Gambled... and Won

By: Kelly Carlson

     Plasma Robotics traveled to Nevada April 3-6 to attend the Las Vegas Regional and returned home a top winner of the Nevada Regional Engineering Inspiration Award and a finalist for the World Championships in St. Louis, Mo. April 25-27. After attending the Arizona Regional two weeks prior and winning an award for outstanding programming skills, the team nearly ended their season.

     “We felt that the time and effort we put into the robot was not reflected in our overall performance at the Arizona Regional. Although we were extremely grateful to be awarded the Innovation in Control Award, we knew we could perform at a higher level if we had the ability to attend another regional,” said senior Garret Thompson.
     In just six days, the team fundraised $4,000 and coordinated travel arrangements to attend the Las Vegas Regional. The Las Vegas Regional is arguably the second hardest regional on the West Coast (just behind San Diego.) The reason it is so hard is because of the competitiveness of the teams that attend. However, that didn't slow down the team. Throughout the competition, they stayed in the top 10, often ranked first, out of the 47 teams competing. For the playoffs, Plasma Robotics was the captain for the second seed alliance (2nd place). This was the highest rank the team ever held.
     “Being ranked so high felt like standing on top of the world,” said junior Luke Ehrke. “Some of the best teams in FIRST history were looking at us as a leading and extremely competitive team. We couldn’t have been happier.”
     Throughout the final matches, the team and alliance (compete 3 robots against 3 robots) competed and won the second place title of the competition. As alliance captains of the second place spot, Plasma Robotics was awarded a "wild card" that granted them a place at the World Championships. Not only that, Plasma Robotics won arguably the hardest award to receive called the “Engineering Inspiration Award.”  The Engineering Inspiration Award recognizes outstanding efforts in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering across the winning team's community. The recipient shows measurable success in recruiting students, leading outreach efforts, and communicating the mission of FIRST. Their efforts are ongoing, not strictly concentrated on the build and competition season. Inspiring others to respect science and technology requires knowledge and commitment; FIRST celebrates these qualities by presenting its Engineering Inspiration Award.
     “Receiving the Engineering Inspiration Award was the happiest moment of my participation in FIRST,” said junior Kelly Carlson. “The fact that the judges chose us, among all the other teams, and the compliments they gave us while we were on the field receiving the award were absolutely amazing. It made all the hard work of the season worth it.”
     This is the second year in a row the team will be attending the World Championships.
     “We’ve seen that we’ve gotten better at each consecutive regional, so we are expecting to do well on our field,” said junior Sam Woolington. “Our goal is to make it to at least the quarter finals.”