World Championship Recap

Breakaway 3937 competed in Houston, Texas, at the FIRST Robotics World Championship, April 17-20, 2019. Harding Academy’s robotics team, made their seventh appearance at the world championship since their inaugural year in 2012. The team represented the Searcy community and the state of Arkansas as a top tier team in the league.

According to firstinspires.org, over 15,000 students participated in the championship in the four FIRST leagues: FIRST Lego League, Jr. (grades K-4), FIRST Lego League (ages 9-16), FIRST Tech Challenge (ages 12-18), and FIRST Robotics Competition (ages 14-18). More than 33,000 people attended the championships in the George R. Brown Convention center in downtown Houston. Students from all over the United States and from countries around the world celebrated their programs’ achievements in robotics challenges and team presentations.

Breakaway 3937 performed remarkably well in Houston. After two days of qualification rounds, the team finished 17th. In spite of this, Breakaway had proven their ability to score more points than most individual teams on the field; and the 4th seed alliance partner from Sydney, Australia, Barker Redbacks 4613, selected Breakaway as their first pick out of three for the elimination round.

Although, this alliance lost in the quarter finals to fierce competition, team director, Brian Jones, shares the following statistics that show how our Searcy team faired on the world stage:

• Out of 3790 teams in the world, Breakaway ranked in the top 3.4%

• 10th in scored game pieces

• 6th in “cargo” points scored

• 5th in “rocket” ranking points earned

• 3rd in “rocket” completion percentage

In sum, when it came to scoring points with field elements, Breakaway was in the top 10.

In addition to robot competitions on the field, Breakaway competed for the Chairman’s Award in Houston. Firstinspires.org describes the award in this way: “The Chairman’s Award is the most prestigious award at FIRST, it honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the mission of FIRST. It was created to keep the central focus of FIRST Robotics Competition on the ultimate goal of transforming the culture in ways that will inspire greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology, as well as encouraging more of today’s youth to become science and technology leaders.” Breakaway won Chairman’s in Little Rock at the Rock City Regional (March 9, 2019), which earned them the opportunity to present in Houston.

Although the season has come to a close, the team plans to continue its community outreach and to build on this experience for next year.

Thank you sponsors!