By Harry Hosaka P ’16 ’18
On February 14, Chaminade College Preparatory sent six teams in three divisions to the VEX Robotics Southern California State Championships held at the Pasadena Convention Center.
The middle school sent three teams to the VEX IQ division. After qualifying, Team 83C ranked 7th, 83A ranked 23rd, and 83B was 24th. After the finals, 83C ranked 9th, while 83A and 83B were tied for 10th. Due to technical issues with robots, Team 83A performed a major reconstruction on site. They performed well in individual skills and autonomous runs, gave superb explanations and evidence for their STEM project “The Future of Space Exploration” and the design and engineering of their robot. They also demonstrated a high level of teamwork and respect. The judges chose Team 83A for the VEX IQ California State Championships Middle School Excellence Award.
In the VEX Robotics Design Competition (RDC) Middle School Division, Team 83 competed against some of the best middle school teams in the state, and in the world. They gritted a hard-fought 6th rank after qualifying, and then formed a strong 4th seed alliance with Joe Walker and Holmes International Middle Schools. Together they reached the semi-finals where they were eliminated by the No. 1 alliance. With a their strong 6th rank showing at the tournament, 4th place in programming skills, 6th place in robot driving skills, as well as their demonstration of engineering design principles knowledge, the judges awarded Team 83 the California VEX RDC State Championship Middle School Excellence Award.
Finally, in the VEX RDC High School Division, Eagle Engineering sent two teams against the best of Southern California, including the defending VEX Robotics World Champions. After qualifying, Team 1138 and 1138B were ranked 27th and 29th respectively. It was a day full of technical difficulties for both teams, with Team 1138 judged while their robot was taken apart during troubleshooting. In the end, because of their superior documentation of their robot design process, a good showing in the robot skills challenge, and their impressive judge interview while explaining their troubleshooting process, Team 1138 was presented the California VEX RDC High School State Championship Excellence Award.
This is the first time in the VEX Robotics California State Championships history that teams from the same school have won the Excellence Award in all three divisions. Their win automatically qualifies them to the 2015 VEX Robotics World Championships which will be held from April 15 to 18 in Louisville, Kentucky. Nationally, close to 12,000 teams participate in the VEX Robotics programs throughout the year, with nearly 800 teams coming from California.
Congratulations Eagle Engineering Teams 83, 83A and 1138 – State Champions!