Robotics fare well in Gibraltar this weekend

The “Digital Dislocators” from Manchester had a great weekend at First Robotics Competition.

The Manchester robotics team ended up going 5-7 during qualification matches through the day on Friday and Saturday morning.

“We had a couple of ups and downs with mechanical issues in early matches,” said coach Matt Hall. “As qualification continued, we had some good performances and were able to string together a few wins.

“We also had a few matches where individually we performed really well but our alliance (randomly selected team of three total robots) did not win the match. But these were very close matches. Even though we lost those matches, other teams were taking notice of our individual performance.”

Hall explained that in First Robotics Competition, scouting other teams is very important.

“Other teams watch every match and take detailed notes on how (our) robots perform,” he said. “Teams track other robots’ performance in different categories and they use that data to make informed decisions about who they want to pick to be on their alliance for the playoffs.”

Team 1023 Bedford Express (from Bedford HS) and team 1718 The Fighting Pi (from Macomb Academy of Arts and Sciences) in Armada both were very surprised that no other alliance had selected the Digital Dislocators. “They were impressed by our ability to climb to the second level platform, as many of the other robots were not doing this,” Hall said. “Other criteria that they noted was that our robot was reliable and was consistent in being able to handle game pieces without dropping them. Our partners also liked that our robot was able to place hatch panels efficiently as many other teams were not doing this well. Having a robot that was fast and heavy and uses 8in pneumatic tires was critical as well. This was important to them because they knew that they would be calling on us to play defense in the playoff matches. Having a heavy robot with lots of traction also made it easier for us to push around the other teams’ robots and disrupt their fast scoring robots to help our alliance succeed.”

During the playoff matches, the alliance’s strategy was to have their robot place two hatch panels (round plastic disks) and then play defense to either slow down the other team’s fast scoring robots or to protect the other two teammates form the opposing alliance’s defenders by being shields for them. It was a winning strategy!

“Winning a district final is a big accomplishment that many teams never get to experience,” said Hall. “We made it to a district final our very first season in 2016 but did not win; so being able to get back to a district final and coming home with a blue banner is a big deal in FIRST robotics. We would like to thank all of the people who have supported us over the last four years as we have grown the STEM opportunities to students in the Manchester Community Schools.
“That is what it is ultimately all about. Building robots is fun and exciting, but my ultimate goal is to inspire students and our community to encourage kids to pursue career paths in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math careers.”

Hall concludes by saying the robotics team has been successful in opening the door for more opportunities to all of Manchester students. The team’s success has helped pave the way for more STEM classes in the district; from 3rd-6th grade STEM lab, 5th-grade robotics class, (taught by Ms. Wolf) 6th-grade design and modeling, (taught by Mr. Kranz) 7th-8th-grade automation and robotics, to 8th grade 3-D printing classes.

The team and coaches really want to thank all of the sponsors who have made this possible.

The team and coaches really want to thank all of the sponsors who have made this possible.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.