Framingham Public Schools

          Robert A. Tremblay, Ed.D., Superintendent of Schools

Contact: Rochelle Santos
Media & Communications Manager
73 Mount Wayte Avenue, Suite #5
Framingham, Massachusetts 01702
Telephone: 774-388-7121 Fax: 508-877-4240

Framingham Robotics Presents the VEX Robotics Southern New England Middle School Regional Championship Competition

Hosted at Walsh Middle School and with opening remarks from Framingham Superintendent Dr. Tremblay - Framingham Schools are seeking spots at the World Championships 

February 22, 2019 (Framingham, MA): Tomorrow middle school robotics teams from Bermuda, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island will be competing at the all-day VEX Robotics Competition “Turning Point” Southern New England Middle School Regional Championship. 

This event will determine which five teams will represent the region at the VEX Robotics World Championships this April in Louisville, KY. The World Championship is the world’s largest robotics event and will include 750 other middle and high school teams from more than 50 countries.

The 48 teams will compete in qualifying rounds to establish performance rankings and will be evaluated by judges on their engineering design process, build quality, as well as their performance on and off the field.

Framingham Public Schools will be fielding six middle school teams from Cameron and Walsh Middle Schools.

• Cameron Middle School - Team 594A

• Walsh Middle School - Team 9791A - Walsh Mobile Movers

• Walsh Middle School - Team 9791B - WalshBots Brady Bunch

• Walsh Middle School - Team 9791C - Walsh Roboty McRobotface

• Walsh Middle School - Team 9791D - WalshBots D

• Walsh Middle School - Team 9791E - WalshBots Rusty Robots

The 4-6 member teams have been designing, building, programming, and testing their robots ever since the game was revealed last April. As part of the Framingham Public Schools after school program, students meet multiple times a week to work on their robot. Teams can also bring the robots home to perfect their build and programming.

The Framingham Middle School Championship is one of a series of VEX Robotics Competitions taking place internationally throughout the year. VEX Competitions are recognized as the largest and fastest growing competitive robotics programs for elementary school, middle school, high school and college students around the world. This year, more than 20,000 teams from 45 countries will participate in more than 1,500 VEX Competition events worldwide. The competition season culminates each spring, with VEX Robotics World Championship, a highly-anticipated event that unites top qualifying teams from local, state, regional and international VEX Robotics Competitions to crown World Champions. More information about the VEX Robotics Competition is available at RoboticsEducation.org, RobotEvents.com and VEXRobotics.com.

(Photo shows teams from Locke Middle School and Walsh Middle School playing Turning Point)

The Game

VEX Robotics Competition Turning Point is played on a 12’x12’ square field configured as seen above. Two (2) Alliances – one (1) “red” and one (1) “blue” – composed of two (2) teams each, compete in matches consisting of a fifteen (15) second Autonomous Period followed by one minute and forty-five seconds (1:45) of Driver Controlled Period.

The object of the game is to attain a higher score than the opposing Alliance by High Scoring or Low Scoring Caps, Toggling Flags, and by Alliance Parking or Center Parking Robots on the Platforms.

Event Details 

Event Name:  Southern New England Middle School Regional Championship 

Event Location: Walsh Middle School, 301 Brook Street, Framingham, Massachusetts, 01701

Event Date/Time: Saturday, February 23, 2019 9am to 6pm

Event Schedule:

• 9:00 am - Welcome and Game/Rules Overview in Big Gym (Opening Remarks by Framingham Superintendent, Dr. Robert Tremblay)
• 9:30 am - Qualifying Matches
• 11:00 am - 3:00 pm: Attendees are invited to visit Boston Dynamics and Spot Mini robot
• 4:00 pm - Alliance Selections
• 4:15 pm - Elimination Rounds
• 5:30 pm - Awards
• 6:00 pm - Venue closes

Event information: More information on the event and directions can be found on the Robot Events website. 

The event is open to the public and there is no admission fee. 

Walsh Bots Club Advisor: Pascal Chesnais - pchesnais@framingham.k12.ma.us

Walsh Middle School Robotics Club has a social media presence:

Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/WalshBots/

Twitter: @WalshBots

About Framingham Public Schools
The mission of the Framingham Public Schools is to educate each student to learn and live productively as a critically-thinking, responsible citizen in a multicultural, democratic society by providing academically challenging instructional programs taught by highly-qualified staff and supported by comprehensive services in partnership with our entire community. For news, updates, and announcements, follow Framingham Public Schools (@FraminghamPS) on Facebook, Twitter, and (@framinghamschools) on Instagram. You can also join the conversation using #FraminghamSchools.

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Confirmed Teams as of 2/15/19