This past weekend, March 12th and 13th, The RoboBees attended the Greater DC FIRST Stronghold District Competition. The RoboBees not only competed with their robot, the Warhog, but also had students, mentors, and alumni represent the team as volunteers and student ambassadors. At the end of the competition, the team was awarded the Creativity Award for its robot’s tusks which, despite their simplicity allowed the robot to breach the portcullis with ease. As well as being able to breach the portcullis, the RoboBees robot was able to consistently score boulders in the low goal both during the autonomous and teleop portions of matches, damage three other defenses, and challenge the tower at the end of matches. These capabilities, paired with great drive team, allowed the RoboBees to remain ranked within the top eight teams throughout qualification matches and to come out of qualifications ranked in fourth. During alliance selection the team that was ranked first, Team 1418 Vae Victis, selected the RoboBees as well as Team 2912 The Panthers to join their alliance entering into finals.
The finals were a nail-biting and hair pulling experience. Only four matches into the finals the RoboBees’ third alliance member, Team 2912’s robot stopped functioning meaning that their alliance had to bring in a substitute. The team that substituted for Team 2912 was Team 4821 Vulcan. Despite this unpredictable challenge, Team 4821 adopted the strategy of the alliance. Matches in the semifinals were won by less than ten points, often a foul or a climb. One match was especially nerve racking because one of The RoboBees alliance members was mistakenly disabled during the match causing them to be unable to get their max score. Luckily this watch was replayed later. The finals match that sent the RoboBees alliance into the finals had only a four points difference between the blue and red alliances. In finals The RoboBees went up against a team they had started in 2013, Team 4514 Calvert STEAM Works. It was a challenge to go up against a team they had created but The RoboBees and Calvert STEAM Works were fair sports and wished each other luck. In the final match of the event, The RoboBees alliance had a final score of one hundred fifty-five point, the highest score reached in the Maryland-Virginia region.