Half a semester into the new year, Gael Force Robotics are continuing where they left off last year. For the 2023-2024 season, the new game for the VEX Robotics Competition, an annual robotics competition hosted by VEX Robotics to foster skills in engineering and held at the local, regional, national, and world level among middle and high schoolers, is called Over and Under. The mechanics of the game are straightforward:  the field is divided up into an offensive and defensive section, and teams launch green Triballs with the robots they’ve developed from their defensive section to score in the goals. Each Triball scored into the goals is worth five points, while each Triball merely launched into the offensive zone is worth two points. 

There are also two bars on the edge of the field called Elevation Bars. At the end of the match, each robot will attempt to grasp onto the bars and lift themselves as high as possible off the ground. Points will then be given based on the robot’s height relative to the other robots. As with each match, it starts out with a 15-second fully autonomous period, and then drivers control their robots for one minute and forty-five seconds, trying to score the most points. 

5327S, a team competing in the VEX Robotics Competition, competed in the Bay Area Over and Under, and both 5237V and 5327K, two other competitors, competed in the Central Valley Over and Under. At their respective tournaments, 5327S and 5327V earned the Excellence Award, while 5327K earned the Design Award. The Excellence Award is one of the most prestigious awards available at regional VEX Robotics tournaments and rewards the overall performance of their robots, while the Design Award is given to the most efficient and effective robot design.

“I think our bot was simplistic enough that it’s reliable and clean enough to help our teammates,” remarked David Loo in response to his team winning the Design Award. David Loo is a junior at Dublin High and the captain of the 5327K team. “We made sure to consider everyone’s ideas on the team and keep testing out new prototypes to see what could be implemented in the best way to fit our bot and strategy through multiple iterations,” explained Atiksh Paul, captain of 5327S. 

The simplicity and teamwork Gael Force Robotics focused on during the first half of the semester have yielded great results. Let’s hope they can keep this up and continue to win awards at these tournaments!