Last week AURA ventured into new territory, as the New Zealand FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) pilot competition was held in Papakura. Being organised by the same group who run FIRST Lego League, AURA were enthusiastically invited to be judges and referees at the event alongside the Kiwi FIRST volunteers. The FTC competition is based on the ethos of the FIRST organisation, where a large
emphasis is put on the work the teams go through during the build season, not just on the competition day. Awards are given for strategy and planning, working with the community, and innovation in design.
Upon arrival on Sunday, three AURA team members worked with other volunteers to inspect each robot, to check that all the teams’ hardware was within the game specifications, and all their software was up to date and working on the field. When the inspection was complete and all robots were passed, the teams took turns to present their robot, programming, and design book to two AURA team members. These judges determined their eligibility for each of the judged awards, based on their performance in various categories including the quality of their engineering notebooks,
ingenuity in robot designs, and their use of sensors and programming routines. After a quick break for lunch, amidst last minute building and remedying programming disasters, the teams competed in four qualification matches. These rounds decided the alliances for the competition finals. Our third AURA team member on the day worked as a referee in these matches, counting up the scores at the end of each round and keeping a running total of team rankings as the games progressed.
Four teams competed, with team 5110, “Mechanical Monkeys Reloaded” coming out on top at the end and receiving the prestigious Inspire Award for their competition performance and their outstanding engineering notebook. Various other awards were given out for different aspects of the competition, celebrating the design process these teams go through, teamwork, creativity and team spirit.
The PTC Design Award was given to team 5109, for being the only team in the competition to make use of sensors on their robot; the Rockwell Collins Innovate Award was presented to team 5145, for their strategy and programming routines; and finally team 5144 received the Motivate award, for their infectious enthusiasm and perseverance throughout the day.
Working with Kiwi FIRST is always an enjoyable experience, as the officials and the hosts take great care of all volunteers. We extend our thanks for making the event so pleasant to work at, and look forward to continuing our involvement with the wonderful students of the FTC competition.