Lincoln GearTicks team advances to world championship

By Kevin Ji

The Lincoln-based GearTicks robotics team did well at a state championship in Oxford, Penn., earlier this month and advanced to the world championship in Detroit in April.

The GearTicks take part in a competition called the FIRST Tech Challenge (FTC) for middle and high school students, where they design, build, and program robots to compete in a challenge each year while also promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) in their community. Teams all over the globe compete in this competition.

This year’s challenge, Rover Ruckus, features whiffle balls and gold cubes. Each team must design a robot that can deliver as many of these “minerals” into the lander — an elevated box with separate containers for the whiffle balls and the cubes. At the end of the game, robots get extra points for attaching to the lander and lifting off the ground. On top of that, each team can program a set of instructions for a 30-second autonomous period at the start of the match, where robots get points for finding a gold mineral in a randomized place and dropping off a “team marker” in the corner of the field, along with other tasks.

The matches were intense. After winning four out of five qualifying matches, the GearTicks were ranked fourth seed and became the division finalist in the tournament. The GearTicks were also runners-up for the Inspire Award, the highest award at the competition. The team impressed the judges with their community outreach and robot design.

The team was very excited to attend the states, meeting other teams and participating in the matches, and the volunteer event organizers were genuinely happy to be there. There were lots of laughs, dancing, and even ice cream.

GearTicks at the FIRST Tech Challenge in Pennsylvania included (left to right) Jack Hutchinson, Ben Morris, Olivia Crisafi, Ken Hawkey, Amelia Pillar, Audrey Gammack, Evan Lee, and Erin Crisafi (crouching with the team’s robot). All are Lincoln residents except Morris, who is from Sudbury. Other team members are Kevin Ji from Sudbury and Linconites Alex Payne, Andreas Muzila, Howie Tsang, Laura and Emily Appleby, Prerna Karmacharya, and Ken Hawkey.