This past weekend, (3/22-3/24) Holbrook Middle high school’s Bizarbots Robotics program headed to Western New England University for their second of two New England district FIRST(For Inspiration in Science & Technology) Robotics Competitions. The Western New England competition hosted a tough crowd, with programs like Team 176: Aces High, Team 8085:MOJO, and Team 177: Bobcat Robotics, all of which made an appearance at the FRC world championships in Houston in 2023. 

The team started off slow, with driver Derek Fox and operator Ava Starr scoring an average of four notes in their initial matches. As time went on however, the two got more comfortable in the matches and hit an average of seven notes towards the end of their twelve qualification matches. These numbers would be considered average for the New England division of FRC.

Although the team was able to improve as qualifications progressed, they faced many rough matchups against programs like 176 and 177. Due to these challenges, the team was ranked 34th out of 36 teams participating in the Western NE event, ending qualification matches with a record of 4-12. Upon seeing this ranking, the team was in despair, not expecting to be picked by any of the top eight teams for a three team alliance in the playoffs. 

Although this low seeding had the team feeling down at the end of qualifications, teams luckily were scouting in the stands, and noticed the offense they brought to the table. Towards the end of alliance selection, the team was selected to be the third teammate of the second alliance, consisting of teams 8085:MOJO, 7407: Wired Boards, and 5494:Bizarbots

Upon entering the playoffs, the team was locked in, scoring nine teleoperated(driver operated) game pieces and in their first playoff match. Their alliance worked together to win their first two matches 80-56 and 74-71. However, they took a tough loss to the first seed alliance 120-81, sending them to the lower bracket where they were eliminated by alliance 100-60. 

The competition was a great showing for the team, as they got their second appearance in a competition semi finals in program history. However, the team does not have enough ranking points to go to the New England District championship as they are currently ranked 93rd and only the top 96 teams qualify for the competition. The team will head to the University of New Hampshire this Thursday(3-28) and compete through Saturday(3-30) in hopes to secure a blue banner before Easter Sunday.

The team’s matches for Western New England can be found here: Link

Their next competition can be watched live here: https://www.twitch.tv/nefirst_orange