Springside Chestnut Hill

On March 18th and 19th, the RoboLancers competed in our first FRC qualifier of the 2016 season at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. At 8 AM, Team 321 entered the pits and stands. The spectators “conquered” (as we like to say) a portion of the stands, while the pit crew entered our pit to prepare our robot for competition. Our drivers for this season include Cordell Beatty, current senior and robot driver, Brian Matta, senior and manipulator controller, and Jonah Getz, junior and coach.

Our robot and drive team performed reasonably well for the first five matches, receiving a respectable 2-3 win-loss ratio. When our 6th qualifying match (qualifying match #30) came about, our robot failed to connect to the system and the drive team was unable to control the robot. We were given little time to correct this error because, for the next two matches, we were required to queue for our next match right after finishing the earlier. We corrected our robot connection issue by replacing our router before our 9th match (qualifying match #47) and redeemed ourselves by winning two matches, losing one, and tying in our last qualifying match. We were not chosen to take part in the quarterfinals but, in the semi-finals, we were substituted into the game in the place of a malfunctioning robot. We played one last match alongside our close friends, Team 1218, Vulcan Robotics, but lost to the opposing alliance.

After our final match at the Springside Chestnut Hill Qualifier, our team continued to maintain a positive attitude in the stands and cheered on as Team 225, our friends and fellow competitors, and their alliance won their elimination matches and the finals.

The day ended with a trip through the High Five Line for winning the Chairman’s Award, the most prestigious award in FIRST Robotics. This ensures us a place in the FIRST Mid-Atlantic District Championship where we will again compete for the Mid-Atlantic Region’s Chairman’s Award and a chance to compete in the World Championships in St. Louis.

FIRST LEGO League at Central High School

On January the thirty-first, Central High School hosted the ASPIRA FLL Qualifier. The volunteers and judges donned their uniforms and T-shirts, the concession stand was set up and the judging tables opened their doors. By 7:30 AM, the 15 participating teams had arrived and were situated in their pits, three had not attended. The procession began with “The Star-Spangled Banner” (slightly awkward because the gym lacked a flag). At about 8:30 AM, our master of ceremonies, Evan Aretz, cued the start of the presentation judging by playing the first casual song through the speakers. From this time to 12:45 PM, FLL teams prepared to and presented their opinions on how students should be taught in the 21st century to our judges. At 12:45 PM, the heart and soul of robotics arrived: pizza, approximately 50 boxes of it. At 1:30 PM, matched commenced, and Evan Aretz traded in his position as DJ to provide commentary for the matches. The vacant position was left to the scorekeepers. This commenced two hours of smooth FLL competing. While the judges reviewed the results of the competition, the audience and we, the volunteers, begin a dance party, taking music suggestions from the audience, eating leftover pizza, and enjoying ourselves. At about 4:30 PM, the event coordinator, Mr. Daniel Ueda, returned to announce the winners of the ASPIRA FLL Qualifier. After the announcements, the FLL teams left the tournament with “We are the Champions” by Queen playing behind them.

Congratulations to the participants and winners of today’s qualifying tournament. Good luck to those who are continuing on to the championships. Good job to all the volunteers; we had a few errors, but we solved them effectively and efficiently. To the organizers and sponsors of this event: Thank you for your support of this event. It was a great experience and very enjoyable.