October 30, 2024Meet Hubble: Aberdeen Hall’s Custom-Built Robot

Aberdeen Hall’s Grade 8 Competitive Robotics team recently returned from an exciting weekend in Vancouver, where their custom-built robot, Hubble, finished 5th out of 14 teams at the VEX IQ Robotics Skills Competition! We are extremely proud of this accomplishment, especially as it was our very first entry into a competition of this kind. Each robot that students entered in the competition was the result of countless hours of planning, testing, and refining.

In the VEX IQ - Rapid Relay competition, teams score points by passing balls between their robots and launching them into scoring zones. Reflecting on the building process, Henry, a member of the team that built Hubble, shared, "Early in our testing of our launch systems were not very accurate so we decided to focus on a design that specialized in just the lower targets."

To achieve this, the team built an “escalator” delivery system. This innovative approach allowed Hubble to consistently score by cycling balls rapidly into the lower targets rather than attempting to launch them into the higher ones. Anjola explained, "We first tried using a conveyor belt but it was very complex and it was too slow so we ended up using intake rollers instead. It was a lot more simple but also more fast and reliable.”

For Hunter, the competition highlighted what was needed to improve. "We did pretty good but if we want to be the best, we have to take Hubble apart and add a launcher to get the top targets but still be consistent in the lower targets." Fortunately for Hunter and the rest of the students, they will have that opportunity in late January when they travel to West Vancouver for a final chance at qualifying for Provincials.

At Aberdeen Hall, we are incredibly proud of all the students who participated in the competition. They’ve demonstrated not only their technical and creative abilities but also their commitment to working through challenges with persistence and teamwork. Hopefully, this is just the beginning, as these students are eager to build on this experience and push their innovations even further.