In September 2016, the new season competition was revealed - Velocity Vortex. During the autonomous period, this challenge requires the robot to navigate to beacons and press the button whose color corresponds to their alliance color. During the tele-op portion of the competition, teams may attempt to throw balls into two different goals and/or "capture" beacons for their alliance. The end game involves raising a 24" ball nearly 4 feet in the air and attempting to score it in an elevated goal. The complete game is described in the YouTube video below:
Team Charger Robotics #9808 kicked off its season with a meet on December 3rd at the KC Engineering Zone where they finished as the top team among the 13 teams competing in that event. Team Charger followed up with a meet on January 7th at St. Teresa's Academy where they earned another 6 qualifying points, leaving them in 2nd place in the conference standings.
See the team FTC Page for up-do-date information on Team Charger results.
See the team FTC Page for up-do-date information on Team Charger results.
Charger Robotics #9808 Advance to State Tournament
“Team Chargers” (FTC Robotics team #9808) joined 22 other teams at the Missouri FTC Western Conference Qualifier at Harrisonville High School on Saturday, February 18th, six of whom would advance to the Missouri State Championship. Team Chargers earned a spot in this Conference Qualifier by finishing second overall in the NW Conference, winning 8 of 10 matches during the conference season.
Team Chargers swept through the preliminary matches of this Conference Qualifier Tournament undefeated, with a 4-0-1 record finishing with a 3rd place ranking and earning a position as an alliance captain for the elimination round. During alliance selection, Team Chargers accepted an invitation to join the top ranked Red Hot Techie Peppers - team #4587 and Ravonics Spitzer - team #9801(from Olathe NW HS) for the elimination matches. Our alliance won the semifinals round, 2 matches to 1, with Team Chargers strongly contributing to both winning matches. Team Chargers then capped the day with a win in the finals to be crowned tournament champions.
In addition to being a part of the winning alliance, Team Chargers were recognized by the judges for the following awards:
Prior to advancing to the West Missouri Conference Qualifier, Team Chargers competed in two “NW Missouri conference” tournaments and one “FTC qualifying” tournament, held at Blue Valley CAPS. Among their accomplishments along the way:
Team Chargers swept through the preliminary matches of this Conference Qualifier Tournament undefeated, with a 4-0-1 record finishing with a 3rd place ranking and earning a position as an alliance captain for the elimination round. During alliance selection, Team Chargers accepted an invitation to join the top ranked Red Hot Techie Peppers - team #4587 and Ravonics Spitzer - team #9801(from Olathe NW HS) for the elimination matches. Our alliance won the semifinals round, 2 matches to 1, with Team Chargers strongly contributing to both winning matches. Team Chargers then capped the day with a win in the finals to be crowned tournament champions.
In addition to being a part of the winning alliance, Team Chargers were recognized by the judges for the following awards:
- Inspire Award (1st Place) - The description of this award reads: This judged award is given to the team that truly embodied the ‘challenge’ of the FTC program. The team that receives this award is a strong ambassador for FIRST programs and a role model FTC team. This team is a top contender for many other judged awards and is a gracious competitor. The Inspire Award Winner is an inspiration to other teams, acting with Gracious ProfessionalismTM both on and off the playing field. This team is able to communicate their experiences, enthusiasm and knowledge to other teams, sponsors, their community, and the Judges. Working as a unit, this team will have demonstrated success in accomplishing the task of designing and building a robot. The judges remarks about Team Chargers: “This team’s first year did not go as planned, and they realized dealing with stress is part of moving forward. Following a mentor presentation on getting organized, they were really charged up. After only two seasons, they are building a heritage.”
- Control Award (1st Place) - The description of this award reads: Mastering robot intelligence. The Control Award celebrates a team that uses sensors and software to enhance the robot’s functionality on the field. This award is given to the team that demonstrates innovative thinking in the control system to solve game challenges such as autonomous operation, enhancing mechanical systems with intelligent control, or using sensors to achieve better results on the field. The control component should work consistently on the field. The team’s Engineering Notebook must contain details about the implementation of the software, sensors, and mechanical control. In presenting this award, the judges commented: “This team in black took control with a strong autonomous performance. Their use of sensors was impressive. Their planning served as a catalyst for an organized strategy consistent with the team’s heritage of taking charge.”
- Motivate Award (2nd Place) - The description of this award reads: This judged award celebrates the team that exemplifies the essence of the FIRST Tech Challenge competition through team building, team spirit and exhibited enthusiasm. This team embraces the culture of FIRST and clearly demonstrates what it means to be a team. This is a team who makes a collective effort to make FIRST known throughout their school and community, and sparks others to embrace the culture of FIRST.
Prior to advancing to the West Missouri Conference Qualifier, Team Chargers competed in two “NW Missouri conference” tournaments and one “FTC qualifying” tournament, held at Blue Valley CAPS. Among their accomplishments along the way:
- Team Chargers finished second among all teams competing in the 8 NW Missouri conference tournaments, winning 16 out of a possible 20 points in the two meets HCA played in. (8 out of 10 matches played)
- The Chargers were awarded 3rd Place for the PTC “Design Award” at the Blue Valley CAPS qualifier tournament.
- Team Chargers was chosen to be in one of four alliances for the elimination round semifinals at the Blue Valley CAPS qualifier.
- In all of the 702 total matches played in Missouri FTC this season, Team Chargers competed in matches recording the highest scoring match score (335) and also the 5th highest match score for the entire season.
- Team Chargers with our alliance partners had the 6th highest (205) and 8th highest (200) alliance scores for the entire Missouri FTC season.