Congratulations, Robotics Teams!
Classy Chassis and Metal Benders, the two robotics teams in Steven Zoeller's Entrepreneurship in Robotics classes, competed at the Hudson Valley FIRST Tech Challenge regional championships at Pace University on Sunday, February 10.
The teams ended the qualifier round in 2nd and 4th place with a 4-1 record out of 27 teams.
This was the second year that both teams advanced to the final rounds of the regional championship and the first time both were alliance captains.
Meet Classy Chassis and Metal Benders
Teams design, build, program, and operate robots to compete in a head-to-head challenge
“It’s been great to see the growth of the students,” said Mr. Zoeller. “They have worked really hard to achieve this success.”
“We have worked on our robot for countless hours the past four months, so it was very gratifying to watch it perform,” said John Emerson, a senior and project manager for Classy Chassis. “We enjoyed watching each qualifying round play out and battling it out with the other teams for the lead.”
The 2019 competition, Rover Ruckus, has a lunar lander theme. The challenge consisted of a thirty-second autonomous phase in which the rover must lower itself and detach from the lander, sample a gold mineral without moving two silver minerals, place a marker in a designated depot, and park in a lander. The students accomplished these tasks by utilizing distance sensors, gyros, and two machine vision programs with an Android camera which ran a program they wrote in Java. A ninety-second tele operated control portion followed in which students direct the robot to pick up minerals out of a crater, sort them, and place them in the lander's cargo hold.
Engagement and Authentic Learning
Accolades
Metal Benders were the second runner up for the Collins Aerospace Design Award and the Connect Awards.
Classy Chassis won the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award and the Control Award at the regional qualifier competition earlier this season.