Montgomery Catholic Preparatory School’s 2019-2020 robotics competition season is in full swing, and already the RoboKnights have their eyes set on qualifying for the VEX Robotics World Championships. So far, two teams, “Happy Little Accidents” and “The Sevies,” have qualified to compete in the Alabama state competition in the spring.
“I want to win the state competition,” declared senior Arthur Murray, member of Happy Little Accidents and Lost in the Ross. “We were tournament finalists last year, but we want to win this time. We had to get a head start so we’ve been working on our Tower Takeover robot since Worlds.”
Tower Takeover requires robots to place stacks of colored cubes into the corners of the playing field and to place single cubes into “towers” in the middle of the playing field that serve as point multipliers. Robots work in alliances of two to try to score the most points against another alliance of two robots. Since it is early in the season, most teams have focused on completing one task only—either stacking cubes for base points or picking up and placing cubes for point multipliers—and allying with a robot who completes the complementing task.
Montgomery Catholic will host the River Region Tower Takeover Qualifying Tournament on November 2 and the River Region Tower Takeover Qualifying Tournament II on February 15. The RoboKnights are proud to host their competitions in Montgomery Catholic’s new gym, which features stadium seating that gives spectators a good view of the playing fields from the stands.