With 13 students on our team, Code Red was ready to take on the 2023 season and the game Charged Up. With a lot of new students on the team, that meant that our fall 2022 off-season had to involve a lot of training. We conducted training sessions run by mentors, alumni, and students in CAD and programming. We also assembled a kit bot to learn about the process of fabricating and wiring a robot. Our design and build season focused on building a robot that could reliably score cones and cubes. We decided on a smaller footprint for the robot so that it could easily fit with other bots on the charging station. One unique feature of our robot was the use of a product made by Rolatube, an UK company. Their product works like a giant slap bracelet that when rolled up is a tube, but when extended becomes very stiff. The Rolatube served as the mechanism to deliver cones to pillars. The final result was our robot, “Bruh”, a name voted on by the students.
Our first competition of the season was at Calvin University. While we didn’t place as high as we had hoped, we were selected for the number one alliance with the Comets (3357) and Digital Defenders (6081). Our debrief session after the competition prioritized improving our driving skills and improving our cone-grabbing claw. To work we went making those goals happen in preparation for our second event at Kentwood.
Arriving for our second event at Kentwood, the team felt more confident and excited about what our improved robot could do. Qualification matches ended with the team ranked 9th and a selection to be part of the 4th Alliance.
Partnered with MARS (4004) and Wyoming Devils (858), we advanced our way through the playoffs to semifinals before losing! The highlight of the event, however, was winning the Impact Award, the highest award given at an event. Code Red also qualified for the state championship.
At the Michigan State Championship, Code Red enjoyed three days of competition and fun as a team. We played on the DTE Energy field and ended playoff matches ranked 13th. Unfortunately, we were not selected in an alliance for playoffs. However, we were awarded the Creativity Award, a state level award recognizing the unique feature of the Rolatube in our robot. We were able to qualify for Worlds and had a fun few days at one final competition before the end of the season. Overall, it was a satisfying and successful season.
