Oak Ridge Today

Secret City Wildbots start qualification rounds Friday morning at Smoky Mountain Regional

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Members of the Secret City Wildbots crew work on Luna, the 2017 robot, during the opening practice matches on Thursday, March 23, 2017. At left (in black long sleeves) is Eric Thornton; center (also in black) is Jacob LaRose, Luke Buckner (next in yellow) as a graduate advisor, Caden Webb (in pink), mentor Chuck Agle (in black, back to camera), and Olivia Mahathy (in black, back to camera). (Photo by Angi Agle)

Members of the Secret City Wildbots crew work on Luna, the 2017 robot, during the opening practice matches on Thursday, March 23, 2017. At left (in black long sleeves) is Eric Thornton; center (also in black) is Jacob LaRose, Luke Buckner (next in yellow) as a graduate advisor, Caden Webb (in pink), mentor Chuck Agle (in black, back to camera), and Olivia Mahathy (in black, back to camera). (Photo by Angi Agle)

 

The Secret City Wildbots start qualifications rounds Friday morning at the Smoky Mountain Regional in Knoxville.

The first match for the Wildbots, Team 4265 from Oak Ridge, is scheduled at about 9:45 a.m. Friday. It’s Match Number 7 at Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Wildbots are competing in the FIRST Robotics “FIRST Steamworks” challenge, which is scheduled from Thursday, March 23, to Saturday, March 25. Their 2017 robot is named Luna.

There were practice matches on Thursday. [Read more…]

Secret City Wildbots receive Excellence in Engineering award at robotics championship

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FIRST Robotics Luke Buckner, Mark Buckner, and Tag Groff

Luke Buckner, Mark Buckner, and Tag Groff in the drivers’ station at the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship in St. Louis this past weekend. (Photo by Angi Agle)

 

The Secret City Wildbots team received an Excellence in Engineering award at the FIRST Robotics World Championships in St. Louis this past weekend, Oak Ridge school officials said Monday.

“The Wildbots competed in the Archimedes Division, and after 10 tough qualification matches, earned their way into the Elimination Tournament by defeating the top-ranked team in the division in the final qualification match,” according to information from Gordon F. Williams, engineering instructor, Oak Ridge High School Engineering and Robotics Academy, and FIRST Robotics Team 4265 coach and sponsor.

Williams said the Secret City Wildbots, Team 4265, formed an alliance team consisting of Team 20, The Rocketeers (from Clifton Park, N.Y.); Team 195, The Cyber Knights (from Southington, Conn.); and Team 4077, MASH (from Edmonds, Wash.) that was eliminated in the quarterfinals round. [Read more…]

Photos, video: Secret City Wildbots at FIRST Robotics Competition

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Secret City Wildbots Robot

The robot is double-loaded for autonomous mode (first 10 seconds of the match). In autonomous mode, each robot is given one ball. However, if one team on the alliance believes that another team’s robot is a more capable shooter, it can relinquish its ball to the more capable teammate. (Photos by Angi Agle)

 

The Secret City Wildbots were 5-4 in the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship in St. Louis on Friday night, with one qualifying round remaining this morning (Saturday morning). Here are pictures and video sent by Angi Agle from the Aerial Assist competition on Friday. [Read more…]

Photo: Secret City Wildbots

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Secret City Wildbots at Qualification

The Secret City Wildbots drive team (L to R: Tag Groff, Alana Joldersma, Luke Buckner, Andreas Franco) prepare for one of five qualification matches on Thursday. (Photo by Angi Agle)

By Angi Agle

The Secret City Wildbots drive team, pictured above, prepared for one of five qualification matches on Thursday. The Wildbots were 2-2 at the time, having lost the first two and won the next two decisively.

There was one more qualification match remaining Thursday, five on Friday, and one Saturday. Teams are ranked on six criteria, with rankings changing rapidly depending on the performance of all teams. We won’t know until noon Saturday which teams advance to the elimination rounds. [Read more…]