Kennett Coders to compete in NH State Robotics Championships on Saturday – Conway Daily Sun

By Ron Sandstrom Special to The Conway Daily Sun

Team 5106c, conisting of Chani Mores and Kate Keefe, are one of five Kennett robotics squads. (COURTESY PHOTO)CONWAY The Kennett High Coders are on a roll, with all five Coder robotics teams qualifying for the New England Championships.

Qualifying teams are: Team 5106A sophomore Lucas Glasshart and freshman David Sheehan; Team 5106B juniors Richard Chavez, Tyler James and Carter Stevens; Team 5106C freshmen Chani Mores and Kate Keefe; Team 5106E juniors Matt Ballou, Justin Barrett and Taylor Bouchard; and Team 5106Z seniors Clyne Sullivan and Andrew Belle-Isle.

Kennett has qualified for the VEX World Championships in four out of the last five years. They hope to make it five. This week, the Coders will be competing Saturday at Manchester Community College in the 2017 NH/VT VEX Robotics State Championships.

This year's competition is called Star Struck, and teams compete by guiding their robots to hurl 12-inch stars and 14-inch cubes over a fence into the scoring zone of their opponents. At the same time, opponent alliance teams return the favor by hurling the stars and cubes back over the fence.

A big part of this year's design challenge is to create a robot that can effectively lift these scoring objects and deliver them faster than the opponent robots can deliver them back.

All robots must start the event and measure into an 18-inch-by-18-inch box. After starting, the robots can expand to a larger size, something all the competitive robots do. All robots are limited to a fixed set of motors and equipment, making the design process a critical component of success.

Software makes the robots come alive. At Kennett, the robotics team focuses on making the software smarter and more efficient than any other team. An example of this is the auto-shoot functionality used by multiple Kennett teams. For instance, the auto-shoot code will hunt a scoring object, pick it up and spin toward the fence, and then execute a toss and flick while releasing the scoring object exactly at the right time.

With a goal of returning to the World Championships for the fifth consecutive year, the team must win the state championships or win the design or excellence award at the event. Another way to reach the worlds is to be one of the top 50 teams in the world in skills ranking.

As of now, Coders Team 5106C (Mores and Keefe) is ranked 64th in the world in skills, with two weeks to improve that score. Other Kennett teams are ranked 487th, 1,627th and 3,053th in world rankings.

Over the course of the season, Kennett teams have been in the finals of each of the five events in which they have competed.

Last weekend, Mores and Keefe won the final event before the state championships and moved into third in the state in total skills points. Over the season, they won two judges awards, an excellence award, a design award and two event championships.

Not to mention, with 52 teams voting at the Pembroke competition, the team won the inspire award the team most inspirational to the other teams. Impressive for a freshman team to pull off. The two girls were part of the middle school robotics club last year.

Most Kennett teams have been working on their robots several afternoons a week for the past two months. 5106E started work last spring.

Going into the New Hampshire Wrap-Up Tournament, two Kennett teams had yet to qualify. With the pressure on, both teams arrived ready to compete. Team 5106B (Chavez, James and Stevens) opened their tool kits and began immediate surgery on their robot, working to make last-minute improvements.

Both teams' updates resulted in improved performance in the matches and the robot skills field. It was great to see 5106A and 5106B qualify for the state championships. 5106A also was the top qualifier from the elimination rounds while 5106B who focused on skills made a remarkable jump to score enough points to move to eighth in the state.

At end of the qualifying rounds, all the Kennett Teams at the match were competing in the championship rounds. With five teams in the state championships, Kennett's chances are improved.

Coaches for the 2016-2017 season are Daniel Richardi and Joe Riddensdale, and mentors are Chris Ballou, Laura Glasshart and Ron Sandstrom.

High school robotics programs rely on mentors, volunteers and sponsors such as Big Dave's Bagels, Dunkin' Donuts, Brandli's Pizza, Flatbread Pizza, Kennett High School, the Mt Washington Valley Economic Council, the Masons, Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club, Whitehorse Press, RLSAND Inc and individual contributions.

Donations to support Kennett High School robotics club would be much appreciated. They can be sent to: MWVFirst, c/o MWV Economic Council (Diane Ryan), 53 Technology Lane, Suite 100, Conway, NH 03818. Checks should be made payable to MWVFirst.

Ron Sandstrom of Madison is one of three mentors for the Kennett Coders robotics teams.

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Kennett Coders to compete in NH State Robotics Championships on Saturday - Conway Daily Sun