Robots race to the finish line

Gina Lin
CHS Class of 2024

(5/2023) Hundreds of spectators are gathered in an arena, among them family, friends, and sponsors, anxiously waiting to see which team will triumph. After months of strenuous labor and painstaking attention to detail, not to mention additional months of off- season skill refinement, young engineers are ready to display their creation.

For some background, competition themes for robots are released at the beginning of the season, in early January. Then teams are given six weeks to design, construct, and improve their robots, before competing at district tournaments. Robots are tasked with moving objects from one end of the arena to the other to earn points, through a series of obstacles. During competitions, alliances between the teams are randomly chosen. During each round, there are two alliances competing: the blue and red alliance.

Each alliance is composed of three different teams, for a total of six teams in the arena at once. In the alliances, teams work together to develop the most effective strategies at scoring points. Much like athletics, bots from their respective teams can work together by dividing into different play positions, such as defense, offense, and the scoring bot. The final part of a match, called the Charge Station, requires at least one bot to be parked on a balance. This part earns the most points, as it is the most difficult aspect of the match. Additionally, this is the only time the opposing team canÕt interfere with earning points.

Numerous teams from all across Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, form the FIRST Robotics Chesapeake District (CHS). Teams congregate in an arena, to partake in district competitions. The district competitions will qualify them for District Championships and ultimately World Championships. Bovine Intervention Team 686 represents several schools in Frederick County, including Catoctin, Linganore, Oakdale, and Walkersville High School. Although Team 686 is relatively small, consisting of only 9 members, compared to other CHS teams with around 20 members, they made their mark in the past and continued to do so this year. Freshman member Will Kimbark commented, Ò Our robot was pretty good even compared to larger teams, so we had high expectations for ourselves.Ó

The first event took place at Hayfield High School in Alexandria, Virginia, from March 17th- 19th. The first tournament of the season is a series of qualification rounds, with new alliances in each round. Teams will earn points upon successful completion of obstacles. Afterwards the points will be tallied up as ranking points and teams will be given their ranks. The first day of events featured 80 qualification rounds, in which Team 686 played in 12 of them. The team began in Qualification Round 5 of the blue alliance, which consisted of team 9033 and 9072. The red alliance pulled away with 54-40. During their second round of competition, the team was paired with much better teams in the red alliance. The score was 108- 49. Bovine Intervention continued to fall and rebound throughout the 12 matches. The team ended qualification rounds strong, with a 103-67 win against the blue alliance. Part two of the district event included multiple rounds with established alliances. There were 13 matches and the two prevailing alliances would battle in the finals.Team 686 served as captain of the third alliance. Their counterparts were Team 4472- SuperNOVA of Woodbridge, VA; and Team 3748- Ragnarok Robotics of Ellicott, City.

Bovine Intervention began District Playoffs as the blue alliance in Match 4. The final score ended in a win of 89-69. The team continued to win the remaining three rounds and advanced to finals. 686 was the blue alliance, the red alliance was composed of Team 2421, 1727, and 8592. The team lost both rounds against the opposing alliance, but the alliances were head to head the entire time. There were a total of 40 teams in attendance at the first district tournament, and Team 686 placed second overall-- a huge accomplishment! This earned them the title of district event finalist.

The second district event took place at Dulaney High School in Timonium, on March 24th to 26th. Each group is allowed to play in 12 of the 72 qualification rounds. Team 686 won 7 out of the 12. Round 51 was very close as the team only lost by four points. The team's ranking score was 2.08. To give some perspective, the highest ranking score was 2.58 and the lowest was 0.41. In the end, Bovine Intervention ranked 10th out of 36 teams. But, the team still served as caption, as points from the first event carried over. For the district playoffs, they were partnered with Team 2421-RTR of Burke, Virginia; and Team 2849- Ursa Major in Columbia.

The layout of the matches including finals were the same as the district competitions in Alexandria. Team 686 lost two out of their three matches. The first match was really close, the blue alliance only lost by 14 points. Bovine Intervention clapped back in their second match with a 39 point lead over the opposing team. The final match was extremely close, as the opposing team only pulled away with a five point lead.

John Murtaugh, the advisor of Team 686 explained the circumstances of the game. There were connection disruptions between the monitoring systems, where the referees were stationed, and the driver stations, where teams were maneuvering the bots. This caused the robotÕs system to crash and become paralyzed. Team 686 had to reboot several times and prove to the referees of errors in the monitoring systems. But, Bovine Intervention wasnÕt the only team affected by communication problems; several exceptional teams experienced technical difficulties which impacted their team's performance. Murtaugh added, Ò We definitely would have done better if the monitoring systems were functioning properly." Indeed, as the narrow leads from the opposing team demonstrate that.

With the combined performance at the two district events, Bovine Intervention qualified for the CHS District Championships. The Championships took place at George Mason University from April 6th-8th. There were a total of 120 matches played over the course of three days. Team 686 played 12 matches-- winning five of them. Their alliances would lose and recover- usually swinging in their favor and vice versa.

The CHS District Championships greatly demonstrates a flaw in the game rules. The alliances composed of higher performing teams earned more points. Bovine Intervention got the short end of the stick, as they were consistently teamed up with lower teams. Murtaugh discussed, ÒIn my opinion, the alliances werenÕt really fair. We were performing well individually, but being matched with lower teams impacted us and gave us lower scores.Ó On a positive note, the team did win the Creativity Award for their unique design. They were awarded for their tank drive base, as a majority of other teams used swerve drives.

Murtaugh explained the reason behind their decision to implement the tank drive, ÒIt is very costly to invest in that type of mechanism and we didnÕt have enough sponsors.Ó Speaking of sponsors, Team 686 is looking for donors that can provide the team with a new operation base. They are looking for a building with a minimum of 2000 square feet of open space. High ceilings are preferable, as they need ample height and width for the construction and testing of their bots.

Focusing on STEM is important, as there are so many real world applications of the field. It also encompasses the intersectionality of other fields like natural sciences, business, and healthcare. Not only does FIRST Robotics teach critical thinking through engineering, but the program also nurtures the next generation of leaders and innovators, who will go one to create meaningful change in the world.