Elyria Robotics sends two teams to world championship (VIDEO)

ELYRIA — The Elyria High School Robotics team is sending two teams to Dallas today to compete on the biggest stage in their pursuit, the Robotics World Championship. The program has sent teams to the tournament numerous times since its establishment in 2016. But, coming off of the most successful season in program history, director Mike West hopes that this will be the year that the team finally makes an appearance in "The Dome," where the final rounds of the tournament take place. "Award-wise it's the most successful season we've ever had as a program," West said on Monday. The league that robotics teams across the globe compete in is called VEX Robotics, and the governing body is the REC Foundation. Every year, a new game and set of rules is released and teams must work together to design a robot that can win the game. This year's game is called "Over Under" and it features a partially split field and two goals, which teams compete head-to-head to fill with acorn-shaped balls as quickly as possible. West has been the director of the program since it was founded, as the last eight years have seen an explosion of interest in high school robotics competition both in Elyria and across the state. Ohio has over 400 VEX Robotics teams, and though 800 teams qualify for worlds, in all only 21 of those spots were reserved for Ohio schools this year. "We've brought more teams to worlds before, like last year we brought five, but this year we didn't have as many qualify because Ohio got real big and competitive," West said. "The fact that Ohio gets 21 spots at worlds and we took two of them is a win." Two team members returning to worlds are senior Xavier Wahn, 18, and junior Andrew Peacock, 17. Peacock has been a part of the Elyria Robotics program since sixth grade and has made it the World championship for the past five years. He said that after years of trying, Peacock finally convinced his childhood friend Wahn to join the team in 2023, and Wahn joined him in Dallas for the world tournament in his first year. Peacock and Wahn are on different teams in the tournament this week, each serving as a driver for one of the two teams Elyria is sending. They faced off in the RiverBots tournament in Monroe, Michigan, in December, with Peacock flipping Wahn's robot over to claim Elyria Robotics' first "signature event" win and qualifying his team for worlds. West said it was also the first win at a signature event for any team from Ohio. "That was the coolest thing in the world because we'd never won one before and then we got to the end and it's like, 'Oh we're gonna win either way'." Wahn and Peacock again faced off in a local tournament shortly after, and Peacock once again flipped Wahn's robot onto its back. "It's interesting because we're friends in the room, but once we get to the tournament it's all business," Wahn said. "I knew he was gonna (flip me) again." Wahn's team still managed to qualify for worlds through the skills competition at the state tournament. Despite again being on separate teams for the world tournament, Peacock and Wahn were working together on Monday to make last minute adjustments to Wahn's robot in preparation for the trip. West, despite his frustration that the robot was not already packed away for the trip, said that cooperation and group problem solving is what the team and the entire field of robotics is about. The philosophy of the program, West said, is to provide his students with three things: "time, space and stuff." "It's the funniest thing, if you give them those three things and just stay by to offer some guidance and answer occasional questions, they are super productive," he said. Allowed to operate on their own and bounce ideas off of one another, West said that his team members make strides on their projects while learning real-world skills. "The robot is just the tool that teaches them other things, it teaches them to show up on time, problem solve (and) fail productively," he said. A major part of that process is allowing students to talk about their robots, strategies and processes among themselves, even with opponents and rivals. "I haven't talked to (Peacock and Wahn) all period, and they're down here on two separate teams working to solve a problem," West said. "So even though they are going to compete against each other, they're problem solving as a crew." Wahn and Peacock will be joined at worlds by nine fellow students: Anthony Schmitz, Riley "Rose" Schwochow, Owen Burgess, Naylan Boddy, Noah Hearn, Arabella Truxall, Isaac Quast, Mykaela Boddy and Kirsten "Kei" Young The Elyria Robotics program has 135 students from fifth through 12th grade split between four age groups. Across all groups the program won 76 awards on the season. In addition to the two high school teams headed to worlds, teams 11124P and 11124R, one fifth- and sixth-grade team took the skills state championship for its age group and qualified for worlds. The students on that team were Chuckie Hood, Kylie Balawender and Phoenix Marbury, but they will have to wait a few years before competing on the biggest stage as the district currently only sends high school teams to worlds. In addition to drivers, team members can serve as programmers, record keepers and builders, but Wahn said everyone ends up wearing multiple hats. During the competition, three students are actively working together on each robot. In some iterations of the game each team has to work together with another robot and team. "Each robot has three players on the field, so there's six people that have to talk to each other and figure things out on the fly," West said. "It's legit, real-world problem-solving." At the world tournament teams will be paired with complete strangers who can be from another country entirely. Even then, West said, they have to find a way to communicate and strategize. "They'll get paired with a team from Australia or China and they'll break their phones out and talk into Google Translate," West said. "And they're trying to figure out a plan and draw stuff out … Breaking through that whole language barrier. It's cool, it's an unforgettable experience." In addition to language barriers, Peacock said that the game develops differently in different countries and regions as a prevailing strategy or "meta" takes hold in each place. "I think it's cool because you get to see so many teams from everywhere," Peacock said. "The strategies are just different. So you get to see what everyone else is doing around the world and learn from it." Wahn said even the styles of the robot and the drivers can be different, comparing the intricate designs and passive strategy of California teams to the more aggressive defense of Ohio drivers. Wherever the teams are from, the interplay of competition and teamwork between them is one of Wahn's favorite aspects, he said. "I like the competitiveness while we're also able to form friendships," he said. "Like we're friends with a lot of people from different schools from around this area just because we compete against them on a regular basis. So we've developed friendships outside of robotics. So it's fun to see how that mixes and how it can turn on and off." The Elyria Robotics team leaves Tuesday and the high school competition will run Thursday to Friday. Both Elyria teams will compete to get out of two different brackets and reach the final round, which is played in "The Dome" in front of upward of 7,000 spectators. After the tournament, the whole process starts over as the REC Foundation releases the design for the next year's game and students get right back to work. "This robot will be completely worthless in two weeks," West said. "They have to tear it apart and start over … the new game will be released at the end of the week. So by the time we leave they'll be like 'OK, so next year' and I'm like, guys give me a break for just one minute. But it really is a 12-month project, and they'll have their ideas ready by the time we get back." Contact Owen MacMillan at (440) 329-7123 or omacmillan@chroniclet.com.