• Collegiate Robotics Testing

    A student tests the ball-launching mechanism portion of the robot.

  • Robotics 360

    Students check in on Torch 5804 at the World Championships in St. Louis with a 360° camera that they control remotely from campus.

  • Robotics Construction

    Students working on the competition robot.

  • Robotics Pep Rally for Worlds

    During a Pep Rally for the World Championships in St. Louis, students sign the robot's shipping crate.
Programs
STEAM

Robotics Team

  • WINNER - Chesapeake District/Hampton Roads Event
  • ROOKIE INSPIRATION AWARD - Chesapeake District/Central Virginia Event
  • CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER & Highest Rookie Seed - Ranked 8th overall out of 132 teams in total points - Chesapeake District Championship
  • ONE OF ONLY 598 (out of 3100 teams worldwide) qualified to attend - FIRST Robotics Championship
  • ONE OF 25 TEAMS from the Chesapeake District, and 61 rookie teams worldwide, qualified to attend - FIRST Robotics Championship
  • ONLY ROOKIE TEAM TO HAVE WON MORE THAN ONE EVENT - FIRST Robotics Championship
We are grateful to Daniel Bartels, Collegiate's Middle and Upper School STEAM Coordinator, and Collegiate physics teacher Greg Sesny, for coaching and mentoring our team members.

"I'm still awestruck myself - a rookie team doing this," Mr. Bartels said recently. This is my 13th year running FIRST Robotics teams, I've never seen this type of support from faculty, staff and the student body. We've appreciated it."

Again, we salute TORCH 5804, Mr. Bartels and Mr. Sesny, and the numerous faculty members and parents who served as chaperones and offered other support to the team.

To learn more about FIRST Robotics, click here. FIRST is an acronym that means For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology.

Robotics Competition 2016 Game

Today, and at more than 125 events around the world this season, Alliances of three robots are on a Quest to breach their opponents’ fortifications, weaken their tower with boulders, and capture their tower.

The Quest
Robots operate independently for first 15 seconds of the Quest Alliances score points by:
  • Reaching opponents defenses
  • Crossing defenses
  • Scoring boulders through goals in the opposing tower
Human drivers take control for the final 2 minutes and 15 seconds controlling their robot to:
— Defend their castle
— Retrieve boulders
— Defeat defenses
— Score goals from the opponents’ courtyard in tower
— Capture and scale the opponent’s tower

The Outer Works (outermost line of fortification)
• Eight defensive options (over 18,000 possible field configurations)
— One permanent (the low bar)
— One chosen periodically by the audience
— Three selected by Alliances just before each Quest begins

• Once the Quest begins
— Illuminated lights on each defense reduce when an opposing robot fully crosses it for first time
— These lights go dark after the defense has been crossed a second time, signaling it’s considered damaged
— Once any four of the five defenses are damaged, the fortifications are considered breached and the charging Alliance is rewarded with points

The Tower
• Openings in the tower are available for robots to score boulders
— Scoring boulders reduces a tower’s strength as indicated by decreasing tower lights
— The tower’s flag will drop when enough boulders are scored and then the tower can be captured at the end of the Quest

The Capture
  • During last 20 seconds of the Quest, robots may surround and scale the tower to capture it
  • When capture is successful, their flag is raised on the opposing tower and even more points are earned

The Alliance with the highest score at the end of the Quest wins! FIRST®

Head Coach:

Dan Bartels
Computer Science/STEM Coordinator
daniel_bartels@collegiate-va.org

Assistant Coach:

Greg Sesny
Upper School Science
greg_sesny@collegiate-va.org
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