CANFIELD — Teams from all over the Mahoning Valley, and beyond, have been preparing for a new season of robot competition.

Teams recently gathered at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center to compete in the Mahoning Valley VEX Robotics League invitational tournament.

Walter Baber, robotics / engineering instructor at MCCTC, said the Mahoning Valley VEX Robotics League has 54 teams from Mahoning, Trumbull, Columbiana, Portage and Ashtabula counties.

He said teams began preparing for the season in the fall with a scrimmage held in October.

“That is when teams are introduced to the game and the rules,” he said. “Teams learn what is good and what is not.”

There have also been team qualification nights and then rankings with the top 16 choosing a partner with whom to go into elimination tournaments. The top five teams qualify for the state competition in March in Marion.

Baber said teams are able to rebuild and rethink their robots at the competition.

“The league provides a learning experience about robotics. There is three to four weeks between matches, which gives teams the opportunity to go back to their school and see what works and doesn’t work with the robot,” Baber said.

MCCTC has had a league for six years and has been hosting tournaments for 10 years. The school’s robotics club has been around for 12 years, according to Baber.

“With 54 teams, we are the largest league from what I can find in the world. I assumed we were the largest in Ohio and then someone told me we are the largest league in the world,” he said.

Baber said the biggest takeaways from being part of the league is problem solving and creative thinking. Each team is faced with a challenge at the beginning of the season and the team’s job is to design and build a robot that is compatible and will accomplish the challenge.

“The teams come up with a solution to see if it is working and then have the opportunity to go back to the drawing board and make changes and build the robot better,” Baber said.

There will be an open event at MCCTC on Feb. 3 that will allow any team in Ohio to compete. Baber said nearly 60 teams have already registered. The event is separate from the league’s competition.

MCCTC team members include Emma Repula of Austintown, Aaron Strock of Austintown, Carson Nagy of Canfield and Jackson Douty of Salem, all seniors,

Repula, a two-year member who plans to study civil engineering, said she enjoys the learning that takes place while being part of the league.

“This helps me think a lot better,” she said. “There are a lot of aspects where you have to think how you would do this and how it would work out. If it doesn’t work out, you can go back and fix your mistakes.”

Douty, a three-year member, said he likes the game style that helps his project management, organizational skills and time management skills.

“We try to make our robot unique in design and efficient and effective,” Douty, who is planning for a career in IT, said.

Nagy, a two-year member who hopes to pursue a career in engineering, said he likes traveling all over the state and meeting different teams.

“It is a melting pot of ideas. It’s fascinating all the teams I have met,” he said.

Strock, who is in his first year on the team and plans to study software engineering, said he would do the coding.

“I like tackling new challenges so I decided to give this a shot,” he said. “I like the camaraderie with the team.”

Nagy and Repula made it to state competition in 2022 with their team.

After the Dec. 9 event, four teams from MCCTC and one team from South Range will be heading to nationals in March.

TRUMBULL TEAM

Carrie Seinkle, engineering instructor at Trumbull Career and Technical Center and formerly with Liberty schools, said there has always been new team members at any school.

“The team at TCTC is being rebooted since it was not held for a couple of years due to COVID-19. The students know we have a club to be involved in,” she said.

Seinkle said there are four students in the program.

“At school, I teach robotics as part of the program,” she said. “The students learn how to build and program. They are understanding that aspect at school. What they are learning at the competition is collaboration with other schools. It helps students come out of their shell.”

The competition also allows them to work on their problem-solving abilities. If something doesn’t work, Seinkle said her students go back to the drawing board to find a solution.

“They learn engineering to test things and see if they work or fail. They learn what needs to be fixed on the robot. They take the lead and do what they need to do. This program is very student-centered,” she said.

She said competitions also take place in Akron and Cleveland.

Team members include Shawn Bell of Howland and Marcus Day of Warren, both seniors, who are both competing for the first time.

Day, who plans to enter a robotics field in college, said the team needed someone to drive the robot so he decided to join the team and help where he can.

“I have always been interested in robots,” he said. “The condition of the robot after each match is important. There are other robots that bang into your robot and cause damage. We have already had to fix a few things after some of the matches. It is important to make sure the robot is reinforced and strong.”

Bell, who plans to study mechanical engineering and working with robots, said he did search and rescue for Skills USA and was glad to be able to join robotics.

“I love building robots. I feel we have improved. We are focusing on what is the best strategy,” Bell said.

He said in the competition the robot has to play both offense and defense so nuts and bolts need to be tightened.

Other members are Robert McFarland of Warren and Nathan Emerine of Champion, both juniors.

McFarland, who is in his first year of robotics, said he enjoys learning to control the robot during competitions.

“It is fun to experiment and brainstorm with the robot,” said Emerine, who is in his second year of competing.