Madtown Robotics readies for throwdown
Wendy Alexander/The Madera Tribune The Madtown Robotics team works on their robot during the annual MadTown Throwdown Robotics Competition in 2016. This year’s competition begins at 1 p.m. today in the Joe Flores Gym at Madera High School.
The Madtown Robotics team, fresh off a 49-4 competition record, will host the ninth annual Madtown Throwdown this weekend in Joe Flores Gym at Madera High School.
The Madtown Robotics team participated in five events this season and ended ranked No. 4 out of 4,000 teams internationally.
Madtown Robotics adviser Ranjit Chahal said his team went undefeated to win its first two competitions of the season. At the international championships in Houston, Madtown Robotics won the division and lost just one match.
“Right now, it’s offseason time,” Chahal said. “We went down to San Jose, which is one of the toughest events in the nation. We beat the No. 1 and No. 3 team in the world. We won the San Jose event. We went 15-0 in an event in Sacramento.”
Chahal said 46 teams from across California will converge on Madera and feature two or three of the top teams in the world, including Madera.
“We have a lot of fun, but our goal is to get a ‘W’ against those guys,” he said. “Our goal is to win the home event. We’re pretty competitive. We consider ourselves like a Division I school. We have played against the top 10 teams in the world.”
In December, Madtown Robotics will receive a new game and get six weeks to design and strategize its next robot.
The event begins at 1 p.m. Saturday with qualifying matches that will last until about 8 p.m. “Sunday is the real deal,” Chahal said.
Round robin matches begin at 8 a.m. Sunday, followed by elimination and championship matches.
“We should be over by about 3 p.m.,” Chahal said. Madtown Robotics Team No. 1323
Sacramento Regional: 14-0
— Regional winners
— Industrial Design Award, sponsored by General Motors Central Valley Regional-Fresno: 18-0
— Regional winners
— Quality Award, sponsored by Motorola Solutions Foundation Houston Championship Division: 15-1
— Championship Subdivision winner
— Autonomous Award, sponsored by Ford
— Final rank: No.4 out of 4,000 teams
Off-season events
Cheezy Championships (San Jose): 14-4
— Winner (Hardest offseason event in world)
— Quality Award Capital City Classic (Davis): 15-0
— Winner
— Innovation in Controls Award MadTown Throwdown schedule
Saturday- 1 p.m.-6 p.m.
Sunday- 8 a.m-3 p.m. (eliminations 1 p.m.-3 p.m.)
Free admission
46 teams across California
3 of top 5 teams in the world participating
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Contact us @ madtownrobotics@maderausd.org for any questions. Team is open to any student in Madera Unified, including Madera South High School students
