Exit 5 Robotics Rocks 2 Awards At US Open Robotics Championship

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At the 2019 CREATE US Open Robotics Championships, the all-girls Exit 5 Robotics team excelled, being recognized with two awards, the Amaze Award and the Bracket Buster Award. The results were a grand finish to their 10th year in competitive robotics. Starting in 2010, the team has demonstrated a sustained commitment to STEM learning, independent work, and promoting outreach for young women.

The Amaze Award is presented to the team with a competition robot that demonstrating overall quality, solid mechanical design, demonstrated and robot strength. The team granted this award also demonstrates robust programming, good robot performance and scoring consistency.

The Bracket Buster Award is unique to the US Open Championships and goes to the team that advances the furthest from their original seed in the finals rounds. For Exit 5 Robotics the team was seeded 8th in their 16 team division and eventually advanced to the overall tournament semifinals round before succumbing to the eventual 2nd place finisher.

The CREATE US Open Robotics Championships was held in Council Bluffs Iowa, April 4-7, 2019. The primary mission of the CREATE Foundation is to help students acquire real world life skills that will benefit them in their academic and professional future. The 2019/2020 Exit 5 Robotics team consisted of seniors Khushi Amin, Chloe Lam, Tina Li, Catherine Zhang and sophomores Rachelle Hu, Michelle Li, Lara Sandeep, Erin Zhu, and freshman Hannah Han. With this 2nd graduating class of roboticists off to Tufts, Cornell, Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon, they’ll be joining the 2016/2017 team (Rutgers, Carnegie Mellon, MIT) in their college careers.

In reflecting back, Lam as the founding member of the team looked back on this past year and the decade before it, appreciated the collaborative effort that is essential to competitive robotics. “I'm so grateful that my last season of high school robotics ended on a high note at CREATE US Open where I had a blast with teams we've met in the past few years. There were so many great and memorable moments over the past 10 years competing with and against all the other great teams in FLL, RCJ, WRO, FTC, Moonbots, and VRC.”

For Hu, being one of the new members on the team, she appreciated the seniors’ experience on the team and the transfer of responsibilities as senior college application workload peaked in late fall and early winter months. Although challenging, this period saw rapid personal growth in programming skills, robot construction, and even the “pretty (not) fun” aspects of packing for a competition. At the US Open, there were many teams with many different specialties. Some used many sensors in novel ways. Some had really impressive mechanical structures. Some had excellent driving skills backed by many countless hours of practice. Overall, Hu felt that it was a great learning year, picking up new skills in C++, Java, C, and Python.

Michelle Li found this second year on the team as validation for her passion in competitive robotics. Being at US Open for the first time, she met teams from all over the country, and was impressed by the accepting and collaborative nature of the teams in the VEX community. In eagerly looking forward to next season, ter goals for next season include a stronger focus on strategy and planning.

Although it was her first season with the E5R team and first on a VEX team, Zhu really enjoyed working with her teammates. Every season has new learning challenges, and for Zhu it was the arduous process of trial and error that eventually leads to a high performing robot. In closing the season at The U.S. Open Championship, she appreciated the incredible opportunity to interact and collaborate with robotics teams from across the nation.

Sandeep also found the US Open to be an amazing opportunity to meet people from all over the country and learn about their experience in robotics. “It was a lot of fun to be part of something so big and I really enjoyed my time in the competition.”

Han, coming from Long Hill Robotics and their strong VEX IQ team history enjoyed the new challenges of VRC. “I believe that this year, we have learned through our mistakes as well as others, figuring out what works and what does not. Although we were certainly not the best team, I thought it was inspiring to see how far we came, especially with a strong finish at the US Open”

The team would also like to thank their long time sponsors for their financial support: Morgan Stanley, Livingston Robotics Club, Dr. Charles Ditta, Bernard Gorkowitz, DDS-Orthodontist, Livingston Huaxia Chinese School, and Wushu-Kung Fu Fitness Center.

Exit 5 Robotics is a member of the Livingston Robotics Club, a 501c.3 non-profit. Please contact exit5robotics@gmail.com for more information about forming a team or entering a robotics competition.

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