His face was slightly deflated when he put his giant arm around her and thanked her for all she did for the Laurel High School robotics team, “EF5 Chaos.”
Rayquan Gardner and his Laurel teammates were participating in the school’s first robotics competition, and understandably, it was an uphill challenge. After all, there were 37 high school teams from eight states and Mexico, and some have fielded teams for 20-plus years.
That’s when Carolyn Arthurs, Regional Director for FIRST Robotics, looked up at Gardner and put things into a fitting perspective.
“I told him, ‘You and your team worked hard and you got here, and that is amazing! Look how far you have come, and next year, you will come back stronger from what you have learned,’” Arthurs said.
Gardner said, “Oh, yes ma’am, we will.”
FIRST is a global robotics community that prepares young people for the future. On Saturday, the Magnolia Regional Competition took place at The Magnolia Center in Laurel for the second consecutive year. Winners from this tournament will advance to the World Championship in Houston, Texas.
EF5 Chaos is led by LHS teachers James Jackson and his wife Tifanee Jackson. The 16-member team meets in the lab after school three days per week to design, build and program industrial-sized robots to compete in a different field game at each competition.
“It’s such a huge learning experience,” Tifanee Jackson said. “The students built the robot from the ground up themselves beginning in January, and they did all the work themselves — coding, programming, design and construction.”
In January, FIRST Robotics sent all competing teams the base kit of components for the robot as well as the instructions for what the robot would need to do at the competition. Since then, the Laurel team faced obstacles in finding places to practice, obtaining resources and funding.
“And we have been able to overcome all of that,” LHS robotics teacher James Jackson said. “It has been really cool to see their wheels turning and to just get better and to figure it out and get better and better.”
Saturday’s competition, named Crescendo, was played out on the floor of The Magnolia Center with six speeding, whirling robots per match zooming about a rectangular rink, picking up bright orange rings and tossing them into a tall bin at either end of the arena. Strategy, such as blocking the opponents’ robots and maneuvering to get the most opportunities to toss a ring, were at a premium.
“We have had a lot of difficulties since we got here Thursday,” EF5 Chaos member Maitin Laimez said. “A lot of things have gone wrong, but we were able to get through everything. The other teams have been really helpful to us with some of our issues, lending us tools, giving us tips.”
In their first match of the competition, the EF5 Chaos robot did not move at all. It just sat there, nonfunctional. While disappointed, the team dug in and got to work figuring out what issues needed to be corrected. Some might have thrown their hands up in the air and given up. But not the Tornadoes. Perhaps that made Laurel the biggest winner of the entire competition.
“From watching them (Laurel) walk in the door on the first day, and looking at them now — it is a night-and-day difference even in just two days,” Arthurs said. “Just a couple of months ago, the Laurel kids didn’t even know about this. And just a few weeks later, here they are — competing.”
Laimez said, “For us, it is our first year and most of our matches were against veterans. So we had to just try not to get discouraged out there.”
Instead, the team used the entire experience as a learning opportunity. And they were fortunate to have two outstanding teams located on either side of their assigned pit area. On the left of Laurel was the San Diego, Calif., team Spyder, an experienced team with Silicon valley sponsors and one that has already earned a spot in the world championship. On the opposite side was the Cerbotics team from Torreon, Mexico, which finished the competition second overall.
Both experienced teams were more than willing to lend tools and expertise to the rookie Laurel team as needed. It is something the FIRST Robotics community calls “coopertition,” meaning this is one competition in which everyone helps each other become better.
“We focus on the whole person,” Arthurs said, now in her 14th year as regional director. “Gracious professionalism and coopertition is the biggest takeaway. And the biggest award of the night is the Impact Award — presented to the team that makes the biggest outreach in their community.”
The Denham Venom from Denham Springs, La., was the overall winner and the Rockets from Athens, Ala., won rookie Impact Award. They will advance to the world championships in Houston along with the S.S. Prometheus team from Mandeville, La.
Stringer High School and Bay Springs High School joined forces and presented their first robotics team, Jasper County Robotics, as well.
The EF5 Chaos team was sponsored by NASA, Mississippi Power, Masonite Corp. and Phillips Building Supply.
The regional competition will return to the Magnolia Center next March for the third time.
For sponsorship opportunities, email carthurs@firstinspires.org.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7rbHAnZyrZZOWua16wqikaKaVrMBwstGenJimlazAcK%2FHmqasZZmjeq2t1KucpWWYnrSpedJmnaKqo6l6s7vBqKuim6NisLC5z56roqyZpLtwrdGtoJyklZSwpHyWnpqecF2agnaEjGponp1dl4OkroydaptrkmquprGQbG1noKSiuQ%3D%3D