Team f(x) Robotics wins “Excellence in Engineering” at Rolesville tournament

Submitted by SMITHFIELD-SELMA HIGH SCHOOL

SMITHFIELD — Recently, the FIRST Robotics Competition Team 6004 f(x) Robotics from Smithfield-Selma High School competed at tournaments at Rolesville High School and UNC Asheville.

At UNC Asheville, the team concluded the tournament ranking seventh out of 29 teams and won the “Imagery” award in recognition of their “attractiveness in engineering and outstanding visual aesthetic integration of machine and team appearance,” as detailed on the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology website.

At Rolesville High School, Team 6004 f(x) Robotics won the “Excellence in Engineering” award. The award, as described on the FIRST website,“celebrates the team that demonstrates a professional approach to the design process.”

FRC is a robotics-based competition where teams are challenged to build an industrial-sized robot to compete in an alliance with two other teams. Teams gain skills in STEM, engineering, design, marketing, communication and business. The f(x) Robotics team based out of Smithfield-Selma High School was founded in 2015. This is their eighth competition season as a team.

Members of Team f(x) Robotics at the Asheville competition.

This year, Team 6004 partnered with their host school’s Project Lead the Way to in-house fabricate most of the components of their robot. Main structural parts and supports were milled with a CNC machine and smaller components like brackets and clips were 3D printed in orange Polylactic Acid printing filament.

The team completely modeled their robot in Onshape and finished a detailed engineering notebook that documented the process of designing their robot from brainstorming to prototype to the final product. It was the implementation of these engineering and design methods in partnership with their school that led to f(x) winning the award.

Those interested in learning more about FRC Team 6004, f(x) Robotics, should email frc.team6004.robotics@gmail.com or visit their website at frc6004.com.