The Upper School Robotics team has competed in six official events throughout the school year in the First Tech Challenge.
Their journey started on Nov. 11, 2023, in which they competed in the FiT-North M-League Meet 1. In their first meet, they achieved a record of 4-1.
Each robotics meet is made up of multiple matches. Each match contains four total teams, in which a red alliance made up of two teams goes against a blue alliance made up of another two teams. The teams competing get paired with a new random team for each match and must compete to beat the other two.
“There were a number of matches where we won it outright without the help of our alliance,” robotics teacher Joseph Meagher said. “There were also others [matches] where our robot broke down, and our alliance partners had to do all the work.”
The matches are played within a 12-foot square playing field with one-foot-high walls. The teams are both given 64 plastic hexagonal-shaped “pixels” that the robots must place in certain spots while navigating obstacles to earn points.
There are three phases of a match. The first is an autonomous stage in which the robot is programmed to do certain things to score points in certain areas. After 30 seconds of the first phase, the team can use their controller to control the robot for the last two minutes of the match.
In the final phase, the robots can place pixels, hang onto a rigging and throw a paper airplane a certain distance for extra points.
“Playing Legos as a kid really helped out,” junior Kaden Castillo said. “You can already foresee what you want to build, so it all came easily to me.”
In their next league meet, the FiT-North M-League Meet 2, Greenhill continued to dominate once again, ending the meet with a 4-1 record. In their third meet at the FiT-North M-League Meet 3, Greenhill struggled to keep up, ending the meet with a 1-4 record.
To qualify for the league tournament, FTC only considers the best 10 matches out of the first 15 they compete in. This meant that Greenhill qualified with a 9-1 record heading into the league tournament.
In their fourth meet at the FiT-North M&S Tournament, Greenhill bounced back, gaining a 4-1 record throughout the meet. They qualified for the playoffs but lost both games they competed in. Greenhill ended the meet in sixth place out of 30 teams. This meant that they qualified for the Semi-Area championship.
At the FiT-North Semi-Area Championship, Greenhill only went 2-3 qualification matches. Although Greenhill didn’t qualify for playoffs, they were able to qualify for the area championship by winning the Connect Award.
According to FTC, the Connect Award is given to the team “that most connects with their local science, technology, engineering and math community.” Teams were required to submit a portfolio containing a thorough team plan, as well as a summary of how the team acquired new mentors and knowledge.
The Connect Award allowed Greenhill to advance to the area championship. At the FiT-North Area Championship, Greenhill ended the tournament with a 2-4 record, which didn’t qualify for putting an end to their season, as they did not qualify for the FIRST Championship.
Greenhill ultimately ended the season with a 17-11 record and qualified for two major meets, falling just short of qualifying for the championship.
“To be honest, I was very excited and proud of our team,” junior Kaden Castillo said. “When I play football, it is all about athleticism, making the right moves and discipline, but in robotics, it is more of a controlled chaos aspect, and you have to be well-adjusted to compete. I think that’s why I had so much fun competing this year.”
