After two years of challenges related to COVID-19, the Valley Regional High School (VRHS) Robotics Team, Human Error!, made an incredible come-back placing eighth overall out of 39 teams in the qualifying rounds at the NE FIRST Robotics Waterbury District Competition at Wilby High School in Waterbury March 10 through 12. Although the team was eliminated in the third round of competition in the finals, making it into the top eight for a guaranteed spot in the final rounds of competition was a personal best for the eight-year-old team.

On March 10, as the team gathered at Wilby High School with their advisor J.L. Kopcha, a material processing, manufacturing, and construction teacher in the Valley Regional career and technology department, and one of the team mentors, Valley graduate Drake Ewart, everyone’s nerves were on edge. The robot wasn’t performing as expected during the practice rounds, and, looking around, it was obvious that they were outmanned by teams three to four times or more their size with budgets for fancy parts that far exceeded theirs. Team members decided, no matter what, they would learn something and try to have fun.

On March 11, as the qualifying matches began, the team had a rocky start, losing the first two rounds. Each loss brought new insight, and round three provided the first victory of the morning, followed by victories in their remaining six matches of the day. With each win and the points scored during their time on the competition field, their ranking rose until they finished day one of the qualifiers elated and in seventh place – something no one on the team had imagined could happen.

Human Error! is small by any robotics team standard. At the beginning of the planning and build season, they had a bigger group of contributors, but, like in most seasons, not all of those contributors are able to make it to competition season, and, only one, team captain and senior Julia Donahue, has any competition experience – from the one competition she attended as a freshman more than three years ago before the pandemic. Along with fellow senior Madison Sedgewick, juniors Alex Gatto, Connor O’Rourke, and Ella Murray, as well as sophomore Nicolas Cartagena, this was basically a rookie competition season for the group. And that wasn’t the only obstacle they had to overcome.

Human Error! had already had to regroup a couple of times during their build season, once when they were unable to secure as much funding as they had in the past, which caused some tough choices about what parts they could afford to order – including a new “brain” they had hoped to acquire for this year’s robot. The second big blow came when their chief programmer was cast in Valley’s production of Little Shop of Horrors, making him unable to work with them anymore. O’Rourke gamely stepped in and began learning Java, the programming language for the robot, studying it, learning new tricks, and working with another team programming mentor, an alumnus of the original team who helps them now by video chatting from college. Donahue, Gatto, Murray, and Cartagena made the old brain work with a few modifications. They built all of the robot’s mechanisms by hand, knowing that pre-engineered parts would be out of budget, and, little by little, things started to come together. Still, up until a couple of weeks before competition, everyone was unsure if what they had done would be enough for the robot to perform the way it was intended. Then came their winning streak and unexpected finish at the top of the Waterbury competition, with rookie robot drivers Cartagena at the control panel and O’Rourke working the robotic hands on the competition floor.

Donahue notes, “It was a long weekend, and we were nervous going in but, despite a few setbacks that caused a couple of stressful moments, I think we can all say that we had fun, and we are thrilled to have gotten to the top eight.”

She also added that the team wants to be sure to thank its sponsors who make it possible for them to afford the $6,000 competition fee and the materials they need to support the build for each year’s program.

“Whelen has been our biggest supporter since the team began and we continue to rely on their generous support and are grateful for their belief in our program.”

In addition to Whelen Engineering , this year’s financial supporters include: The Lee Company; Tower Laboratories and Norm Needleman and Jacqui Hubbard; Morrissey Engineering, LLC; Proctor Architects; PennyWise Heating and Oil Service; and Mr. and Mrs. Roger Gatto.

NE FIRST Robotics Competition uses strict rules and tight timeframes to challenge high school students to build industrial-sized robots that they use in an alliance with other robotics teams to play in a demanding field game. Teams must also fundraise, design a team brand, and advance respect and appreciation for STEM within their communities. Safety protocols are vigorously enforced, with every team having a safety coordinator. The competition also focuses on “gracious professionalism,” FIRST’s brand of sportsmanship.

For more information about Valley’s robotics team or how you can provide support in the future, contact JLKopcha@reg4.k12.ct.us . To follow Human Error!’s progress live at its next competition, visit www.nefirst.org and look for team #5746.