By Amelia Naughten, Staff Writer
On October 9th, following three straight days of competition with their latest bot, Ghost-Tea, Mills’ Robotics team, the Boba Bots, ranked 16th out of 36 teams at the annual Calgames First Robotics competition, hosted at Pittsburg High School in Pittsburg, California.
Founded in 1998, the Boba Bots is Mills’ FRC (First Robotics Competition) team. The group is divided into four departments which include electronics (those who wire the bot), programming (those responsible for writing code for the robot), construction (those who build the bot), and operations (those who secure funding for the team). Together, these four departments collaborate in the Makerspace, a classroom geared to meet the engineering needs of the Boba Bots, with each member committing to several hours a week in order to create a robot that can perform and compete against other schools.
Earlier this year in the 2021-22 competition season, the Boba Bots developed a robot that could meet the challenge of the season. The challenge required the team to create a robot that could shoot light-weight balls into low (cargo) and high (taxi) bins to score points. At the end of the challenge, bots would rush towards bars to hang and score points according to which level they hung at (the higher the rung, the greater the points scored). In every match, six robots would be chosen and divided into either the red or blue alliances. The highest scoring alliance would win the match, which in turn boosted rankings for the teams a part of that alliance.
Now, during the off-season of the new 2022-23 school year, Ghost-Tea was brought out once again to compete one last time at Calgames under the same rules and requirements. A total of 31 other high school robotics teams from the Bay Area, including fellow SMUHSD teams Aragon and Burlingame, attended the competition and participated in the activities that entailed. The opportunity served as practice for upcoming competitions this year and introduced new members to the competition environment.
Jennifer Lo (11), a new member working in the operations department, commented on her positive experience at her first competition. Lo explained, “I enjoyed seeing how different teams came together to compete against each other and how they all have different bots that have different functions.”
Over the competition weekend, the team continued to work tirelessly. From waking up at five in the morning, to the one hour drive to Pittsburg, all the way to the release time at five or later in the afternoon, the members dedicated their full attention and energy to the event.
Throughout the tournament, the team’s different departments controlled and participated in individualized activities. The construction department prepped and fixed the robot between matches whilst the drive team worked in the field firsthand to control the robot’s movements after the autonomous period (the first 15 seconds of a round when a robot relies solely on code). Driver Ryan Chan (10) commented, “It’s stressful, but there are people there to support you. I’m not the only one on the drive team and when I’m actively driving the bot, there are other people there to support me like a second pair of eyes.”
In addition to those tasks, the operations department and other members on the bleachers cheered on the team, as well as scouted other teams to strategize strong defense and offense plans. Across the three days of Calgames, the Boba Bots competed in ten matches, won five, tied one, and lost four matches, ultimately placing 16 out of 36 teams by the end of the qualifiers.
After the qualifying matches came to a close, the top eight teams invited other teams of their choice to join them in an alliance to compete for a win in the quarter, semi, and full finals. As they placed relatively high, the Boba Bots were hopeful that they would secure a place in an alliance.
Unfortunately, they were not chosen due to the other “defense” bots that were better equipped to fit the quota that the top eight teams looked to fulfill. Despite this loss, the Boba Bots were proud of their work that day.
Katie Ip (12), captain of the operations department, shared her thoughts on the Boba Bot’s improvement: “The amount of defense we’ve been receiving [was unexpected]…which usually means that we’re doing really well. The amount of times that we carried our alliance or been the main contributor was also really cool because that didn’t happen as much at our competition last year.”
Not only did the team do well, but they continued to support and cheer on other SMUHSD teams that advanced. Moreover, at the end of the competition, the Boba Bots secured the imagery award, honoring best branding and merchandise, at the Calgames awards ceremony.
The Boba Bots finished the day in high spirits and with a cup of boba milk tea. They are excited for the new theme of the upcoming build season and look forward to a fresh start. In addition to this, the Boba Bots would also like to focus on improving communication and engagement within the team.
When asked about his future expectations for the team, Sushim Chakrabortty (10), the assistant lead of the construction department, responded, “In the pit there were only two people to help…We need more engagement and we don’t want people that only want college credit.”
Chakrabortty feels that an increase in engagement would result in increased camaraderie, more collaboration, and ultimately more ideas shared and executed throughout the new season, and his constructive criticism is representative of the team’s aspirations for the new seasons. The Boba Bots also look to improve communication so that they can better prepare for the events and ensure that activities run smoothly.
Through thick and thin, regardless of win or loss, the Boba Bots persevere and stay spirited in delivering their purpose to “build bots, build people, and build communiTEA” as well as to cultivate passion for STEAM in the Mills community.
