration of the day on Saturday, March 13, while our scores can be played anywhere through the week (most likely Tuesday or Saturday). We will only be able to play five matches for our League Championship where those scores will be added to our 1,005 total and then compared to the other teams’ total points from the League Championship and their top 10 matches from league meets. The top three teams that score are guaranteed to make it to the State Championships which will take place remotely from April 18 to April 24 in the same remote style as our League Tournament.”
He continued, “Although our robot may be impressive, we still have a lot of work to do. The team has met and discussed their goals which include completing their Engineering Summaries document, a more complex and completed autonomous, and finetuning some of the mechanisms on the robot.”
Congratulations on a great meet, Rampage!