Coyotes stopped in semi-finals
Students behind the controls in a robotics competition were not looking to qualify for anything, as it was an off-season event, but that did not mean they weren’t fiercely trying to beat their opponents — robots and humans — from all over the state.
The fifth annual Madtown Throwdown in the Joe Flores Gym at Madera High School included 29 high school teams and 36 robots playing “Ultimate Ascent.”
A caged-off playing field was set up on the gym floor, where robots — guided by human players behind the walls — aimed to shoot frisbees to score into four goal posts. Other human players also participated by feeding the frisbees into the robots, who then took their shots. Finally, the robots tried to climb a pipe pyramid set up in the center of the field. Each round lasted about two minutes and 30 seconds.
Madera High is the only local school with robotics teams. Madtown Robotics Team 1323 is the regular team, while 1324 is the rookie team. Both only made it to the semi-finals...