The 2008 FIRST competition season came to an exciting finale with the World Championships in Atlanta, and Team 1816 was right there in the middle of the action. During the tournament, held April 17 to 19, 2008, The Green Machine competed with 350 other teams for the robotics title of World Champions. To crown the winner, the attending FRC teams were split into four divisions, each with around 85 teams, with the winning alliance from each division moving on to compete on a fifth field, Einstein, for the world title. The Green Machine was placed in the Galileo division, and the competition there sure was fierce. Combined, the teams facing off in Galileo possessed 36 regional wins! With all the competition, the team gave it everything they had, finishing a respectable 4-3, ending in 40th place in the division. Surrounded by remarkable robots from which to choose, The Green Machine was not get picked by any of the top-seeded teams to advance to the elimination rounds. Yet, there were other bonuses to take away from Atlanta: for the first time this year, in competition-conditions, Zerkit (our robot) actually worked properly in virtually all of its matches!
In addition to entering Zerkit into the competition, Team 1816 was also privileged to be one of 41 teams eligible to vie for the Championship Chairman’s Award, the most prestigious award FIRST offers teams. All of these Regional Chairman’s Teams presented strong programs of outreach and enthusiasm for science, technology, math and engineering. The Green Machine did not take home the top chairman’s award, however the team members who went before the judging panel felt their presentation went over very well. Other FRC teams had done so much more for the community in their many years of existence that it was clear that a third year team like 1816 has more work that needs to be done. Rather then being discouraged though, the team is drawing inspiration from other FRC teams. The Green Machine didn’t even wait until getting back to Minnesota to start brainstorming ideas for next year’s outreach efforts!