Robotics places 3rd; makes it to semifinals at competition

Every year the Mechanical Science and Engineering Team (M-SET) attends CalGames, a competition where they replay last year’s FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) game. Teams from all over the Bay Area and even from out of state join in the competition.

This year, CalGames took place at Fremont High School in Sunnyvale on Oct. 4 and 5.  Saratoga’s team was able to make it into the semi-finals out of the 38 teams that competed in the competition.

The teams played a variant of frisbee golf in which robots throw frisbees from into goals located on either end of a 27-by-54-foot field at three different heights. At the end of the game, the robots may climb a three-level pyramid located in the center of the field for bonus points.

At this year’s game, the veteran seniors on the team turned over the reins of driving the robot and scouting other teams to rookie FRC members freshman Kyle France and sophomores Naveed Riaziat, Navid Mokhleski and Kabir Manghnani.

  “It was our first time driving, but it was really intense and exciting,” Riaziat said.

The drivers held their own and eventually formed an alliance with team 846 from Lynbrook High School and team 2813 from Prospect High School.

In the end, however, M-SET’s alliance was defeated by another alliance of teams from Mountain View High School, Monterey High School and Woodside High School.

“We learned a lot from the experience,” Riaziat said. “A lot of the difficulties you don’t see behind the scenes become obvious when you become part of the team."

Looking at the overall experience of CalGames, M-Set veterans said they are proud of the younger members. 

  "We did amazing with having us new members running the team," vice president Kabir Manghnani said.

The team’s next competition will be in early 2014 after the next FIRST Robotics Challenge is announced in mid-January.

"With the development of new drivers at CalGames, MSET should be able to do even better than last year," president Mihir Iyer said.