Writes Arjun G. (Divs)
On the morning of Saturday 11th October, 12 pupils from MTS_MAVER1CKS and MTS_1NNOVA met Mr Docherty in the Coach Park at 6:15, for a VEX V5 competition at Beech Grove School (BGS). This was MTS_MAVER1CKS’ second competition of the season, and MTS_1NNOVA’s first. After a long coach ride to Dover, they arrived at BGS, the hosting school.
The process to get to this stage has been difficult, but the teams have pushed through. After the game was revealed in May, both teams spent countless hours on their robot, with most of that time being outside of school hours. After long design cycles of identifying the problem, brainstorming, selecting a solution, and building and testing, the teams felt confident in the capabilities of their robot. When the robot was complete, they practiced rigorously to ensure that the drivers were well-versed in the controls and knew their robot inside out.
At MTS_MAVER1CKS’ first competition, they won the Skills Champion and Innovate Award – two prestigious awards. However, they had missed out on one of the two awards that were their ticket to Nationals, so they had their eyes set on winning at BGS. MTS_1NNOVA were also looking for some practice in a real competition environment, as this was their first competition. This would let them learn and help understand weaknesses in their robot that needed to be sorted out before they began hunting for awards.
The competition started well, with both teams winning their first few matches. Across their 8 qualification matches, MTS_MAVER1CKS won all of them and MTS_1NNOVA won half to set them up nicely for the elimination matches. In the V5 format, after all the qualification matches are finished, teams are free to choose their alliance partner for the final matches. MTS_MAVER1CKS, seeded first, paired up with the second seed, Kingsmen, to ensure success in the finals. Unfortunately, MTS_1NNOVA were eliminated early in the finals but still did well for their first competition, especially in their Skills Run.
MTS_MAVER1CKS made it through to the final, which was an extremely close match. The opponents made some incredible plays that put lots of pressure on their alliance.
Eventually, some remarkable teamwork between the MAVER1CKS and Kingsmen led to them securing the win. They won the Tournament Champions award, becoming the first MTS team to secure a seat in Nationals. They also went undefeated throughout the entire tournament, a testament to their hard work.
Thank you to the DT Department for making this possible, and to Mr Docherty for taking us there on the day.
