Over Under
This past Saturday, the HMS Robotics team competed in the VEX Maine Middle School State Championship at The Point in South Portland. There are more middle school teams than ever in Maine and the competition was stiff!
The Clipperbots sent seven teams to the tournament, and all of them were competitive throughout the day:
First, I want to recognize teams 7831D - 1 = 2 and 7831H - The Winning Couches. These two teams worked so hard and grew so much throughout the season, it was hard for me to believe that they didn't qualify for the event. This was a testament to the level of competition this year rather than anything that these two teams did or did not do. I wish that they could have been with us and I can't wait to see what they accomplish next year!
Team 7831B - The Banana Bandanas, made it to the round of 16 and had one of the more consistent "hang" mechanisms (where you design your robot to lift itself off the ground) in the tournament.
Team 7831C - The Battle Shrooms and team 7831F - The Green Fedora-ed Cats made it to the Quarterfinals:
Team C with a robot that could do a little bit of everything
Team F with a raised flywheel that confounded defenders and scored a bunch of points.
Teams 7831G - The Clipperbots, 7831J - Big Rust, and 7831E - The 3.14159 Society, all advanced to the Semifinals:
Team G also featured a successful lift mechanism that consistently put points on the board for their alliance.
Team J A sixth-grade team! Perfected a punch mechanism that was one of the most accurate shooters at the event.
Team E -Totally rebuilt their robot in the last month into an eight-wheel drive monster that caught the attention of everyone - including those in charge - as the team walked away with this year's Judges Award!
7831A - Team Phishy had a particularly impressive day. The team finished the qualifier rounds in second place and made a strategic alliance selection with the 17th-ranked team, 56F - Armageddon from Cape Elizabeth. The Finals are a best-of-three-matches contest. After dropping the first match, the pair came roaring back to take the next two and win the 2024 Maine VEX Middle School State Championship!!! In addition, Team A also walked away with a plaque for 2nd place in the Robot Skills rankings. Next, they will be competing at the VEX World Championships in Dallas, Texas this April!
You can see the results here. The live stream is linked below:
Awards from this season!
Team | Award | Competition |
7831E | Excellence | Freyburg |
7831E | Judges | York |
7831E | Excellence | Yarmouth Middle School |
7831A | Tournament Champions | States |
7831E | Judges | States |
7831A | Skills 2nd Place | States |
