Carmel students advance to super-regional robotics competition
Students from Carmel Catholic High School's Varsity Robotics team, NYAN Robotics, are advancing to the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) North Super-Regional Robotics Tournament, held March 29-April 1 at the U.S. Cellular Center in Cedar Rapids, IA. NYAN (Not Your Average Nerds) Robotics was part of the winning alliance that won the semifinals and finals at the Illinois state championship and were also the recipients of the coveted Connect and Control Awards. NYAN is one of only nine teams from the state championship advancing to the super-regional tournament.
Working with their coaches and mentors, students designed and built a custom robot that uses two Android mobile phones as well as an array of metal parts, 3D printed parts, motors, sensors, and Xbox game controllers. The robot, which is 18 inches tall and 18 inches wide, will represent the team in the Velocity Vortex, an action-packed challenge that pits robots against one another in a test of precision, speed and endurance.
The super-regional tournament follows many months of league and division robotics meets, where students work out technical bugs and perfect their robot's mechanical, electrical, and programming operations, as well as refine their technical presentation. In order to advance to the FTC North Super-Regional, a team's robot must beat out other robots at qualifying tournaments or win a qualifying award. There are approximately 170 teams in Illinois broken down into leagues and divisions, which filter to the Illinois state championship.
"It's so exciting to advance to super regionals this year," says Kevin Coda, captain of team NYAN. "It's a great opportunity for our team, now for the first time in our high school. We are so grateful that Carmel Catholic is supporting NYAN as their varsity robotics team, and we are ecstatic that we are an integral part of the stout STEM program they are building."
NYAN's mission is to not only enhance their own STEM skills but to also foster an interest in robotics within the community and at their school. This season, NYAN hosted or participated in many community-based outreach programs and workshops, inspiring youth with their full-scale BB-8 droid, their operational Thor Hammer, the virtual reality game they created for this year's challenge, and their robot. Their website highlighting all of their activities can be found at www.nyanrobotics.com.
To view a video that explains the challenge these robots face this year, see the Velocity Vortex website: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQLrcQbm8cg.