Oak Ridge Today

Video: Check out these robots stacking totes, garbage cans, ‘noodles’

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

This is a video taken by Angi Agle on Saturday, April 25, 2015, at the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.

This was the first round of the Hopper Division quarterfinals for an alliance that included the Secret City Wildbots, Team 4265 of Oak Ridge High School in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Other members were Team 987, the Highrollers of Las Vegas, Nevada (team captain, #1 ranked in the division), and Team 2826, Wave Robotics of Oshkosh, Wisconsin (ranked #2 in the division). This round began at 9:51 a.m. Central time Saturday.

The first 15 seconds are the autonomous period, where the robot executes a pre-programmed routine with no human control. 2826 Wave achieves points by stacking three yellow totes in the designated area, while 987 Highrollers snag three garbage cans from the center area. While this achieves no autonomous points, the garbage cans stacked on top of gray totes multiplies the point value of the stack, so it is important to get them first—before the other alliance does so. [Read more…]

High achievement: Wildbots alliance finishes second in robotics competition finals

Posted at
By 3 Comments

An alliance that included the Secret City Wildbots of Oak Ridge High School finished second in the final championship round at the FIRST Robotics Competition in St. Louis, Missouri, on Saturday.

Maddie Buckner, a member of Team 4265 of Oak Ridge High School, is pictured above with Professor Woodie Flowers at the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, on Saturday, April 25, 2015. (Photos by Angi Agle)

 

An alliance that included the Secret City Wildbots of Oak Ridge High School finished second in the final championship round at the FIRST Robotics Competition in St. Louis, Missouri, on Saturday.

It’s the highest achievement in the five-year history of Team 4265, Oak Ridge Board of Education member Angi Agle said.

The Secret City Wildbots were picked to join a four-team alliance with the first- and second-place ranked teams and made it into the elimination rounds on Saturday. That alliance won the Hopper Subdivision and advanced to the finals, the Einstein round, which was also on Saturday.

The alliance included: [Read more…]

Secret City Wildbots alliance wins division, going to championship matches

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Secret City Wildbots Hopper Division FIRST Robotics Competition

Photos by Angi Agle

 

The alliance that includes the Secret City Wildbots won the Hopper Division at the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, on Saturday, and is headed to the Einstein world championship matches.

The Wildbots, Team 4265 of Oak Ridge High School, were picked to join an alliance with the first- and second-place ranked teams. Their first match was this morning.

Here are photos of the team accepting its award. [Read more…]

Update: Secret City Wildbots alliance ranked No. 1 headed into finals at Robotics Competition

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Secret City Wildbots at First Robotics Competition 2015

The Secret City Wildbots have been competing at the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, this week, April 22-25, 2015. (Photo by Angi Agle)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 1:37 p.m. April 25.

The Secret City Wildbots made it into the elimination rounds today (Saturday, April 25) at the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.

Team 4265 of Oak Ridge High School was picked to join an alliance with the first- and second-place ranked teams. Their first match is this morning.

Updates: The Secret City Wildbots’ alliance won the first quarterfinal round 235-205 and is now ranked number 1. The alliance maintained its number 1 ranking headed to the semifinals and then the semifinals. The alliance won the first round of finals 268-185, Angi Agle reported at 1:07 p.m.

Below are two videos of the Secret City Wildbots competing during qualifying rounds this week. The videos are by Angi Agle. The robotics competition runs from April 22-25.

After all matches, the Secret City Wildbots, an Oak Ridge High School team, were ranked 45 as of Friday evening. [Read more…]

Update: Secret City Wildbots compete in qualifying Friday, could make elimination rounds Saturday

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

FIRST Robotics Competition Secret City Wildbots 2015

The Secret City Wildbots are pictured above at the 2015 FIRST Robotics Competition Championship on Thursday, April 23, in St. Louis, Missouri. (Photos by Angi Agle) 

 

Note: This story was last updated at 12:45 p.m.

The Secret City Wildbots of Oak Ridge High School are competing this week in the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship in St. Louis, Missouri.

