On 25 March, Funny Wonders’ High Peak Youth Robotics youth group travelled to Sheffield Hallam University to take part in the FIRST Tech Challenge regional competition (officially the Yorkshire & Humber Qualifying Tournament).
They were one of fifteen teams to compete, and the only one not based in a school – they are only one of four community-based teams in England this year.
Before competing, their robot had to undergo regulation checks, to ensure it was safe to use, within the required dimensions and not breaching a variety of other rules. Safely passing all these checks, the group then had to present an engineering portfolio in front of a panel of judges and answer their questions.
The group then participated in five qualifying matches, each paired with another competing team, in what is called an ‘alliance’, playing against two other teams in an alliance. This aids communication and cooperation with others and the opportunity for complimentary team tactics. Despite worrying that the more experienced, school-based teams would have superior robots with practice time, having more than just an hour and a half each week to work on their robot, at the end of the qualifying matches, High Peak Youth Robotics ranked first!
Following these matches came the knock-outs. The group were now able to choose their team alliance. Unfortunately, their chosen partner had several malfunctions during the matches, meaning their alliance didn't win, coming in second place; but this is still an incredible achievement for a first-year team.
In addition to winning a finalist alliance award, for placing second, the group also won the ‘Think Award’ for “removing engineering obstacles through creative thinking”. It was their engineering portfolio that was key in the judges awarding this.
Team captain, Nat Lawson, 17, said “I am very pleased with the results of the regionals and I am thankful for all the effort that my whole team has put in. I am confident that my team will perform to a high standard in the nationals.”
Funny Wonders Team Lead, Dave Lydford (of Brick Corner and FIRST LEGO League veteran), added, “It has been a pleasure to be involved in this project and to experience coaching a team in a new challenge. Working with a different robotics kit has allowed us to develop more complex and resilient engineered solutions and the group have learned so much in terms of engineering, coding and teamwork. We attended the regional event never expecting to compete at the level of some really experienced teams. It was also great to demonstrate how a community group could participate successfully at this level. We are looking forward to attending the national final and both the challenge and opportunities this will bring.”
The national championships will be held in London at the Copper Box Arena on 26 and 27 June. The group need to raise further funds so that they can hold workshops to improve the robot and practice ahead of the event. If you would like to sponsor the team, please donate via the GoFundMe account – www.gofundme.com/f/high-peak-youth-robotics-compete-in-the-first-tech-challenge.
You can find out more about the group on the Funny Wonders website: www.funnywonders.org.uk.