ThunderChickens Blog

The Michigan State Championship (MSC), held at Eastern Michigan University from April 11^th to 13^th, showed FIRST what the ThunderChickens are made of, and showed our team the power of not giving up.

At the Troy District Event, the students on our team were on the edge of their seats after every match, anxiously hoping that we would qualify for MSC. Our surprise when we not only qualified, but ended up winning the tournament with our alliance partners, Team 469, the Las Guerillas, and Team 3539, the Byting Bulldogs, was indescribable.

Our qualification match record at MSC was 5-7, and we were seeded 42^nd. We had a very tough match schedule, and had multiple difficulties with our robot, from battery issues to climber problems. One of our mentors even commented that we ran into every possible issue an FRC team could incur.

Alliance selection began, and we all watched attentively as the top eight teams picked their second alliance partners. Once this occurred, the eighth seeded alliance had their first choice of a third robot. The eighth, seventh, sixth, fifth, fourth, and third alliance all went without picking us, and our team was definitely wondering if this would be the first competition we would go without making it to elimination matches this season.

But, we were fortunate enough to be picked by the second seeded alliance! Team 469 was the alliance captain, and we were overjoyed at having the chance to be their alliance partner.  The interesting thing about our alliance this time was the fact that our drive coach, Paul Copioli, and Team 3539’s drive coach, Mike Copioli, were brothers. It made for a very interesting dynamic.

We adapted to being a third robot in multiple ways; our drive team adjusted their driving so that we’d play more defensively. Additionally, for the finals, we actually added a net of pool noodles that would block disks being shot from the feeding zone, which was a strategy that Team 67 often used.

Our alliance sailed through the quarterfinals and semifinals, but we were holding our breath as we lost our first final match to the first seeded alliance, which consisted of Team 67, Team 2054, and Team 2337. We pulled through though, and won our last two matches with a score of 190-118 and 145-109.

Our entire team ran out to the field when we won, and we were absolutely euphoric. Our PR team also had the chance to present for the Engineering Inspiration award, because we won the award at the Troy District Event, but we unfortunately didn’t win at MSC.

However, this didn’t temper our excitement, and our team is now anxiously waiting to board our bus to go to St. Louis for the World Championship! We leave this Wednesday, the 24^th, and return on the 27^th. Whether we win or lose, this upcoming week will be very memorable and huge bonding experience for our team.

Build season has come to a close, and competition season is giving our robot a chance to perform. Our robot, fiercely named Aurora, has had her ups and downs so far, but our team is persevering to bring her to her fullest potential.

After a successful first competition at Traverse City, in which we passed quarterfinals but lost at semifinals, we realized Aurora had some flaws. Within in the six hour un-bag session, many modifications were made. Three weeks after from March 29^th to 30^th , we were off to our second qualifying district, located in Troy.

Aurora fought a tough battle of preliminary rounds, coming very close in each one, but was unable to make the Ultimate Ascent to victory for every match. Sadly, we were ranked 38^th out of 40 preceding elimination rounds. Fortunately, though, the number three alliance captain, Team 4130, the Blue Devils, chose our team to assist them in the elimination matches. After succeeding past quarterfinals, our alliance lost at the semifinals. However, we were thrilled because we believed we’d gained enough points to qualify for the Michigan State Championship, which is for the top 64 teams in the state.

In addition, at the Troy District, the ThunderChickens submitted for the Chairman’s award. This is the most prestigious award one can receive from a FIRST competition. The Chairman’s Award recognizes teams that excel in other aspects, besides building a robot. This includes community outreach, spreading the message of FIRST, and more. The components that make up this award are a 5-minute presentation, a 5-minute Q&A, an essay, and a video submission. Unfortunately, our team did not win the Chairman’s award, but we did attain the Engineering Inspiration Award, automatically qualifying our team to compete for this award again at the Michigan State Championship.

Yet again, Aurora needed some tuning up. More prototypes were made and tested using our second “practice bot”. When we thought we had the fixes down, we unbagged and made some fine adjustments. Aurora was finally ready to compete in our third district, held in Bedford.

In Bedford, Aurora came to fight. Our matches started off on a strong note, and then we decided to try doing things we’ve never done before. Although it did not help us win our matches, these attempts surely got our ideas rolling for future changes. At the conclusion of preliminary rounds, our team was ranked 18^th out of 40. During the alliance choosing process, the number four alliance captain, team 3547 Virus, chose to select team 217 as one of their partners. This alliance did not make it past quarterfinals, but left us with good practice for the alterations on Aurora.

Following the completion of the Bedford District, our advancing to the Michigan State Championship was confirmed, and excitement thundered through our hearts. Good luck to all teams continuing on, and a well done to all those who participated in this year’s season of FIRST robotics!