ONTARIO — The Stellar Robotics team has come a long way in three years of competition.
The troop revealed its robot M-54, to the world Tuesday night at Ontario Christian Church during Stellar Robotics 2017 Robot Reveal.
“Each build season has been unique in how our robot came together,” said Chantal DeYoe, the Stellar Robotics group leader. “This year was unique because we have a major component we want to work on for competition.”
Chantal said the students are working on building a shooting function to upgrade the robot before the first competition March 9 to 11 in Springfield.
After its reveal, the robot is to remain untouched in a sealed bag before each competition, but teams are allotted time to upgrade their robots before the match begins.
This year’s competition, First Steam Works, a competition where the students figured the best way to score points was by picking up large gears worth five points.
“Without any trouble, we as a team figured getting gears was the best way to earn points and therefore win matches,” said Orion DeYo, a lead member for Stellar. “I believe this robot will be one of the fastest robots at competitions, that definitely will help us score more gears in the match.”
Chantal said the team’s usage of the shooter upgrade exemplifies how the team has grown and mastered its game since its rookie season. The team has learned to make the robot accessible for repairs and upgrades during the competitive portion of the season.
In Stellar’s first year, the team went as far as the world championships, three-year veteran Gabby Allen said. The team continued its success earning Excellence in Engineering, an award given to a team for a specific mechanism on a robot.
“Last year we won it for our climbing mechanism,” the 17-year-old homeschool junior said. “On the towers at the end of the field last year there were bars the robot had to climb on to. Ours climbed it in under three seconds without fail each time. It was fast. it was effective.”
Stellar also won the Judges Award in 2016, which is given for judges appreciation for the robot and to recognize the thought, dedication and hard work put in by students.
Though Stellar did not repeat in advancing to the World Championships last year, Gabby said she and the team expects good results this year.
“Last year we needed one more step that we didn’t get too,” she said. “I think we have a good chance at being able to get back there this year.
“There’s two awards that aren’t related to the robot that could get us to the champs: The Chairmen’s Award and the Engineer’s Inspiration (Award). I think we have a really strong chance of getting both of those awards just because of the influence we’ve had in our community and the influence we’ve had for education and the passion for first we’ve been spreading around Richland County.”
