Chapter 20 — Wind Village Robot Team

Yen Binh city's multi-purpose gymnasium is three times higher than any structure Uyen Nhi has ever seen in her life. The large curved dome with hundreds of high-power light bulbs illuminates the space with white light. The noise of dozens of competition teams setting up stations echoed throughout the hall, causing her to have to hold Gia Han's sleeve tightly so as not to get lost in the crowd.

"My area is table number 47." Khanh Dan said, holding the badge that the organizers had just given out, leading the team through the long rows of tables lined up throughout the main hall.

They passed by dozens of other teams' stations — each station decorated with brightly colored banners, some teams wearing matching team uniforms, laptops lined up, equipment in transparent plastic boxes neatly arranged in compartments. Some teams even bring small 3D printers right at the table, in case they need to urgently print a replacement part.

Arriving at table number 47, the group put down the cardboard box, carefully opened the lid, took out the robot, and placed it on the empty wooden table. Compared to the surrounding stations, their corner looks so simple that it almost feels out of place — no banners, no uniforms, just a small sign Uyen Nhi handwrote from the night before: "MOUNTAIN WIND TEAM — VONG PHONG SECONDARY SCHOOL".

"Look at us." Nam muttered, his eyes glanced around the flashy stations around him, his voice tried to keep a careless tone but could not hide his guilt.

"Look at our robot." Khanh Dan corrected, her voice firm. "Don't compare tables, compare stations. Later on, when you get on the exam floor, it's time to really compare."

At that moment, a group of students wearing blue sports uniforms with the school logo printed on the chest passed by, led by a tall boy wearing glasses, with the confident gait of someone used to stages like this. Khanh Dan immediately recognized that face from the interview video the team had watched on top of Tram hill.

Trinh Anh Khoa stopped for a moment when passing table number 47, his eyes glanced over the robot placed on the table, over the handwritten sign, and then over the four faces of students standing around.

"Truong Long Phong's first time taking the exam?" He asked, his voice polite but with some undisguised curiosity.

"That's right." Khanh Dan replied, taking a step forward.

"What frame does your robot use?" Mr. Khoa continued asking, looking more closely at the robot's body, the eyes of someone who really understood technology, not just asking for it.

"Recycled aluminum from CRT TV frames, rubber-coated wheels from bicycle inner tubes." Phong answered, his voice was not timid, and even had a clear sense of pride.

Mr. Khoa raised his eyebrows, seemingly surprised by that straightforward answer. He bent down to take a closer look at the wheel, then the "Wind Eye" part attached to the front of the robot, the curiosity in his eyes increased significantly.

"What is this tube? It doesn't look like a normal color sensor." He asked, pointing to the homemade parts Uyen Nhi and Phong made.

"We did it ourselves, using a three-color LED with a photoresistor to measure the reflection intensity." Gia Han explained, unable to hide the pride in her voice. "We couldn't buy a real color sensor in time, so we thought of another way."

There was a short silence. Mr. Khoa looked at all four people, then looked back at "Wind Eyes" again, nodded slowly, his expression was no longer the initial social curiosity but had changed to a true respect of a person in the same industry seeing a smart solution.

"Good idea." He said, honestly. "Our team has engineer teachers from the university to guide us. We have never thought about how to make this type of sensor. We only order available components."

"We have no other choice so we have to think." Nam interjected, his voice still a bit defensive but much less harsh than his original attitude.

Mr. Khoa smiled, a genuine smile, without any sarcasm. "Good luck with your exams. See you on the stage." He said, then waved goodbye, continuing to follow his group towards station 12, where there was already a large banner hanging high and a long table full of equipment.

The whole team stood and watched for a while, no one said anything right away.

"The photo is not what you think." Uyen Nhi spoke first, her voice a bit surprised. "I thought the specialized school team would look down on people."

"Not everyone who is good is arrogant." Khanh Dan said, smiling. "Sometimes it's because people are truly good that they have enough confidence to respect others. They don't have to bring anyone down to feel superior."

