M’Aiken Magic, Aiken’s local FIRST robotics team traveled to North Charleston on March 23 to compete against 29 other robotics teams also involved in FIRST. FIRST is a worldwide organization that helps kids to get involved in STEM in a fun and exciting way. M’Aiken Magic consists of 21 students from the CSRA, incorporating students from over eight schools.
The team had 7 weeks to build a robot for this year’s competition. Crescendo, a musically themed competition, was sponsored by the Gene Haas Foundation. The object of the game was to design a robot that could pick up orange foam rings called “notes.” The notes could be scored in two places, the “speaker” and the “amp”, but each came with its own unique design challenges that made creating a mechanism that could score in one or both of them difficult.
M'Aiken Magic and its robot Spyro first competed in Dalton, Georgia, where they placed third. Heading to Charleston, the team was looking for a win that would enable them to advance to the GA and S.C. district championship.
In Charleston, the team won their first three matches. But late in the morning, a collision with another team was so forceful that the 2-inch aluminum cross-beam on the front of the robot bent, and the 3D printed brackets supporting it shattered. After missing a few matches conducting repairs, they picked back up and won the rest of their four qualification matches of the day, ending the day ranked in second place.
On Saturday, the team easily won its last three qualification matches and seeded first in the qualifying matches. During the draft, the team picked the second-ranked team Metal In Motion from Oconee County and Flash from Mauldin.
Going up against the fifth seed alliance, M’Aiken Magic and its alliance partners won handily, 72 points to 48. Confidence boosted, they headed into the finals to face the second seed once again. The winner of finals was decided by best two out of three. M’Aiken Magic, Metal In Motion and Flash came together strong to win the second Finals match 82 to 56, earning them the title of North Charleston District Event Winners.
At the end of the event the team received two awards: the Autonomous Award and the District Event Winner, adding to the Quality award they won in Dalton.
The team will compete in the DCMP in Macon, Georgia, this weekend. They will face 49 other qualifying teams. They hope to rank high and earn a return trip to the world championship in Houston, Texas, where they will again have the opportunity to meet and compete with teams from all around the world.
Team sponsors include Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, Savannah River National Laboratory, Crane Fund, Bosch, SHAW Floors, BAE Systems, Merrick & Co., Generac, Gene Haas Foundation, Novelis, Savannah River Mission Completion, Aiken County Public Schools, Aiken High School and the M'Aiken Magic STEM Foundation.
For more information or to keep up with the team's progress, follow them on Instagram at @maikenmagic or find them on Facebook by searching the M’Aiken Magic Robotics Team.
