On October 15th, our team members demonstrated our robots to Tesla employees in their Brooklyn Park location. We spoke to the employees about The Green Machine, FIRST, and even let them drive the robot. Outreach events like these expand our connections and demonstrate how the skills we learn in FIRST can be applied to real world problems. We had so much fun and hope to do it again, thank you Tesla! The next day, October 16th, 1816 (and 9903) competed at the MN Robotics Invitational sponsored by 2846 FireBears at Roseville Area High School. This off-season tournament allows for our rookies to get a sneak peak into what competitions entail for the 2022 season Rapid React. This is also the first time our robot has been in competition since March 2020. We competed separately with two robots, 1816 our tank drive and 9903 our swerve drive. Serve drive is when all four wheels are “individually driven by one motor, and able to turn 360 degrees meaning that the robot can go in any direction at any speed” , said Niel P. The Swerve robot was newly developed during the spring of 2021 as a way to improve on the robot built in the spring of 2020. Surprise! We were 4th pick for an alliance and finished in 2nd place! All and all, there were many learning opportunities throughout the day including troubleshooting both robots. Ultimately, “It’s good to have things break at off season tournaments cause then you get to learn to fix it” expressed Jack Z, Safety Captain. — By Venna W.
