Carla Clark | For The Republic Asher Lamb, Sam Geckler, and Isaac Kannianen, of Team 4926 GalacTech of Columbus, Indiana, bring the robot into the competition area during a qualifying round of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
High school students from throughout Indiana recently competed in an event that marks a milestone for a local robotics program.
Columbus East High School hosted a For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition this past weekend — the first one to ever be held in Columbus, according to Columbus Robotics president and Team 4926 founder Sam Geckler.
“It was just awesome to put it in Columbus, first of all,” said Geckler. “The venue got really high marks from everyone. We got a lot of great feedback from teams about how the event ran. … We have a lot of people asking us to bring it back here. So hopefully we’ll get a chance to do that.”
Thirty teams competed at the event, including local Team 4926 or “GalacTech,” which is made up of high school students from the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.
While GalacTech did not win the competition, it received the Innovation in Control Award at the event. According to FIRST, this award “celebrates an innovative control system or application of control components – electrical, mechanical or software – to provide unique machine functions.” Geckler said it’s the first time the team has ever won this award in its nine years of competition.
GalacTech ranked 11th following the qualification matches and was selected by the TechnoKats Robotics Team from Kokomo to take part in their alliance for the event playoffs, he said. The alliance, which also included Area 5188: Classified Robotics from Terre Haute, made it to the semifinals but was beaten by the top-seeded alliance, which went on to win the event. The winning collaboration was made up of suPURDUEper Robotics of Indianapolis, CyberTooth of Kokomo and Red Alert of Greenwood.
Geckler said that he felt their robot performed well, despite having a rough start.
“One of my big goals is to, after one of these events, to be able to turn to the students and say, ‘Hey, you really built a robot that can play this game,’” he said. “And that’s what they did. It performed really excellently.”
And the season isn’t over yet. This coming weekend, GalacTech will compete at Jefferson High School in Lafayette in the FIRST Robotics Competition Tippecanoe District Event. There are three competitions held in Indiana, and teams compete in two each. From there, teams will be ranked, and top 32 will be invited to the state championship at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in early April.
“I think we’re very well positioned,” said Geckler. “If we do anything close to what we did this past weekend up at Tippecanoe, then we’ll definitely be headed to state. But nothing’s a given; you have to go up there and your machine has to stay in one piece, and you have to compete in all the matches. … But I think there’s a very good chance we’ll make it to state.”
Carla Clark | For The Republic The qualification day for the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Qualification day for the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Robot for Team 4926 GalacTech, of Columbus, Indiana, shoots during a qualifying round of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Asher Lamb, driver, and Isaac Kannianen,operator, for Team 4926 GalacTech of Columbus, Indiana, during a qualifying round of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic The Team 4926 GalachTech flag is waved as their team is introduced during a qualifying round of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Members of Team 6498 Castle Robotics, from Newburg, Indiana cheer for their entry during a qualifying round of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Asher Lamb, Sam Geckler, and Isaac Kannianen, of Team 4926 GalacTech of Columbus, Indiana, bring the robot into the competition area during a qualifying round of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Ben Nelson, driver coach, Noah Miller, driver and Kyle Phillips, operator, of Team 3176 Purple Precision from Brownsburg, Indiana, during a qualifying round of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic The robot for Team 3176 Purple Precision from Brownsburg, Indiana shoots balls at the goals during a qualifying round of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic The controllers, driver coaches and drivers of Team 6956 Sham-Rock-Botics from Westfield, Indiana, Team 1018 Pike RoboDevils from Indianapolis, Indiana and Team 7457 suPurdueper Robotics, from Indianapolis Indiana, compete during a qualifying round of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic The robot for Team 7457 suPurdueper Robotics, at right, shoots balls at the goal during a qualifying round of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic A qualifying round of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Brian Martinez, as Hatch, the mascot for the Washington School Hatchets, makes an appearance for Team 8116 Hatchet Robotics, during the qualifying rounds of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Members of Team 1741 Red Alert from Greenwood, Indiana hold up signs and cheer on their team during the qualifying rounds of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic The pit area during the qualifying rounds of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Members of Team 4926 GalacTech from Columbus, Indiana shown in the pit area preparing their robot for competition during the qualifying rounds of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022 Carla Clark | For The Republic.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Steven Reeves of Team 1741 Red Alert from Greenwood, Indiana shown in the pit area preparing the robot for competition during the qualifying rounds of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
Carla Clark | For The Republic Members of Team 8116 Hatchet Robotics from Washington, Indiana shown in the pit area preparing their robot for competition during the qualifying rounds of the FIRST Robotics Competition held at Columbus East High School, Saturday, March 19, 2022.
