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The Rolla Regional Robotics team from St. James, Mo., won the 2016 annual Greater St. Louis Botball Tournament on Saturday, March 19 at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. Fifteen teams competed in the Morris University Center Meridian Ballroom before a crowd of more than 150 throughout the day.

This year’s theme was a Mars Mission crewmember rescue. Students’ robots worked to assist Botnaut in surviving on the surface of Mars until a rescue mission could be sent. The students built autonomous robots that traveled around a game board earning points with three goals to accomplish in two-minute rounds:

• Collect sealed potatoes, Martian soil, and water deposits, and bring them into a habitat
• Connect an oxygen generator and a radioisotope thermoelectric generator to the habitat
• Set up solar arrays and remove dirt from others in order to generate power

The board was multi-leveled, creating additional challenges for the teams. The robots could travel around the main area, a crater floor, or access a crater slope that led up to a crater ridge that contained higher scoring game items.

“As is done each year, there are a variety of tasks that allow both the novice and experienced teams to challenge themselves and succeed in the competition,” said Gary Mayer, PhD, assistant professor of computer science in the SIUE School of Engineering and the event organizer. “Some easy points were available right next to the habitats where the robots began.

“Much higher scores were earned by being able to travel out, pick up piles of dirt and water poms, and deposit them into a bucket with potatoes. Points increased if the potato bin was brought into the habitat. Other points were earned by being able to travel up the narrow steep slope and clean off the solar arrays without damaging them - a practice of precision.”

Botball teams score equally in three categories of documentation, seeding rounds and the double elimination tournament. In each category, teams earn a score of 0.0 to 1.0. Documentation points are earned through a team’s online submission during the weeks leading up to the tournament and from a presentation that student team members must give at the tournament. Rolla Regional Robotics had an excellent showing, earning first place in documentation, seeding and double elimination, which guaranteed their overall first place finish.

Uncontested seeding rounds were held in the morning. Points earned determined a team’s placement in the double-elimination bracket. After Rolla, St. Mary’s School of Edwardsville took second in both the seeding and double elimination rounds to place second place overall. Edwardsville’s Father McGivney Catholic High School finished with an overall third place standing.

Rolla Regional Robotics had a solid plan and a solid implementation this year. While other teams did well, it was difficult for them to match the consistency of Rolla’s two-robot execution. One robot would collect a large amount of dirt, water, and potatoes and get them back to the habitat, while the second would travel up their slope, clean off the solar array, travel back down the slope, and head over to the opponent’s side and up that slope for additional points. In one round, Rolla’s robots earned the team 520 points - approximately 300 points higher than many other teams’ scores.

Botball tournament results can be found at botball.org/gsl/2016/results.

Photo: Kolton Klette of Father McGivney Catholic High School in Glen Carbon reacts to his robot’s performance during SIUE’s annual Botball competition.