Hi everyone,
Wow! Global Conference of Educational Robotics (GCER) is finally over, and I must say, we did quite well. Competition was stiff, as we went head-to-head against some of the best teams from around the world. Despite the challenge, we performed competitively, with one of our teams seeding 9th out of over 64 teams in the tournament.
Overall, our robots performed wonderfully. The results of months of hard work before GCER were highly competitive and well engineered robots. Despite having to rebuild several machines due to the dismantlement required for shipping, all robots were working by the practice rounds and ran admirably during competition. The duck-grabbing Legobots all did great; in fact, Team 10-0170′s Legobot achieved a perfect operational record, placing all the clean ducks on their target positions every time. The hair triggers worked as they were designed, grabbing Botguy quickly and efficiently (and drawing the attention of judges and other teams alike).
Although we were quickly eliminated in the double elimination finals due to bad luck and last minute changes to the software, we still had a great performance, ranking as a quarterfinalist. Many teams were impressed by our mechanisms, such as the 4-bar linkage in our Legobot and the hair-triggers on our iCreate robots. Team 10-0170 received a Finalist award and a Judges Choice award for Best Design and Engineering.
Aside from competition, we spent time hanging out, playing billiards, bowling, watching movies, and visiting tourist attractions. We met and talked with cool people from around the country. We visited an ancient pyramid-like mound in Cahokia, which was the hub of life for the Mississippian Natives Americans. Although we didn’t get to enter the famous St. Louis Arch, we still had a really good view of it, and it certainly looked impressive.
It was an exhausting trip, but it was worth it, as we all had lots of fun and performed quite well. We all learned a lot of new concepts and expanded our understanding of science and engineering. It was fun working as Oak Grove Eaglebots, and there are still things that can be learned and improved. We hope that we can maintain our relationship with them in the future.
Best Regards,
Haochuan Ni
Lynbrook High School Robotics Team
Vice President 2010-2011
