The robopocalypse is coming. The Wilcox Robotics Team, currently in its third year, qualified for the First Tech Challenge Northern California Regionals, held at Newark Memorial High School. The team was started three years ago by Wilcox graduate Victor Chien. He was able to gather a group of students who shared his vision and love for robotics, and together they formed a team called Robopocalypse.
Robopocalypse received some funding through generous donations made by local companies and parents, and they were able to start their first season in 2014. The whole team worked at a furious pace, and they even stayed at school until around ten the night before their first tournament. This season, the teammates focused all of their energy into their robot, staying until five thirty or six nearly every day after school since the new Velocity Vortex challenge was revealed in August.
Each year, the First Tech Challenge (FTC) issues a new challenge for teams to participate in. Each tournament is played on a twelve foot by twelve foot foam playing field, and each round lasts two minutes. The first thirty seconds are autonomous, meaning that teams must program their robot to do specific tasks based on what the challenge is. Next is the driver controlled period, where a driver uses a controller to earn points by doing the same tasks as in autonomous. Finally, there is endgame, which is the last thirty seconds of driver controlled time. In this time, there is usually a more difficult task that teams can perform that will give them extra points.

The new challenge, Velocity Vortex, consists of red and blue colored wiffle balls and a giant basket with an opening at the bottom, one for each color. There are also four beacons that can be pressed to turn either red or blue and a big yoga ball that can be placed at the top of the basket in the endgame for points as well. Shooting the wiffle balls into your alliance’s color earns five points per ball. The beacons are worth ten points, and the yoga ball awards forty points if the team manages to cap it in the basket. Alliances, which are randomly selected by a computer, are decided at each tournament. A team may be your alliance partner one match, but on the opposing alliance in the next.
The final task is extremely difficult because of the size of the ball, the height at which you have to place it, which stands at roughly four feet tall, and the thirty second time limit that teams have to lift the ball and place it in.
Currently, the team is comprised of two graduating seniors, seven juniors, four sophomores, and two freshmen. The team is also split into groups based on members’ interests. Each group is led by one member who has the most knowledge and experience for that area. Generally, the leader teaches other members how to do various tasks related to their section, and they watch as all the groups come together and create a robot that can function perfectly.
Mechanical lead Peter Chien teaches others the design process and how to test various designs based on the challenges that need to be completed.
People come up to the room from time to time to see the progress of the robot and take turns to pilot the thirty pound robot. Many times, students who come up are given the option to learn something new, and they can also just hang out and watch the chaos unfold.
Team captain Nikhil Gupta maintains order and organizes the whole team. Software lead JK Chen taught current programmers Shone Patil and Parth Atre the basics of coding, and since then the duo has spent countless hours fine-tuning the code for the robot. Srividya Gandikota, the outreach lead, maintains the team’s website and makes sure that it is up-to-date. Anand Das, the business lead, finds sponors and manages funds for the team.
The Wilcox Robotics Team is always encouraging people to come up to their room and check out the robot, or even learn and develop new skills. The whole team is very dedicated about the work that they do.
As another season ends, the Wilcox Robotics Team hopes to use their knowledge and abilities to create an even better bot for next year’s competition.