The Peddie Robotics team took part in its first district event for the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) on April 2 and 3 in Bridgewater, New Jersey, winning two awards in the process.

The competition this year was called Stronghold and it featured obstacles for robots to cross, including a 4.625 inch tall wall called the “Rock Wall,” as well as a tower with both high and low goals for robots to shoot or nudge balls into to score points. Additional points could be obtained by parking the robot on the slanted platform around the tower at the end of the game, as well as by scaling the tower and hanging one foot above the ground.

Robots were ranked according to the number of ranking points accumulated in the qualification matches, which was obtained by crossing obstacles in the field, surrounding the goal tower and winning a match. There were two modes: autonomous, where robots are controlled completely by code and no human controller, and teleoperated, where the robot is controlled via handheld controllers by a team member known as the “driver.”

The Friday before the competition, teams unloaded their robots in the “pit” of the host school and went around to scout and record data on the robots of opposing teams. The competition started on Saturday and the opening ceremony commenced. The qualification rounds began with plenty of healthy competition from competing teams and much cheering from their members in the stands. The day ended with Peddie having played nine matches and ranking seventh place out of 37 teams overall.

“Being a driver at first was extremely nerve-wracking because I didn’t have any experience with the auto-aim shooting feature or shooting from the batter. After our third qualification match, though, we started doing really well and I gained confidence,” said Conor Donohue ’16, the driver for the Peddie Robotics team.

Sunday began with the team in high spirits, cheering on Peddie Robotics and the robot, Archaeopteryx, which means “first bird” in Latin. After finishing the qualification matches and ranking ninth out of 37 robots overall, Peddie Robotics moved on to the elimination rounds and allied themselves with the fifth ranked robot alliance. Archaepteryx and its alliance were  eliminated in the quarterfinal rounds.

Peddie School Robotics won two awards at the awards ceremony for the district event: The Highest Seeded Rookie Award for the first-year team ranked highest in qualification matches at the event and The Rookie All-Star Award for being the overall best first-year team at the event. As a result of winning the Rookie All-Star Award, Peddie Robotics is guaranteed a place at the Mid-Atlantic Regional (MAR) Championships.

“I am very proud of how our team has participated in these matches and swept the awards, winning two of the three Rookie awards,” programmer Catherine Phillips ’19 said,

“It was fantastic, a great achievement for the team. To be finishing in ninth place overall for a rookie is pretty unexpected and it’s extraordinary for a first year team to seed that high in an event,” Scott Meredith, engineering teacher and coach and creator of the robotics team, said. “The team exceeded my expectations for how quickly they came up to speed and how quickly they adjusted to the pace of the competition and the tasks that needed to be completed throughout the two day event.”

“The reason we were successful was because Mr. Meredith focused on the one thing that was important that we as a rookie team could do well. Understanding our constraints was vital,” Mark Sawula, math teacher and programming team mentor, said.

“I liked it a lot. Competing is actually very different from practicing upstairs [in the Digital Fabrication lab building]. It’s a lot more fun than I thought it would be.” Donohue said, looking back on the competition.

When asked about the future, Meredith expressed his opinion on the upcoming events and his plans.

“I think it’d be nice to progress further, build on what we did. We’re not expecting instant success but it’s better to see that it’s a lot of work and that it’s a tough competition, so it’s good to respect the schools we’re up against. The first step is to prepare for the MAR championships. We’re looking forward to doing well at MAR and hopefully going to the World Championships,” Meredith said.

The Peddie Robotics team will be at the Montgomery district event from April 8 to April 10 and will also be competing at MAR championships from April 13 to April 16.