Chamblee’s VEX Robotics program has been historically strong, sending teams to the VEX Robotics World Championships in several years past. This year, two teams will be competing in the massive competition hosted in Dallas, Texas. The qualification comes after a lot of hard work and commitment in tournaments that have taken place throughout the school year. Both teams are immensely proud of their performance to be able to participate in such an event.
“[When] we started out the season, Owen and I were the only ones with any prior experience because [we’d] been in VEX for two years. […] But besides that, no one else on our team had any other experience. So […] we knew that we were starting off with a bunch of new people,” said junior Jonah Nicpon (‘23), captain for one of the qualifying teams.
Despite starting off with a brand new team, Nicpon’s team performed well throughout the season, qualifying for Worlds based on their skills score. In addition, the team won an excellence award at the Georgia VEX State Championship.
“They called us [for the excellence award] and we were really, really surprised. […] I don’t want to say there were better teams, but we just didn’t expect it,” said Nicpon. “It was really surprising. So we kind of went crazy.”
The award could have at least partially been given because of less well-known parts of the VEX competition.
“I think we did really good at the interview, which is probably why we got excellence,” said sophmore Carol Li (‘24). “But in the actual robot matches, we actually didn’t do that well.”
The team owes its successful season to effective teamwork.
“The way we coordinated as a team and worked together was, I think, one of the deciding factors of how we did so well at States. So the team has just grown together and we’ve all learned how to work together at VEX,” said junior Neathan Aresh (‘23), another member of Nicpon’s team.
The other team that qualified for Worlds was more of an underdog, with two of its members preoccupied with school for the majority of the season.
“I’ve been really busy this year with college apps and everything,” said senior Avaye Dawadi (‘22). “So I don’t think we worked on the robot as much as we probably wanted to.”
At the state competition, however, Dawadi’s team not only qualified for Worlds, but also made it as a tournament finalist.
“As long as you are in basically roughly the top 10, top 13, [for skills score], you can make it to Worlds. So that was our goal going into it, which we got looking back,” said Dawadi. “But also some things went our way, the stars aligned, and we were able to be tournament finalists.”
This team also felt that their teamwork was a significant factor in their success.
“Everyone’s learning, everyone’s helping out, and everyone has their own roles in which they specialize,” said senior Edwin Lee (‘22), a member of Dawadi’s team.
In preparation for the big competition, both teams are upgrading their bots using what they learned from the season.
“We’re doing a full rebuild,” said Nicpon. “We’re doing a differential drive train. It’s completely different.”
Improvements seek to allow the bot to perform better at competition tasks, such as picking up goals and maneuvering around.
“Now we’re trying to take into play trying to pick up two goals at once,” said Lee. “And also making our drive train a lot stronger to be able to ram against other teams and to be able to just move around a lot faster.”
Online resources can also assist in ideas for robot improvements.
“There’s a lot of videos and forum posts out there that I can look at and use to build the robots. So it’s a little bit easier at this point in the year. I know I can’t build a bot that will win Worlds, but I feel like if I can make something consistent, I can go there, have fun, do relatively well, which is my only goal if I’m really honest about it,” said Dawadi.
Hopefully, the teams will continue their excellent performance with a good finish in their division in Dallas.
“I think we’re aiming for top 25, which I think is doable,” said Aresh.
For some members, the qualification is a great achievement in itself, especially considering the cancellation of the event in recent years due to COVID-19.
“I didn’t make it to Worlds [my first] year, and the next two years it’s been canceled. So I’m obviously really excited,” said Dawadi. “I just want to go there and be able to experience it, meet people from other states and other countries. For me, it’s just about being able to go to it.”
Worlds, true to its name, draws in talented students from across the planet.
“The best part about it isn’t really the performance. Of course, you are going against some of the top teams literally […] in the world. So it’s going to be a fun ride,” said Lee. “But really it’s those diverse perspectives that you can get from other students across, let’s say, East Asia, like in China and Korea, also across teams from Europe and also teams from the United States that we don’t meet on a daily basis, like teams in California, teams in New York, teams in Texas. So it’s being able to talk to these people [and walk] through their design process, their build process, and seeing how, let’s say, their culture […] industries in their countries influence their design. So it’s really just getting to talk to people and learning from them as well.”