The PC Rocket Robotics team is inviting the community to attend its annual end of season celebration, set for Thursday February 29, from 6 to 8 p.m. at the PC Rocket Robotics lab, located in uptown Stuart, 137 North Main Street. The front lab entrance is located beside Tom’s Barber Shop on Main Street and will be marked. A handicap accessible entrance is also available at the backside of the building.
Eight members were on the team this season – Evan Farmer, John David McCann, Hunter Meade, Mackenzie Harris, Abigail Lavender, Jake Bryant, Peter McCann and Elizabeth McCann.
There is limited availability for new team members in the upcoming season. Interested students in the 8th – 12th grade should attend the open lab and complete an application.
This year’s team competed in the FIRST Tech Challenge game, Centerstage. Each season, the game is released the first week of September and the team then begins designing and programming the robot to compete in competitions that take place in December/January. This year’s game required the team to figure out a way to capture hexagonal shaped Pixels on the playing field and be able to score them on a slanted backboard as high as 32 inches off the ground. To that end, the team designed a 4-stage linear drawer slide system that was capable of reaching over 36 inches off the ground to score in the highest location.
The programming team uses Java as the programming language to program the robot to operate in both Autonomous and Driver Controlled mode, and incorporated a webcam into the robot to read the location of a custom Team Scoring Element, also designed by the team. The ability to implement Autonomous odometry into the robot this season allowed the programing team to accurately program the robot to make movements around the playing field quickly and repeatably. This year, the team’s autonomous programming and scoring was as good as any team it competed against.
The Patrick team competed in three qualifier events this season. At the December 2 event in Christiansburg, it finished the day with 4 wins and 1 loss, and ranked 3rd. On January 20, the team competed in Harrisonburg, VA, and finished the day with 3 wins and 2 losses, and ranked 7th. Unfortunately, the team was eliminated in the semifinals of these tournaments.
The team’s final competition also was at Harrisonburg, on January 21, and PC Rocket Robotics finished the day with 5 wins/0 losses and ranked #1 for the day. It is always difficult, but an honor to finish the day ranked #1, and the top seed in the tournament, John Pendleton, who is among the organizers, said. Unfortunately, the team fell 1 win to 2 losses in the tournament because its alliance partner had mechanical issues with a robot.
The local team built an amazing robot for the 2023–24 season, Pendleton said. “The team should be extremely proud as they consistently compete with teams from all over Virginia, Maryland and DC. During the Harrisonburg event on January 20, the highlight of the day was the team being awarded the Motivate Award.
“The team that receives the Motivate Award celebrates the culture of FIRST and clearly shows what it means to be a team. This award celebrates the team that represents the essence of the FIRST Tech Challenge competition through team building, team spirit, and displayed enthusiasm. This is a team who makes a collective effort to make FIRST known throughout their community and sparks others to embrace the culture of FIRST,” he said.
The team is losing three seniors this season: Elizabeth McCann has been on the team for two years and is part of the programming team. Evan Farmer and Hunter Meade joined PC Rocket Robotics as 7th graders in its first season in 2018. Both have been a part of the team for all six seasons. Evan has been on the Build team and Hunter on the CAD/Design Team for all six seasons.
The loss “will leave a huge void in our team and (they) will be sorely missed,” Pendleton said. “We wish them all the best and can’t wait to see the amazing accomplishments they will have in their life.”
Team mentors “are extremely proud of this year’s team,” Pendleton said. “The season is long, requires hard work, commitment but most importantly, TEAMWORK! We are extremely proud of this year’s awesome robot design, the impressive way it competed on the field, and most of all for the dedication by the team to keep working and make the robot better and better.”
PC Rocket Robotics is a 501c3 that relies on donations for businesses and individuals to provide STEM based Robotics opportunities for the youth of Patrick County. The team appreciates all of its sponsors this season, and is “extremely grateful for our Platinum sponsors,” Pendleton said of Rodney and Donna Overby, C&F Bank, DRP Performance, Walmart, Qualcomm, MiNet and SolidWorks.
To make a donation to the team, send a check made out to PC Rocket Robotics, INC to PC Rocket Robotics, PO Box 165, Stuart, VA 24171.
