WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS — Blue Crew FIRST Robotics Competition Team 6153 on June 1 and 2 competed at BattleCry@WPI, an annual offseason event held at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester.

“This event bridged the gap between a regular season and an off-season event, functioning as a highly competitive event with multiple teams who participated in the FRC world championship,” Mason Labonte, assistant team captain, wrote in a June 20 email to the Livermore Falls Advertiser. “The number of teams vying for one of the 60 spots was so high that the Blue Crew was waitlisted and unaware of their ability to participate in the event until the week before.”

Blue Crew competed in seven qualification matches and finished ranking 41st out of 59 teams, Labonte noted. There were 15 alliances, and Blue Crew was then third pick for the fourth seed alliance made up of Team 48 Team E.L.I.T.E. from Warren, OH, team 4546 Shockwave from Dover, NH, and Team 1991 The Dragons from Hartford, CT, he wrote.

“BattleCry was not a regular-season competition, meaning there were updated rules to differentiate the game from a normal competition,” Labonte noted. “As mentioned above, there were 15 alliances during the playoffs, with four teams per alliance. This allowed each of the 59 teams competing to make it to the playoffs. Along with this, there were adjusted rules for scoring, including more rings being thrown into the arena during the last 20 seconds. There was also a dot in the center of the field. If a robot fully covered the dot at the end of the match, that robot’s alliance got an extra six points.”

The Livermore Falls Advertiser reached out to Labonte and Lucy Ann Knowles, drive captain, for more information.

There were 12 Blue Crew members at this event, Labonte noted. Teams participating came from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania and Ohio, he indicated.

“This event was a great way for the new drive team members to understand what a real competition is like, without the stress of it being a regular season event,” Labonte noted. “The drivers had a chance to work through tunnel vision and communication errors which will better equip them for next season’s competition. The builders were also able to practice fixing a major component of the robot mid-event, as right before lunch the drivetrain of the robot ran into malfunctions and had to be partially disassembled.”

When asked about the rule changes, Labonte responded, “There were two main changes to the event rules. The first was the dot at the center of the field. At the end of the game, if a robot was fully covering the dot, they earned six extra points which counted towards the ensemble ranking point. Ranking points are what are used to rank the teams during qualification matches. Several teams were able to gain these points, including our team. The second main change to the game allowed the human players to toss rings scored through the amp back into the field during the last 20 seconds of the match. Moreover, the human players were also allowed to use these rings to toss onto the microphone to gain points from the spotlight.”

Besides the rule changes to the game, there were also changes to the playoff matches, Labonte noted. “During the playoffs, there were four teams in each alliance and 15 alliances,” he wrote. “However, each match still only consisted of three robots per alliance, which meant alliances had to choose which robots to use, and each robot was required to play a match at least once.”

In the playoffs, the team played in one playoff match before being eliminated, Labonte indicated. “We were running a new drive team and they all did very well,” he wrote. “The robot performed very well and there were minimal major breaks throughout the competition.”

“My favorite part of Battle Cry was the multitude of talented teams, without the stress of a regular FRC season event, Knowles wrote. “The adjustment to the rules made the game distinct and added a twist to the strategy of the competition. I enjoyed the event all around and believe it was well organized to accommodate the large number of participating teams.”

Knowles noted she was consistently finding new ways to improve as the drive coach. “For example, after the first match, I realized I needed to find a better way to tell the drivers what I wanted them to do,” she wrote. “After that, it was efficiently talking with other teams to strategize. Then, I needed to make sure I was paying attention to the time and other robots during the match. Focusing under high pressure takes practice and is something I, and the other drive team members can work towards during these events without worrying about qualifying for the district or world championships.”

Blue Crew is thankful for the opportunity to train new members through a low-stakes, but competitive, off-season competition, Labonte noted.

“Blue Crew’s mission is to spread STEM and FIRSTⓒ values throughout their community to help create the next generation of problem solvers and thinkers,” he wrote. “They consist of nearly 20 students from Mt. Blue and Spruce Mountain High School and are based out of the Foster Tech Center in Farmington. This is their ninth year competing with FIRST.”

The Blue Crew would like to thank its sponsors: The Holmes family, Wilde family, Franklin Savings Bank, Pallet One, CMP, Origin, McCarthy Turbines, Otis Federal Credit Union, Dutch Gap Auto and Androscoggin Bank.

To connect with Blue Crew, stay updated or for more information visit the website https://www.bluecrew6153.org/home, Instagram: @bluecrewrobotics, Facebook: @FRC6153 or Youtube: Blue Crew Robotics [FRC team 6153].