Known for its past success, the 169 Cavalry robotics team frequently attends events and competitions in vastly different environments.
Among 169’s recent competitions was the Highlander Summit Event, where team 169Y—composed of Fourth Former Taha Obuz and Fifth Formers Ajay Chakraborty, James Friel, Jonny Wang, and Ranvir Gill—traveled to New Jersey to compete against 78 other teams.
“The nature of robotics competitions is that it’s a new game every year, and [for] this game in particular, the rules have evolved several times already,” Robotics coach Mr. Adam Myers said. “At signature events like the Highlander, certain aspects are more complex than what we would see at local tournaments, where the level of competition won’t be as high.”
Given a competition of this caliber, team 169Y had to prepare extensively.
“Leading up to the Highlander Signature Event, we prepared mostly outside of school. Because this event was early season, we had to balance our schedules a lot more,” Obuz said.
The preparation included a blend of engineering, building, and coding.
Reflecting on the previous competition at the Mall of America in Minnesota, Gill said, “We took a week-long break, and then we started working on the actual robot and finished it a week before Highlander. Then we spent a week just straight coding.”
At the Highlander Signature Event, the team had much to handle.
“Going into it, we wanted to redeem ourselves and our performance at Mall of America,” Gill said. “We set realistic expectations and we met those expectations, if not exceeded them.”
While the team experienced some challenges and surprises, they did well, making it past the elimination rounds before narrowly losing to the first seed.
To 169Y, the Highlander event served as a valuable experience.
To 169Y, the Highlander event served as a valuable experience.
“I met a lot of awesome people,” Obuz said, “and this event really helped me realize that we can win if we apply ourselves.”
Although not displaying the aspect of physical domination typically seen in athletic sports, the robotics team requires the exact same level of dedication and focus.
The school community can still make strides in supporting the robotics team.
“Come to a tournament,” Mr. Myers said. “What makes robotics unique is that it is a highly technical skill, and it is athletic in [terms of] the hand-eye coordination and the dexterity needed to operate a fast-moving machine and make… split-second decisions that winning a match takes.”
