School robotics teams compete in Olympia

Last Saturday, both the Naselle-Grays River Valley School District and Wahkiakum School District student teams competed at the FIRST Tech Challenge robotics Interleague tourney in Olympia. A total of 32 teams from as far north as Shelton and as far south as Vancouver competed to see who was the top in SW Washington. These teams competed, two-on-two, in matches, with two robots per side to score as many points as possible while shooting 5" balls into baskets. Each team played a total of 17 matches where one's partner in one match might be their opponent in another. Naselle and Wahkiakum were from the two smallest schools, competing with teams from high schools like Olympia, as well as "all-star" garage teams from elsewhere.

Overall, Wahkiakum finished 13th and Naselle finished 20th. The young Wahkiakum team was very pleased with the results using their simple robot. The more experienced Naselle team, using a much more complicated robot and coding software, was disappointed by the problems that naturally came with their more capable robot.

Each team was recognized for their robot build and team presentation; Naselle for their design and Wahkiakum for their approach to problem solving. Out of the 32 teams, Naselle earned second place in the Design Award category, given to the team that "best demonstrates an understanding of industrial design principles by striking a balance between form, function, and aesthetics while meeting the needs of this season's challenge." This recognition was a result of their multiple robot builds and their use of a very difficult movement coding library. Wahkiakum earned second place in the Think Award category, given to the team "that best reflects the journey the team took as they experienced their season...use of the engineering process... lessons learned and implemented related to the design of their robot." This recognition was a result of the team's detailed, one-step-at-a-time, basic approach to their robot build from the ground up.

Both school's robot clubs continue on this year by sending teams to compete in the KM Robotics Cup Thursday, March 19; the Seaperch Challenge Thursday, March 26; and the SWIRL competition in late May. Naselle is also sending several teams to the SkillsUSA competitions on Monday, Jan. 26. To learn more, or to help support and get involved, please contact rrudolph@naselleschools.org for the Naselle robotics team and apoulson@wahksd.k12.wa.us for the Wahkiakum robotics team.