Seven upper school robotics teams participated in the CAMS VEX robotics tournament at Cabrillo High School on Nov. 23. Katie Mumford ’20 led team 62X to victory, going undefeated throughout the competition.

Team members win awards 

During the finals, team 62X, represented at the tournament by Mumford and Isaac Dienstag ’21, defeated team 62A, which is comprised of Jake Futterman ’21, Yvette Copeland ’21, Reggie Kim ’21, Chris Ladreyt ’21 and Isaiah Jeter ’21. The two-person team won the tournament and qualified for the State competition. Additionally, team 62A received the Create Award for its innovative engineering solutions, while team 62K won the Judges Award, which the judges grant to one team that has been defeated.

Rule change affects a team’s state qualification standing 

Team 62X originally qualified for States after receiving the Build Award for the design of its robot at the 2019 Pan Pacific VEX EDR Championship on Nov. 9. However, robotics teams’ advisor Andrew Theiss said that a last-minute rule change prevented teams that won the prize from qualifying for the State competition. Therefore, team 62X needed to requalify through the tournament on Nov. 23. While two original members were on temporary leave, Dienstag was recruited and Mumford led the two-person team.

Since the beginning of the school year, the upper school robotics club has increased its number of members. Three new sophomore groups have formed, bringing the total number of teams up to eight. The new sophomores’ teams are very diverse in both their goals and robot design, Futterman said.

“This year we have a lot bigger program than we have ever had,” Futterman said. “It’s great to see [the Robotics program] continue to grow and get more people.”