TSD Rangers competes in national robotics competition
Renca: Hello! I am here in Council Bluffs, Iowa for the 2022 VEX Robotics Competition- Tipping Point- that’s the name of the tournament. This tournament is for the U.S. open robotics national championship tournament weekend for middle school kids. Now, the coolest part? There are 90 teams that are here right now and guess who’s there too? Texas School for the Deaf (TSD)!
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TSD has two teams: Texas Rangers and Cali King. TSD was able to qualify in this championship tournament because NRSC- NTID Regional STEM Center partnered with AIDB (Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind) to host a Deaf national robotics tournament. TSD won the championship therefore they qualified for this.
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Pretty cool! Ready to check it out?
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Where is TSD? There! Look-look! Right there!
Coach Jed Dannis: You pushed the Scoring Rings, you need to get them back there. Now, the time…
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Coach Jed Dannis: This year’s VEX robotics competition (VRC) Tipping Point – how does this work? There are 3 different ways to score. The first one is an elevated platform, the robot has to go on it or the mobile goals have to be on it and end it with a secured balance. The second one is the red home zone, you need to get as many scoring rings, as much as possible in the zone to get points. The third one is getting as many of the scoring rings on the mobile goals.
Mayak: We have been designing and building this for a while.
Anissa: Since October, probably.
Mayak: I was looking at the internet for some ideas and thought adding a claw would be a great idea.
Anissa: Yeah, we decided to add a claw to this robot because we want our robot to be able to grasp the mobile goals on the platform. That’s why we designed it like this. The robot can pull backwards onto the elevation platform and pick up rings for win points (WP).
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Jed: You need to have the claw clasp it, not let go fast, but hold on longer.
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Mayak: When I first entered here, I was like whoa. Playing 2 on 2 with other teams, with other hearing people, even some from different countries- just wow.
Anissa: Same here. The two of us are Deaf while everyone else is hearing. Mayak and I showed that Deaf people can do it. You know?
Harry: I work at the NTID Regional STEM Center (NRSC) in Alabama. NRSC and NTID partnered up together to set up a program related to STEM education for teaching others, etc. We offer many programs for middle school and high school students. One of our programs is robotics. So, NRSC hosts a robotics tournament every year for our Deaf & Hard of Hearing teams only. This recent February was the 4th time we hosted that tournament. TSD has been doing a great job here so far. This is the first time for them to enter the U.S. open. Amazing. I am impressed with how they have been doing. I applaud them.
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Sean: I am here as a team leader. My role is to make sure everything is good. If my teammate needs something, I will help them. I always make sure that every need is taken care of and everything is going smoothly with what is expected rather than not being prepared and things get side tracked. I make sure everything stays on track.
Lily: I am a journalist for this team. What I do is to write different ideas and do research. I write up the design and the program- very detailed! I write for our team’s book. I like it, of course! It is a good experience with writing up so many details in English. I enjoy that role.
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Karter: I have the role of a driver and I also do most of the building here and programming as well.
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Branson: I learned how complicated this can be with the coding and I learned how to improve myself too like how to make a better strategy to get high points in matches, etc.
Sulianie: My role is a builder and it takes about a month or two for that kind of robot, but for me I have been a builder since the first year of school up until now. I do help with some modifications for the robot like the claw or with the programming.
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[full-screen image of the final results:
Final results
Cali King- 53rd
Texas Rangers- 61st ]
Jed: This is a great opportunity, really. I am proud of my players that are here. They made it this far. First, it was the Deaf national tournament and now they are here for the U.S. open. They flew here to Iowa for that. This is a great experience for them. We showed everyone here that a Deaf school has not just sports, but many other things offered like robotics. We came here to play on a high competitive level and we are here to show that a Deaf team is here. Parents, and supervisors, please consider sending your deaf children to Deaf schools for these opportunities.