ROBOTICS RENDEZVOUS: Tahlequah teams excel in Arizona, preparing for future competitions (2025)

Dec. 10—Several Tahlequah robotics teams competed in Whiteside, Arizona, during the White Mountain Apache Native American Showcase, and all walked away with awards.

Some teams also qualified for the VEX Robotics World Championship, which will take place May 9-11, 2025, in Dallas.

At Tahlequah Middle School, the Waffle Turtlez won the Build Award for having a robust robot; Cu?iosity Next Gen won the Amaze Award for their thorough documentation of how they built and programmed the robot; and Cheez-Its received the Amaze Award, qualifying for the World Championship in May.

"I am proud of all that they did," Kym Tynsley, robotics adviser for TMS, said. "This was their first competition of the season. Just seeing their perseverance throughout the competition was amazing."

Cheez-Its members agreed the competition was fun, and that it went well for the team.

"Talking to the judges was kind of fun," Santiago Guthrie said.

Violet Rhea said her favorite part of the contest was figuring out that the programming for the robot actually worked.

"Driving was really fun, and notebooking," Hailey Payton said.

According to Hailey, notebooking is the system for documenting how the robot was built, the challenges the team faced with programming, and the daily log of what the team did to improve or modify its robot.

Before the World competition, Santiago said, he wanted to add components to improve the accuracy of the robot's ball-throwing capabilities. Violet said once this was done, she was planning to reprogram the robot.

The Cu?iosity Next Gen team is composed of Miranda Cerda, Alyse Franks, Emberly Stout, Karli Allen, and Rory Eschberger. Of their performance, Karli said the Arizona competition was "fun" and went "really well."

"Especially for it being the first competition of the year," Rory said.

Miranda said is was a large contest. Recently, the team modified its robot to use fewer motors.

Rory said her favorite part of the competition was that during autonomous mode, the team scored 13 points.

"The whole experience was something none of us had ever done before," Karli said.

Emberly said she enjoyed getting to drive and collaborate with new teams on programming.

Alyse said she liked getting to meet new people, as did Miranda.

"I'm just hoping we make it to worlds this year, and honestly, I think we are doing really well for the beginning of the season," Miranda said.

Waffle Turtlez member Conor McMillen said he liked staying in the hotel during the competition, and he thought the experience was "pretty cool."

"It felt like a vacation, almost," Oliver Chandler, another team member, said.

Caysen Adair said the event was fun, and that it involved several late nights.

Conor believes the team won due to its interview with the judges. Before the next competition, the team members said, they want to work on the drive train and the H drive, which allows the robot to move sideways on its omniwheels.

At Tahlequah High School, team Cu?iosity? Qualified for the World Championship, and Brobots received the Create Award.

"Overall, I am so happy with how we performed," said Cu?iosity?'s Catherine Wooten.

Maximus Barnett said he felt the team were "completely" prepared for worlds.

"It was very satisfying to see my code working perfectly, multiple times," Barnett said.

Gracie Franks said she saw familiar teams from Oklahoma, and completely new teams while they were in Arizona.

Landen Webb, another team member, said the "meta" of the game has changed significantly since the beginning of the season, and that such a change is very common.

"If you take a robot from the beginning of the season to the end, it would be completely different," Webb said.

Maryn Morrison said the team's biggest obstacle was communication concerning gameplay strategy.

"It was such a nerve-racking experience," Morrison said. "It was also so much fun."

Kaylee Liles said the Arizona competition was one of her favorites, and was proud the team has won the Excellence award two years in a row.

Liles said the event inspired her to make changes to the robot.

"I took it home over Thanksgiving break and did a complete rebuild," Liles said.

Team Brobots is composed of Marshal LeBlanc, Ruxton Hummingbird, and Malik Ellexson.

Of their performance, LeBlanc said he believes the team did "all right," considering it was the first year the group has competed, and it received the Create Award.

"It's an award for a robot that is creatively built," Hummingbird said.

Ellexson called the competition "interesting."

"We all learned a lot," Ellexson said.