advertisement

Maine East Robotics Teams dive into competition

Two rookie teams representing Maine East High School competed against nine area high school teams in a FIRST Tech Challenge league event on Dec. 19. The FTC competition is played on a 12- by 12-foot square playing field where two randomly selected teams are paired together as an alliance playing against another alliance of two similarly selected

teams.

In this year's FTC challenge, CASCADE EFFECT, the objective is to score points by picking plastic balls after their robot succeeds in releasing them from a structure located in the center of the playing field, and placing them in one of their three alliance's scoring tubes. Additional points are earned by completing various tasks such as moving and parking scoring tubes on ramps, or parking their robot in a designated location in the final 30 seconds of the match. Interestingly, a team's alliance partner in one match may be their opponent in a later match.

The Maine East students were members of a newly formed robotics club who spent many hours after school designing, constructing, and testing their concepts using a mock-up arena.

"After weeks of work, it was finally great to see our robot in action. Our robot is much improved and more versatile. I can't wait to see what more we can make the robot do before the next tournament," said sophomore Joseph Varilla.

Freshman Diann George said, "It was a great experience and a really fun night. It was interesting to see different robots and the different methods the robot had. All the matches were intense. We also realized some flaws in our robot, so it is awesome that this meet also gave us a learning experience."

• Submit 'Your News' at www.dailyherald.com/share.

The FIRST Tech Challenge competition was played on a 12- by 12-foot square playing field where two randomly selected teams are paired together as an alliance playing against another alliance of two similarly selected. Courtesy of District 207
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.