Phong was still looking at Anh Khoa's figure disappearing in the crowd, his eyes a bit thoughtful. "But their team is still much stronger than ours, right?"

"Correct." Khanh Dan does not avoid the truth. "But you just saw something more important than strength or weakness."

"What?"

"The best person in the room just now, didn't underestimate our "Wind Eyes"." She replied. "People recognize the true value of an idea, no matter what material it's made from. That's a good sign, not a sign we should be afraid of."

The group was silent for a moment, digesting what she had just said, then Gia Han went back to work, checking each connection of the robot before the official test session that was about to take place in an hour, and the initial atmosphere of anxiety was gradually replaced by a familiar concentration that the team had been practicing for many months in the small warehouse behind the boarding kitchen, more than a hundred kilometers away.

Exactly one hour later, the loudspeaker in the gym rang out an announcement: teams were allowed to take their robots out onto the field for thirty minutes to test before the competition area officially closed to prepare for the first day of competition. The whole team eagerly brought the robot out to the test field, seeing for the first time the real competition terrain - not a hand-painted cardboard like in the warehouse, but a professional wood and composite plastic racetrack, a slope inclined at the correct angle, real gravel instead of fake sand, and three sorting baskets made of clear plastic, placed at the correct distance specified in the rules.

"It's so different from home." Gia Han said, her voice a bit worried when looking at the real gravel floor - smooth round pebbles, different from the angular gravel they used to practice in the warehouse.

"Just adjust the ultrasonic sensor parameters, nothing to worry about." Khanh Dan reassured her, even though inside she felt equally nervous. "I have thirty minutes left, enough to try a few times."

On the first try on the real field, the robot went through the slopes and turns quite smoothly, but when it came to the gravel section, the wheels slipped slightly, causing the robot to deviate a few degrees. Luckily, it was able to correct itself before leaving the track. Gia Han immediately sat down and adjusted the sensitivity of the sensor, while Phong checked the grip of the rubber wheel and realized he needed to tighten a screw that had become a bit loose due to vibrations during the journey.

A middle-aged man wearing a jacket with the organizers' badge printed on it passed by while they were editing, stopped to observe for a few seconds, then walked on without saying anything, just jotting something down in a small notebook. Khanh Dan glanced at the card hanging around his neck, the small letters read "Technical Advisor — Jury", but she didn't have time to see his face clearly before he disappeared into the crowded crowd moving between stations.

On the third try, the robot completely passed both the terrain and the part of picking up and dropping the wooden block, although the speed was still slower than many other teams she observed around her. But for the whole group, it was a good enough start to feel secure going into the official exam day tomorrow morning.

That night, the whole team stayed at a popular motel near the stadium, two small rooms that Mr. Nghia had booked in advance over the phone, the funding was taken from the small per diem he asked for. After a simple dinner, the three girls stayed in one room, Nam shared a room with Mr. Tuyen, and Khanh Dan took the opportunity to sit in the hallway and call to report the situation to Mr. Nghia. His voice on the other end of the phone clearly sounded impatient even though he tried to maintain his familiar calmness.

Before turning off the lights and going to bed, Gia Han reopened the video recording of this afternoon's robot test session, watching the robot sliding on the gravel over and over again, pursing her lips and thinking about how to improve it. Uyen Nhi lay next to her, opened her sketchbook, quickly sketched the last few lines for tomorrow's presentation, her hands still trembled slightly every time she thought of the moment she had to stand in front of the judges, but it was no longer the trembling panic like the afternoon she met Uncle Hung, but the familiar nervousness of someone who has prepared carefully enough to believe in herself.

Outside the bedroom window, the city lights cast strange streaks of light on the ceiling, different from the familiar thick darkness in Long Phong every night when the power goes out. Khanh Dan stood looking out at that scene for a moment before turning off the lights, wondering what tomorrow would bring, but this time, her anxiety was no longer as heavy as the nights before an important presentation at NovaTech — it was lighter, and strangely, accompanied by a feeling of excitement that she thought she had lost a long time ago.