2017 Beantown Blitz
Today, June 24, 2017, Team 5813 travelled to Revere, Massachusetts, to compete in the 2017 Beantown Blitz. We were excited as we had been working on our shooter and hopper in preparation for this event. Throughout the qualification matches, our team performed extremely well. In Qualification match 17, we were allied with Team 125 (Nutrons), and Team 20 (Rocketeers), and scored six gears solo! Additionally, we scored several KPA in another match. At the conclusion of the qualification matches, we were ranked fourth. During Alliance Selection, we were thrilled to be selected to join Team 20 (Rocketeers) on Alliance 2. On the second round of selections, our alliance picked up Team 1761 (STEAMPunk Tigers). With this alliance, we were aiming to score four rotors, five to ten KPA, and two climbs in every match. Our alliance breezed through the quarterfinals and set the event high score in the second match. In the first semifinal match against Alliance 3, we still scored four rotors, a few KPA, and two climbs to earn the win. Unfortunately, in the next two semifinal matches, the extreme defense from the third alliance popped both our main breaker and Team 20’s main breaker. With only one functioning robot, our alliance was swiftly eliminated. Although we were eliminated, we made some new friends and achieved new goals. Overall, Team 5813 had an amazing time and would like to thank Team 125 for hosting the 2017 Beantown Blitz.
2017 New Hampshire High-Tech Council – Entrepreneur of the Year Award Ceremony
On June 13, 2017, Morpheus attended the 2017 New Hampshire High-Tech Council’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award ceremony. We were honored to be invited for the second year in a row. After arriving, we practiced shooting a fuel ball at the stage. Before the ceremony, we talked to Dean Kamen, and he autographed our robot. Until the speeches began, we demoed our 2017 robot, Torquenado to the attendees by placing gears and shooting fuel. One piece of fuel was special, however. Inside that fuel was a card with the name of the winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year Award on it. Toward the end of the speeches, Dean Kamen took to the stage. Receiving a signal from Dean, we drove Torquenado to the stage and shot the special fuel into the air. Dean caught the fuel, removed the card, and announced the winner to the crowd. We had a great time at the ceremony and were excited to play a part in announcing the winner. Morpheus hopes to return to the New Hampshire High Tech Council next year.
2017 Battlecry@WPI
On May 19 to May 21, 2017, Morpheus competed at the 18th Battlecry@WPI. While setting up our pit, we were amused to realize that our pit was in the exact same spot as our pit at the 2017 WPI District Event. During the qualification matches, we were able to score a two-rotor-auto with Team 5846 (Southcoast Corsairs) and Team 88 (TJ^2). Unfortunately, we had a rough match schedule and did not seed as highly as we hoped. In Alliance Selection, we were selected by Team 5030 (The Second Mouse) to join Alliance 5. Our random pick selected Team 138 (Entropy) to round out our alliance. With our alliance, we were aiming to score four rotors, several KPA, and three climbs in every match. In the eighth-finals, each of the 20 alliances played two matches. From there, the alliances with the top eight scores would be made the eight alliances for the quarterfinals and on. Our alliance scored 411 points in the first match, which placed us at the second ranked alliance going into the quarterfinals. In the second round of eighth-finals, three other alliances scored higher than 411, so we became the fifth ranked alliance for the quarterfinals. Although our alliance was doing great, we were ultimately eliminated in the quarterfinals by Alliance 4, which was lead by our friends on Team 238 (Crusaders). Morpheus had a great time at the 2017 Battlecry and would like to congratulate Team 319 (Big Bad Bob), Team 133 (B.E.R.T.), and Team 839 (Rosie Robotics) on winning the event!
