February, 2023
By Lizeth Moctezuma, Editor-in-Chief
January 28th— with countless months leading up to their Championships, KAC’s founding robotics teams, Deus Ex Maquina #16555 and Steminists #16556 made history as they advanced to Semi-Regionals for the first time.
Waking up hours before doors opened, Collegiate students came to finish setting up from the day before as this season’s hosts of the Austin region for FIRST Tech Challenge, or FTC for short, robotics meets. Each year, a different game releases for the designated season. For 2022-2023, FTC revealed its game called Power Play, presented by Raytheon Technologies.
On a 12×12 feet mat field, teams had a randomly generated alliance. “Drivers,” or students using typical video game controllers, stood across from each other as nine yellow and springy poles, named “junctions,” stood in tall, medium, and short fashion. Teams had thirty seconds dedicated to the programmed-only instructions to maneuver the robot period (the “autonomous mode”), two minutes for the driver-controlled period, and an “endgame” where drivers had a final thirty seconds to maximize gaining points. The game rules are simple: teams robots must pick up their color-coded cones and strategically stack them on the field and ground junctions, the higher, the better— all in three minutes or less.
Since the season kicked off in September with the game release, there has been a monthly competition for teams to go to the hosting school of their region to compete. In a rank-based system, teams swap places every meet depending on points accumulated through matches: out of thirty-two teams. Only fifteen get to advance from their Championships.
This year, KAC’s teams managed to outdo themselves. Returning team Archytas #19412 was the second-picked alliance, meaning before top teams face off each other in the finals, they get to hand-pick two allied teams to compete alongside them (the owl team being one of them). First-year team DinoByte #21337 ranked first for their league on the opening meet, and Hestia #18244 was celebrated as the first runner-up for an award, both continuously ranking high throughout their seasons. But ultimately, our founding teams were the first to advance from the program.
When asked to describe their season in one word, Deus Ex Maquina’s senior manager Daniel Perez did not miss a beat. “Persistent,” he said.
As the only robotics team on Collegiate’s campus without an official coach for the 2022-2023 period, Deus Ex Maquina lacked the guidance most teams could depend on for nearly their entire season. But Perez refused to allow not having a coach be the reason Deus could get held back, facing trial and error as a manager if it meant getting the team to a place they needed to be.
And naturally becoming protective over the team, Perez aimed to build close relationships with his teammates. Inspired by his use of encouraging words to bring the team together, Deus took note and named their robot after Perez’s iconic nickname “Bubba.”
To build their robot, Deus Ex Maquina created a slider, an elevator piece that allows a robot to smoothly and efficiently bring cones up to a junction at an angle. This was a challenge, because the official part was sold out everywhere after Kick-Off. But in successfully scrapping parts to make an operating lift, this meant their hand-made creation had them re-stringing Bubba’s wiring after every competition, if not every match.
Through it all, Deus Ex Maquina consistently scored high through each meet, secured second runner-up for an award, and even became Collegiate’s first chosen alliance during a season: to which Deus recommended sister team Archytas as a valuable asset and was proven correct. Their hard work paid off not only with the impressive recognition as a strong group against veteran FTC teams but especially when Mr. Ramirez (KAC’s robotics program director) informed Deus they would advance to Semi-Regionals.
Perez recalls jumping with excitement because of how unreal hearing they would advance felt. Facing fierce never-seen-before competition as the first team KAC has seen make it to Semis, Deus Ex Maquina managed to end their season by placing tenth out of thirty-five teams.
Appreciating the opportunity to lead such a team, Perez is confident his returning team members can handle a similar feat next year. Standing proud for the commitment that got Deus as far as they did, Perez thanks his team: “I couldn’t have asked for a better team, and I show gratitude to them every chance I get.”
Unlike their sister team, who started anew after nearly all members graduated the previous year, Steminists was a returning team. With most of them entering their second year in robotics and their last one at KAC, the girls used the foundation set in their previous year to come out of their shells and reach out to other teams and community members alongside the program throughout the season.
Steminists manager, senior Linsey Leon-Bueno described the season as an emotional rollercoaster. “We cried of joy and shared so many laughs… sometimes we liked to enjoy ourselves too much,” she joked. With such energy, they accomplished what they put their minds to. So when news came along that all the sliders and elevators were out of stock everywhere, the girls immediately went to work.
Using two servo motors to open and close the manipulator or “claw,” Steminists attached it to their manually operated arm piece to insert cones on junctions. In doing so, they were only able to reach the medium pole. However, with the girls feeling most comfortable with such a design, they ranked high throughout every meet. And using last year’s robot and a running joke within the team, their lemur mascot, Mort from Madagascar, inspired this season’s robot name— Morticia.
The girls decorated Morticia and her gear in pink as a conversation-starter to help encourage other girls to pursue STREAM field-oriented endeavors. They also brimmed with lively spirit through the interview portion of their Championships. As a result, Steminists brought home the first place to the Motivate Award, which celebrating them as, in FTC’s words, the team that best “sparks others to embrace the culture of FIRST.”
And as a fitting end to their season, Steminists returned as KAC’s first runner-up for the Motivate Award from Semi-Regionals and ranked 12th overall. Noting that the girls grew into their capacity, not just as a team, but as individuals as well, Leon-Bueno offered words of advice for next year’s competitors: “What I hope for future Steminists is for them to stay true to themselves… I know that this is not our stopping point. These girls are going to achieve more and beyond.”
With the first full year and season of in-person robotics closing, Ramirez, who is both program director and founder for Deus Ex Maquina and Steminists, stands with pride to the stride of success from this year’s cohort as a whole. “It feels like everything we’ve been laying down since we started have been the building blocks for this year especially, and I’m excited to see how we continue to grow,” he said.
So as Collegiate’s robotics teams continue to become more and more competitive, it begs the question: how much more recognition will the program take home as they promise to keep making history?
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