The Vex Worlds Experience

On the 24th of April, 2024, I went to Vex VRC Robotics High School Worlds with my team. We qualified for this event around 2 months ago, as the finalists of California’s Region 2 regional tournament. As I traveled separately from the rest of my team, I made it to Dallas, where the tournament was being held, at around 3 in the morning. After sleeping, I arrived at the venue and met with my team. That day, the qualification matches were being held in the afternoon, so we had time in the morning to fine-tune our robot. Qualification matches are very important in any tournament, which will give a team their ranking, determining if they will be in a picking position for elimination matches. After a quick lunch, we headed to the opening ceremony. Vex’s opening ceremonies have always been intense and fast-paced, and the one they prepared this year did not disappoint. We were quickly hyped for what was to come, with the performances by other teams, the flag parade, and the words of encouragement by the event’s emcee. After the ceremony, we headed to the Innovate division field to play our first unofficial match, a practice match. But very soon, it was finally time to get ready for the real qualification matches. We were scheduled to play the 12th match that day, and in no time, it was time to set up the robot on the field. After checking all of the robot’s modules, we were ready to play. Our first match was against another powerful team from California, but after the 2-minute match, we came out on top with a 55-point difference. The next match was no different. In match number 34, we defeated our opponent with a 56-point margin. Against our next opponent in match 61, we won by nearly 100 points. After that match, we left the venue, as our next match would be played the next day. That night, we had dinner together as a team, the first official sit-down dinner we had had in a long time. Finally, it was time to return to our lodgings and wait for the next day. 

The next day started with no difference. We were playing first and we won our first match, with a margin of around 58 points. The match after that was closer, only a 30-point margin with us winning the match. At this point, our spirits were very high. Never had our team ever done so well in the world championship, and gone so many matches without losing a single one. We also scored the autonomous win point in the matches, which was an important part of the tournament, since it would be a deciding factor in our final division ranking. Unfortunately, in the next match, we lost by 18 points. This was a breaking point, as our ranking dropped from about 2nd to below the top tenth. Between that match and the next, there was some time for us to wander around the venue, taking in the sights. The venue itself was huge, and the place where all the matches were being played was massive, with 8 separate areas for each division to play its matches. We watched some matches from each division until it was finally time for our next match. Unfortunately, our next match was not much better. Being paired with the lowest-ranking team in the division, with absolutely no wins yet, we lost, but only by a division of 12 points. Luckily, our Autonomous win points were still holding up our ranking, keeping us within the top twenty ranks. Finally, in the next match, we managed to defeat our opponents, with a margin of 55 points. Our next opponents were no different, and we won by a margin of 10 points. Finally, for our last match, we unfortunately lost, with our alliance partner overturning our robot in the middle of the match, making us lose by 13 points. 

Our work for two whole days in Dallas led us to be ranked 4th in the division. After talking to some prospective teams and receiving some requests for alliances for the elimination round, we decided on a team. They were also from our region and were precisely the ones that defeated us in the finals at the regionals. However, they were very low on the rankings, but we knew that their robot was well built, the team had great game sense, and they were merely being dragged down by their incompetent alliance partners in qualification matches. So, to the shock of the entire division and our parents, we, the 5th-seeded alliance, selected the 47th-place team, out of a division of 82 teams. When eliminations started, our drivers executed their roles picture perfectly, playing to the predetermined strategy flawlessly. We made little to no mistakes, resulting in a landslide win for us, with a score of 140 to 76. Our next match went with no exception, although the opponent’s alliance disqualified themself with a violation, so we walked away with a win and 133 points. However, our next match was against the 1st seeded alliance, with robots that far outperformed our own. Despite a hard fight, they managed to take the lead and won by a margin of 29 points (147-118) due to some mistakes on our part. This marked the end of our season, and although we knew we could have made it to the dome (where the winners of each division compete to see who comes out on top), we still were very happy with our performance, as this was the first time our team had made it to the elimination bracket in the division.

Although our season was over, the robotics season wasn’t. Later that afternoon, our team gathered and returned to the dome, where the opening ceremony took place. The 8 teams that won every division battled it out in the arena. Although we were cheering for one of last year’s world champions to win again, they unfortunately lost due to a disqualification, which completely wrapped up that year’s robotics season. However, Worlds was not over until the final game reveal which showed us what the 2024-25 season would be. It turned out to be a game with rings and stakes and a tough game of competing for different parts of the field. I am not excited for this new season since the gameplay seems super boring, as it would mostly involve camping a corner rather than competitive offensive and defensive gameplay like last season and the previous on before last season’s game. 

(The robot pictures on the second floor)