Here are pictures from the competition on Thursday by Angi Agle. Oak Ridge won its last round and was ranked #37 as of Thursday evening.

Here is a Friday morning update from Agle: [Read more…]

FIRST Robotics Competition streamed live online

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Live streaming of the First Robotics Competition in St. Louis, Missouri—a contest that includes the Secret City Wildbots from Oak Ridge—can be viewed here.

Secret City Wildbots (Team 4265) are in the Hopper Division. Today’s qualification rounds were scheduled for #12 at 9:47 a.m., #23 at 11:04 a.m., #38 at 2:44 p.m., and #48 at 3:54 p.m.

There are 600 teams competing in this year’s international championship.

Video: Secret City Wildbots compete in Smoky Mountain Regionals

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

This is a video of Team 4265, the Secret City Wildbots, during the final qualification round at the Smoky Mountain Regionals in Knoxville on Saturday, April 4. It was the fifth annual FIRST Robotics Competition Smoky Mountain Regional.

Team 4265 won the coveted Engineering Inspiration Award sponsored by NASA and will compete at the World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, from April 21-25.

Secret City Wildbots win Engineering Award, prepare for World Championship

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Secret City Wildbots Compete at Smoky Mountain Regionals

The Secret City Wildbots (Team 4265) compete at the Smoky Mountain Regionals in Knoxville on Saturday. (Photos by Angi Agle)

 

KNOXVILLE—Team 4265, the Secret City Wildbots, finished the qualifying rounds ranked Number 10 and successfully negotiated the three-round quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville.

The team suffered a disappointing loss in the semifinals, but at the end of the awards ceremony, members were presented with the coveted Engineering Inspiration Award sponsored by NASA. The award qualifies them to compete at the World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, from April 21-25, with the entry fee paid by NASA.

This is the Secret City Wildbots’ fourth year, and the team has earned the right to compete in the World Championship each of those four years. [Read more…]

Smoky Mountain Regional robot competition kicked off Thursday with practice

Posted at
By Leave a Comment

Smoky Mountain Regionals Team 4265

Photos by Angi Agle

 

By Angi Agle

The Smoky Mountain Regional robotics competition kicked off Thursday with practice rounds, and qualification matches began Friday morning.

The theme of this year’s game is “Recycle Rush.” Robots are to pick up recycle bins, put foam noodles in trash cans, and stack all of them in the center of the field. Additional points are gained for the number of containers stacked.

Human players feed foam noodles into the trash cans as the robots hold them up to a hole in the plexiglas, as well as feeding gray recycle bins into the field for the robots to stack.

Team 4265, the Secret City Wildbots, experienced some technical challenges, which were expected to be resolved Friday morning. [Read more…]

Secret City Wildbots receive Excellence in Engineering award at robotics championship

Posted at
By 1 Comment

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…]

ORHS Wildbots going to world championships after regional robotics win

Posted at
By 3 Comments

Secret City Wildbots FIRST Robotics Team

Oak Ridge High School’s “Wildbot” #4265 was among the winners at the Smoky Mountains Regional Robotics Challenge held this past weekend, and the team will now go to St. Louis for the World Championship. (Photo by D. Ray Smith)

By Mike Wehrenberg

The Smoky Mountains Regional High School Robotics Competition had an extremely successful event this past weekend, and Oak Ridge High School was one of the three regional winners. Collierville High School outside Memphis won the Rookie All Star award.

Both of these Tennessee high schools will receive an invitation to the world championships at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, where the Rams football team plays. About 50,000 people will be in attendance at the end of April for that competition.

This was our fourth year of competition at the Knoxville Convention Center in a game called Aerial Assist. Thirty-five teams from Tennessee competed, along with 14 teams from the surrounding states of Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. It was a fantastic, “graciously professional,” and exciting event, with all the teams representing themselves, their STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs, and their ability to set and achieve goals in an powerful and emotional way.

Other Tennessee news of note: [Read more…]