Granby’s own G-4s 4-H Robotics team attended the world’s largest robotics competition and brought home an award. Over 13,000 teams from more than 50 countries competed to earn one of 1,000 invitations to the 16th annual VEX Robotics World Championship held in Dallas in April. The three-day championship required teams to play the 2022-23 game, Spin Up, presented by the Robotics Education and Competition Foundation.
Nathan Griswold, Ben Weber, both of Granby, and Catherine Stevens of Southwick make up the G-4s high school team. Colleen Brady, Michael Estrada and Ben Waterman, all of Granby, with Emma Doherty of Southwick and Brendan Vargas of Simsbury comprise the G-4s middle school team.
The G-4s began the season in August with a single objective: build a robot that will score more points than the opposition. This task kicked off over 200 hours of designing, building, programming and driving. In VEX Robotics, students are personally responsible for the entire process with only hands-off support from adult mentors. They must meet the challenge using both existing classroom knowledge and skills they learn along the way such as the engineering design process, game strategy and coding.
The most valuable lessons, however, might have nothing to do with building a robot. Skills like teamwork, communication, time management and adaptability are put to the test at VEX competitions. Teams are randomly paired in a one-time alliance for each game match. The two teams may be strangers and, at the international level, may not speak the same language. The G-4s proved they can form a winning partnership on-the-go by securing the Tournament Champion Award at three competitions.
The G-4s also came under the eye of judges. VEX Robotics teams submit an engineering notebook, a professional-level summary of the entire project, to a judging panel. They are also interviewed at least once per competition and should display a thorough knowledge of their process and a professional attitude. The Design Award recognizes an outstanding engineering notebook and interview. The Excellence Award, the highest award at VEX competitions, honors both the judged components and high competition rankings.
During the 2022-23 qualifying season, the G-4s earned the Design Award twice and the Excellence Award four times. The middle school team went on to win the Design Award at the Southern New England Regional Championship and again at the VEX Robotics World Championship.
The engineering notebook by the middle school G-4s contains a small statement that represents yet another giant undertaking: “This robot is equal to 33,041 bottles/cans!” About once a month the team members, along with families and mentors, gather to raise funding 5 cents at a time through community-supported bottle and can drives. The G-4s would like to thank everyone who has contributed bottles, cans, and financial donations. They also thank Granby Congregational Church for hosting their program and can drives. There would not be G-4s 4-H Robotics without you! Look for announcements of upcoming can drives on the Granby Green, in front of Granby Congregational Church, South Campus, and on social media.
To see more about this year’s challenge, go to vexrobotics.com/v5/competition/vrc-current-game
For more information and/or to inquire about openings on the teams, please contact Coach Rachael Manzer at rmanzer@hotmail.com