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This competition was a blast to be a part of. I remember working very hard and was very proud to win awards for what we as a team achieved. Before I delve deeper into what we made, let’s understand what the competition was about.

The competition was split into 2 parts: STEM Research Project and Vex IQ Challenge. The Vex IQ Challenge was further divided into 3 parts: Autonomous Round, Driver Control and Team Alliance. In the Autonomous Round, we had to program the robot to do the tasks independently. In the Driver Control round, we had to control our robot with a controller and score points by doing the tasks. The Team Alliance round made us partner with another team and the points we scored were added to the points they scored, and then both teams won the

The Vex IQ Challenge was to make a robot that could do a series of tasks to score points. There were limitations as we were only allowed to use the Vex IQ Kit. Krish worked on that and Madhav helped.

The STEM Research Project’s theme was to use robotics to help people such as the disabled, military, elderly and to perform rescue missions. We decided to make a new iteration of the Blind Man’s Stick. Our final project worked like this: if there is an obstacle within 8 inches of the stick, the stick will make a sound.

After Arushi and I had made the final prototype, we worked on the presentation for our STEM Research Project which was aboard. I wrote a lot of the material and Arushi made it look very professional and contributed to the material.

Next, we had to make a process journal on the whole journey to the competition. Krish, Arushi and I worked on that, too. We also ended up printing t-shirts that I designed.

At the competition, we were delighted to meet other people with similar mindsets about robotics and enjoyed the events. For the autonomous round though, I had to program in 20 minutes as we did not have the Vex IQ Mat. Despite that, we still got 2 points.

In total, we got 18 points and won 3 trophies: Participation, Best STEM Research Project and Best Design. I loved the thrill of seeing something that I worked so hard on, sacrificed my lunches and PE lessons for, to win an astonishing number of trophies.

Overall, I loved this competition a lot and would love to go again next year. This was a tremendous experience.

Vikramaditya sigh 8B