Lancer Robotics VEX teams competed in the McKinley Vexposition achieving some success with many new members.

Adviser Peter Park said, “On Sept. 9, two high school VEX robotics teams attended McKinley Vexposition at McKinley High School. Headed by Captain Kristen Tumacder, they had one robot that they had been working on since the end of May which was dependable. The drivers, Cameron Pires, Hudson Jones and Jenna Tanna, were comfortable with its maneuverability. The drivers prepared for the competition by having scrimmages on Saturdays with Island Pacific Academy, Mid-Pacific Institute and Kaahumanu Elementary School.”

Senior Tumacder, junior Michaela Graves and sophomores Adrianne Del Rosario and Ashley Marie Lardizabal were on the 2437B team while juniors Aimee Pak and Cameron Pires, sophomore Hudson Jones and eighth grader Jenna Tanna represented team 2437A.

Jones said, “The most exciting thing was being chosen for the alliance section because we were the very last team to be chosen. I thought we weren’t even going to be picked because no one had chosen us, and when we asked, one team even rejected us.”

Team 2437A’s robot, which driver Tanna nicknamed “High Maintenance,” had a scissors lift design which was practical but complicated to make and maintain. It went through many changes since May. A detailed record of the design and the building process was kept in an engineering notebook.

New member Del Rosario said, “It was my first time experiencing a course of VEX robotics. It was thrilling and I experienced and learned new things, such as collaborating with the other teams on our alliance and making some adjustments to make our robot a lot better.”

Programmers Malia Libby and Pak also gave the Autonomous Challenge a shot and came in second in a field of 11. They wrote the autonomous codes in ROBOTC to stack as many Skyrise Sections as possible within 60 seconds and scored 11 points.

At the end of the competition, 2437A was in 8th place, ahead of 31 other teams.

Team 2437B drove a new robot with a reverse 4-bar design. Its drivers, Lardizabal and Del Rosario, were the first drivers to practice since the robot had been completed only the day before the competition. It ranked in 23rd place.

When Pak and Graves did an oral presentation of 2437A’s design, team 2437A won the Design Award, qualifying the team for the HECO Hawaii States Championship on Jan. 9 and 10 on Maui.

Park said, “The judges were very impressed with their convincing presentation skills that they were sold on the design without even seeing the physical robot!”

Graves said, “I was completely baffled to find that we had won the design award. I was shocked at first and then very excited.  I was so proud of Aimee, Kristen for coaching Aimee and me through our preparation and me.  I hadn’t realized the magnitude of the presentation that we were giving and only prepared for about 20 minutes beforehand. To hear that we were going to states as a result completely took me by surprise. I have already started preparing and trying to piece together what I am going to say there.”

Park will host the annual East-Oahu VEX and VEX IQ Competitions beginning next school year at the Academy. He is confident that within the next couple of years, Lancer Robotics will become a VEX robotics powerhouse.

Two VEX IQ teams from grade 6 also competed in the VEX IQ competition. Both teams enjoyed the competition, hoping to do better for the next competition.