FTC Robotics Ends Season on High Note on Valentine’s Day

By Co-Chair of Science Department George Austin
The FTC Robotics teams started their February Recess a little later than most everyone else. After staying at school past 11 p.m. on Friday night to set up for hosting the Chicago League Tournament at Parker, they were back at 7:30 a.m. the next day to compete.

Both Parker’s veteran and rookie teams had success overcoming challenges during the qualification matches. The rookie team won the first four of their five matches by playing tenacious defense, blocking shots one after another from two other teams’ robots. The veteran team won the Control Award, which celebrates teams using sensors and software to enhance robot functionality, reliability and innovation during autonomous and teleoperated periods. An additional treat was the Volunteer of the Year award going to Devyn Keeney, who has mentored the Parker teams in the past and is one of the founders and organizers of CRI, the Chicago Robotics Invitational, an international premier event that Parker hosts every summer.

Photos and videos of both teams in action are available in this album and information about their respective journeys is in each engineering portfolio: 3507-Veteran team and 9410-Rookie team. The two teams will come together to teach and learn in preparation for next year, as well as get ready to host CRI this summer.

Also on the horizon, the US ROV underwater robotics team is revving up to compete in their first competition in May.

Go Robotic Colonels!