FRC Team Competes at Worlds

This past weekend, members of the US Robotics Team loaded up a trailer full of their tools and extra parts and drove down to the NFL stadium in St Louis to compete in the FIRST Robotics World Championships.  As this is the culmination event for the season, there were over 600 teams from almost 30 countries competing on 8 separate fields on the same floor where the St Louis Rams used to play every Sunday.  Parker's Robotic Colonels competed in the Archimedes division sometimes aligned with and sometimes opposing 75 other teams...

After arriving there, they immediately needed to unpack the robot that had been shipped earlier and make sure it would pass inspection and be ready to face the elevated level of competition that the Championships entail. This meant working well into the evening. Their hard work paid off as they won their first two matches against some strong opponents. The robot suffered some damage in the next few matches. The Colonels fought valiantly to fix the problems but were not able to move into the finals of the tournament. They finished with a record of four and six for the seeding rounds. Nevertheless, they showed true grit and had many shining moments at the tournament, such as getting the overall highest score for the Archimedes division during their second to last match.
The event was also a great time for the team members to attend conferences and workshops as well as vendor exhibits to see the various tools and materials that are available. They also got a chance to interact with students from teams across the country and around the world. One particular treat was meeting the team from Francis W. Parker School in San Diego. The grandmother of one of the students on that team was an alumna of our own Parker School.