After days of competition, teenage robotics team Atom x Skoll from Shenzhen won the runner-up spot in the Robotics Championship China (RCC) after competing with dozens of teams from all over China.

RCC is the offseason event of the First Robotics Competition (FRC), which is one of the most famous teenage robotics competitions in the world. Competitors operate their robots to compete in a court as large as half a basketball court. Every team first takes part in a qualifications match to receive an initial ranking. Teams are then organized into alliances which go head-to-head in knockout matches before the last ones standing finally make it to the championship round.

Although Team 6766 encountered difficulties in the qualifications match, they overcame it with their skills and determination. They communicated with other teams in their alliance to formulate proper tactics before the match started. When their robot encountered trouble, they repaired it as fast as they could.

“FRC’s competitiveness means that the process won’t be smooth. The only thing we can do is to keep calm and take any chances we can,” says an Embed Chamber Studio WeChat article of the competition.

Fortunately, Team 6766 was chosen into an alliance, and their robot soon came to life. They eliminated their competitors 2-0 in the quarter-final and semifinal rounds. Although they went up against more competitors with fewer advantages because of the breakdown of an alliance teammate’s robot and lost the final game, they reached a better ranking in the competition than ever before.

“I burst into tears when we got into the final game. All the teammates cried when we won the runner-up spot. Lots of people don’t know what the second winner means. But what matters most is we finally lived up to our efforts,” said Zheng Wei, one of the Team 6766 members.

Team 6766 was set up in 2016 by a group of high school students. They used a classroom at a mentor’s training base.

(Chen Qingxuan)