Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School was proud to host the River Region Vex Robotics Competition Qualifying Tournament in the Dolly Barranco Activity Center at the Middle/High School campus on November 3. Led by the Montgomery Catholic robotics club faculty sponsor Vicki Petters and volunteer Rob Russell, the RoboKnights hosted their second ever Vex Robotics Competition. 26 teams from all over Alabama competed to qualify for the state tournament. Three RoboKnights teams—Starish, an all-girls high school team, Mamushi, an all-8th grade team, and The Sevies, an all-7th grade team—competed in the tournament. The Mamushi-Sevies alliance made it all the way to the final round, where they came second to Foley High School.
The VRC challenge this season, “Turning Point”, includes several complex tasks each robot can complete to earn points. Robots may turn two-colored caps over to their team color, place those caps onto poles of different heights, toggle low flags to their color, throw a ball at higher flags to toggle them to their color, and climb and park onto a platform for additional points. This challenge is unique in that robots may push competing robots off the platforms. The first 15 seconds of each round allow the robots to run an autonomous program for a chance to score points. The remaining minute and 45 seconds are driver-controlled. Each team demonstrated a complex understanding of the tasks, and each robot tackled the challenge in a unique way.
The whole Montgomery Catholic community came together with parents, students, and faculty serving as volunteer referees, announcers, event staff and concessions crew. The RoboKnights would like to thank the students and faculty of Brewbaker Technology Magnet High School for sharing their equipment and expertise to help make the event such a successful one.
