Annual ‘Battle of the Bluegrass’ robotics competition draws record number of teams

The Ninth Annual First Robotics “Battle of Bluegrass” drew more than 20 teams to Lynn Camp High School Saturday.

More than 25 high school robotics teams from six states descended upon Lynn Camp High School Saturday for the annual “Battle of the Bluegrass” competition hosted by the Kentucky Wildbots team from Lynn Camp.

The event, hosted by Lynn Camp’s Team 3844, “The Kentucky Wildbots,” featured teams from six states. Several were pre-rookie teams that were seeking to get a taste of the world of competitive robotics.

“We had veteran teams bringing in multiple robots. The team would use one robot to compete and then lend out the other robot to one of the pre-rookie teams to allow them to compete,” explained Arthur Canada, who founded the program at Lynn Camp, and continues to assist with promoting competitive robotics across Kentucky. “The veteran team took on mentoring the pre-rookies, so it is a

In addition to hosting the event, the Lynn Camp team also competed.

service both ways.”

With the additional robots, Canada said there were 27 competitors in the event.

“It is probably the best event that he have done,” Canada said noting that prior to this the largest event drew 21 robots.

Canada said among the teams were seven that competed at the First Robotics World Championship last year, which makes the event more impressive.

The robots were designed to compete in the 2018 competition, entitled, “Power Up.”

Working in teams of three, the robots collected power cubes and placed them on plates to control a central scale.

The controlling alliance earns points based on the amount of time during the match that the scale is tipped in its favor.

Robots gained additional points if they were able to climb the scale in order to be ready to Face The Boss.

Each team participated in a series of qualifying matches with different teams making up the opposing alliances. Based on the results, a final series of matches determined the winner.

Competing teams will go back to the drawing board in January when First Robotics releases details about the 2019 game.

“The name of the game is ‘Deep Space’ in honor of the 50^th anniversary of the Moon landing,” Canada explained. “We have no idea what the game involves.”

While Canada will be involved with the Lynn Camp team on a limited basis, the team will have a new coach in 2019.

School officials are in the process of finalizing a new robotics teacher to replace Roger Riquelme, who left the school following a move away from the area.

2019 will mark the ninth year the Wildbots have competed.

The majority of the funding for the robot comes through sponsorships and donations.

Anyone that would like to contribute may contact the school at 528-5429.

Donations are tax-deductible.