VEX IQ Thailand National Championship

DBS teams absolutely shone at the VEX Robotics Thailand National Finals. Not only were they amazingly well behaved and played their matches with good sportsmanship and skill but once again, we have a team who are the Champions of Thailand!

For the whole day, all 40 teams competed in Teamwork Alliance matches with other robots from another school and 3 of our teams qualified for the finals. Our 55580C Team (Ben, Freddie, Jayden, and Pat) won the whole Alliance competition with the highest score of the day in their finals match. So they are the Teamwork Champions! 55580A (Lene, Jani, Chann, and Puth) came 3rd and 55580B (Earth, Palm, TK, Shiek, and Pump) came in 5th position.

Then onto the judges awards. The Excellence Award is the biggest award of the day and is awarded to the team who has the best overall robot, performance, Engineering Notebook and Judges Interview points combined and takes into account the performance on the field on the day. 55580B won this top award of the day and are now the Champions of Thailand. This automatically qualifies the team for the World Championships. This is our 4th year of competing and with this award, DBS students have maintained their 100% record of winning this award every year!!

55580C won the 2nd best award of the day, The Design Award which again, is awarded to the team who has best overall robot design, Engineering Notebook and Judges Interview points combined. This automatically qualifies the team for the World Championships.

55580B also won The Inspire Award which recognises passion for the competition and positivity at the event.

55580A, one of our Elementary Teams won The Create Award which recognises a creative engineering design solution. They had a fantastic seesaw mechanism which wowed the judges and they even beat all the older teams to win this award!

55580A scored so well in the Skills Competition that they are ranked 1st place in Thai World Skills Standing in the Elementary Competition. This qualifies the team for the World Championships.

So that’s it – 5 trophies!! DBS won half of the trophies available for the whole competition. Incredible performance.

Middle School Teams:

Earth, Palm, TK, Shiek, and Pump – Inspire Award & Excellent Award (Champions of Thailand)

Ben, Freddie, Jayden, and Pat – Teamwork Champions & Design Award

Elementary School Teams:

Lene, Jani, Chann, and Puth – Create Award

Luke, Houze, Porsche, and Vin

A very special thank you to Andy Hall, who took up the reins as Head Robotics Coach from the beginning of October. Other coaches were asking about DBS and our Robotics ASA as they couldn’t believe the high standard we achieve year on year! Thanks also to Emily Maitland who accompanied them on Saturday.

And it goes without saying that we are incredibly proud of our fabulous students!! Three of our teams have qualified for the World Championships in Dallas, Texas so preparations are underway for the trip of a lifetime to this incredible competition.

Here are the full details of the Awards won:

Teamwork Champions

Awarded to the alliance pairs with the highest score in the finals matches of the Alliance Teamwork Competition.

Excellence Award

The Excellence Award recognizes overall excellence in both the Judged Award and the Performance Award categories. The Excellence Award incorporates all the criteria of the Design Award, plus the added component of a team’s on-field performance at the event. The Excellence Award is a required award if judging is being conducted at an event.

Key criteria of the Excellence Award are: 

• Be at or near the top of all Engineering Notebook Rubric rankings
• Exhibit a high-quality team interview
• Be ranked in the top 10 or top 30% of teams (whichever is greater) at the conclusion of qualifying matches 
• Be ranked in the top 5 or top 20% of teams (whichever is greater) at the conclusion of the Robot Skills Challenges if Robot Skills Challenges are offered at the event
• Be a candidate in consideration for other Judged Awards 
• Demonstrate a student-centred ethos
• Exhibit positive team conduct, good sportsmanship, and professionalism

Design Award

The Design Award recognizes an organised and professional approach to the Engineering Design Process, project and time management, and team organisation. Student demonstration of the Engineering Design Process is fundamental to the educational value of REC Foundation programs. The Design Award recognizes a team’s ability to document and explain their Engineering Design Process via an Engineering Notebook and Team Interview. The Design Award is a required award if judging is being conducted at an event. 

Key criteria of the Design Award are: 

• Be at or near the top of Engineering Notebook Rubric rankings 
• Exhibit a high-quality team interview
• Engineering Notebook demonstrates clear, complete, and organised record of an iterative Engineering Design Process
• Team demonstrates effective management of time, talent, and resources 
• Team interview demonstrates their ability to explain their robot design and game strategy
• Team interview demonstrates effective communication skills, teamwork, and professionalism
• Engineering Notebook and Team Interview demonstrate a student-centred ethos

Inspire Award

The Inspire Award recognizes passion for the competition and positivity at the event.

Key criteria of the Inspire Award are:

• Team exhibits passion and positive attitude at the event
• Team exhibits integrity and goodwill toward other teams, coaches, and spectators
• Team overcomes an obstacle or challenge and achieves a goal or special accomplishment at the event
• Students demonstrate teamwork and effective communication skills
• Team interview demonstrates effective communication skills, teamwork, professionalism, and a student-centred ethos

Create Award

The Create Award recognizes a creative engineering design solution to one or more of the challenges of the competition.

Key criteria of the Create Award are:

• Team demonstrates a creative approach to accomplish game objectives
• Team has committed to ambitious and creative approaches to solving the game challenge
• Students understand and explain how they worked together to develop their robot design and game strategy
• Team interview demonstrates effective communication skills, teamwork, professionalism, and a student-centred ethos