In the News: NHS robotics makes a solid debut at world championships

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — The Newberg High School robotics team completed what could turn out to be a seminal season with a solid showing in its debut at the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) World Championships April 36-27 at the Edward Jones Dome.

After placing near the bottom at the state tournament a year ago, Tiger Team 4586 was one of four Oregon teams to qualify for and compete at worlds last week, finishing 4-4 in qualifying matches to finish 36th out of 63 teams in one of the two divisions into which the field was split.

NHS opened with a pair of wins on Thursday, including a decisive first-round victory, to move into the top 10 but was disqualified in its third match after a problem with the team’s robot caused the motor to push out, making the machine one-sixteenth of an inch too large.

“They don’t give you any opportunity to fix it, so that was our first loss,” coach Ted Krupicka said. “That put the team in a down mood for a little while. We had been up as high as seventh place and bounced around in the teens and 20s until (Friday) morning, when we lost a few matches in a row. That bumped us down pretty far.”

The Tigers were unfortunate in a few other ways besides the disqualification, including the strength of the partner teams with which they were randomly paired.

This year’s game, called “Bowled Over,” involves moving a bowling ball into certain positions to score points, but the majority of the scoring is achieved by collecting racquet balls into crates and lifting them high into the air.

Some of the teams NHS was paired with focused solely on the bowling ball, while others malfunctioned entirely. One partner was even penalized 40 points, resulting in an 8-0 loss.

On the other hand, the Tigers had a malfunction of their own that prevented the robot from lifting, and they felt fortunate not to run into any of the powerhouse teams at the tournament.

“If we had done well, we could have controlled our own destiny,” Krupicka said.

Still, Krupicka was pleased with how his team handled problems as they arose, which is a major factor in achieving success at such competitions.
“We had a number of issues that came up throughout the competition. We broke some parts in some matches,” Krupicka said. “The kids did a great job of finding solutions, getting things fixed and getting back on the field. For having to sit out one of our matches for a disqualification, we did really well.”

The Tigers prevailed 198-15 in their final match to finish the competition on a high note.
Tiger Team 4586 designed its robot to lift crates as high as seven feet and saw other teams push their crates as high as 15 or 20 feet, reaffirming its own strategy.

“We designed our robot the most efficiently and there were plenty of robots using the same systems we were because that really is the best way to play the game,” team captain Tyler Krupicka said. “We were a good player.”

Students Andrew Almquist, Kolby Louis, Alvin Yu, Anthony Farr and Steven Bell also made the trip, which included a sojourn to watch a St. Louis Cardinals game and could be an important building block for the program. Team members Michael Peterson and A.J. Spivey were unable to travel for the event.

Seth Gordon, Newberg Graphic