Stellar performances see four robotics teams qualify for world championships in the Lone Star State

After the School’s triumphs at the VEX robotics national championships in Telford last month, it has now been confirmed that four QE teams have qualified for the world championships in Dallas.

At Telford International Centre, Team Rogue (working in partnership with a team from Haberdashers’ Boys’) were overall champions for the Year 10 (VR5C) event and also took a highly prized Design award. They now qualify for the global finals being held next month in Texas, together with fellow Year 10s in Team Nova and Year 9 teams Constellation and Omega.

Headmaster Neil Enright said: “QE has had a stellar record of getting teams to the world championships, but that success should not be taken for granted: it represents a great deal of hard work and preparation, not to mention talent, on the part of the boys.

“It was a truly impressive performance by our robotics teams at Telford, who excelled in their performance, in the awards they won, and, I understand, in terms of the way they conducted themselves at the national championships.”

Team Constellation took a Design prize in the junior VIQRC competition.

Nova won the Innovate Award, gaining their place in the world championships through their high-ranking finish in the Skills Challenge. Team Omega won their division and were runners-up in the VIQRC Overall Teamwork Championship.

Here are all the QE teams’ results at Telford:

High School (Year 12)

• HYBRID: Seventh in Skills; 15th in Teamwork; beaten in the quarter-final

V5RC

• Rogue: tournament winners; Design award; third place for Skills and for Teamwork
• Nova: Innovate award; fourth place for Skills; eighth for Teamwork; beaten in division semi-final
• Bread: seventh place for Skills; 13th for Teamwork; beaten in quarter-final

VIQRC

• Gearsquad: 11th in Skills; 13th in their division; sixth in division finals; won Amaze award
• Omega: eighth in Skills; 6th in division; first in division finals
• Constellation: ninth in Skills; 12th in division; tied second in division finals; won Design award
• Gear Grinders (Year 8): 20th in Skills, 15th in division, sixth in division finals, won Create award
• CircuitBreakers: 58th in Skills, 15th in division, sixth in division finals

Earlier this term, QE followed up on hosting a VIQRC event in December by hosting a successful V5RC regional round, the Battle of Barnet.

And more recently, since Year 12 teams are unable to go to Dallas in May because of their examination commitments, QE’s Team Hybrid instead headed off to the CREATE US Open Signature event in Council Bluffs, Iowa – and came away with a Judges Award.

Head of Digital Teaching & Learning Michael Noonan said: “The standard of competition was amazing and the team had an absolute blast!

“The event featured many state champions and champions from similar élite signature events from across the US. This drove our students to improve their autonomous robot routines, their driving and their strategy. Day 1 featured a new challenge for our teams in the ‘Programming Palooza’, which tasked our programmers with rapidly developing routines for their bots to respond to individual and paired tasks. We were delighted to finish fifth from a highly competitive field, using a purpose-built ‘basebot.

“Along the way we thoroughly enjoyed the Super Mega Alliance, which features many team-building challenges by using pure robots in non-conventional, non-competitive challenges intended to build friendships with those from other parts of the world. Our boys loved this challenge, and finished with a highly respectable second place!

“The competition proper was intense, and had a game every 20 minutes during the competitive phases. Having come in the top 40 out of 160 teams in Skills, we were now free to put together a strong performance on day one, ranking 13th of our 40 on day 1. Day 2 brought its challenges, and unfortunately our team succumbed to four losses. Undeterred, they battled well alongside a team who had been their alliance partner, losing out 39-30 in the round of 16.

“It was then an incredible honour for them to be awarded the Judges Award, making us the first UK team to win at this event.“

Mr Noonan thanked the School’s robotics sponsors, Kingston Technology, for their support.