2017 FIRST Championship - St. Louis - Carson Subdivision
On Tuesday, April 25, 2017, Morpheus members set out on an airship (airplane) to St. Louis, Missouri, to compete at the 2017 St. Louis Championship in the Carson Division. On the first day of qualification matches, we performed extremely well, winning all but one match. Additionally, we talked with Team 148 (RoboWranglers), Team 2056 (OP Robotics), Team 33 (Killer Bees), Team 2062 (C.O.R.E), and Team 254 (The Cheesy Poofs) about their robots. Following the first day of matches, we were excited to join many New England teams on a cruise around St. Louis, which was organized by Team 238 (Crusaders). The next morning, we popped up into the top eight after winning a few matches! Unfortunately, Carson was ridden with tons of replays, and we had to replay at least four of our ten matches. In the afternoon of the second day of matches, we had some radio issues, which caused us to lose one more match. Going into our last match of the day, we knew that we would become the eighth seed for Alliance Selection if we won. Much to our dismay, the pilots from our alliance partners did not pull up our autonomous gear, so we did not receive points for it. Despite that setback, we still scored all four rotors with time to spare. Unfortunately, those pilots did not throw our rope down until there were about five seconds left in the match, which did not allow us enough time to climb. This loss moved us down the rankings into the 12th position. The next morning, we were shocked to not be selected for an eliminations alliance. We were the highest ranked team that was not picked. If we had climbed in the last match, we would have been the captain of Alliance 8. Although we had not been picked, we cheered on our favorite teams. Morpheus would like to congratulate our friends on Team 125 (Nutrons), Team 5687 (Outliers), Team 1796 (RoboTigers), and Team 597 (Wolverines) on winning the Carson Division and moving on to Einstein! Congratulations to our friends on Team 1058 (PVC Pirates), Team 3719 (STEM Whalers), Team 125 (Nutrons), Team 5687 (Outliers), and Team 2084 (Robots by the C) for representing New England on Einstein. Morpheus also congratulates Team 2767 (Stryke Force), Team 254 (The Cheesy Poofs), Team 862 (Lightning Robotics), and Team 1676 (The Pascack PI-oneers) on their Championship win! We can’t wait to watch your alliance compete at the Festival of Champions in Manchester, New Hampshire, later this year. Overall, Morpheus had a great time at the Championship, and we learned many things. We hope to compete at the FIRST Championship in Detroit, Michigan, next year.
2017 New England District Championship
After learning from Team 131 (C.H.A.O.S.) about optical limit switches, we implemented some to help control our Gear Goblin for the District Championship. On April 5, 2017, we travelled to UNH in Durham, New Hampshire, to compete at the 2017 New England District Championship against 63 other teams. Following a rough first day of qualification matches, we dominated the second and third day. We achieved 4 rotors or 40 KPA in nine of our qualification matches, which earned us the 17th position in the rankings. During alliance selection, we were invited by Team 3719 (STEM Whalers) and Team 1519 (Mechanical Mayhem) to join Alliance 3. With our alliance, we were aiming to score 40 KPA, four rotors, and three climbs in every match. In the first quarterfinal match, our alliance achieved only three rotors and two climbs, resulting in a loss. If we lost the next match, we would be out. In the next match, we scored all four rotors, 39 KPA, and three climbs. This was 484 points, which won us the match and was a personal high score for us. The next match was highly contested. We were able to pull out a 457 to 450 point win against Alliance 6; this moved us into the semifinals where we would face Alliance 2. Going into the semifinals, we were fairly confident that we would prove victorious. However, due to some defense, we lost the first match and bent our Gear Goblin fairly badly in the second match. Despite the broken Gear Goblin, we still won the second match. We had to work extremely quickly to fix our Gear Goblin before the tiebreaker match. Fortunately, we finished the fixes just in time and won the third semifinal match. We were moving onto the finals at the District Championship to face Alliance 1! After two hard-fought matches, we ultimately became District Championship Finalists! Morpheus would like to thank our fantastic alliance partners; we had a great time working with you! We also congratulate Team 2168 (Aluminum Falcons), Team 195 (CyberKnights), and Team 1073 (The Force Team) on a well-earned District Championship win.
At the end of the District Championship, we have 195 District Points, which puts us as the 11th ranked team in New England and the third ranked team in New Hampshire! This qualifies us for the World Championship in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 26 – 29, 2017. We cannot wait to see and compete with all of the amazing teams at the 2017 St. Louis Championship!
2017 Southern NH District
After an unfortunate outing in the WPI quarterfinals, we made some tweaks to our robot and were ready to compete at the inaugural Southern NH District Event on March 22. In the qualification matches, we got our center-gear auto perfected and attained four rotors in another match. During Alliance Selection, we were invited by Team 131 (C.H.A.O.S.) to join Alliance 2. After selecting Team 4034 (Pelham πthons) to join our alliance, we hoped to score three to four rotors, several KPA, and three climbs in every match. Our alliance breezed through the quarterfinals, scoring four rotors in one match. Unfortunately, in the semifinals, our alliance had some issues and was eliminated by alliance three. Our team was extremely excited to be awarded the Creativity Award for Torquenado’s design. Overall, Morpheus had a wonderful time at the 2017 Southern NH District Event. It was great to work with Team 131 for a second time. Congratulations to Alliance 8, which consisted of Team 238 (Crusaders), Team 1073 (The Force Team), and Team 6328 (Mechanical Advantage), for winning the event! We are excited to see that we have enough district points to qualify for the District Championship in two weeks. See you there!
