It was another early morning for Highland Robotics, Team 2603. We left for the Dome at 7am for the first match of the morning. We split our matches today with a strong defensive effort in our winning match to finish the Championship at 5-4.

On deck for our final match

In all it was a very strong showing at our first FIRST Championship. We finished in the top third in our division (33/100), with strong point scoring totals including the 5th highest bridge points in the division. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough to get us selected as one of the 24 teams selected for an alliance. Overall, though, the team was quite pleased to have competed against the best national and international teams and had such a solid performance.

After packing the robot for the last time this year, we made a quick trip to the very cool St. Louis City Museum before leaving for home at 4 pm CST.

Team photo at FIRST Championship

Another great day for Team 2603 in St. Louis. Since we didn’t have a match until 11:24 CST, we got to sleep in and take our time getting to the stadium today. After watching the opening ceremony, the team got to work scouting and getting the robot ready for today’s matches.

Balanced!

We ended the day with 2 wins, 1 loss, and 2 coopertition bridge points.

We even had a great match in the loss, with coopertition bridge points and a tie score until the last few seconds, when a robot from the opposing alliance shot and scored from the coopertition bridge! Our final match ended with our highest score yet, at 70 points. At the end of the day, we are ranked 35th out of 100 teams.

After our last match, the bus driver had a surprise for us – he took us to the most famous landmark in St. Louis – the Arch. After 2 days in the Edward Jones Dome it was nice to get out and walk around the park and see this incredible site – and a marvel of engineering. Check back later to see more pictures of our day.

Score!

We are looking forward to our last 2 matches tomorrow and then alliance selection for the elimination matches. No matter what happens, though, we are very happy and proud that our team came to the Championships and has competed this well. We’ve got a winning record and the 3 matches we’ve lost are by a total of only 12 points. It has been an incredible experience and will be a big boost to our program to have this experience. Thanks to all of the parents, sponsors, and donors who made this possible and also to the Highland School Board and administration for approving this trip.

Day 1 at the FIRST FRC championship was quite an experience. The pits are huge compared to the regionals, and there are 4 fields (one for each division) on the floor of the Edward Jones Dome, which is where the St. Louis Rams play football. There are 100 teams in the Archimedes division where Team 2603 is competing.

In all, we are very pleased with our first day. We finished the day in 19th place in our division, with a record of 2-2. We are doing particularly well in hybrid mode and with balance points, scoring balance points in each of our matches including the coopertition bridge twice.

We’re really looking forward to tomorrow!

Check back for more pictures.

Practicing on Day 1

Team 2603 is in the Archimedes division.

2603 Thursday Schedule:

Match 8 at 2:42 PM EST. (WON!)
Match 20 at 3:59 PM EST. (lost)
Match 46 at 6:35 PM EST. (lost)
Match 59 at 8:49 EST. (WON!)

2603 Friday Schedule:

Match 80 at 12:24 PM EST. (WON!)
Match 100 at 3:59 PM EST. (lost)
Match 115 at 5:30 PM EST. (WON!)

2603 Saturday Schedule:

Match 130 @ 9:15 AM EST (lost)
Match 138 @ 10:03 AM EST (WON!)

General schedule located here.

Live streaming courtesy of NASA here.

We arrived at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis late this afternoon. It is really amazing to see all of the teams here for the various FIRST championships.

Mr. Matheou and 4 team members stayed behind to get set up while the rest of the team checked into the hotel and discussed scouting plans.

Check back later for our schedule.

Driving over the Mississippi to St. Louis

Highland FIRST Robotics Team 2603 left at 8:30 am on April 25 for St. Louis and the FIRST National Championships at the Edward Jones Dome.

Good luck to the team!

Check back for updates.