Chapter 14 — Wind Village Robot Team

"Download finished!" Uyen Nhi shouted on top of Tram hill, held up her phone with battery saving mode turned off, the screen displayed a twenty-page PDF file: the official rules of the School Creative Robot Contest in the Northern mountainous region, organized by the Bac Nguyen STEM Center in collaboration with the Department of Education.

The whole team gathered around the small screen, jostling to read each line. Khanh Dan quickly scrolled through the introduction, stopped at the main challenge description page, and read it out loud for the whole group to hear.

"The robot had to autonomously traverse a terrain simulating a mountain trail, including a fifteen-degree incline, a Z-turn, and a section of rough gravel." She read, her voice slow so everyone could imagine. "After crossing the terrain, the robot must pick up three wooden blocks representing agricultural products - red, blue, yellow - and drop them correctly into the three color-corresponding sorting baskets. The total time is up to three minutes. Each block picking up the correct color gets twenty points, picking up the wrong color gets ten points, dropping the block midway does not count but points are not deducted."

"So I need a color sensor too?" Gia Han asked, frowning and calculating in her head what needed to be added.

"Or some way to distinguish colors without expensive color sensors." Khanh Dan replied, scrolling down the page with the rankings of last year's participating teams, with photos of some of the strongest teams.

The whole group fell silent when they saw the first photo: a four-wheeled robot painted in glossy silver, with a handle made of CNC aluminum cut to millimeter precision, fitted with a small LCD screen displaying battery status, standing next to six students wearing team uniforms with the logo printed on them, behind a banner with the name of the unit: Kim Long Secondary and High School for the Gifted, Yen Binh city - champion team for two consecutive years.

"This..." Nam spoke first, his voice lowered, different from his usual confidence. "This was made with professional metal cutting machines, not hand welding like me."

Phong picked up his phone to take a closer look, his fingers zoomed in on the photo, looking at every detail of his opponent's robot gripper. "This gripper probably uses a stepper motor, much more accurate than my servo. This frame is definitely not hand-cut aluminum, it takes a machine to cut straight lines like that."

The air on the top of the hill visibly sagged. Uyen Nhi lowered her eyes and looked down at the sketchbook in her lap. Her meticulous drawings suddenly looked very modest compared to the glossy photo of the robot she had just seen. Gia Han was silent, didn't say anything, just bit her lower lip, a habit she had when she felt pressured.

Khanh Dan looked at the group and realized that this was the decisive moment whether the spirit that had just been built over the past two months was strong enough to face this harsh reality or not.

"I want to ask a question." She said, her voice firm. "If we compare equipment, we are definitely behind. There is no need to argue about that. But I ask you, why did we sign up for this competition? To win against the Kim Long team, or to prove something else?"

No one answered immediately. The wind blew strongly through the old broadcast tower, creating a familiar humming sound.

"I think..." Phong spoke up slowly, as if he was searching for the answer while speaking. "I think we signed up to see how well we could do, not to compare ourselves to anyone. If looking at that shiny robot makes you scared, then it's better not to go at all."

"That's right." Gia Han nodded, looked up, her eyes had regained some stability. "Besides, their robot is beautiful, but being beautiful doesn't mean it's guaranteed to win. This year's exam has rough gravel terrain, so a hard four-wheeled robot may not be able to overcome it well, and our robot has rubber-coated wheels, which grip the road better."

Khanh Dan smiled, a feeling of relief rising when she saw her own student finding reasons to revive her spirit, without her having to say any more words of encouragement.

Gia Han scrolled down further and found a link to a short video interview with last year's championship team posted on the contest page. She pressed play, the whole group gathered their heads to watch, the sound came out tiny from the phone speaker.

In the video, a student about Nam's age, tall, wearing glasses, wearing a neat team uniform, is giving an interview with the confidence of someone who is used to standing in front of the camera. "My team practices three hours a day in the school's private lab, with engineer teachers from the university coming to instruct twice a week." He said, his voice clear. "This year we aim to maintain the championship title, and improve our picking speed at least twenty percent faster than last year."

"What's your name?" Nam asked, eyes still glued to the screen.

Gia Han scrolled down to read the video caption. "Trinh Anh Khoa, captain of Kim Long team."

"It sounds good already." Nam muttered, unable to hide a bit of jealousy and admiration in his voice.

"Really good, but good doesn't mean you can't overcome it." Khanh Dan said, closing the video before the group could watch more and become even more confused. "I read the rules carefully. There are no provisions prohibiting the use of recycled components, as long as the robot functions properly and safely. That means in terms of game rules, we are completely fair with them, the only difference is in resources."

"What about picking objects by color?" Uyen Nhi asked, her voice a little less worried. "I don't have a color sensor, how can I distinguish between red, blue, and yellow blocks?"

The whole group turned to look at Khanh Dan, waiting for an answer. But this time, she shook her head and did not give an answer right away.

"You don't know yet." She is honest. "That's the problem we have to solve in the coming weeks. But I believe, if we find a way to make use of what we already have - like we did with the printer motor, the sensor from the broken TV remote - we will find a way, maybe even smarter than the way people use expensive color sensors."

Nam stood up, dusted off his pants, his eyes had regained their familiar arrogant look, although his voice was still a bit reserved. "So when is the registration deadline?"

Khanh Dan scrolled down the screen and found the last page of the regulations. "Ten more days."

"Ten days to register, how long is left to take the exam?"

"Six weeks, from the date of successful registration to the official exam date."

Nam whistled softly, not because he was worried, but as a way to reassure himself before a number that sounded scary and short. "Then there's no need to discuss it any further. Just register now. The longer you wait, the more time it will take."

Khanh Dan looked at all four children's faces standing on the windy hilltop, each with a different look in their eyes - Uyen Nhi's remaining worry, Gia Han's stubborn determination, Phong's calculating look that had begun to visualize the improvements that needed to be made, and Nam's enthusiastic impulsiveness - but all pointed towards a single common point.

She reopened the registration form on her laptop, typing out the missing information boxes, her hands shaking slightly as she placed her finger on the send button.

"Six weeks." She said, both as a reminder to the group and as a reminder to herself. "From now on, every day is precious."

She pressed the send button. The confirmation text appears on the screen: "Successful registration — Mountain Wind Team, Long Phong Secondary School." There were no fireworks, no loud applause, only the sound of the wind still whistling through the old broadcast tower, and the four children stood silently looking at those words on the small screen, as if they were seeing their names engraved on a door that had just opened, leading into a space where none of them had ever stepped foot.

Coming down the mountain, the whole group stopped by Mr. Nghia's office to break the news, not because they had to, but because they all wanted him to be the first person outside the team to know about it. After listening, Mr. Nghia was silent for a moment, then opened the desk drawer, took out a half-filled application for per diem funding, and pushed it towards Khanh Dan.

"I already planned it, I'm afraid you'll forget." He said, his voice trying to sound calm but unable to hide the flicker of excitement. "For the shuttle, I asked for funding for the per diem of the teacher guiding the students to take the exam. It's not much, but enough for gas and food along the way. As for the rest, you still have to take care of it yourself as promised."

Khanh Dan held the form, couldn't say anything for a few seconds, just nodded his thanks. That was the first time since the first cautious meeting that Mr. Nghia proactively did something beyond the three conditions he had set, and to a practical person like him, that action carried more weight than any congratulations.

That evening, Khanh Dan texted Hanh, with a screenshot confirming her registration: "My team is officially on the competition list. In six weeks, I will take four of my students to compete against schools that have their own labs and have university engineers teaching twice a week. It sounds crazy, but I have never felt like I wanted to do something so much since the day I left NovaTech."