This August, the Greenville High School Robowranglers attended their first international competition in China along with this season’s competition robots, Batman and Robin. The team was invited by the China Urban Youth Robotics Alliance (CUYRA) to help train Chinese teams to facilitate their own events. The Robowranglers also competed in the China Robotics Challenge International Bracket, where they won first place and received a gold medal.

“I am so proud of our Robotics students, staff, and mentors!” said Superintendent Don Jefferies, “to be invited to China and compete in their international robotics contest and win the Gold Medal is an amazing feat!”

During the two week trip, the team split their time between sightseeing and assisting the China Urban Youth Robotics Alliance (CUYRA) with training new teams and new event staff. The team participated in a two day workshop in the China Maker Space where they were assigned to help three groups of students that had never participated in FIRST Robotics before. The Robowranglers worked with the teams to help them design and build a mechanism to move game objects around the field and place them on scoring platforms. Some of the team’s mentors also ran training sessions for event volunteers to prepare them for the competition. There were 10 international teams in total at the event, eight of which represented the U.S. with one each from Brazil and Australia.

Over the course of the four day event, team members continued to help the Chinese teams, served as judges, referees, DJ’s, and machine shop help. The Robowranglers easily maintained their winning streak after placing 3^rd at the World Champion in St. Louis this past April. “The robot performed flawlessly during every match and ended the qualification rounds ranked #1 by more than 50 average points per match” said Robowranglers head coach, Adrienne Emerson. “We selected our very good friends, The High Rollers, from Las Vegas as our first partner and one of the pre-rookie Chinese teams we had assisted all week as our second partner” said Emerson. The alliance worked very well together and overcame some technical difficulties in the semi-finals to win the competition. The victory established the Robowranglers as the first China Robotics Challenge International Bracket Champions. It also marked the first competition the team has ever competed in outside of the United States.

“While the team worked very hard during the workshops and competition we also got to spend six days sightseeing,” said Emerson. The team visited landmark locations such as Times Square Hong Kong, Victory Peak, The Hong Kong Botanical Gardens and Zoo, Hong Kong Harbor and the South China Sea by boat. “We were tired from jet lag, but we managed to fit in as much as we possibly could while we were there,” she said. The students and mentors also visited the Huaqiangbei Electronics Market, the Li River, the Yangshou Silver Cave, the Ladies Market, The Tian Tan Budda, and rode the longest cable car in the world on Lantau Island.

 “The team had an amazing time at the competition but the best part of the trip was growing close to the teams on the trip with us. We came home with strong bonds to teams from Las Vegas, California, Australia, and, of course, China!” said Emerson. “This was a trip and contest that will be etched in the brains of these students forever,” said Jefferies. “Greenville High School won a gold medal in China!  How cool is that?”