Through treacherous snow and below-freezing temperatures, Trobotix spent hours in and out of storage room 14 working on their robot, engineering portfolio and judge’s presentation.
Before the league tournament, Trobotix competed with a simple pushbot yet was able to lock in a fourth-place rank in the league. Since then, builders have designed 3D parts on CAD and constructed intricate mechanisms to ensure the robot can complete the necessary gameplay tasks. For business, Trobotix racked up hundreds of hours of outreach work from their off-season, connecting with STEM professionals and the Iowa City community. Additionally, Trobotix created brand-new Greek-style merchandise featuring West High’s signature green and gold colors.
Trobotix saw outstanding robot performance throughout their matches, winning all six qualification matches and advancing to the final matches. Being ranked first allowed Trobotix to be the first to pick a team to compete alongside in the finals. With their alliance partner 12168 Plainsmen, Trobotix fought for their win in the semifinals against 4177 Finger Tightans and 6458 Burgbots, losing the first match to a code malfunction during the autonomous period (when the robot operates without human input). During the final showdown against 8743 Raw Bacon and 10082 Mechanicats, Trobotix won the first match but lost the second, forcing a third final match. Though their toughest match yet, Trobotix persevered with their alliance partner and pulled a miraculous save during the final 30 seconds, ultimately winning the game.
Only eight teams were selected to advance to the state competition in March. Trobotix advanced as the winning finalist alliance captain and received the highest judging award, Inspire, commending their hard work in all aspects of FTC Robotics. Trobotix 2, West High’s JV robotics team, also advanced. They were granted the Design Award, given to teams demonstrating aesthetic yet functional elements on their robot.
With less than two months remaining until the state competition, Trobotix is back in the lab, making improvements to their robot, planning outreach events, incorporating new branding elements and preparing to submit two video awards.
You can catch Trobotix and Trobotix 2 at the Xtreme Arena on March 2.
