Pirate Robotics Wins Regional Competition
The West Carrollton High School Pirate Robotics team won the 2018 Greater Pittsburgh Regional competition held March 21-24. Winning the competition qualifies the team to compete at the World Championship competition in Detroit from April 25-28.
Work began in January when FIRST Robotic teams from across the world learned the challenges their robot would face during competitions. Teams had six weeks to construct their robot and develop a marketing plan. Students spent time after school and on weekends working together with coaches before the “stop build” day.
The competition season for the Pirates included a regional tournament at the Wright State Nutter Center in early March where the team was chosen as the 7th overall pick in the first round and finished 45th place overall. Points are earned for different actions and strategies the robot performs.
In Pittsburgh, Pirate Robotics was ranked 35th out of 52 teams after the qualification matches, but was in second place for total “vault” points which was the team’s chosen strategy. During the playoff selection, the 2nd place team picked Pirate Robotics to join their alliance including a team from New Jersey and a team from Pennsylvania. In the playoffs, Pirate Robotics only lost one match and eventually won the event!