By Bella B.
Although our FIRST Robotics competition season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, Team 1816, “The Green Machine,” was fortunate to have the opportunity to compete at the Lake Superior Regional in Duluth, MN, March 5-7, 2020. At this event, we were finished qualifications ranked first! We became the #1 Alliance Captain, and went on to win the regional event with assistance from
Team 167-Children of the Corn, and Team 5464-BlueJacket Robotics. Not only that, but 1816 went on to win the one-match, winner-take-all, competition known as the “Double-DECCEr”. Our alliance competed against the #1 Alliance Captain and winning alliance of the Northern Lights Regional – Teams 2491-No Mythic, 2052-KnightKrawler, and 4182-Viking Robotics.
Due to the pandemic, our second regional in Minneapolis as well as the World Championship event in Detroit, MI, were both canceled. We’re glad we had the chance to participate in one regional, which many teams were not able to do this year. Students and mentors put in hours upon hours of work to build a world-class competitive robot, and we were looking forward to playing at the World Championship and at the MSHSL-FIRST State Robotics Competition. However, it simply isn’t practical or socially responsible to hold these events with COVID-19 spreading so rapidly. During this time, our best wishes go out to everyone to stay safe and healthy.
Although we are incredibly disappointed about our season, we’re making the most of our time at home to do online meetings and training sessions. We’re also hoping to participate in off-season competitions, whenever those events are rescheduled this summer and fall.
A special thanks to our sponsors for their financial and technical support, which enabled us to build a regional-winning robot. We’d also like to thank everyone else – students, mentors, parents, superfans, and volunteers – who contributed to our successful, albeit shortened, Infinite Recharge season.