Chelsea Team 1502’s Robotic Resilience

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Chelsea Robotics Team 1502, “Technical Difficulties,” received the Creativity Award at CMU

By Jay Zatkovich

Chelsea Robotics Team 1502 – Technical Difficulties – has completed its regular season with its last district qualifier event of the 2024 FIRST robotics season at Central Michigan University in Mt Pleasant, MI – the last of two district qualifier events in which Chelsea will participate.

Over the two-day-long competition, 40 Teams, some from as far away as Iron River, MI, were present. The event is structured so that each team initially participates in 12 separate qualifier matches to determine overall team rankings. The results of these rankings determine the eight alliance captains, and after some alliance-picking strategy, 24 teams will take place in a playoff tournament on the last half of the final day. In tandem with the competition, throughout the event, judges roam the pits, interview students, and observe the teams, asking questions to determine awards, which are announced at the event’s completion.

Hammerhead is being escorted into the arena.


The robot named “Hammerhead,” now fondly referred to as “Hammy” by some, found its true form in this competition, and the team did everything it set out to do. Some favorable alliance matchups, a robot operating to design spec with reliable consistency, accomplished programming, and a drive team holding to its strategy meant that on day one, the team was able to complete eight regular matches, ending with a dominant 7-1 performance in the overall ranking number six spot.

Brendan Garrow and Austin Tackett looked sharp as the driver and operator with noticeable improvements in ability. When lead engineer Emily Gagnon was asked how she felt about how the robot's programming performed, she commented, “I would have liked more time beforehand, but I always want more time. We as programming performed well. We easily modified and created new autonomous programs that were effective and quick.”.

That evening, team revelry was at a seasonal high, but with the dawn of a new day came a changing tide. The team was quickly humbled by some difficult alliance pairings before the playoffs, going 1-3 on their last 4. Qualifier matches concluded with an overall 8-4 record, and the team fell to 9th in the total team rankings going into playoff selections.

As the finals commenced, Hammy’s earlier success was recognized and earned a 1st pick position on alliance 4, which was captained by team 8286 – Farwell Robotics - from Farwell, MI, and their 2nd pick alliance partner team 7826 – Zetabotics – from Marquette, MI. This alliance came out strong, winning their first match with a solid score of 92-38, but fell short on their next match, losing 67-72 and falling into the lower bracket. Now swimming upstream, the drive team was able to put up another good fight and win the next game, 80-57, but ultimately was landed when they lost their fourth match 69-79 and finished the playoffs with a familiar 2-2 record and another semi-final finish.

After the conclusion of the robotic competition, the team was the recipient of the FIRST Creativity award. This award celebrates creativity that enhances play strategy and is intentionally designed and not discovered. The award grants the team five ranking points, which are valuable in terms of global rankings, and showcases the unique aspect of the team’s climber mechanism – which is now utilized in the team’s end-game strategy.

In addition to the team award, Chelsea student engineer and high-school Junior Aiden Kidd received the FIRST Tech Challenge Dean’s List semi-finalist award. Each year, two students are nominated from each team and interviewed by judges during the event. A single student chosen from the event earns the FIRST Dean’s List Award status as a Semi-finalist.

These young engineers are great examples of student leaders who have led their teams and communities to increase awareness for FIRST and its mission. FIRST's goal is that these individuals will continue, post-award, as great leaders, student alums, and advocates of FIRST.

When asked what winning the Dean’s list means, Aiden commented, “My friends, teammates, family, and mentors believed in me.” The team will now root Aiden on as he interviews at the state championship for the chance at a finalist award.

CHS Junior Aiden Kidd received the FIRST Tech Challenge Dean’s List semi-finalist award.


Overall, the robot went deep into the event, showing excellent drive team cohesion, a consistent and reliable robot design, had another semi-final finish, won the creativity award, and a student was chosen for the Dean’s list award – making this yet again a very impressive weekend for team 1502.

Their next event will be traveling to the state championships in Saginaw from April 4th to the 6th, and then they will travel to Houston, TX, for worlds should they qualify. You can follow the team at https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/1502. You can cheer the team live there as they compete or re-watch the matches from prior events. If you are interested in sponsoring the team or would like to donate, please find us at www.chelsearobotics.org/.

Photos courtesy of Technical Difficulties

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