UPDATE: CHS Sends 2 Teams to State Robotics Championship

Originally posted Feb 23, 2018. Update posted Feb 27, 2018.

On Sunday, February 25, the Columbia High School Robotics Club will send two teams to the FIRST Tech Challenge New Jersey State Championship, known as The Garden State Rumble, at West-Windsor-Plainsboro High School North, 90 Grovers Mill Road, Plainsboro Township, NJ. Columbia’s Junior team, the Cougar Cubs (7959), and their Sophomore team, the Cougar Stars (9563), will compete with the best teams from around New Jersey for a chance to move on to the 12-state FTC East Super-Regional Championship. With the exception of 2015, Columbia has sent at least one team to the State Championship every year since their rookie season in 2011.

The teams are members of the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC), an international robotics program. Teams compete in pairs, known as alliances, using their robots to score points by completing a variety of tasks during each two-and-a-half minute match. With 48 teams competing on 4 playing fields, there will be more action than a three-ring circus. Opening ceremonies will commence at 10:45 am, followed by the qualifying matches, which will continue throughout the day, with a brief lunch break, until 2:45 pm. Alliance selection will take place at 3:00 pm, followed by the semi-final rounds at 3:15 pm, the division finals at 4:00 pm, and the championship finals at 4:30 pm. Closing ceremonies and awards presentation are scheduled for 5:00 pm.

The top 11 teams will move on to the East Super-Regional Championship Tournament at the University of Scranton (PA), March 16-18. A win at Super-Regionals sends a team to the World Championship in Detroit, MI, April 25-28. New Jersey FTC has a strong history of sending teams to the World Championship. Sunday, will be the last chance to see these teams locally before they enter the super-regional, and possibly, world stage. Columbia High School Robotics Club has sent 3 teams to the World Championship since its founding in the 2010-2011 school year. Most recently, last year’s Senior team, the Cougars (4102), attended the World Championship in St. Louis, MO.

Photos:

Columbia High School Robotics Club’s Sophomore FTC team, 9563, with their advisor, Allan Tumolillo, and the robot they have built. Photo Credit: Mary Arevalo

The robot built by Columbia High School Robotics Club’s Junior FTC team, 7959. Photo Credit: Mary Arevalo

Columbia High School Robotics Club’s Junior FTC team, 7959, at Liberty Science Center, where they had just qualified for the NJ State Championship. Photo credit: Charlotte Arevalo

UPDATE:

The Columbia High School (CHS) Robotics Club’s Sophomore FTC team 9563, the Cougar Stars, failed to qualify for the semi-finals, however their Junior FTC team 7959, the Cougar Cubs, made it to the semi-finals, but were eliminated prior to the final round. Although their robot did not win, there was a chance that they could still move on to the Super-Regionals via a judged award. Sadly, they did not receive any awards at this competition.

Due to the unusual number of teams (5) who had already qualified for the Super-Regionals through other states, the 11 teams moving on to the Super-Regionals were not immediately obvious. The teams were advancing based on their standing within the day's competition and their winner or runner-up status of various judged awards. That left the Juniors a chance to move on. As the names of the qualifying teams were being read, the event organizers realized that there was a problem with the computer program used to calculate the winners. Due to a glitch, it had only considered one division, not both. So, the organizers apologized and, after fixing the program and re-running the list, sent out the names via email the next day. Unfortunately, the Cougar Cubs, 7959, were not on that list. The teams who qualified for the the East Super-Regionals were: 9927--MidKnight Nova of Plainsboro, 207--Critical Mass of Englewood, 11248--// Cougars (pronounced Slash, Slash Cougars) of Chatham, 11754--EnergySmart FTC of Somerset, , 12970—RoboSmart FTC of Somerset, 11453--Uncertainty Principle (town not known), 7026—JDroids of Wayne, 12601—RoboStorm of Lebanon, 10582--Emerald Knights of Livingston, 12116—Redbots of Parsippany, and 11180--Beaks N Bolts of Caldwell.