On Saturday, December 1, the OPEF VEX Robotics teams participated in their first regional competition of the season, the Wildstang VEX Robotics Competition in Rolling Meadows, IL. Two robots from each of our middle schools were chosen to participate. The rest of the Brooks and Julian VEX Robotics teams attended to support their teammates and gain valuable insight into game strategy and effective robot design
This day-long event can be intimidating for middle schoolers as it draws mostly high school teams from Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Iowa. One robot from Brooks–The Terminator built by An Edwards, Mac Bell, Julia Dreher-Threlkeld, and Samantha Braun–was ranked 16th at the end of the Qualifying Matches! They were chosen to join another team’s alliance to compete in the final rounds of Elimination Matches, when some tough competition finally ended their run in the third match.
Students took photos and made notes to use in refining and improving their own robots in the weeks to come. These young engineers will now be preparing for their next competition–the OPEF Battle of the Bots on Saturday, January 26!
You can see Gretchen Junker’s photos from the competition here.