Robotics - The New Team Competition

Living in Indiana, we all know about high school football and basketball tournaments. They bring our communities together to support our kids and grandkids. Various high school competitions do the same thing in areas other than sports – machining, band, art, and robotics. Yes, the arts and technically skilled kids deserve recognition, too.

Next month, the First Indiana Robotics organization will host a high school robotics competition in Gibson County. Twenty-eight teams from all over Indiana will compete in this second district tournament of the season. There are four district events (one each weekend), but to continue competing, each team must participate in two events. In sport’s terms, it’s like having the sectionals come to town before the State Championship in Anderson, Indiana, on April 6th through April 8th.

During the week of March 11th-12th, Princeton Community High Schools’ auditorium will fill with students, families and fans of the technical trades. This event is free to the public. Anyone can watch how a group of talented kids can form a team that works together to build and guide a robot that works accurately on command. It’s really pretty amazing.

The teams receive a kit for a robot that they build, program and drive remotely. In some ways, it’s like a suped-up remote control car that performs simple tasks. Each task is worth points and must be completed in a specific time. They typically manipulate a ball or cone into specific placement for points. It’s a show of teamwork well compared to a NASCAR pitcrew.

Representing Gibson County in this event sponsored by Toyota Manufacturing Indiana are the Disco Ducks of Princeton Community High School. The team was started by Eric Wilson and Lisa Reynolds in 2020, but along came Covid, so 2021 was the rookie season for the Disco Ducks Team 8564.

Instructor Rick Gilmore was happy to share, “They won several awards last year, including the ‘2022 Rookie Inspiration Award’ which got them a ticket to the State Competition in their first year as a team!!”

He also offered some insight, “The motto for FIRST Robotics is ‘Gracious Professionalism’. It is really cool to see an opponent help you get your robot working so you can compete against them . . . in the robotics community, they drop what they are doing to help other teams succeed”.

Teams can have anywhere from 4 - 6 kids, but there are some larger groups which have 30-40 people involved. At least 8 -10 students are recommended per team because there are lots of moving parts to coordinate. This year’s competitors will be focusing on the theme “Charged up”. The quest for the students is to “reimagine the future of sustainable energy. From the machines that move us, to the food that sustains us, to the wireless technologies that connect us, energy plays an essential role in keeping our world running.”

On competition day, Saturday, March 11th, the pits open at 8 a.m. for inspections and practice rounds. After the opening ceremonies at 10:30 a.m., qualification matches, much like heat races in sprint cars, will run until 6:30 with a break for lunch at 1 p.m. The next day, Sunday, March 12th, after opening ceremonies at 9:30 a.m. qualification matches will continue until 12:30, when Alliance Selections are made. After a break for lunch, playoff matches will be held until 5:00 p.m. when the awards ceremony concludes the competition. The goal is to make it to State competition at Anderson University on April 6th, and if the students are both lucky and talented, on to the World competition in Houston, Texas the weekend of April 19th. Go Ducks Go!

For any students interested in becoming involved in robotics, team competition, and gaining knowledge and experience in STEM skills (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math), looking into the 4T program at our local high schools is the place to start.