PETERBOROUGH — Superintendent Kimberly Rizzo Saunders and Principal Katherine Foecking are pleased to announce that Great Brook School’s robotics team, the Awesome Potatoes, attended the Vex Robotics World Championship last month.
The team traveled to Dallas, Texas from May 7 to 10 to participate in the competition alongside 791 teams from 40 nations. Awesome Potatoes is comprised of sixth-graders Josie Hodsdon, Mallory Mason, Fiona McKinney, Gwyneth Moritz, Elena Spinale, and Jayla Syrotchen.
Students competed in the Skills Competition, finishing in the top 10 percent of the 719 teams in the Autonomous portion. To succeed in this portion, students used their coding skills to program robots to successfully perform game objectives without manual input from team members. This competition was also a chance for students to showcase their robot’s capabilities for autonomous navigation.
Students also took part in 10 VEX IQ Pitching In Team Qualification Matches in which they were randomly paired with another team. The goal of the challenge was to score as many points in the allotted 60 seconds. Points were scored by directing their robots to collect balls distributed around a six by eight-foot playing field and pitching them or pushing them into goals. Teams scored additional points by directing their robots to hook onto one of the game elements and lift itself off the ground at the end of the match. The team utilized the times between matches to meet with their partners, devise strategies that best took advantage of each robot’s strengths, and conduct practice matches together to hone the combined skills.
The championship’s closing ceremony included the reveal of next school year’s challenge, the 2022-2023 VEX IQ Challenge Slapshot. This challenge involves a robot collecting small hockey-like pucks from various game elements which must be shot beneath a bar into a scoring zone.
“Our team’s performance was particularly impressive given that it was their first year of competitive robotics and that they are a group of sixth graders participating in a middle school competition that was made up overwhelmingly of teams of seventh and eighthgraders,” said Team Coach Rick Mellin. “All of Great Brook School’s robotics teams are very excited to embark on the new season and perform well, especially since New Hampshire has a strong hockey tradition.”
The team qualified for the 2021-2022 World Championship following its exceptional performance at the New Hampshire/Vermont VEX IQ Pitching in Challenge State Championship, which was held in February in Manchester.
Great Brook School wishes to thank the ConVal School Board for appropriating funding to allow the team to attend the World Championship.
“This was a truly exciting opportunity for these middle school students. They competed on a world stage, and connected with other teams from all over the world. The enthusiasm and maturity that the girls showed engaging with other teams was truly impressive,” Principal Foecking said.
About the VEX Robotics World Championship
Throughout the 2021-2022 school year, more than 8,500 teams from 45 countries competed in local, state, regional and national 2021-2022 VEX IQ Pitching In Challenge competitions for a chance to qualify for the Vex Robotics World Championship.
The World Championship serves as an opportunity for the robotics community to unite and celebrate STEM and partake in competitive matches. During the events, student-led teams will showcase their game strategy, design, and teamwork skills.
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