The PYRS (Pacific Youth Robotics Society) BC Mainland HS Championship, a provincial robotics competition, recently took place in British Columbia where a few Sentinel students competed. We got the opportunity to speak to the first place team, including Justin An (G11) and Thomas Lee (G11) from Sentinel Secondary, alongside Rockridge student Liam Teale (G10). Before we get to some of the questions we had for them, for those of you who don’t know the format for the robotics competition this year, we’d like to fill you in.
The competition format—called tipping point—is played in a 12 foot by 12 foot field by two alliances: one red and one blue, composed of two teams each. (Just like the image above!). The main objective of the game is to attain a higher score than the other alliance by scoring rings (hanging or putting the purple rings in the yellow or alliance color’s goal), moving mobile goals to alliance zones (the yellow, red, and blue baskets with poles attached), and by elevating on platforms at the end of a match. This chart better explains the point system:
The four total teams each compete in matches consisting of a fifteen second autonomous period—where whoever has the most points at the end of the autonomous period earns six bonus points. This is followed by a one minute and forty-five second driver controlled period where the rest of the match is played. If you’d like a more in depth explanation of the format or some of the other rules check out this link!
Now back to the interview:
What were your feelings before and during the competition? Did you run into any problems?
Justin: I was definitely stressed until the quarterfinals of the tournament. The start was absolutely horrible for the team. We arrived at 6 AM at Langley activity center to set up the field for the provincials tournament after arguing about the tournament plan until 12 AM. Then I drank a Redbull in one go and started tuning the programming skills (measuring how many points you can get in 1 minute with a fully programmed robot) that I was mainly in charge of. I wasn’t even able to get half the score I was supposed to get and the team was feeling depressed. We were doing okay in qualification matches and went through some unfortunate situations such as one of the screws for the motor coming off. But then our team morale heightened when we won against the two best teams in BC in the Quarterfinals elimination round after winning Round 16.
It was such a dramatic win that everyone who was watching our match all went silent for a split second. The excitement all of us felt is inexplicable and even unbelievable. Everything went smoothly as we carried our heightened morale to the subsequent matches.
What was one thing that stood out during the competition that you enjoyed?
Justin, Thomas and Liam: We loved how the whole robotics organization helped us even if they lost to us or to other teams.
What are you looking forward to now that you have won provincials?
Justin: I think we were very lucky to win this tournament because of what happened in the quarterfinals and semifinals, and I did not think it was 100 percent our skill that got us the win. So for worlds, I hope the team wins with a little more certainty in the elimination round and hopefully the goddess of luck helps us get to the round-robin.
Thanks for taking the time to talk with us, Justin, Thomas, and Liam. We wish you good luck for worlds!
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