News

~March 13, 2006~

On February 22, 2006 the Science Club went to Case Western for the annual Lego Robotics Competition. Two teams were sent representing East. Team 1 consisted of Kory Urban, Jessica Fillian, Andrew Dague, and David Hull. Their robot was known as the Panzer-Dragoon. Team 2 consisted of Cameron Armstrong, Amanda Ahlgreen, Katrina Blackwell and Deshad Ferrier. Their robot was known as Fang.

The competition involved teams from many different schools competing for 1st place. The competition revolved two octagonal arenas. On each side there was a light bulb. Once the round began, two lights would be turned on. One flashing at one second intervals and two being on constantly. The goal was to have your robot find the blinking light and stop in a taped box in front of the light for three seconds. The team who reached three lights first won the round. As the rounds progressed, obstacles were add as an extra difficulty.

The first round was the placement round. The goal of that was to see who could reach a light in the quickest time. Team 1 had a malfunctioning program so they did not place well for the first round. Team 2 reached the light quicker than their opponent so they placed high. Team 2 received a bye for the 1st round and were automatically advanced to the 2nd round. (Which was already farther than the year before, of which they did not make it past the elimination round.)

Team 1 lost the first round due to a technicality. Rules state that once a robot is in an arena and the round has begun, no one is allowed to touch the robot. The competitor's robot was knocked over and onto it's back. Because of the rules, they should have stayed there and Team 1 would have won that round, but the judge flipped the robot over and in the process, blocked Team 1's robot from seeing a blinking light. Team 1 wanted to protest but if they had protested, they would have disqualified themselves along with Team 2 because of a new rule that was just implemented. Mr. Guidubaldi emailed the person in charge of the competition, but by the time he received a reply it was too late and there was nothing that could be done.

Team 2 made all the way to the quarter-finals. An adjustment on the bumpers, however, caused the team to lose that round. The bumpers got caught on an obstacle and the robot was unable to move and so lost the round. The team received 6th place out of 46 teams.