Drew Central Robotics’ Maiden Voyage into the Robotics Competition World
January 20th, 2016 by Drew Central Schools
On January, 16, 2016 the first year Drew Central 21st CCLC Robotics Team competed in the Collierville, TN Dragon VEX competition and placed 2nd. When the team arrived they were ranked 21 out of 21. During the 37 qualifications rounds, teams play as an “alliance”.
Each alliance consists of two teams randomly chosen and put together to show teamwork and to see how the alliance could work together and make their robots complement one another. Drew Central played 7 qualifying rounds and won each. At the end of the qualification match, DC Gearheads had advanced to 2nd place overall.
During the actual tournament (elimination matches) alliances are made up of 3 teams. The first 7 teams seeded are alliance captains and get to choose two other teams to form their alliance. Each match is the best 2 out of 3 games. The DC Gearheads went into the conference room to discuss strategy and decide which two teams it would pick to make its alliance during the elimination rounds. After much discussion and debate, the DC Gearheads picked #12 seeded Monticello and #16 CMS Cougars out of Memphis. These choices paid off! Each team of the alliance has to play at least one game in the best of the 2 out of 3 games. The Quarter Finals (QF) Match 1 was won by the DC Gearheads alliance with Monticello. The QF Match 2 was won by the DC Gearheads alliance with CMS Cougars. There was no need for a third match. The semi-final match played out the same way! Now the DC Gearheads alliance heads to the final match of the day.
DC/Monticello/CMS Cougars alliance takes on the #1 Team and Alliance of Brentwood Academy (Nashville, TN). The Brentwood Academy being seeded as #1 picks one of their other teams who is seeded #4 and Collierville #17 as their alliance teams. The finals match game 1 ended with the Brentwood Academy Alliance as the winners. Finals Match Game 2 the DC Gearheads Alliance pulled out the victory! It came down to sudden death with game 3. The Brentwood Academy Alliance outscored the DC Gearheads/Monticello/ CMS Cougars Alliance to take home the winners’ trophy!
Barbie Eubanks, DC Gearheads Coach, stated that she could not have been more proud of her team. They worked all day like a well-oiled machine. The design, build and programming of the “Ballista” robot were spot on! The team members traveling to Memphis were:
Jacob Griffea, DC Gearheads Captain, programmer, builder and loader
Brett Say, builder
Zach Miles, driver
Kyle Smith, builder
Josh Crass, driver
Barrett Hunnicutt, loader and builder
Team members who did not get to attend the match:
Matt Marlar, programmer
Martasia Miller,
Lexy Howard
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Wow! Congratulations to you all.