Preparing for the VEX World Championship for the Final Time

It's hard to believe that this coming April will be our 6th and last time competing at the VEX World Championship. It seems like it was not so long ago when our little team was just entering its first tournament and being asked at the registration desk if they were truly "a real team".

On March 1st and 2nd Green Egg Robotics proved once again that it was "for real" and qualified for a spot at Worlds (times 4) by winning the New England Championship, the Excellence Award, the Robot Skills Competition and by finishing 7th in the World in robot skills.  These accomplishments topped off a great regular season for the team during which they have received many awards including: the Inspire Award, the Design Award, the Create Award, the Excellence Award, Judges Awards and the Amaze Award.  Team 44 entered 8 tournaments this year and won all 8.  This surpasses our previous team record of most tournaments won by 3 and was the most won by any team in the world this season.  Also, the team posted an overall record of 100-7-2 which was the most wins recorded by any team this season according to data from robotevents.com.

Leland has been hard at work since the New England Championship making changes to Fred VII which will take on a noticeably different appearance at the World Championships.  Changes to the drive train, the chassis, the shifter and the locking mechanism for hanging are all a part of the major overhaul.  The team t-shirt will take on a new look this year as well as our redesign is underway in preparation for worlds.  Above is a picture of the new front of the t-shirt featuring "Bob", the "fierce" robo-eggman who first appeared on Fred IV in 2011. The back of the shirt will be taking on a very different look this year. Pictures to come as the design is finalized.

Catching Up

It has been a long time since the last post on this blog and there has been a lot to report since then.  2 games ago (Gateway, Sack Attack) and countless iterations of Freds V, VI and VII have passed.  Former team member Zac has graduated and is now studying engineering in college.  Freds V and VI  travelled to Anaheim to compete in the World Championships and both performed admirably winning Create Awards and reaching the Divisional Finals while a part of the first seeded alliances. (trivia-Freds II through VI all share the distinction of having been part of the top seeded alliances at Worlds-an achievement we are very proud of.) 

Fred VII

2012-13 marked the first year for Leland to go it alone as the only student team member.  Graduated team member James provided mentoring support and assistance from afar while at college.  The Sack Attack season saw several totally different variations of Fred VI.  The final version was a robust defensive robot that had a 2 speed transmission and an 8 motor drive that was able to lift 30+ sacks at the end of the match with a rubber band powered lift.  Its first and last tournament of the season was the World Championship in California. 

Fred VII is now in the midst of the 2013-14 season . VII has competed in 4 local tournaments so far and has managed to win all 4 this year.  Leland has won an award at each tournament this year as well (Design, Amaze and 2 Judges awards).  There have been 4 major iterations so far and there are more to come.  Fred VII is a do-it-all robot (as was Fred II and III). Leland is in the process of getting it to "do-it-all" a bit more efficiently.  Fred VII is currently ranked 14th in the World in robot skills with the 7th highest score recorded (77) which was achieved in November of 2013.

2013-14 also brings our newest student member to the team.  Lauren has joined us in her first year of robotics and has been assisting in an on field coaching role for Leland with 2 of our tournaments so far and will be assisting Leland in building when possible. Lauren is a junior at Quabbin Regional High School.