During week 4 of the FRC season, Laser Robotics competed at the Mukwonago District Event at MHS. Following the success we had at Lakeland, we were all pumped to get back on the field, however, we had some things to fix.

Our drivers and scouts made keen observations of both the game and our robot. They noted how our inability to drive under the trench severely hindered our performance and risked us becoming beached onto fuel by the bump. They also made note of our hopper design not being as reliable as we previously thought. Our build team immediately got to work, and in the next 2 meetings they successfully cut our robot in half and fabricated a new intake system, while getting rid of the slide and box extension.

Load-in was much of the same as we saw at Lakeland. Load-in, inspection, practice matches. Unfortunately though, we were only able to get in one practice match before a field fault postponed and eventually cancelled them. The field was fixed before qualification matches, but left some drivers unprepared.

Day two was the start of practice matches. Our record during this day was somewhat worse compared to that of Lakeland. However our robot was more performant, contributing more to the success of our alliances than we had at Lakeland. Our scoring, intake, and mobility were all on display for everyone to see, and some took note. During our matches our Impact team once again gave our Impact Presentation to the judges. This was a much more refined version of the presentation and the feedback clearly showed.

The final day of the competition was unfortunately riddled with technical issues. Throughout our matches we experienced brownouts, control issues, and problems with autonomous. However, when our robot was not experiencing such issues, our engineering and driver control stood out. Despite this, by alliance selection, we had placed 34 out of 36 and we expecting to be soon packing up and watching the finals. However, teams 6381 Red Raider Robotics and team CORE 2062 had selected us for alliance 4. We were surprised as many other teams stood before us on the rankings. As it turns out, the scouts from Red Raider had seen our driver ability and bot maneuverability, and wanted us to play as a defense bot.

Many believe that ranking is a direct showing of your team’s skill on the field, however this is not entirely accurate. Since it is instead calculated based off the record of the alliances you have been on, its truth varies. Teams get a more accurate dataset by scouting matches and taking note of teams for alliance selection.

Once we got back to the pits we worked together to remove our intake system as it would lead to unneeded penalties and possibly cards during defensive play, something we could not risk. Before our first match, our alliance members exchanged team memorabilia. Red Raider gave out hats, CORE gave out chains, and we gave out Lab Coats. We were happy to partake in this tradition and have since placed the chain and hat with other items in our history. We are proud of our accomplishments and this was certainly one to remember. Our alliance had put up a good fight, but ended up getting eliminated in round 3 after a win in round one and technical issues during playoff match 9.

After our defeat our team began packing up and loading out. During this time various award ceremonies and finals matches were happening, with a few of our students staying back in the stands to watch them. To our surprise, we won the ‘Rising All-Star’ Award! The four students who were in the stands quickly ran up to accept the award and get a picture, which had to wait a bit as we called back our people from the pit. The ‘Rising All-Star’ award recognizes teams that have persisted through hardship and challenges while also demonstrating resilience, sustainability, and the FIRST core values. After the retirement of our head coach of 15 years, starting of this season with six members, and virtual rebuilding of our team, all while still managing to grow to 17 members and have one of our best seasons in years, this award was well-deserved and we thank everyone who has helped us get to where we are now.