2011 – Turkey or bust. 2011-05-02

At the RoboCup Junior UK final on 19th March, the team did amazingly well, using the 2 Lego robots that we took to Singapore last year. The TechnoBotts were head and shoulders above the opposition, winning each match that they played. The three first-round matches and the semi-final were all 5-0 to the TechnoBotts; these matches were stopped after a 5-goal difference. The Final, against Prenton High School, and which, realistically, looked like they might present a bit of a threat to us as their robots were faster than ours, the TechnoBotts won 8-0.

So, 28 goals scored – not a single goal conceded. That is a stunningly good result. And we’ve qualified to go to Turkey, to RoboCup 2011. If it’s anything like RoboCup 2010 was, that will be a fantastic experience.

But now the hard work has started. The robots are being totally redesigned – Lego robotics, although wonderful, don’t really cut the mustard in the international robotics competition arena. Last year in Singapore at RoboCup 2011 was testament to that. The other teams’ robots, quite literally, ran rings around ours, being faster and more agile. So we’ve (or rather, Eric and Andrew’ve) been busy redesigning the robot from the ground up, with a careful eye on the budget. If we can re-use components, we will. So the Lego compass sensors will be making another appearance. If we can’t get the newly designed hand-built wheels to work, we’ll use the omni-wheels that we used with the Lego robots last year.

And the fund-raising has started too. It will cost an estimated £4700 to rebuild the robots and take them and the team out to Turkey for the week of the competition. So we’re writing letters to everyone we can think of, and crossing fingers firmly in the hopes that we can afford to go. Because, if we can’t afford it, we can’t go. If we don’t get a significant chunk of money in by the end of May, it’ll be curtains for our Turkey hopes. We’ll have a pair of absolute killer robots for the next UK final in 2012, two disappointed boys, and a rather impecunious team coach. Fingers crossed.