On April 23, the OPEF VEX Robotics team Lost in Pink arrived at Anaheim Convention Center to compete in the 2014 VEX Robotics World Championship. The convention center was filled with 600 teams from 26 countries–152 of the teams in their middle school division. For the next 3 days, they competed in the arena with and against teams from throughout the Continental United States as well Puerto Rico, Mexico and China.
Pink ended the first day of competition feeling positive having won one match and lost two. But the second day brought a series of frustrations and technical difficulties. They began to have problems with the VEXNet connection between their robot’s brain and the controller. Their motors started burning out under the rigors of competitive play. And partnering with teams from other countries brought its own challenges as the teams tried to communicate despite speaking different languages. But with perseverance and determination, the team got through these challenges and had their robot functioning properly by the third day of competition.They ended up placing 67th out of the 76 teams in their division.
When asked about his experience, Ben Mertz said the best part of going to the World Championship was competing in “the actual competition matches and the adrenalin rush and interacting with the other teams.”
Overall, Lost in Pink had an amazing experience meeting and sharing ideas with VEX Robotics teams from throughout the world!
Check out this slideshow of their World competition trip.