SABEST/UIL Robotics Competition

This will be the first year Uvalde High School competes in the SABEST Robotics competition!

SABEST is San Antonio Boosting Engineering, Science, and Technology, an organization helping students of all ages to become involved in the fields of engineering, science, and technology by problem solving via the world of robotics.

The goal of the competition is for students to create a water rover/robot to collect the plastic items in the water. The plastic items have multiple purposes, first they will used to determine the effects on the marine life, and second, blocks of 4-of-a-kind will be assembled to rebuild the local reefs and aid the affected ecosystems.

The team is a young team, and this is their first time participating in SABEST competition, and also part of University Interscholastic League (UIL) team for Uvalde High School. The team took the name Coyotech, which is also the name of the program at school, under the direction of coach Roberto Cantu.

Roster:

Christian Weigand - Builder

Esteban Guereca - Designer

Connor Jones - Programmer

Zach Martinez - Public Relations

All of them supported each other in the different aspects of the competition and through out the preparations.

The students are responsible for all aspects of the robot, from the design to the fabrication of it. The materials where provided by SA BEST organization, and the tools provided by the coach and students.

The team has worked diligently for six weeks after school and on Sundays, and during the Fall Break Vacation to designing the concept, then creating a prototype, and finally build the actual robot for the competition.

The students used their skills as Engineering students to problem solve issues that came about due to staff, design, and production. Each challenge required them to communicate and come to census as to the actions that needed to be taken. Each team member has their own personality, and not all worked well together, yet they collaborated well as a team; these six weeks have shown them what it means to work toward a common goal!

Demo Day was an opportunity for all the teams to meet in an informal setting and share their ideas. Many teams shared ideas with each other, and shared how they each tackled their own issues and challenges.

Our team was bit intimidated by the idea of showing up and finding out their ideas and understanding of the game were completely off. To their surprise their ideas were just as innovating and effective as those presented by veteran teams that had experience in this competition.

Saturday was the day for the team to do the Marketing Presentation to a panel of judges to explain how they came up with their solution and how the school, community, and others provided support. Then the team was allowed to set up their table demonstration for judging during the Game Day, Sunday. The robot also went through an inspection to verify that the design and structure was up to par with the rules for the competition.

The team entered for their Marketing Presentation at 10 in the morning, and afterwards the team expressed that they were nervous and they did the best they could. Due to their inexperience mistakes were expected, yet they felt that the information they gave and answers to the judges' questions presented them as competent team!

Then to their surprise, they would not be able to set up the table demonstration till inspection started, which was scheduled from three to six, in the afternoon. This presented an issue, due to still needing to work on the robot and prepare for the Game Day. At this point the team did not know if the robot would be able to function, or if it would be able to move.

The team was fortunate enough to be invited by the coach of St. Antony's Catholic High School to work at their shop until it was time for inspection. Mr. Morin and his Steel Jackets welcomed the Coyotech team with open arms and offered all the assistance and feedback possible to complete the build.

The robot, named "Mark", was completed as far as the build of the actual robot, and the programming remained to be tested, and controls finalized. The inspection reveled that the robot needed some modifications, due to having duct tape on some parts that it was not allowed to have, and some sharp edges deemed dangerous from some screws on the body. Plus, Mark was to heavy to one side, and without any other materials, the team had to figure out how to correct the issue, they received advice from the coach from Holy Cross of San Antonio, regarding an additional item that could be used to help; pennies, we were allowed to add up to 25 pound of pennies to the robot. The changes for inspection were done and the team left the arena for the day, and to find pennies during the afternoon, and only two dollars of pennies were able to be acquired for the modifications.

After dinner and a break from the work, the mapping of the controls and practice happened at the hotel, where the team worked till midnight to bring Mark to life. Also, to fix the counter weight issue, which the team addressed by changing the positions of the weights to make more of an impact on the balancing of the robot. The team succeeded in correcting the balancing to a degree, making the arm move, and all components responded to the commands. With those successes the team retired for the night.

