By Emmalene Jones and Aakash Kambham, robotics team members—
MATTHEWS, IN—East Central Indiana FIRST Robotics Team 1720, The PhyXTGears, a community-based, high school level team, competed at the FIN Columbus Regional Event on March 21st and 22nd. The event took place at Columbus East High School in Columbus, Indiana.
This year’s FIRST™ Robotics game is called REBUILT™. It is a fast-paced, defense-heavy game in which robots must collect and shoot medium-sized yellow balls, called fuel, into a hub. Many say the name of the game this year is reducing the cycle time, which is the time that a robot takes to collect and shoot a load of fuel.
“I had a lot of fun at this competition —I think the team performed really well,” says Senior Jeffrey Reum, a mechanical student.
PhyXTGears’s first match showed an exceptional score of 300-80. Most of the competition was spent bouncing around eighth to twelfth place out of 37 teams, with students scrambling to repair the robot between matches. At the end of the qualification rounds, the team was able to earn 10th place.
This competition was intense with constant repairs and varying alliances. Through it, students saw —and conquered —challenges with the robot’s motor controller wiring, its intake breaking, and the lack of parts to fix them. The team persisted, and instead of giving up, PhyXTGears adapted their strategies, played with some of their other strengths if some parts weren’t ready for their matches, and even modified their intake for the purposes of the competition. Students showed a very strong and consistent adaptability that kept the competition going, no matter what.
On Sunday, after 74 rounds of qualification matches, PhyXTGears moved into the final playoff matches as part of the third-seeded alliance. They put up a fierce fight through the finals, but were eliminated at round three. While they didn’t win the entire competition, they were still regarded as extremely notable.
Senior Emmalene Jones, acting as the mascot, said during the competition, “I overheard a team talking about how we’re the ‘Most Dangerous’ here. They said we were scarily high-scoring and effective.”
One notable achievement that the PhyXTGears earned at the competition was the Creativity Award. The Creativity Award is awarded to one team that has a “creative robotic component, concept, or attribute that enhances strategy of play that was intentionally designed and not discovered.” Judges talk to students from every team and discuss topics such as the robot’s design, team spirit, how the team interacts with each other and the community, and more. PhyXTGears students discussed the unique design of their robot, how it contributes to achieving the competition’s objectives, and how they mitigated risks in implementing it.
PhyXTGears is gearing up for their next competitions this season. They will be competing in Washington, IN, on April 3rd and 4th, as well as the Indiana State Championship at the Indiana State Fairgrounds on April 18th and 19th. Please support the PhyXTGears in their next two competitions, please visit www.paypal.com/US/fundraiser/charity/122352 .
The team is also actively looking for additional mentors for next season. If you have experience in mechanical, electrical, woodworking, programming, or media and marketing, please visit their shop at 625 Massachusetts Avenue, Matthews, IN. They are also open for the community to visit from 5 – 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays, as well as from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. on Saturdays.