2017 WPI District
After six weeks of hard work, Morpheus set out to WPI to compete in the 2017 WPI District Event on March 8. During the practice day, we ran into some connections issues but quickly resolved them. The next day, in our first practice match of the whole season, we placed five gears solo, which would have almost gotten three rotors. Throughout the first day of matches, we had a few issues with our rope, which included the rope snapping and causing Torquenado, our robot, to fall. Fortunately, we were able to fix our climber and replace our rope. After fixing our climber, we were part of the first alliance at the event to score four rotors and gain the bonus ranking point. On the second day, we were able to win a tough match against the #2 seed, 1519 (Mechanical Mayhem), which improved our rank considerably. During Alliance Selection, we were invited to join Team 501 (Power Knights) on Alliance 3. Together, we invited Team 839 (Rosie Robotics) to round out the number three alliance. With our alliance, we were aiming to score three to four rotors and earn three climbs every match. In our first quarterfinal match, our alliance ran into some issues, which caused us to lose the match. Although our alliance really came together in our second quarterfinal match and scored 300 points, we were eliminated by the number six alliance by some unfortunate tech fouls. Morpheus had a great time at the 2017 WPI District Event and would like to congratulate Alliance 1, consisting of Team 3623 (Terror Bots), Team 2370 (iBots), and Team 1991 (Dragons), on winning the event. We learned a lot and will have some changes implemented before our next event in Bedford, New Hampshire, in two weeks.
2016 Battle of the Bay
On November 12, 2016, Team 5813 competed at Battle of the Bay in Alton, New Hampshire. After the qualification matches, we were ranked 6 out of 27 teams. During alliance selection, we were picked by Team 131 (Chaos) to join Alliance 3. The third robot on our alliance was Team 4546 (Shockwave). After two quarterfinal matches, we advanced to the semifinals against Alliance 7. Unfortunately, due to several oversights and mistakes, we were eliminated in the semifinals. Overall, our team learned a lot and made some new friends. We are excited for the 2017 kickoff in January!
River Rage 20
On October 29, 2016, Morpheus travelled to Manchester, New Hampshire, to compete at the 20th River Rage, which was hosted by teams 131 (Chaos), 238 (Crusaders), and 501 (Powerknights). After talking with several teams that we are friends with, the qualification matches started. During our second of four qualification matches, we had some slight intake issues that were corrected by restarting our computer. In our third qualification match, we set the qualification high score of 120 points. At the end of the 21 qualification matches, we were excited to be ranked 1 out of 30 teams! During alliance selection at River Rage, the first pick of each alliance is random. Amazingly, we got Team 238 (Crusaders), which is a fantastic breaching and feeding robot, as our random pick. As our second pick, we were thrilled to select Team 1058 (PVC Pirates) for their phenomenal high goal scoring and climbing. In our first elimination match, we set a personal high score of 225 points with 10 solo high goals! Then, in our second match, we scored 230 points! In our semifinal match, we set our year-long high score of 245 points without fouls!! We also scored 12 solo high goals in that match. In the finals, we faced off against the formidable Alliance 5, which consisted of Team 166 (Chop Shop), Team 125 (Nutrons), and Team 78 (Air Strike). After one intense match of the finals, we emerged victorious with a score of 222 points! This was our first ever event win and was also the first event where we went completely undefeated. We are tremendously proud of our prodigious performance and of our amazing alliance.
2016 Beantown Blitz
On June 18, 2016, Team 5813 travelled to Revere, Massachusetts, to compete at the 2016 Beantown Blitz, which is hosted by FRC Team 125 (Nutrons). Once we arrived, we went to the field to calibrate the targeting system of our high goal auto. During one of our qualification matches, our high goal auto worked for the first time; this was a big success for our team. After two months of tweaking, our auto finally worked! In our final qualification match, we set the event qualification high score of 180 points! At the conclusion of 30 qualification matches, we were ranked number 2 out of 25 teams! For alliance selection, we selected Team 2877 (Ligerbots) as our first pick for their awesome high goal capabilities and Team 5969 (English Skunkworks) as our second pick for their breaching ability. In our first quarterfinal match, our alliance put up the event high score of 220 points! After two semifinal matches against Alliance 3, we advanced to the finals against Alliance 1, which was led by Team 195 (Cyberknights)! We were super excited, as this was the first time our team had made it to the finals. Unfortunately, both of our alliance partners broke down during the finals, so we were the only functioning robot on the field for both matches of the finals. Although we gave it our all during both matches of the finals, we ultimately became event Finalists. Until the finals, we were undefeated! It was fantastic partnering with the Ligerbots for a second offseason event. We had a wonderful time competing against all the great teams at Beantown Blitz and are proud of our performance.