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Robotics Team Nabs Award at Orange County Regional
Team 1836: The MilkenKnights brought home the Excellence in Engineering Award at the FIRST Robotics Orange County Regional held February 27- March 2 in Costa Mesa. It was the third year in a row the team won a technical award.
“Our robot design was considerably more ambitious this year than last year, so it was especially rewarding to make playoffs again and win another technical award,” said Robotics Manager Stephan Shapiro.
Fifteen Milken students participated in the competition, including three Middle School students. The team was comprised of the Drive Team, the students responsible for controlling the robot, Yoel Nozar ’19 — Drive Coach, Alex Swerdlow ’19 — Operator, Mikey Lippman ’21 — Driver, Noah Kugell ’20 — Human Player, and Jacob Schutzer ’22 — Technician. The Pit Crew, which makes repairs or modifications to the robot as needed between matches, was led by Aaron Neman ’21 and Talia Gandin ’21, with Drew Weisserman ’19, Jeremy Goldenstein ’20, and Amelia Marengo ’21 filling out the remaining spots. Marcus Scheer ’21, Michael Bochkur Dratver ’19, Zack Rosenberg ’23, Seth Cohen ’23, and Abby Fischler ’24 were the Scouts, who collected data on other teams to help with strategy.
This year’s challenge game is called Destination: Deep Space. The goal is to pick up Cargo (13" handballs) and Hatch Panels (19" plastic discs), place them into different heights of scoring locations, and to climb onto three levels of platforms. The robot focuses on scoring in the bottom height Cargo and Hatch Panel goals as well as climbing to the Level 2 platform.
Competing against a competitive field of 49 teams, The MilkenKnights went 5-4-1 in qualification matches and were a first-round pick by the 7th Alliance. This marked the fifth competition in a row that the team made the playoffs as a first or second robot. They lost their first quarterfinal match, won the second, and lost the third.
At the conclusion of the playoffs, the MilkenKnights were presented with the Excellence in Engineering Award. The award, according to Robotics Manager Stephan Shapiro, is given for an especially robust, effective, and efficient robot design. He noted, “The judges specifically mentioned our use of various sensors (limit switches and encoders) along with pneumatic flow regulators.” While the team didn't rank as high as they would have liked, Shapiro noted that overall, it was a good competition.
Drive Coach, Yoel Nozar, expressed that the team did a great job working with each other and with other teams. He complimented the pit crew on keeping the robot in perfect condition and preparing it for the matches as well as fixing any problems that occurred during the event. He also praised the strategy team for scouting out the other teams and creating match strategies.
“I enjoyed seeing our robot compete to the best of its ability and strategizing ways to play our best with the teams we are partnered with,” remarked Nozar. “Though we did not make it as far into the playoffs as the team hoped, I am very proud of the team's accomplishments at this event.”
Next up for the team is the Las Vegas Regional March 27 through March 30.
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