Sunday was the actual game day, and experience, to see the robots in action!

The game day started at 8AM at St. Mary University in San Antonio, TX.

The exact location:

St. Mary's University

Auxiliary Gym

1 Camino Santo Maria

San Antonio, Texas 78228

Game was something that one needed to be there to understand the RUSH!

This had to be the equivalence of walking onto a football field on a Friday Night!

44 Schools set up for the rounds to determine the teams that would advance to the playoffs and then to the finals. Each school wanting to earn points toward the overall ranking for the BEST Awards, which determined which schools advanced to state competition!

The BEST Award is a compilation of the results from five domains:

-Engineering Notebook (30 points)

-Marketing Presentation (25 points)

-Team Exhibit and Interviews (20 points)

-Spirit and Sportsmanship (10 points)

-Robot Performance (15 points)

For a total of 100 points, which would determine the over standing of the teams at the competition!

The team had submitted their notebook during the Demo Day event.

The marketing presentation is the one that was completed the previous morning, and the interview was conducted during the game portion of the day at a previously determined time; this part was handled by Connor Jones, and handled it like a champion.

The team's spirit and sportsmanship were judged during the entire competition. Looking at how the team interacted with other teams, and how they handled the challenges that came up as the competition carried on throughout the day. The team forged friendships with various teams, which included Stacey High School, St. Anthony's Catholic High School, Stevens High School, Holy Cross of San Antonio, and others.

Finally, the competition kicked off after the drivers, the students actually controlling the robots, where given and orientation about the rules and expectations. The schools where scheduled to play six round to determine the seeding for the playoffs, and then the finals. The team was faced with a challenge at each round, and they had to use their problem solving skills to find a solution to the issue and prepare for the next round, which were about six to nine minutes apart. The first issue was that the robot seemed to have disconnected from the remote controls and froze during the first round. During the second round, Mark froze again, and when attempting to use the arm the major joint broke and had to be repaired in between rounds. The third round proved to be as difficult, and made the student realize that the weight had been the issue, and it caused the axle to come loose on the drive wheel, which froze Mark again.

At this point in the competition the team was frustrated and need to make a drastic decision. They decided to swap the wheel motor for a larger motor, and repair the wheel by duct taping the wheel to the axle. Then they accepted that their arm design was also too flawed to repair, and removed it to have mobility to keep a chance of scoring point in the remaining rounds. The gamble proved correct, when they finally scored points during the second round, by focusing on identifying the current, by collaborating with the other teams in the round. The fifth round proved a bit difficult due to a mistake when mounting the robot for the game, and not seeing that a face plate had been removed causing issues gathering the information to identify the new current. The final round was a successful round due to being able to score points again, and collaborating with the other teams.

For the Game portion the team was seeded 25 out of 39 schools that took part. This meant that we did not place for the playoffs, and our participation for the game had come to an end. We still stayed for the playoffs, and cheered for the schools that had given us support, and with who we had made a connection with. We left after the playoffs, due to hunger, and an need to get home, the team had school the next morning.

During the evening, they results were posted and it was reveled that the team had received the "Blood, Sweat, and Duct Tape" Award. This award it given to the team that "gives their all" to the project. Meaning, "a team that all works together with a great attitude, little resources, and never gives up. This award is for the team that does the most with what they have."

The following day the final standings where published and it reveled that the team's overall ranking was 20th of the 39 schools that took part!

Coyotech would like to give a final thank you, to all, for their time, efforts, and help. This competition is the starting point of what seems to be great future for the team and has sparked the want of the students and coach to excel and keep moving forward toward new knowledge and skills!

This chapter is over, but the adventure is still being written!

Robotics Club and Program at Uvalde High School under the coaching of Roberto Cantu

Email: rcantu3722@uvaldecisd.net
Website: uhs.ucisd.net
Location: 1 Coyote Trail, Uvalde, TX, USA
Phone: 830.591.2950