After hours of planning and calculations, testing and feeling, struggling to find the perfect plan of action, and the occasional paper airplane dropping off the balcony, ten members of the Milton Static, Milton High’s competitive robotics team, entered a brightly lit room filled with dozens of like-minded individuals ready to take home a victory. This was their first event of the year and took place in Andover.

While it may not appear so at first glance, robotics possess many qualities similar to traditional sports. The teamwork, coaches, referees, fans, and strategies don’t greatly differ from a soccer or basketball game.

These factors make the game exciting and intense, but the differences from “normal” sports are what makes it interesting.

Robotics teams like the Milton Static rarely get the opportunity to compete more than once or twice a year. On top of that, the rules change every year meaning the robot has to be built from scratch.

This year’s iteration of the First Technical Challenge is known as “Centerstage.” Robots navigate a playing field, picking up small pieces of plastic and gaining points depending on where and how they place them in a scoring zone. They score more points by completing tasks such as launching a paper airplane or hanging off a bar at certain points in time.

Each round is split between an autonomous and human-operated portion, and each team would participate in five qualifying rounds.

To say that the Milton Static was underprepared going into the event is an understatement. One of the team’s core strategies of the paper airplane launcher had only started working the night before. The robot only had the capability to move one plastic piece at a time and had hardware that was less advanced than many of the other teams.

Soon after arriving and passing a robot inspection, the competition began. The format was a two against two, where each team would be randomly assigned a different alliance partner for each of its five rounds.

The Start

Milton’s robot lacked an automatic mode, so their round began shortly after the other robots. And when it started, it did not go as planned.

A member of the team had accidentally pressed a button that swapped the controls automatically, so when the driver, Daniel Winterberg, tried to move the robot forward, the paper airplane shot toward the wrong side of the stage. Winterberg was able to recover it quickly, but the damage had already been done and Milton’s alliance lost 19-39.

With the controls fixed and the second round a few minutes later, the pressure was on. Captains Colin Truong and David Mitchell accompanied Winterberg in the driver’s corner for this match, and soon the round was underway.

Even with a minor issue of getting stuck under a bar, Milton squeaked by with a victory thanks to its alliance with one of the best teams in the competition, Soli Deo Gloria from Foxborough. Milton’s alliance won 80-60.

The Middle

The following rounds were relatively uneventful. The paper airplane launcher was removed for technical issues, but the team won the third match 55-16.

At this point, the Static were especially confident. Their high scoring 2-1 record had put them at a 7th place overall position going into later rounds. However, this didn’t last long and miscommunications between team members led to a humbling 25-57 loss.

The End

Going into the final qualifying match of the day, the Static had mixed feelings. To get into the playoff rounds, they would have to be in the top four teams of the entire competition. They would have to win this last game and by a lot.

The team played well, scoring points consistently despite the allied partner’s robot accidentally knocking into everything around the field.

Walking out of the driving area, a win seemed feasible. However, Milton lost by just one point, a devastating final score of 32-33.

Placing 15th overall, Milton didn’t make the playoff rounds.

Many other sports teams might have been discouraged by a loss like this one. However, for Milton Static, all members were immediately thinking of ways to improve. In the words of Truong, “We’re aiming for the top. This time we will be prepared.”