Edina Robotics Team 1816, The Green Machine, emerged from the FIRST Robotics National Championship as the highest ranked rookie team in competition. The National Championship, held in Atlanta, GA, at the Georgia Dome April 27-29, involved over 300 high school teams and 14,000 students from seven nations. The Edina team earned their position to compete nationally when they won the Wisconsin Regional Competition in which 34 teams participated in March. The team’s 5’-tall robot could hold and release balls toward a goal on command and was exceptionally good at blocking opposing robots from scoring. During the National qualifying matches in Atlanta, The Green Machine rolled away with wins in 6 of their 7 matches. This earned the team a rank of sixth among the 86 teams in their division and the opportunity to compete in the quarterfinals. The team received a trophy for the “Highest Rookie Seed;” the next closest rookie team finished 17th. Team Captain Chris M. explained, “when we opened our kit of parts in January we had no expectation we would compete so successfully, given that we really did not know what we were doing. The FIRST experience has provided our team with the opportunity to learn about science and technology in a way that would not have been otherwise possible.”
