Robowranglers eliminated before reaching finals

April 27, 2010
Greenville Herald Banner

By Amber Pompa
Herald-Banner Staff

DALLAS -- Some 3,000 young innovators and mentors, representing 14 countries around the world, gathered for the 2010 VEX Robotics Competition World Championship, including Greenville's own Robowranglers.

The VEX program is completely student-driven.

"The students design, build, program, drive, coach and repair their own robots with minimal teacher intervention," said Adrienne Emerson, coach for the Robowranglers at the championship.  "The kids really rule the show here."

Two teams within the Robowranglers competed at the championship, held at the Dallas Convention Center and Arena this past weekend, teams 148A and 148B.

"One of the teams rebuilt their entire robot in the five weeks between regionals and the world championship," said Emerson.  "Both teams performed well and ended the weekend with winning records."

According to Emerson, team 148A received the highest score possible in the game in one match.

"With 400 teams competing, competition was stiff," said Emerson.  "Neither team was able to make it to the finals.  Overall, the team was happy with their performance and had a great time.  There were lots of lessons learned that we'll take with us in the future."