Team SCREAM takes Arkansas Regional

Out of failure comes success.

Team SCREAM, Smith-Cotton High School’s competitive robotics team, was on the winning alliance at the FIRST Robotics Arkansas Regional, held March 19-21 in Searcy, Ark. It joined the Highlanders from Fort Collins, Colo., on the No. 1 seeded alliance; Hope BotCats from Hope, Ark., rounded out the alliance, which went undefeated in the playoffs and posted the regional high score (550 points) in the final championship match. With the win, Team SCREAM qualifies for the FIRST World Championships in April.

The positive outcomes in Arkansas were born from disappointment weeks earlier in Oklahoma.

On the first day of competition at the Oklahoma Regional, Team SCREAM student leaders knew their robot was not able to perform at the level needed to win a regional championship. After falling short in Oklahoma, the team scrapped the months of work that went into their robot and started over from scratch.

Team SCREAM Leadership Team member Sarah Slagle said, “From our Friday night review (in Oklahoma), we knew what it would take mechanically, electrically, and from a programming perspective to build a robot of the caliber we needed to compete. The self-awareness of our team was the ultimate deciding factor. With the time, materials, and people available, we knew that it was going to be hard. Eight engineers, nine days, one robot.”

This year’s FIRST competition is “Rebuilt,” which calls for robots to gather yellow balls and shoot them into a hopper. Part of Team SCREAM’s rebuild was switching how their robot collects and shoots the balls to improve efficiency.

“The group this year is incredibly dedicated,” Slagle said. “We knew the limits, we knew what we wanted, and we knew how to get it, even though that meant a complete top[1]down redesign. It was hard. The late nights, the back-and-forth, the questioning, all of it, but that just proves who we are.”

Team SCREAM Jr. also had a successful run in Arkansas, being on the No. 2 alliance and making it all the way to the finals. Team SCREAM Head Coach Michael Wright said it was an epic weekend for both teams.

“We have been working incredibly hard to improve our robots, and to see that work pay off was an incredible feeling,” Wright said. “I am so happy for our students and everything they have put into this season. … Having both teams in the finals and being able to celebrate that together is something special.”

Team SCREAM and Highlanders were the two top-scoring teams through qualification matches. In the playoffs, Hope BotCats played defense, making it more difficult foropponents’ robots to score, and helped feed additional balls to SCREAM and Highlanders to boost their scoring.

“One of the strongest aspects of our alliance was our ability to adapt to changing gameplay,” Slagle said. “We had our share of struggles, as we broke down in our first match and the Highlanders experienced a couple of breakdowns as well, but we stayed composed and adjusted our play style based on what the situation required. We didn’t play a single clean match where everything worked as intended until the final round. In finals match 2, all the issues that both we and the Highlanders faced were resolved … and we set the event high score. It was a great way to end the weekend.”

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The regional championship banner is among a handful of honors the teams brought home. Team SCREAM Jr. received the Autonomous Award for its robot’s performance in the opening period of matches when robots operate without human guidance. Team SCREAM won the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award sponsored by SpaceX, which “celebrates a team who demonstrates outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school or organization and community,” according to FIRST.

Additionally, longtime Team SCREAM mentor Bill Fowler was honored with the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award, which is presented to an outstanding mentor who best leads, inspires, teaches, and empowers their team using excellent communication skills. He will get to compete for the Championship Woodie Flowers Award in April in Houston.

Wright said Fowler “has been such an instrumental part of our program, and I’m so glad to see him recognized as a Woodie Flowers Finalist. Bill, along with his wife Teri, have invested so much time, talent, and energy into our students. He is incredibly deserving of this honor.”

Team SCREAM and Team SCREAM Jr. still have work to do.

“We are grateful for the success this weekend, but we’re already focused on continuing to improve as we head into the Greater Kansas City Regional (April 9-11) and prepare for the world championships in Houston,” Wright said.

In the photo: Team SCREAM drive team members lift their robot in celebration after winning the Arkansas Regional on Saturday, March 21, in Searcy, Ark. Team SCREAM was on an alliance with Highlanders from Fort Collings, Colo., and Hope BotCats from Hope, Ark.