Robots battle it out at Cal U.
A Chartiers-Houston High School team member prepares their robot for battle.
Austin Kiger, a senior at Greene County Career Technology Center, makes adjustments to his team’s robot.
Robots line the competition ring waiting to do battle.
Teams must have their robots inspected before they can compete.
Within minutes of the start of their bout, Chartiers-Houston High School’s robot, CATillac, effectively incapacitated its competitor. The win moved the team to the second round, and consequently, the second day of fighting at the 10th annual BotsIQ competition at California University of Pennsylvania.
The two-day event transformed the university’s convocation center. Half of the building resembled a boxing match, the other half a mechanics workshop complete with the smell of lubricants and metal. This is the third year the convocation center hosted the event.
About 1,000 students from 60 schools opened the competition yesterday. Each team – there were 78 in total – were required to build a 15-pound robot to certain specifications. Once at the competition, robots had to pass an inspection before going head-to-head with other competitors in one of two enclosed arenas.
Some robots were destroyed in their bouts, requiring teams to make repairs and adjustments.
Scott McFarland, a co-captain for the Chartiers-Houston team, categorized their robot as a ramming robot.
“It is made to crush other bots and hold them up against a wall,” McFarland said.
The team placed fourth out of 31 teams in this year’s preliminary fighting. They are hoping to place or win of the several awards offered in their rookie year. The winners of today’s event will move onto the national competition May 15 and May 16 at Baldwin Wallace University in Ohio.
“We are doing better than expected,” he said.
Chartiers-Houston is one of 10 teams representing Washington and Greene counties schools.
Friday wasn’t a successful day for everyone. Some teams were sent home in the double elimination competition, and others, like Greene County Career and Technology Center, couldn’t get their robot to work.
“We had some technical difficulties,” team captain Austin Kiger said. “We haven’t been able to fight … We failed inspection and are trying to get everything fixed and do better.”
Kiger said the team placed 22nd overall last year. As a senior, he was hoping to surpass last year’s rank.
BotsIQ is a national program that provides high school students with hands-on, team experience. Southwestern Pennsylvania BotsIQ Executive Director William Padnos said the program allows for area companies to partner with high schools and cultivate a future workforce.
“We hope students understand the pathways,” he said.
The competition picks up back today at 9 a.m. and wraps up around 7 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. See a live stream of the competition here.