Writes Ishaan N. and Aariz B. (4ths)
On Sunday, the Fourth Form VEX IQ team – MTS_OMNI – delivered another outstanding performance at the Orley Farm Kujenga on the Hill competition, securing three awards: Teamwork Champions, Robot Skills, and the Design Award.
Competing against strong opposition, the team knew that we had to bring our A-game to the table. We started the day with our first inspection, which we passed. This was swiftly followed by our first match, getting 207 points total. However, after a judge saw our robot’s dimensions, he took it in for another inspection and found our robot was too big by half an inch! We had to respond quickly. After careful planning, removing, and building, we finally had a robot that was the right size.
Two shaky matches then followed where we were focused on getting used to our “new” robot. Luckily, we began to make a comeback. In our next five matches, we scored a total of 798 points, putting us in first place. In our last match, we then scored a total of 210 points. Things were looking up! However, another closer inspection was required, as we had added another mechanism. We had thought we were in the size limit, but once again, we were found in breach. As a result, the points we scored in that round did not count. This was a blow, but hope was not lost as somehow, we have managed to cling to our overall first place position in the rankings.
Thanks to this, we moved onto the final. The stakes were high, and luckily we delivered, scoring 139 points. Ego-a meant we won the Teamwork Champion award, which was a great boost. We also achieved 164 points in our Skills assessment – the second highest score in the UK – and thus, won Robot Skills as well. Finally, we won our Design Award by impressing our judges with our robot design, which aimed to make driving easier and more accessible.
Team MTS_Vexperts also made promising improvements throughout this competition, which led to them securing fourth position in the final standings, despite a rocky start. Their best score was 97 points, which is an outstanding achievement for them at this stage in their VEX journey. Hopefully, they will qualify for Nationals in the coming competitions or via the skills leaderboard in which they are currently in fourteenth place.
Thank you to Mr. Docherty for supporting us throughout the event.
