In The News: Newberg sends two robotics teams to state

Written by: Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic 

Teams qualify to compete at ORTOP First Tech Challenge State Championships

Two of Newberg High School's four robotics teams advanced from qualifying tournaments Feb. 11-12 and will compete at the ORTOP First Tech Challenge State Championship Saturday and Sunday at Benson Polytechnic High School in Portland.

Four 24-team super qualifying tournaments were held over the two days at Poynter Middle School in Hillsboro, with Bullet Proof advancing out of the Pi group Feb. 11 and Beta Pi qualifying from the Omega group Feb. 12.

Bullet Proof went 3-1 in its four qualifying matches to finish ranked No. 3 and earn the right to captain an alliance in the semifinals.

The Newberg team selected the Klamath Coyotes from Eagle Ridge High School and the Bazinga! Bots from The Dalles High School for its alliance partners, but were eliminated after losing two close matches, 170-165 and 70-65.

Like in its qualifying tournament, Bulletproof earned most of its points by shooting balls into a target, both in autonomous mode and driver control, but couldn't quite activate the light beacons at the edge of the playing area in autonomous mode, which could have earned them up to 60 points.

"In autonomous, we shot both balls in almost every time," Bullett Proof programmer Garrison Peacock said. "We had generally good matches with partners. In autonomous, we tried to press the beacons and twice got really close, but there was a ball between us and the side. It was one we shot and it rolls down and gets in our way, so we're going to have to work on that."

Teams Kronos also competed in the Pi group, but went 1-3 in four matches to rank No. 11 and was not selected for an alliance or to receive an award that would have qualified them for state.

Similarly, the Iron Men Mark II were not selected after a 2-2 record resulted in a No. 21 ranking after qualifying in the Delta group.

Beta Pi, however, went 3-1 in Omega Group qualifying to finish ranked sixth and, along with Total Chaos (Total Chaos 4-H), was selected by alliance captain Gifted Gears (Washington Co. 4-H).

According to team member Brandon Takahashi, the Beta Pi robot performed much better in qualifying than at the previous tournament, with the driver control period going smoothly. The team nearly broke through to score points at the end game, but ultimately was unable to lift the large yoga ball and place it atop the center structure.

"Overall, it went really good," Takahashi said. "I think the best part of it was a lot of the other robots there did stuff that we couldn't and we did stuff that they couldn't, so that helped us with selection for the elimination rounds."

Beta Pi's alliance won its semifinal matches by scores of 125-60 and 140-60, but fell 185-105 and 155-145 in the finals to Gromit's Grommets (Pleasant Hill), ToborTech (Lake Oswego) and Fig Neutrons (Hood River Valley).

Both Newberg teams have been focusing on activating the beacons during autonomous mode in preparation for the state meet, but Beta Pi may also continue tweaking its lifter.

"I'm confident we can do it," Takahashi said of advancing from the state meet to regionals. "We just need to iron out the bugs right now. We have everything in place. It's a matter of getting it working consistently."