Since winning a VEX Robotics qualifier in December, Warsaw Area Career Center senior Caleb Schooley has been waiting for state competition. That wait is over Saturday when Schooley will join 38 teams competing at state finals at Warren Central High School in Indianapolis. The top 10 teams at state will advance to World competition in Louisville, Ky., April 16-18, according to WACC Robotics co-coach Abbi Richcreek. Schooley will be assisted at state by senior Grant Monsma and freshman Gabe Perez. Monsma made it to state competition in 2014. This is the first time Schooley has advanced to the state level. “I’m pretty excited about it,” Schooley said. “I’ve been looking forward to it since I made it in.” “I am proud that Caleb qualified to the state championship. He is a dedicated member of the team and he’s a future engineering and technology teaching candidate,” Richcreek said. “It will be up to him and his robot to break through in the qualifying rounds to make it to the finals. He will need to be consistent and score high so other teams will pick him for the final rounds.” The game for the VEX Robotics competitions this year is “Skyrise,” with a focus on building upward. Matches are played on a field and two alliances, red and blue, composed of two teams each, compete in each match. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than the opposing alliance by scoring colored cubes in floor goals, on posts or on their Skyrise, by owning posts and by building their Skyrise sections. A bonus is awarded to the alliance that has the most total points at the end of the autonomous period. There are 44 cubes – 22 red and 22 blue – and 14 Skyrise sections in a VEX Skyrise match. Each robot has one cube available as a preload and seven Skyrise sections available to be placed in its alliance’s autoloader during the match. Forty cubes start at designated locations on the field. There are 10 posts of varying height around the field and each alliance has one Skyrise base, the rules state. Co-coach Paul Zakaria acknowledged Schooley will face some tough competition at state. “I definitely think it will be pretty fierce at state, where people have been fine tuning their robots since they won a qualifier,” Zakaria said. “I think we’ll see a lot of good robots including Caleb’s.” Zakaria said one team that will be especially challenging to go up against will be #323Z, a homeschooled team from Greenwood. “They did exceptionally well in all the events last year and they built a great robot this year,” he said. Schooley said he’s made many changes to his robot to prepare for the 15-second autonomous period at the start of each round. “I hope to score more than the other teams at that time,” he said. Since he’s a senior, if he qualifies for World, “It would be great because this is my last year in robotics,” he said. “I never really thought I’d make it this far in robotics. I always tried my best, but I never expected to make it this far.” As for a strategy at World, he said, “My biggest thing is you just need a lot of practice to know your robot. I’ve been practicing with the field we have here and learning how long it takes my robot to get to certain places on the field.”
