All Robotics Teams Qualify for State Competition

By Krista Chouang
Co-Editor | The Pacific Times

For the second time in NP3 history, all four robotics teams have qualified for the state competition, taking place on March 11 and March 12.

“I think it’s a great thing, it shows that you have really good mentors like Dilraj, Jug, and Lovleen,” said robotics advisor Anna Ho. “I’m really grateful for them because you guys wouldn’t have been able to do it without their guidance. I’m also very proud of you guys for putting in a lot of effort, and proud to see the fruits of your labor.”

Team B, which includes driver Julian Padilla, programmer Viktor Ramirez, and builders Ronika Sidhu, Abigail Lewis, and Guy Gong, qualified for States during the teams’ second tournament at Ceres High School on Dec. 3 through winning the Design Award. The team will be competing at the state competition at Tracy on March 12 separate from the rest of the teams.

Team D, which includes driver Ryan Bonser, programmers Jireh Owen and Dylan Reyes, and builders Jolene Phung, Surya Tanikella, and Krista Chouang, qualified for States during the teams’ most recent tournament at Ceres High School on Feb. 25 through winning the Design Award. The team will be competing at the state competition at Milpitas with Teams A and C.

Teams A and C qualified for states through their skills ranking and skills challenge score. At every competition, teams must complete a skills challenge in which the driver has three attempts to individually score as many points as they can in one minute. Based on the amount of points scored, the team is ranked. With a high enough ranking, a team can qualify for States if there are unfilled spots after all qualifying competitions have ended.

Team C, which includes driver Aahil Iqbal, programmer Alvin Ao, and builders Vivian Mai and Zahra Muhammad, has a highest skills score of 75 and a ranking of 2634.

Team A, which includes driver Mackaelan Songco, programmer Arjun Balasa, and builders Hillary Huynh, Emma Reyes, Stefan Susu, and Mark Teterin, has a highest skills score of 115 and a ranking of 1602.