Grand time in Grand Forks

   

   After school on Wednesday march 6th our team loaded our robot, toolboxes, batteries, totes and pit materials into our trailer.  Then after a quick stop at the local gas station, our team headed off to our next destination the Great Northern Regional in Grand Forks North Dakota. After a two and a half hour drive of forests, fields and farms, we arrived at the immense Alerus Center and got inline to unload. Once unloaded we made our way in to the pit area of the competition, found our assigned spot, and began setting up our pit for tomorrow's practice matches. Then once every thing was in place, we left the Alerus Center and went to our hotel for a quick freshening up before going to supper at Panda Buffet and Mongolian Bar-B-Q.  We were some of the last customers for the night but there was still plenty to chose from, two counters full of  Chinese, American, Italian, Japanese, and Mongolian food plus a dessert and sushi bar towards the back. After a filling meal and a sweet fortune cookie we headed back to the hotel for a nights rest before the start of the competition.

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   Thursday came early with a 7:00am continental Breakfast and a 7:30am departure time for the Alerus Center.  Once we arrived at the center we made our way to our pit and started prepping the robot for our upcoming inspection. With the help of 4181 Quack Attack, Cass lake, several mentors/volunteers and other teams we were able to build, problem solve and send working Java code to our swerve drive robot. After we made several adjustments we passed inspection and were able to get inline to connect to the playing field.  We went through the process of getting the bot onto the field, connecting to the field's server, getting the bot off the field and back to the pit.  From there we headed to the practice area to practice driving our robot and allow our drive team time to get use to handling the new drive system. The rest of the day was more help with coding, problem solving, practicing driving and other preparations for tomorrow's qualifying matches. The day ended at 7:30PM with a Wendy's supper to follow. We got back to the hotel by 8:30pm and got some sleep before our big day tomorrow.

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   Friday, qualifying day, came in earlier than Thursday since we had to be to the center by 8:00am when the pits opened. Our First match was match number three so we were queued up right a way. Before the matches started there was the opening ceremony,  where Yoji Shimizu started things off by coming in on the FIRST Train and welcoming every one to the event. He was fallowed up by the mayor of Grand Forks Brandon Bochenski, a representative of one of the senators of North Dakota and a representative from the college of UND. The opening ceremony ended with a Native American Drummer and the National Anthem. Match 3 was our first match where we were able to move for the first time with swerve drive! With each match we improved our ability to maneuver and our skills at driving the robot.  Through out the rest of the day we had a total of six matches that we competed in. In between each match we Replaced motors, found lost gears, learned field oriented swerve drive, Problem solved loosing connection to the field, and problem solved our intake. by the end of the day we had Scored a note in the speaker, learned field oriented swerve drive, achieved a rank of 18th, fixed broken aspects of the robot, and moved around the field. The pits closed following the awards ceremony and the day came to an end. We headed back to the hotel to freshen up before heading to Chick-Fil-A For supper. After supper the team went to Northern Air Action Park for Laser Tag, Trampoline, and arcade fun to unwind from a long hard day. We made it back by 10:00pm and went to bed to recharge for the next days adventures.

   Saturday, came in on the heels of Friday, with another 8:00am arrival time for the Alerus Center. Once we arrived at the Alerus Center we took our robot to the practice field to practice driving and test our intake.  Our first match was match 73 with teams 3926 MPArors and 4539 KAOTIC Robotics. After the 2min. 15 sec. match our alliance was able to score 48 to 47 and won the match. our next and last qualifying match at the event was match 82. During which our robot was able to shoot a note to the speaker, cross the field and play strong D-fence against the blue alliance. Our actions helped our alliance win 28 to 26 and gave us the final rank of 28th over all.  We waited until after the alliance selections before we started packing up the pit, toolboxes and batteries.  We then watched the playoff matches before we loaded the trailer and came back in for the final Matches and awards.  Our last experience at the event was awarding the winning alliance and finalist, a teaser for next year's challenge.  A few closing words by Yoji wrapped up the event bringing 2024 Great Northern Regional to an end.  Before leaving Grand Forks we had one more team meal at Wendy's after which we headed east to Bemidji then North to Kelliher. Where we unloaded the trailer and restored the robotics room to normal before dispersing and heading home for a good nights sleep.

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   We would like to thank All of those who helped us at the event. From code, to replacement motors and components to just plain shared knowledge. Our experience at the Great Northern Regional would not have been possible without you. 

Thank you again. 

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  Be sure to check out the pages about our trips to State and Worlds, located under the tab "Bog Bots Report".

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  THANK YOU to OUR SPONSORS, SUPPORTERS, VOULNTEERS, DONERS and to our COMMUNITIES.  Without your support this experience, if not this entire season, would not be possible.  We deeply appreciate your support.