On Friday December 1, Penn-Trafford High School played host to Western PA’s first state qualifier VEX Robotics Tournament of the season. Thirty-eight teams competed, including three teams from Penn-Trafford and multiple teams each from Forest Hills (Sidman, PA), North Clarion, Sarah Heinz House, Brentwood, Frazier, East Allegheny, North Allegheny, Norwin, and New Castle, just to name a few.
The object of this competition, named “Over/Under”, was to build, program, and drive robots to collect and score large acorn-shaped game pieces into a goal within a 12’ x 12’ playing field. Each 2-minute round began with a 15-second autonomous period for which the teams pre-programmed the robot movements; during the remaining 1:45 team members were permitted to drive their robots via remote control.
The following teams were acknowledged after the Penn-Trafford tournament, and each of them qualified for the Western PA State Championship in March:
Excellence Award – North Clarion (79163F)
Tournament Champions – Penn-Trafford (1462B) and Forest Hills (464D)
Design Award – North Clarion (79163D)
Robot Skills Champion - North Clarion (79163F)
Tournament Finalist – Forest Hills (464W) and 55286A (no school affiliation)
Penn-Trafford’s Tyler Heidenreich, Zach Cassidy, and Daniel Bracken (1462A) made it to the semifinals
Penn-Trafford’s Alivia Conrad, Travis Kovarik, Joe Leonatti, David Newsom, and (missing from photo) Cole O’Hern (1462C) made it to the semifinals