BetaBots

Teenagers with robots invaded SAIT’s Aldred Centre on December 2 for the off-season BetaBots competition.

The competition involved five teams from the First Robotics Competition (FRC) program, which is run by the international organization For the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST).

This BetaBots competition, PollenAction, used balls from the previous FRC season. Teams had to score these balls into the center “Meadow” to earn points.

The referee for PollenAction, Jon Martin, said they had run into some issues on the day of the competition.

“It’s kind of a very quick competition, very thrown together, so things aren’t as polished as they’d normally be,” said Martin.

Martin said what he enjoys most about refereeing is seeing the teams get together and collaborate to get new ideas.

“It’s learning how to learn, and that’s what FIRST pushes for,” said Martin.

“It teaches you problem solving skills, cooperation, teamwork, and how to learn from mistakes and grow.”

Logan Arcilla, the event organizer and FRC alumni himself, said the purpose of this competition was to prepare the FRC teams for their upcoming build season which begins in early January.

Arcilla was involved in organizing the competition, making the field, acquiring a rug for the field floor, making the awards, scheduling the event, and setting it all up the day before.

He said he was there setting up the field and building the Meadow until 3:30 a.m. that morning.

Arcilla said a great part of this competition was how affordable it is for teams as an off-season event.  They are hoping to run this competition again next year in February or March, just before the main FRC competition in Calgary.

PollenAction started on Saturday morning with a few practice rounds for the teams to get the feel of the competition beforehand.

Once the real rounds were under way, one team, Dr. E.P. Scarlett Robotics (4733), was out of commission and unable to compete due to telecommunication issues.

The final match included the Nomads (5630) and Rundle College Robotics (6351).

However, before their match began, Dr. E.P. Scarlett Robotics was finally able to get on the field. The referee allowed them to play their first and final match.

Dr. E.P. Scarlett Robotics competed against the Ghosts (1482), and lost, ending with -20 points due to accidental fouls. The team members, however, were jumping and cheering, happy to have played at all.

The final match then began, and the Nomads were declared the winning team, ending with a total of 18 points.

The awards were handed out: Rundle College Robotics won the quality award; the Ghosts received the creativity award for the highest ball shooter; the Mandela United FRC Team received the innovation in control award for their solid programming; and Dr. E.P. Scarlett Robotics won the judge’s award for both displaying FIRST principles and using good troubleshooting techniques.

Alexander Aldridge, team captain for the Nomads, said that he was happy for the opportunity for his team to train for the upcoming build season. He said PollenAction is a much smaller scale than the main-season competitions, so the minimal stress was nice.

Aldridge, in charge of mechanical aspects, programing, and organization on his team, talked about the best part of robotics. “Building robots, cause robots are cool,” said Aldridge.

Davis Carlson, team captain for Rundle College Robotics, was very happy with how far his team made it in the competition.

Carlson also said his team was excited for the upcoming build season.

“It’s six weeks of pure chaos, but it’s chaos we enjoy so much,” said Carlson.

Carlson’s teammate Ishan Vermani said he hoped more students would join the program in the future.

“I feel like there’s a big misconception with robotics that you have to be familiar with programing and wiring; whereas, what we do is more mechanical and strategy,” said Vermani.

“I feel like if students knew that, they’d be a lot more interested.”

Emmett Rimes, co-captain for the Ghosts, said that what he loves most about robotics was all the friends he makes.

“When I think of robotics with my team, it’s not doing the competition; it’s being on the team that I love,” said Rimes.

“It’s the team that’s the real experience.”