Chelsea Robotics Team, Technical Difficulties, Competes at the Skyline Qualifier

By Jay Zatkovich

This past weekend, Chelsea Robotics Team 1502 – Technical Difficulties - just finished its first qualifier event of the 2024 FIRST robotics season at Skyline Highschool in Ann Arbor –the first of two qualifier events in which Chelsea will participate this season. This event had 42 teams participate and was forecasted to be an early preview of the upcoming state competition due to the powerhouse ranking of teams participating.

With the 2024 robot, named “Hammerhead,” Chelsea played 12 qualifying matches over the event. Some early issues caused them to stay true to their name and lose some tough matches, going 1-5 on their first 6. However, some good adjustments made in the pit and the drive team finding their stride helped them rally to a 3-2-1 record in the next six matches. They finished the event qualifier rounds 4-7-1 and ranked 29th overall going into the finals. Drive team lead engineer Lily VanHevel commented, “Competition at Skyline was extremely competitive, and the drive team persevered through and through. All drivers learned how different true competition is compared to practice at home and proved themselves capable of being a leading team.”

Hammerhead in the pit

During the finals, some excellent scouting helped them secure a 2nd pick on alliance 2, which was captained by team 6615 – The Bellvillians - from Belleville and their 1st pick alliance partner team 1076 – Pi Hi Samurai – from Ann Arbor, MI. This alliance then went 2-0 in their first two matches but ran aground when they went up against the ultimate champions. They eventually lost their next two to finish as semifinalists with a 2-2 record.

After the conclusion of the robotic competition, the team was the recipient of the prestigious FIRST Impact Award. It honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and embodies FIRST's mission. It was created to keep the central focus of FIRST Robotics Competition on the ultimate goal of transforming the culture in ways that will inspire greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology and encourage more of today’s youth to become science and technology leaders.

When lead engineer for the Impact team, Wynn Van Hoek, was asked about what the Impact award means for the team, they replied, “Winning the Impact award is an awesome recognition of the hard work has been putting in to make Technical Difficulties ‘more than robots’. I think it is incredible that the dedication from students, mentors, and community members to better the team and program as a whole is going to contribute to our success this season by ensuring our place at states”.

Overall, the robot went deep into the event with a semi-final finish and won the prestigious impact award, making this a very impressive weekend for Team 1502. Their next qualifier event will be from March 28th to the 30th in Mount Pleasant, and their receipt of the impact award ensures them a spot at the state championships from April 4th to the 6th.

You can follow the team at www.chelsearobotics.org/
or go to www.thebluealliance.com/, search for team 1502, and look for the week three Ann Arbor qualifier event.

Impact Awardees

Photos courtesy of Team 1502