JROTC cadets are celebrating their recent win at the NYC/BDE Robotics Competition 2024 at Theodore Roosevelt High School, after placing first place overall. Following that win, one of Fort’s two teams is now qualified to compete at Vex Robotics World Championships in Dallas, Texas.
Robotics practice started in early November of 2023 and continued all the way to the competition in early March of 2024. The team worked on the robot from November until January. In February, the cadets dedicated their time to focusing on the maintenance of the robot. Finally, in March and April, prepared for competition.
The team made efficient use of time by splitting into three main groups: the coders, builders, and inventory. The coders were able to learn how to code, using the visual code studio and the coding language, Python. They practiced driver control, which is handling the robot with a controller that moves the robot. The builders were able to build a robot that correctly followed the guidelines needed for competition for that year. Team members assigned to inventory had to organize the materials and parts used to build robots into storage containers. They also built a replica of the Nationals arena to be used by both of the Robotics teams to practice for the qualifying competition and the Vex Nationals competition.
The process was challenging. “Despite the difficulties we experienced, from team member differences to sudden parts of the robot malfunctioning at the last minute, we managed to earn more than what we expected,” said Anna Chiu, a senior and member of the Robotics team.
Now, the Robotics team is moving on to its next chapter of Nationals and has been hard at work fixing the robots and practicing for the competition.
“We understood that following the first qualifying competition… there would be a lot more work done,” Chiu added. “We are slowly, but surely feeling the pressure of the day that the Vex Nationals Day comes into play.”
