Top 20 finish by High Peak Youth Robotics team at the FTC National Championships!
High Peak Youth Robotics’ senior team ‘Peak Bots’ qualified for the UK championships of the FIRST Tech Challenge after being in the 2-team alliance which won the final match at their regional compeition on 25 March, placing third of the 11 competing teams – read about our day at regionals here.
7 of the 8 members of the Peak Bots team (along with 4 of the Funny Wonders team plus numerous parents) travelled to London to compete at the Copper Box Arena over 21-22 April. Many attended last year’s national event also, after qualifying in their ‘rookie year’ (read about last year here).
A total of 49 teams attended, competing in two divisions. Peak Bots were one of three teams from the East Midlands & Yorkshire region to qualify, alongside a team from Bolton, Itkan, who were in our competition winning alliance, and Mercia, a school in Sheffield, hosts of this year’s scrimmage event and the overall winners at regionals after all aspects of the challenge were considered.
The team arrived and set-up in their designated pit area, checked the robot was working in their practice area, and took to their seats for the ‘opening ceremony’.
The robot was then inspected, to ensure it conformed to all the competition rules and restrictions, and the team went to present their portfolio to the judges. No pictures of this, as no accompanying adults are allowed!
Following this, the team had a practice match, which they won – a good confidence boost for the matches ahead.
Towards the end of Day 1, the team played 2 of their 7 qualification matches, both of which they won, alongside their alliance teams (122-74 and 76-35), and finished the day with a ranking of 6th out of the 24 teams in their division.
Day 2 began with discussing tactics with their new alliance teams and playing their remaining 5 qualification matches. They won the next 3 matches (138-22, 94-58, and 112-92) but then narrowly lost their 6th match (90-100), due to their alliance team having a malfunction. Their final qualification match was also a narrow loss (78-99). With 5 wins of 7, they ended the qualifiers ranked 6th of 24 teams, holding their position at the end of Day 1, and so progressed to the play-off matches.
Whilst alliance teams in the qualification matches were randomly assigned, those in the play-offs could be selected by the teams themselves, so Peak Bots captain, Nat, went to the division waiting area with other captains to choose their alliances. Peak Bots teamed up with the 5th ranked team, C.L.ANKERS, a team from London.
Ahead of the play-offs, members of the team spoke to the judges and, along with Activity Lead, Dave Lydford, were interviewed by event sponsors, Bloomberg, regarding our participation as a community-based team from a rural area. Only 5 of the 49 attending were community-based, so we’re still a minority in the FTC world.
Unfortunately, Peak Bots lost both their play-off matches with C.L.ANKERS, so did not progress to the latter stages of the play-offs.
Overall, after considering robot performance, portfolio and judging for the various awards, Peak Bots finished a very respectable 19th of 49 teams (across the two divisions) with 28 points. They placed as the highest-ranked East Midlands & Yorkshire team and came 12th of 49 on match performance alone! This is a huge achievement and major improvement on last year’s nationals showing, when they only won 1 match, demonstrating what can be achieved through perseverance and giving it another go. A MASSIVE well done to Peak Bots!
“With the unexpected invitation to nationals, we held ourselves at 6th in our division. Being in the top 20 in the UK, shows how far the team has come.”
Nat, Peak Bots team captain
This season has been a huge step forward for Peak Bots. From their strong performance at regionals, to finishing in the top 20 nationally, the team has shown real commitment, resilience and growth. It was great to see them at nationals where they competed with confidence, worked brilliantly with their alliance partners, and demonstrated just how far they’ve come this season. Its testament to the teamwork and commitment that they have potentially qualified for an international event now.”
Dave Lydford, Activity Lead
Our thanks to the team’s parents (and Mercia) for transporting the team down to London, to everyone who donated to help get the team and robot there, and to our sponsors and funders for supporting the workshops which got them to this point:
BlueSpark Foundation, Buxton4Youth, Duke of Devonshire Charitable Trust, Derbyshire County Council Community Leadership Fund, High Peak Borough Council Councillor Initiative Fund, Neater Solutions Ltd, Buxton Lime, Tarmac Tunstead, Altrad Belle, Buxton Rotary Club, SCAN Computers, Derbyshire Freemasons, FIRST UK, Smart Engineering UK
What an adventure! And it may not be over quite yet. We await to hear if the team has qualified for an international event!
