UCS robotics students sharpen skills in off-season competition

By Jason Li
ThunderChickens


The ThunderChickens recently competed in the Indiana Robotics Invitational (IRI), an off-season event at Lawrence North High School in Indianapolis.

The IRI is an annual summer event that invites many of the top FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams from across the world, making the event extremely competitive. Through a rigorous application process, 67 teams were selected and invited to compete this year in the 2015 game Recycle Rush.

During the two-day event starting July 17, the ThunderChickens competed in nine qualification matches, resulting in a qualification average of 199.11 points. The ThunderChickens’ crowning achievement at IRI was scoring over 300 points in a single match of Recycle Rush while on an alliance with Team 27 (Team Rush) and Team 2122 (Team Tators), making them the second alliance in the world to accomplish this feat.

In addition to competing at IRI, the ThunderChickens also competed in the off-season Michigan Advanced Robotics Competition (MARC) at Monroe High School in Monroe, Michigan from June 19 to June 20.

After eleven qualification matches, the ThunderChickens had a qualification average of 99 points, placing them in 7th place overall and qualifying the team for the elimination rounds.

During the elimination selection, the ThunderChickens became the captain of the sixth alliance and chose Team 469 (Las Guerillas), Team 245 (AdamBots), and Team 1528 (Monroe Trojan Robotics). Their alliance received a quarterfinal average of 99.50 points, which unfortunately was not enough for the team to move onto semi-finals.

However, these off-season competitions at IRI and MARC were opportunities for members to try out new roles on the team, whether it was learning new skills in the pits or being a part of the drive team out on the field.

“MARC was more like a learning experience and adapting to playing with all the robots on the field, especially since it was the first competition I human-played at,” says Kenneth Shivers, a junior member on the team.

For more information about the ThunderChickens, or if you are interested in joining, please visitwww.thunderchickens.org or send an email to thunderchickenspr@gmail.com.