On Friday, Feb. 7, the Roarbots robotics team competed in the Space Coast Championship, which took place at Hagerty High School, and stood undefeated.
The Roarbots participate in FIRST Tech Challenge, or FTC. This organization involves building a small, mechanical robot that can be programmed to complete tasks or driven with a controller. Different tasks earn points, and teams directly compete with one another, with two robots on the field at a time. Volunteerism and outreach is also an element of the competition.
They started their morning early by arriving at 7:30 and beginning the day with judging. After a five-minute presentation talking about the things they’ve done this year, they were recognized with the first place design award to honor their blend of industrial design principles and functional aesthetics.
“The design award recognizes a team that demonstrates superior, intentional, and aesthetic industrial design in their robot,” senior co-captain Colin Aysun said.
They then moved on to robot matches. Various qualifying matches were held to establish tournament standings. By the end of the day they had successfully maintained first place all the way through playoffs by making a strategic approach.
“We made sure the presentation was smooth and practiced, and we made sure the robot was assembled in time to allow adequate time for driving teams to practice. There was a lot of orchestration work done behind the scenes,” senior co-captain Mannat Bakshi said.
The Roarbots also won the award for being the captains of the winning alliance, which can be attributed to their performance in the robot matches. The competition and design awards contributed ten ranking points, resulting in a bid to the state competition.
“Whichever teams have the most ranking points, get to receive a bid to go to the next competition,” sophomore Logan Benson said.
With the boon of the ranking points, their success at this event secured their bid to the state competition on March 6 and 7. This competition also serves as a representation of all the work put in by the students this season.
“It was a perfect representation of hard work and dedication. It showed us that we worked hard and were able to achieve good results alongside it,” Bakshi said.
