Since the 2023 Championship, Team 930 has worked hard throughout the offseason to expand our outreach in the FRC community and begin to train new generations of Team 930 for the upcoming 2024 season.
Our offseason kicked off with the Indiana Robotics Invitational, also known as IRI. This competition has been known for years as one of the most prestigious off-season events in the Midwest. Competing in this event allowed our team to expand our connections with tons of high-class teams from around the world and we were honored to be invited. While our weekend ended with a deep playoff run, we were so proud of every member of the team and we look forward to coming back for years to come.
After IRI Team 930 came back home to host its own off-season event, the Mukwonago Robotics Offseason Competition, also known as MROC, our annual off-season competition held here at the Mukwonago High School. This event would bring together 21 teams from across the Midwest. Following our impact in FRC and an offseason victory, we went over to Muskego, WI for TWIST was hosted by #6421 Warriors, which promoted women in STEM with an all-girls drive team. In the end, we would win the event, providing learning opportunities for all members of the team.
While this marked the end of our FRC off season competitions for the year, tons of members apart of Team 930 shifted gears to inspiring younger generations of FIRST with our various FLL initiatives. We started by hosting various FLL Summer Camps, one basic and one advanced, that teaches the younger students skills and prepares them to continue with FIRST and join one of our FLL teams that we support/mentor. From September to December various Team 930 students were working as FLL mentors on FLL teams preparing them for competitions come December. Also, in December Team 930 would continue to host our longest tradition, The Mukwonago FLL Regional! Along with the regional we hosted a Mukwonago Sectional as well for various FLL teams around Wisconsin that made it to the 2nd level of play. In the end we were thrilled to have so many students in attendance and are so happy we were able to provide such an impactful event.
With the end of FLL in the books for another year, Team 930 settled down and focused on preparing for the FRC kickoff which would come in a few weeks. On January 6th, Team 930 hosted our annual kickoff event with #1714 More Robotics, #5148 New Berlin Blitz, #6421 WarriorBots, #6574 Ferradermis, #8701 Graffiti, #9535 Knack, #9760 Cristo Rey Jesuit Trailblazers. Together we all watched the 2024 game animation reveal here and conversed on strategy ideas and possible robot designs. The theme of this year's game follows more of the arts side of STEAM, specifically music. The game follows 3 on 3 robot action with robots each alliance starting in their designated area. The first 15 seconds of the match where the robots will run by themselves without the human drivers is known as the autonomous period. After Autonomous the robots are able to be controlled by the human drivers to score as much as possible. Robots grab foam rings (notes) from an area across the field called the source and bring them back to their side (wing) to score in a tall chute called the speaker. Robots are also able to score 2 notes into a slot near the side of the speaker called the amp makes scoring worth more points for 10 seconds after hitting the desired requirements. Scoring more points gets teams closer to a ranking point that allows the alliance (group of three teams) to move up in ranking in the competition. In the last 20 seconds of the match teams climb on a chain called the stage near the center of the field and are able score another note into a trap for more points. Human players can score more points by throwing a note onto a pole called the microphone on top of the stage for more points if a robot has climbed on the designated chain. For more information click on this link to the 2024 game video.
With the season officially kicked off Team 930 is ecstatic for the next few months. Following our kickoff event our team along with a bunch of parents and students worked to assemble the practice field to assure we could reach our best and be fully prepared for the competition season in March. From CAD to business, all of the students have been starting the new season working hard. Despite a few snow days here and there, our team was able to assemble and program the Kitbot robot to get our rookie students some hands-on experience. The kitbot robot is a starter robot available for all teams, said to be capable of playing the full 2024 game, and is used as a fantastic learning experience for FRC teams around the world. Be sure to stay up to date with our social media and website for any major updates, we look forward to the 2024 season!