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Seeing red,
being blue
May 5, 2009
 By
AMBER POMPA
Herald-Banner Staff
DALLAS -- The
Robowranglers, Greenville's own robotics team comprised of
students and teachers from Greenville High School along
with engineers from Innovation First, Inc., and L-3
Communications Integrated Systems in Greenville,
represented their town well during the Second Annual 2009
VEX Robotics World Championship in Dallas this past
weekend.
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Photo By Amber
Pompa /
Herald-Banner Staff |
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Members of the
Robowranglers Team 148a — Joshua Matlack, Mark Mahrer and
James Russell — gather Saturday morning during a
qualifying round at the 2009 VEX World Championship
competition. This year the competition was at the Dallas
Convention Center and Arena. |
The VEX
Championship is a gathering of top robotics teams from
around the world. This year's game was Elevation. The game
is played on a 12 foot by 12 foot square field.
Two alliances,
one “red” and one “blue,” composed of two teams each,
compete in each match which consists of a 20-second
autonomous period followed by two minutes of
driver-controlled play. The object of the game is to
attain a higher score than your opponent alliance by
placing cubes into goals, and by “owning” goals by having
the highest cube in a given goal.
Points can also
be earned by “parking” on the platform or by “controlling”
the bonus cube. A bonus is awarded to the alliance that
has the most total points at the end of the Autonomous
Period.
Competitors from
all over the world converged on the Dallas Convention
Center and Arena in downtown Dallas for the start of the
championship and the qualifying rounds which began Friday
morning.
“Our first match
was a big win,” said Parker Francis, member of the
Robowraglers' team 148c, Friday morning.
The robots built
by the Robowranglers were similar in design to that of
many of the competitors.
“It's probably
the most effective way to pick up a lot of cubes this
quickly,” said Francis. “It's a simple design so a lot of
teams discovered it real quick.”
For the
competition, the Robowranglers were split into three
teams; teams 148a, 148b and 148c.
In the science
division, team 148a and 148c made it all the way to the
finals and finished with team 211a, the Robodogs from Sir
Winston Churchill Secondary School in St. Catharines,
Ontario Canada.
“The alliance
with the Robodogs was formed in the semi-finals of the
science division,” said Johnny Tharp, GHS faculty member
and Robowranglers coach.
Team 148b teamed
with 1114a, the Simbotics from Governor Simcoe Secondary
School in St. Chatharines, Ontario Canada, and team 2921,
the Free Range Robotics from Aukland, New Zealand in the
technology division. This alliance took them all the way
to the semi-finals.
“The team in the
technology division lost by one point,” said Tharp. “It
was so close.”
All the team did
well, and they even came home with the Amaze Award, which
is an award presented to a team that has built a
competition robot that clearly demonstrates overall
quality. A solid mechanical design along with
demonstrative robot strength, programming, robustness,
performance and consistency are key attributes accessed
for this award.
The
Robowranglers were gifted this award in response to their
robot, which the judges called a “real kicker.” It moves
perpendicularly without having to turn, giving it a great
advantage on the field. The judges were amazed by the
robots' quality and the attention to engineering detail
and design it portrayed.
Students on the
Robowranglers team 148a were James Russell, Mark Mahrer,
Josh Matlack and Alex Cartier. Students on team 148b were
Adam Risley, Colin Doby, Dillon Row and Chris McMurray.
Students on 148c were Parker Francis, Keri Porter, J. C.
Lawler, and Charles Wensel. Scouts for the teams were
Michelle Colwell, Amy Yznaga, Elise Follet, Connor Horton,
Cody Horton, Allison Chitwood, Laura Risley and Stephen
Villarma.
“I'm so proud of
our team,” said Tharp. “I couldn't have asked for a better
group of kids.”
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