While other high schools are known for their sports teams, Arlington Tech is similarly known for their robotics team, the KoiBots, known in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) community as team 8230. The team decided to go to three off-season competitions, and with the large number of new members it was a good decision. With no stakes, it will allow the new members to experience what a real competition is like.
The first off-season competition the KoiBots went to was the Chesapeake Robotics Icebreaker. CRI was hosted in Hayfield Secondary School in Alexandria by their home team, 614, the Night Hawks. The competition was of the previous year’s game, Crescendo: a game involving orange foam disks being scored into different goals. “CRI was supposed to be an introduction event… [to show new members] that this is what FIRST Robotics is,” junior Toby Mickelson says.
Building up to this event, the team sent their new members to different subteams to discover their interests and learn new skills. Their preparation for this event had started early in the summer, members fixing and repairing last year’s robot, writing and testing programming. CRI was a chance for them to gain the experience of a real FRC competition, to build more engagement and have the students gain more interest in robotics. The team captains, seniors Anna Litwiller and Caleb O’Neal, hope that this will encourage kids to stick through the hectic build season after seeing the thrill of a real competition. As senior Shangwen Cheng remembers, “[In previous years], we had a lot of retention of kids leaving before the season had even started,”
All of the team’s hard work paid off well! The team won the competition along with 836 the RoboBees, 1731 Fresta Valley Robotics Club, and 9072 the TigerBots. Many of the veterans were amused that they won the same way as another competition last year, some even calling it “Blacksburg 2.0” The team not only went home with a trophy but also a great experience, especially for the new members as they were engaged, learning new skills, and having a great time.
The second competition is Rumble #9 With Cheese, hosted by 122 NASA Knights, 1086 Blue Cheese, 1610 Blackwater Robotics, and 2363 Triple Helix Robotics at Deep Run High School. This was an upperclassmen event to push the team’s boundaries and to raise the competitive mechanical skill ceiling so the skills can be passed on before they leave the team. The goal was for the team to design and build a more competitive robot.
Preparing for this event, the KoiBots did a lot of CAD (computer assisted drawing) design over the summer. It was a mechanical-focused robot, requiring lots of testing and altering, that took up time. The team had consistent meetings four times a week, sometimes even working on the weekends in student’s basements.
The team’s effort and dedication really played off! Fresta Valley Robotics Club picked the team to be their second pick on their alliance. Anna Litwiller states “…our win at CRI is the reason why [Fresta] picked us, which is the reason we won Rumble too.” The KoiBots cooperated and showed great teamwork resulting in another win.
As of now, the KoiBots have brought two awesome wins back home. Their dedication, effort, hard work, and pride to the team can be seen all through the school. Hopefully you will continue to support these students through their journey, as they represent some of the brilliant minds at Arlington Tech.
