14
QUEENS WEEKLY, DEC. 16, 2018
Vaughn College places fi rst in robotics competition
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
The Vaughn College
Robotics Team competed
among seven international
teams in the VEX U Competition
in Cancun, Mexico,
finishing second place
overall in the competition
and earning first place recognition
for the robotics
skills champion category.
Faculty adviser Dr. Hossein
Rahemi, chair of the
Engineering and Technology
Department and Khalid
Mouaouya, associate
professor of Engineering
and Technology, were onsite
for the event lending
support to the team during
their matches.
“I’m so proud of my students,
they did a great job
in the competition,” said
Rahemi. “I see how well
they perform and how they
challenge themselves…
they have a passion.”
In the Nov. 23 VEX Robotics
Competition, presented
by the Robotics
Education and Competition
Foundation, teams of
students were tasked with
designing and building a
robot to play against other
teams in a game-based
engineering challenge, according
to its website. The
VEX U college and university
competition has more
than 300 teams competing
in local tournaments and at
VEX Worlds.
The Vaughn College Robotics
team used mechanical,
electrical and programming
skills to build this
year’s robots for the Turning
Point Challenge.
The Turning Point Challenge
is played on a 12’x12’
square field. Two Alliances
— one “red” and one “blue”
— composed of two teams
each, compete in matches
consisting of a 15-second
Autonomous Period, followed
by a one-minute and
forty-five second Driver
Controlled Period.
The object of the game
is to attain a higher score
than the opposing Alliance
by High Scoring or Low
Scoring Caps, Toggling
Flags, and by Alliance
Parking or Center Parking
Robots on the Platforms.
Team VCAT finished in
the qualifying round with
a total of eight wins out of
nine matches and advanced
to the playoff round. In their
quarterfinal match, the
team won against Universidad
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Politenica de Tapachula,
and also eliminated
Universidad Politecnica de
Quintana Roo during the
semi-final match.
After advancing to the
finals, Vaughn’s team lost
to Universidad Tecnológica
del Centro de Veracruz
(VCAT—13, UTCV2—15)
in a close match. The team
finished second place overall
in the competition and
earned first place for the
robotics skills champion
category, and are currently
first in the world in the
skills category.
Niki Taheri, a senior at
Vaughn College studying
Mechatronics, joined the
Robotics Club in her freshman
year.
To prepare for the competition,
the team builds the
robots and conducts a test
run, according to Taheri.
“To complete one robot
takes around three months
but it’s never completely
done,” said Taheri. “Even
after it’s doing being built,
we still have to program it
and practice driving it and
then when you’re driving
you might find something
wrong and have to go back
and fix it… it’s constantly
making improvements.”
For the past five years
since 2013, the team has
been a part of the world
championship, said Rahemi.
They’ve been invited every
year to compete against
other schools in Mexico.
“Every year the competition
task is different,”
said Rahemi. “They
designed different tasks
and you have to design
your robot to satisfy those
requirements.”
The team plans on returning
to Mexico next
year to compete in the Vex
U Competition.
“The teams are very
dedicated and they have
a devotion and hard work
and we also encourage and
support them,” said Rahemi.
“Being a part of the
competition is important
giving them the hands-on
skills they need for a successful
career path. All of
our students who are a part
of these clubs get job offers.
Those skills open their opportunities
with different
companies.”
Reach reporter Carlotta
Mohamed by e-mail at cmohamed@
cnglocal.com or by
phone at (718) 260–4526.
(From l. to r.) Niki Taheri ’19, Andriy Belz ’20, Jason Becker ’21,
Atif Saeed ’20, Juan Aguirre Rodriguez ’21, Eric Grieco ’19, John
Hernandez ’19, Dr. Hossein Rahemi, Chair of the Engineering
and Technology Department. Photo courtesy of Vaughn College
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