Before each competition run, there is a robot check in which the size of the robots is checked. Then comes the actual competition run. I was very nervous, but luckily we were the first to go. So we were able to place our robot on the starting field straight away.
We were then allowed to press the signal at the robot start and the referee stopped the time. After all, a run was only allowed to last a maximum of 2 minutes.
The robot scored 42 points, which was a very satisfactory result! We had already collected points in our first run!
After this first run, the robot had to be parked again and lunch was served. Then it was back to work: we had another construction phase, this time lasting just 60 minutes, to optimize our program. We programmed our robot to be able to stop on the starting field again at the end and dared to tackle the surprise task.
After two more scoring runs and construction phases, we were already facing the final scoring round. We had scored points in two out of three rounds so far, so it was no longer so risky. Our robot couldn’t really collect any more points than it already had, so it didn’t matter if we collected any points at all. But of course we still hoped that we would score more points than in the first rounds. We actually managed to score points again, but it was exactly the same as our second best run, so unfortunately it didn’t make any difference.
After the last race, we had to clean everything up while the organization team compiled the rankings. Then the ranking was announced and we were very surprised to come third! That made me very happy!
In the evening we were very exhausted and glad that we could now relax at home. I thought it was very nice that only relatively few teams from one age group took part at this location, so it wasn’t too crowded. The day was very exciting and we learned a lot both on the day itself and during the preparations.
