Portledge School’s Upper School robotics classes are nearing the end of building, coding, testing, and redesigning their competition robots before the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) qualifier competition on January 28th at Syosset High School.

This year’s competition is called Velocity Vortex and consists of three periods per round: “Autonomous,” “Driver Controlled” and “End Game.”

During the 30 second Autonomous period, student robots will execute preprogrammed routines to try to complete specific tasks, like parking in a designated area or moving game elements from one location to another.

Things get even more exciting in the Driver Controlled period when students pick up game controllers to drive their robots, attempting a number of new tasks, including shooting balls into an elevated target.

During the End Game, students can continue to try to score points available during the Driver Controlled period, or they can attempt to pick up and raise the Cap Ball (21 inches in diameter, weighing just under 2 pounds) completely Off of the Playing Field Floor and either keep it raised until the end of the Match or they can place it on a raised platform about 3 feet off the ground. They will receive points based on how high it is raised or if it is "capped."

This will be Portledge’s fourth year participating in the competition, but its first year bringing three teams. FTC Team 7417 is made up of students: Sander Davis '17, Josh Yoder '18, Taylor Della Vecchia '18, Max Murphy '17 and Kyle Chang '17. FTC Team 8818 is made up of students: Jordan DeCade '17, Nik Ereshkin '18, Ian Ross '17, David Yardeni '17, Nicolas Caviezel '17, Anthony Porrino '17. FTC Team 11649 is made up of Ke Cheng Yu '18, Andrew Herzig '18, Scotty Osani '17, Jeremy Berger '17, Ben Zemel '18. The teams are coached by Mr. Coleman and Mr. Nelson. Wish our students luck!