Robotics Attends Orlando Regional Competition by Alma Molander
At the regional competition in Orlando Florida, team voltage 386 worked their way to improving their robot for their upcoming world championship. Sophomore, Piper Faherty, said “After we won the regional in Tallahassee there was no more stress about qualifying for worlds, so in Orlando we really focused on Improving our robot as much as possible. We did this by improving our autonomous software and increasing the speed of our robot.” Unfortunately, no placing was earned. However, the experience and trial and error set up for a higher likelihood of being successful at worlds.
Additionally, Faherty pointed out “During competition there is a pit crew which comprises the students selected to work on and fix the robot during competition. The pit crew is also responsible for getting the robot ready before its matches and making sure everything works properly.” Faherty is a part of this pit crew and ensured that the robot was ready to go when it was time to compete. This competition requires not only engineering skills but also teamwork. Voltage 368 communicated and built on each other's ideas and produced a satisfactory result.
Furthermore, Faherty explained “The drive team is made up of the three people who control and interact with the robot during competition. The first person is the driver who controls the movement of the robot and some arm controls. Next, is the manipulator who is responsible for the movement of our scoring mechanisms. The final part of the drive team is the human player, who is the person who feeds game pieces to the robot as well as scores some game pieces.” While they did not win this competition, it allowed the team to figure out what needed to be done in preparation for the world championship.
Caption: Sophomore, Piper Faherty, changed the battery of her team's robot in the pit at the Orlando Regional Competition. She did this before the match to ensure that the robot would be at full power for the match. Photo by Daniella Fassman