Regional Competitions Reviewed

Through the month of March, the Cybersonics Technology Team competed in several regional competitions; the Orlando, Lenape and Mt. Olive regionals.

After some time in Disney, the team traveled to the University of Central Florida for the Orlando Regional. The competition spanned from the 8^th to the 10^th of March and the first day was spent in the stands while the pit and the field were set up; the second day was when the action started. 103 did well through the matches and was seeded quite highly. In the elimination matches, Cybersonics was selected by team 1065, and we invited team 4091 to be our third alliance member, a rookie team from the Dominican Republic. They were both incredibly gracious and skilled, especially 4091 for their first year, and the team commends 1065 and 4091 for their dedication and enthusiasm. Cybersonics made it into the semifinals and won the Motorola Quality Award. Additionally, the team won the Pit Safety Award while at UCF.

At the Lenape regional, which was on the 24^th and 25^th of March, Cybersonics met challenges far more difficult than those in Florida. At several matches, the team was ranked near last in the seeding and it was a truly humbling experience for the team. Nonetheless, 103 kept up hope and managed to rise in the ranking in the later Qualification matches. Despite the previous losses, the team was picked by the second seeded team, 2180 for the Elimination rounds. We teamed up with 3974 as well. Again, the team made it to the semifinal rounds, and won, at this event, the Judges' Award based upon the effective communicative measures and global outreach methods the team employs.

The Mt. Olive regional was more exciting yet than the Lenape event, as there was strong competition. However, with fairer alliances and a smaller dose of misfortune, the team was competitive enough to match it. 103 made it to the final round and so received medals for being regional finalists. Likewise, the team won the General Motors Industrial Design Award, a first for 103, due to the robust and clean design of our 2012 robot, Echo Charlie.

Cybersonics is far from finished with our last competition with the St. Louis Nationals coming up quickly. The team is certainly grateful for our success at the regionals and has learned a few lessons that will hopefully refine 103’s performance in St. Louis. The team hopes our winning trend continues into St. Louis! Be on the look out for updates from our twitter. 


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Written by Luke C.