Robotics subteam 62A went undefeated in the Crespi Classic competition Jan. 27, earning the title Tournament Champions for the second time this year.  Team 62A won the final match against subteam 62X, which earned third place.

Thought its robot was still not functioning fully, team 62A, consisting of Jake Futterman ’21, Chris Ladreyt ’21, Yvette Copeland ’21, Reginald Kim ’21 and Isaiah Jeter ’21, won all eight qualifying matches, robotics teacher Andrew Theiss said. In addition, team 62X, consisting of Justin Ansell ’20 and Dean Reiter ’20, finished qualifiers with a record of 6-2.

Theiss said the tournament was the best performance from both teams this year.

“It was outstanding,” Theiss said.  “Robotics in Vex is very iterative, so people build on previous designs and keep refining and adjusting their robots for each competition. They just keep developing the robot into a more efficient, more effective design, so this is the accumulation of all of those designs refined over time.”

In this year’s tournament, the teams implemented new technologies such as new motors and processors. These components have added a new aspect to competition and presented the teams with challenges, Theiss said.

Despite these difficulties, team members said they were very satisfied with the result. 

“I think it went very well for us,” Yvette Copeland ’21 said. “We weren’t expecting that much but we end up going undefeated, so everything worked great.”