Robotics Teams Take Home “Think Awards” at FIRST Tech Challenge
The Rolling Drones, Pink Droyd, and Bötley Crüe pose with their robots. Photo: Peter Wu
By CHARLIE CHAU and MANUEL LOZANO-VELEZ
Midwood’s three robotics teams The Rolling Drones, Bötley Crüe, and Pink Droyd wrapped up their season with the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) at The Dalton School on March 12, taking home two Think Awards.
The FTC is a robotics competition where NYC students grades 7-12 compete by designing, engineering, and programming algorithms for robots. Throughout the competition, teams from competing schools pair up with each other against other pairs.
Each FTC season has different objectives for the teams to tackle. This year’s event was “Freight Frenzy,” an event where the teams explored the future of transportation by programming their robots to navigate a course while delivering essential items to their designated areas.
Bötley Crüe advanced to regionals, where they competed at the NYC Championship at Dalton and finished with a rank of 11 out of 30. All three of Midwood’s teams are coached by Ms. Lisa Ali.
“Ms. Ali is a very supportive coach,” said senior Peter Wu, a member of The Rolling Drones. “Although we didn’t perform well at times, she gave us a lot of help as well as good advice. Ms. Ali gave us the opportunity to compete in the first place.”
Each match lasts two minutes and 30 seconds. The first 30 seconds of the match is known as the autonomous period, when the robot must utilize its own code for 30 seconds. Afterwards, the two drivers and coaches of the teams complete the tasks with a controller.
Throughout the competition there are a total of six qualifiers that teams can participate in to be able to compete in the world championships. Qualifiers consist of six matches, and the placement of teams is determined by the amount of points they get in the matches.
Bots wait in the pit mid-match at the FIRST Tech Challenge. Photo: Peter Wu
“I felt that we worked great as a team,” said senior Dylan Zhou, a Bötley Crüe member. “We were able to accomplish many things together. If someone had an issue, we would work together to solve it.”
Each of Midwood’s teams participated in two qualifiers. The Rolling Drones ranked 12 out of 18 in their first match and seven out of 23 in their last. Pink Droyd ranked ten out of 18 and then 21 out of 23. Bötley Crüe ranked six out of 18 and ten out of 23 in their last match, which won them enough points to head to the regionals (the NYC Championship).
Some of the others schools’ teams that Midwood paired up with were not as prepared, “but nevertheless [Midwood’s teams] were excellent and spot on,” said Ms. Ali.
Although the teams gave their best, they suffered a few technical difficulties that hindered their ability to progress further.
“Every five minutes our robot broke or the code deleted itself,” said Cassidy Liu ‘22, laughing.
“Unfortunately for us, we were paired with lower ranked teams, which dragged us down,” said senior Vincent Ouyang, a co-captain of the Rolling Drones.
Bötley Crüe’s robot had been known to overheat, but fortunately, it did not overheat throughout the tournament.
“Overall, the competition went pretty well,” said Wu. “We just went into it and put in our best effort. The beginning didn't turn out the way we had hoped, but from that, we used it to help us during our subsequent matches, which we did better in.”
“Our teamwork, coordination, and drive were great,” said Rolling Drones captain Marcus McCalla ‘22.
Despite the obstacles the teams faced, both Bötley Crüe and the Rolling Drones were able to win Think Awards at the competition, which were given to teams the judges thought had the best journey and progress as a team. Bötley Crüe won the 1st place Think Award and the Rolling Drones won the 3rd place Think Award.
“I think my students worked their butts off, “ said Ms. Ali. “They competed very well and they did an amazing job working together.”