|
|
|
|
|
On March 25th and 26th, our team competed at the Southern NH District event at Bedford High School. Our team was one of the 41 teams who competed that weekend. There were many good robots competing for the win at this district event. This district event was crucial for us, because it determined whether we were eligible to go to the New England District Championships at UNH Durham from April 6th to April 8th. We won this event with our partners 1073 The Force Team and 6328 Mechanical Advantage and won the Imagery Award for the second event in a row!
|
|
|
Upcoming New England District Championship Event
This week is the New England District Championship Event! The event will take place at UNH Durham at the Whittemore Center on Thursday 4/6, Friday 4/7 and Saturday 4/8. All of our competitions are free to attend.
Come see Two-Face in action, check out our pit, and cheer our team on in the stands!
If you can’t make it to our event in person - make sure to follow along on Facebook and Twitter. The event will be webcast at: https://www.twitch.tv/nefirst_blue
You can also download The Blue Alliance or FRC Spyder apps to follow along on your phone!
|
|
|
|
Some modifications were made since last competition. First, our shooter had to be re-tuned. Now the shooter on our robot has greater accuracy than before. The software subteam also worked on autonomous shooting which helped out with scoring in matches. Another component that had to modified was the climber. At the last competition which was at Windham High School (Granite State District), even though we were able to climb the rope to the top most of the time, we were not consistent enough and got stuck, meaning it was climbing up and stopped moving. We fixed this by changing the rope to minimize the robot not getting stuck while climbing, and this was key in some matches when we were in tight situations.
|
|
|
During the Southern NH District Event our team members had the opportunity to welcome and host several NH government officials who were attending the event.
We had the opportunity to show Senator Maggie Hassan and Congresswoman Carol Shea Porter around the competition. Carol Shea Porter commented on how professional our robot looked. We also welcomed Frank Edelblut, the Commissioner of the NH Department of Education.
Our team members also volunteered during the event to assist with field reset. What a great opportunity to be a part of the action!
|
|
|
During the Southern NH District Competition, we had a great time competing. At the end of the qualification matches we ended up ranking in the 11th spot with a record of 8-4. Our shooting in autonomous mode really helped us stay in the game and in a good spot. During one of the qualification matches, we did really well shooting in auto, which got us ahead in points by the time teleop started. During teleop, we did really well and ended up winning the match as a result of the points our alliance scored in auto and teleop combined.
|
|
|
At the end of the qualification matches, we were in 11th place. Because of alliance selections from within the top 8 ranked teams, we shortly moved up to captain the 8th seeded alliance. Due to our excellent scouting that we had been doing throughout the qualification matches, we knew exactly what teams to pick. Those teams were Team 1073 The Force Team and Team 6328 Mechanical Advantage. We picked those teams because we wanted to play defense and shoot fuel into the boiler, and they could complete the other necessary components of the game such as running gears. All three teams in our alliance were capable of climbing. This alliance proved to be very beneficial to us, as we were able to achieve the goals we set for our team at this competition.
|
|
|
As the 8th seeded alliance, we were paired against the 1st seeded alliance for quarter finals. This is to give the 1st and 2nd place teams a chance to play each other in the finals. Our alliance was able to work phenomenally together, and we moved on to the semi-finals, bumping the number 1 seed out. In the semi-finals, we were paired against the 4th place alliance. Again, our alliance worked well together, executing our strategy flawlessly. We then advanced to the finals! In the finals, we faced the 3rd place alliance. We worked very hard, as these were the final matches of the competition. All of our hard work paid off, as we were able to have a score high enough to win the competition!!! Throughout all of the finals matches, we shot 14 kPa of fuel and we went undefeated. This was huge for our alliance, as we started out being the last place alliance.
This was truly a unique competition for us, and without the work of all the team members, we would not have won the competition. The whole team took part in this win, not just the drive team. One of our mentors described how we worked at the competition as “we were not the best robot there, but we were the best TEAM there.” We proved that if you know how to make all the aspects of your team work harmoniously together, you can achieve great things.
|
|
|
We won two awards at this competition. The first was the Imagery Award. This award is for the team that looks the best as a team and on the field. We were all dressed the same at competition, and our robot had a sleek, professional look to it on and off the field. This was the second competition we won the imagery award at!
The other award we won was the District Event Winner award. This is the award given to the alliance of three teams who won the competition. Winning this competition qualified us for the New England District Championships!
Two of our students were also nominated as Dean’s List Semi-Finalists for their leadership on the team and their commitment to FIRST.
One of our mentors, Mike Fitzell (better known as Mr. F), was also nominated for the Woodie Flowers award. This award recognizes a mentor who deserves to be recognized as a role model in the community and on the team. We felt Mr. F embodied what FIRST was about. He has changed the lives of so many students on the team, and we were honored to have the opportunity to nominate him for such a prestigious award in the FIRST community.
|
|
|
The meeting on the night after every competition, we have what is called a Post Mortem. A Post Mortem is when the group discusses the positives and areas for improvement from the event.
For this event, we noted that the time spent for driver practice paid off, and the autonomous practice had been working really well. The decision to opt-out of the Revere competition to spent more time practicing was a good idea because it gave us time to fix and tune what was needed to do better in the next competition. What we noted that has to change, is we needed more time for the load in and to fix the shooter jams that were happening.
The scouting for this event went very well as people were cooperating when asked to scout, and some of the scouting system problems were fixed. Our defense at the competition was played very well. Other robots were not able to fight our defensive strategies. We also have an accurate shooter and were able to output 14 kPa which was the highest kPa scored at the event. Our pits were very organized and there was plenty of space for everything to be set-up in our pits and they remained clean. We got two smileys from the safety advisor! Our team spirit was seen and heard throughout the event. Our climber was consistent, and our auto worked great. We also had a discussion to address that people need not to wear clothing over their team shirts so we can show off our sponsors.
|
|
|
Thank YOU to all our wonderful sponsors and supporters!
|
|
|
Follow us on Social Media to keep up with the team!
|
|
Copyright © 2017 MMHS FRC Team 238, All rights reserved.
unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
