Days one and two
We had a very successful first day at the DECC. We ran into many minor issues with the robot but kept pressing forward, and we got a feel for the field quickly. The official defenses are made of metal and polycarbonate, which was very different from our team-made wooden defenses.
Our shooter came off the field with bent brackets, but it was soon fixed. We also shortened the chains that run our arm and shooter mechanisms, which made a big difference: the shooter doesn’t drop as much when we bound over defenses and take hits. At the end of the first day of qualification matches, we were ranked in first place!
Finals day
We had a lot of success in our final two qualification matches, which put us in third place behind Denfeld DNA Robotics (4009) and The Hawaiian Kids (359). We made our way through the quarterfinals and semifinals, then faced Denfeld DNA Robotics (4009), The Hawaiian Kids (359) and the Eden Valley Mystery Machine (6175) in the finals. Unfortunately we lost to that alliance, and we congratulate them as they move on to the FIRST Championship.
Lucky for SubZero, teams 4009 and 359 had already earned Championship spots, which passed wild-card spots to the finalist alliance. That means SubZero 5690 is going to the FIRST Championship in St. Louis! SubZero also received the Industrial Design Award, sponsored by General Motors, for our outstanding robot construction.
Congratulations also to the Patriotics (5913) from Pequot Lakes for winning the Rookie All Star Award.
Thank you all once again for supporting SubZero Robotics!