Robotics Team Places First at State Qualifier

The Rivers Robotics team, The Architechs, once again qualified for the Massachusetts state FTC tournament after a successful day at their state qualifier last weekend at Arlington High School. After finishing second in the qualifying rounds, The Architechs, along with their choice of partner team from Lincoln, finished first in the elimination rounds and their robot, 4176, helped earn them the PTC Design Award.

 

“While yes, I am thrilled that we took home the trophy for Winning Alliance Captain with a first place finish, that is just one of the many incredible achievements I witnessed,” said Maureen Courtney, Rivers science teacher and lead team mentor. “There were no egos in our group as every single student was focused on what the team needed them to do.”

 

On the way to qualifying, The Architechs and 4176 encountered a few speed bumps. In the Final Elimination Match, 4176’s wheel fell off and the robot turned itself off. Fortunately, the other alliance’s team captain had a similar issue and The Architech’s teammate managed to hang on to help get the victory.

 

This isn’t the first time Rivers has qualified for the state tournament, but it is the first time it was based strictly on the performance of the robot.

 

“One year we qualified because we earned the Think Award based on the work submitted in our engineering notebook, and then last year we got in because of the ‘wild card’ spot that had just been created that year,” said tri-captain Griffin Green ’14. “It was nice to have our robot carry us to states this year.”

 

The state tournament will be held on March 1, 2014 at Bridgewater State University. The meet will begin at 7:00 a.m. and run until 7:00 p.m. with three teams advancing to the Eastern Division Super Regional tournament in Pennsylvania.

 

Click here to watch a video of 4176 competing at the tournament.