2016 Sonoma County Robotics Challenge Results
More than 400 students from 32 schools participated in the 2016 Sonoma County Robotics Challenge on Saturday, May 7, at Elsie Allen High School. The event was the culmination of three months of activity that involved students designing, constructing, and programming robots using Lego Mindstorm robotics sets. This year’s competition involved six events. A summary of each event is provided below, with results from Saturday’s competition.
- Capture the Flag: For this event, students made robots that could compete against another robot to locate and capture a flag within a one-minute time period.
1st Place | Hillcrest Middle School- Team Petro
2nd Place | Sonoma Country Day School- C4
3rd Place | Kenwood School- The Flag Takers
- Sumo: Robot sumo wrestling engages two robot contestants in trying to push each other out of a circular ring. The first robot to touch the floor outside of the ring loses. The last robot remaining in the ring wins. Three divisions of this event were held:
Sumo Novice RCX
1st Place | Santa Rosa Accelerated Charter School- Narwhals
2nd Place | Santa Rosa Accelerated Charter School- Dab Rats
3rd Place | Kenwood School- Fighting Pandas
Sumo Novice NXT/EV3
1st Place | Austin Creek- Fat Panda
2nd Place | Austin Creek - Domo Empire
3rd Place | Santa Rosa Accelerated Charter School- 3 Musketeers
Sumo Expert
1st Place | Lawrence Jones Middle School- Team Justin
- Off-Road Racing: Off-Road Racing involved a 16-foot course with blocks of wood placed at different intervals. The objective was for students to design a robot that would overcome the barriers, stay on track, and finish in the fastest time.
1st Place | Silver Oaks Elementary- Evergreen Champs
2nd Place | Santa Rosa Accelerated Charter School- Pickle Pounders
3rd Place | Hidden Valley- RoBoDuDes
- Free-Form Challenge: This year’s free-form event challenged student teams to explore the idea of “Creating Order Out of Chaos.” Teams selected tasks demonstrating the theme with a script of actions.
Beginner
1st Place | Lawrence Jones Middle School- Wally
2nd Place | Proctor Terrace School- PT 3
3rd Place | Petaluma Accelerated Charter School at McKinley- Special Snow Flakes
Advanced
1st Place | Sonoma Country Day School- Powderbuff Bros
2nd Place | Fitch Mountain School- Rainbows
3rd Place | Sonoma Country Day School- Dumbledore's Army
- Drag Racing: Students raced robots on a track that was 16 feet long, with a goal of beating their opponents to the finish line. Two versions of this event were held.
Drag Racing RCX
1st Place | Roseland Elementary- Team Know It All
2nd Place | Sheppard Accelerated School- Los Enchiladas
3rd Place | Kenwood School- Crazy Cookie Cougars
Drag Racing NXT/EV3
1st Place | Sonoma Country Day School- Dragster Master
2nd Place | Austin Creek Elementary- Maze Lords
3rd Place | Austin Creek Elementary- Droid Busters
- Mini Golf: This challenge involved designing a robot to hit a golf ball into a hole with as few strokes as possible.
1st Place | Petaluma Accelerated Charter School at McKinley- With A Stick
2nd Place | Petaluma Accelerated Charter School at McKinley- Nacho Wall
PERFORMANCE AND DESIGN AWARDS
At the conclusion of the Robotics Challenge, awards were presented for team performance and excellence in robotics design. This year’s winners were:
- Spirit Award: Kenwood School
- Grand Gear Head Award for Mechanical Design: Sonoma Country Day School- C3
- Against All Odds: Sheppard Accelerated School- Los Enchiladas
- Best Overall Robot Performance Award: Meadow School- Terrific Twins
- Genius Programmer Award: Kenilworth Junior High School- Team Colts
- Golden Propellerhead Award- Petaluma Accelerated Charter School at McKinley
