Day 2
Our second day in Athens focused on training Wemby to exploit its full potential !
So we headed for what we call the “driving range”, an area reserved exclusively for training the robots on playing fields recreated in the dimensions of the competition and with all the equipment required.
These training matches are the ideal opportunity for teams to project their strategies, but also to discover the level of some of the teams we play with, since these matches now count points.
And it’s with great enthusiasm that we unveil the superb skills of Wemby, who is already a little star in the competition thanks to his score of 79 points for a first game, enough to herald a prestigious sequel for France in the competition !
But Wemby’s success would not have been possible without our formidable team of roboticists, who shone on the evening of September 26, 2024 !
Indeed, the opening ceremony of the competition took place on the same day, in the very famous Panathenaic Stadium in Athens, the emblematic venue where the first modern Olympic Games were held in 1896.
The ceremony took place in several stages: first a DJ came to set the mood, before attending the key moment of the evening, the parade, during which each country tried to represent its culture to the best of its ability!
For France, we chose to parade with the Olympic phrygia and our traditional French baguette !
To round off the ceremony in style, what better way than to attend a concert by the Black Eyed Peas, who provided the show and set the stadium alight, after Pierrick even had the opportunity to make the tricolore presence known on the band’s microphone !!!
Days 3 and 4: Qualification
Things get serious for Wemby and our team. For his first match, he was a complete success, scoring 131 points. Enough to give us confidence for the rest of the competition, and to make us noticed by the commentators who quickly understood the meaning of his name !
Pierrick’s technique of loading Wemby with 4 balls at a time was also praised.
Four matches over the course of the day demonstrated Wemby’s reliability in terms of design, programming, strength and control. This propelled us to 6th place in the overall competition ranking out of nearly 180 countries !
In the stadium, we also had the opportunity to meet Dean Kamen, the founder of the competition !
Our third day ended with a gala evening at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens, where we had the pleasure of catching up with all the competition teams.
For this fourth day, the aim was to consolidate our position in the top 10 of the standings and be in a good position to qualify for the play-offs. Our goal was achieved, as we finished in 8th place, still conquered by Wemby’s game.
Behind the scenes, the Communication team had an incredible encounter with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek Prime Minister, had come specially to the stadium to cheer on the First Global Challenge teams.
Day 5: End of qualifying and playoffs
The morning’s objective was to finish in the top 24 teams to ensure our participation in the final phase of the competition, the playoffs. Despite a minor mechanical problem, which was quickly repaired and did us no harm, Wemby played one match after another and we finished in 10th place, synonymous with qualification for the final phase !
To play in the playoffs, we found ourselves in an alliance made up of 2 of the 24 qualified teams (Venezuela, United Arab Emirates) and a team drawn at random, Norway. We quickly put in place a very precise strategy to enable us to achieve the best score.
Despite our infallible strategy and an exceptional Wemby, our fate was sealed by technical problems with our allies’ robots. Firstly, a disconnection in the middle of the game paralyzed the Emirati robot, causing us to lose precious points.
In the next match, it was the Venezuelan robot who, due to a pilot error, fell backwards and blocked the ascent of a robot on the platform, causing us to lose points :'(
In this final phase, we finished in 7th place out of 8, but happy and proud to have reached this level of the competition. This didn’t spoil our friendly relations with our allies, with whom we shared some great moments and a nice emotional elevator !
A medal for our Team !
Human values were not forgotten during this competition! Indeed, our team was able to help the other teams by helping them repair their robots, by giving them parts, but above all we came to the aid of the Nigerian team. Due to visa problems, only one student and one mentor were present for the competition. Team France came to their rescue, taking the place of the other absent Nigerian members to co-pilot the robot and act as a human player to deposit the balls.
We were pleasantly surprised when the jury awarded us the gold medal for the “Helping hands award” for these gestures of mutual aid.
We also received an award for our investment in social networking, in particular with the challenges proposed by FIRST.
And so our wonderful adventure in Athens comes to an end, and we return to France proud and full of wonderful memories! A huge thank you to all our supporters during this competition and to our mentors who accompanied us throughout the adventure ! Until the next FIRST !
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