By LILYAN CARTER
Student contributor
“This truly is ‘the world cup’ of robotics,” said Dan O’Brien, 8th grade robotics teacher and after-school robotics coach at Cranberry High School .
Students who qualified for the World Robotics Championship on March 4th and 5th at PennWest Clarion University, leave on Wednesday, April 24th and will compete April 25th through April 27th at the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in Dallas, Texas.
O’Brien noted, “With the way our program has developed and with the success of our teams over the past 6 years, Cranberry has grown to be a dominant competitor in our Western PA region.”
“This is our 3rd year in a row traveling to the World Championship, so we have a much better understanding of the setup, how things run, and what is expected of our teams while they are there,” stated O’Brien.
Two senior high, one junior high, and one elementary team qualified for World’s.
The team that calls themselves “Non-copyright Infringing Cartoon Evil Guys Inc.,” comprised of Aiden Herrell-Ward, Ben Conkle, Wil Heffernan, and Abigail McCain, qualified by receiving the Innovate Award which recognizes an effective and well-documented design process for a noble aspect of a team’s design.
The “VEX-tor” team made up of Devin Ball, Connor Moorehead, Jason Dye, Brieanna Pleger, and Liam Turner, received the Design Award to qualify. This award goes to a team that demonstrates an organized and professional approach to the design process, project and time management, and team organization.
Qualifying by receiving the Excellence Award, 1st place Teamwork Challenge, and 2nd place Skills Challenge, is the elementary team, “The Octonauts,” whose members include Linkin Carson, Mason Hartle, Elliana Cotherman, Kenley Mason, Callen Scarbaugh, Dean Snyder, and Peyton Whitman.
“The Gremlins,” made up of junior high members Ella Fleeger, Ellie Heffernan, and Navy Perry, are returning to World’s for the second time qualifying based on their achievement of the Excellence Award, 2nd place Teamwork Challenge and 2nd place Skills Challenge.
For the World’s Championship, the best teams from 40+ countries will compete. Teams are split into divisions where they have to earn their way to the finals by winning their division. The VEX IQ Robotics Competition (VIQRC) is broken into 5 divisions each for Middle school and Elementary, while the high school VEX Robotics Competition (VRC) is divided into 10 divisions.
The individual divisions are on par with a state championship in terms of the number of teams but on a whole different level of proficiency.
The teams will be competing in the following divisions: Middle School Research Division (“The Gremlins”); Elementary School Science Division (“The Octonauts”); High School Innovate Division (“Non-Copyright Infringing Cartoon Evil Guy Inc.”); and High School Spirit Division (“VEX-Tor).
“I know our teams will put forth a tremendous effort to perform well, and no matter the outcome, they should be very proud to have had the opportunity to be a part of such a competition,” said O’Brien.
The VRC and VIQRC World Championships will be televised on VEX Worlds TV (https://www.vexworlds.tv).
Lilyan Carter is a student at Cranberry High School and member of Cranberry Chronicles, the school’s journalism/publications class.
