In today’s day in age the internet is exploding with new movie trailers and posters, but just last month, arguably one of the most exciting videos of the year was released. On September 8th, First Tech Challenge (FTC), released its video introducing the 2019 “Rover Ruckus” rules and challenges. The “Rover Ruckus” theme was teased last May, and now teams are able to specifically gear up their robots for the new game.

Last year’s challenge was called “Relic Recovery,” and was based on the foundation that the competing robots were explorers or treasure hunters. The robots competed to collect jewels (red and blue balls), move glyphs (foam blocks), and place the relic (a plastic replica) in a certain location. Last year, WFS put forward two teams (divided by Freshmen/Sophomores and Juniors/Seniors) and competed in the state tournament.

     This year, in the “Rover Ruckus” game, teams prepare their robot to act like a rover on a different planet. On the gamefield, which acts as the planet, there are white balls and yellow blocks which act like silver and gold respectively for robots to collect in their designated areas. Other challenges include the initial landing where the robot can start hanging from the lander and placing a “marker” (a small object designed by the team) in an area to claim it. WFS will once again put forward two teams to compete.

     When asked what he thought about the competition, Samuel (Jenks) Whittenburg (Upper School Computer teacher) explained, “I like this year’s competition because it seems to be a combination of aspects from competitions in the past. So instead of having to do one thing really well, you have to do many things well. It will be challenging  for our team to spread ourselves that thin and master all of those little things.” In general, there are two parts of the game: Autonomous and TeleOp. In the autonomous, teams pre-program the robot to complete certain challenges without any help from the driver. In TeleOp, teams are allowed to use a remote to control the robot. The autonomous section of the game is generally the hardest, and WFS teams have not always had the best showing during this section. This year however, the game focuses heavily on the autonomous section, and teams have to be able to successfully compete in both areas to receive enough points to win.

       Sander Katz  ’21 noted that, “Last year was definitely a learning experience for the Freshman/Sophomore team and we’re really looking forward to putting forth a competitive robot to represent Wilmington Friends School.” When asked what he specifically hopes to contribute to the team this year, Katz explained that he is “one of the main designers and builders of the robot. We decided fairly early on that we want to make a whole new robot this year. I also do a lot with 3D design for the robotics team, meaning I can make a 3D model of the robot on the computer before we even build it. One of the tasks this year is to make a “marker” to claim an area of the field, and I am in charge of designing that.”

        Both the Freshman/Sophomore team and the Junior/Senior teams are excited for a fresh start and a brand new game to prepare for. The official competition will happen sometime in February and various scrimmages will take place in between now and then. If you are interested in watching the video, visit the FTC website at https://www.firstinspires.org/robotics/ftc or better yet, go to a robotics meeting which take place on Sundays from 12-3 in the design lab.