In April, Aces High Robotics competed at the New England Championship event at the Big E. At the event, the students were recognized for developing innovative control components on their robot. Throughout the competition the robot and drive team fiercely fought to put “fuel” into a hopper. They were met with stiff competition and were unfortunately eliminated during semi-finals.
At a previous event the team earned the prestigious Autonomous Award sponsored by google.org. Aces was celebrated for demonstrating consistent, reliable, high performing robot operation during autonomous actions during a match. The evaluative process is based on the robot’s ability to sense its surroundings, position itself or onboard mechanisms appropriately, and successfully execute tasks. The variety and quality of our automation helped us to reach a First Place standing in auto points.
In the game, the red alliance and blue alliance compete on opposite sides of the field to score as much “fuel” as possible in the central hub. Teams program and operate their industrial-sized robots to collect fuel and deliver it efficiently while preventing their opponents from doing the same. This year’s game is won by strategy and split decision making; it’s fast paced and exciting.
The challenge reflects real-world problems that require global cooperation and strategic thinking. As robots gather fuel from around the field, including resources on the opposing side, they can store it or transport it back to their own area to score in their hub. The alliance that successfully delivers the most fuel by the end of the match earns the victory.
As alliance captain for the finals at Western New England, Aces students want to thank the alliance partners from team 195, Cyberknights from Southington, Connecticut, and team 9710 Polybots from Springfield, Massachusetts. With their cooperation the alliance took each round of the semi-finals and finals, also achieving a weekend high score of 573 points.
At their competition in Waterbury in late March the team’s performance ensured a spot at the world championship in Houston, Texas. With a weekend record of 11-1-0, Aces partnered with Team Spartan Polybots from New Hampshire, and team Mechanical Advantage from Masachussets to take home the event win along with the Innovation in Control Award.
Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. If you are interested in joining the team or provide a sponsorship, contact Melissa Pascarelli at mpascarelli@wlps.org.
