2023 - Charged Up

This season, we built our robot, Max-Q, for the 2023 season, Charged Up. Max-Q's name stands for Maximum Dynamic Pressure, a measurement used during rocket launches to determine when it maxes out fluid dynamic pressure compared to static pressure. 

We had to build Max-Q to play a game where we had to pick up plastic cones and inflatable cubes from a station and put them on 2 levels of either tubes or platforms on the far side of the field. We could also place either piece on sectioned areas of the floor in front of the platform and tube structures. At the end of the match, we had to balance on a seesaw mechanism with the other robots and have it stay perfectly level for an extra boost of points. For a more in-depth explanation, see the video below.

We went to the Orlando and Tallahassee Regional Competitions this year, and, despite the monetary shortcomings, we did okay, though our performance left a little to be desired. In the Orlando competition, we placed 31/54 in qualifications, but didn't make it to playoffs, and in Tallahassee, we placed a measly 34/38 during quals, but made it to playoffs as first pick of Alliance 6, getting 7th in playoffs overall.

During the 2023 offseason, we went to 2 offseason competitions and did 21 outreaches. Some of the outreaches we did were the SPARK STEM Fest, Navy STEM Day, the Honeywell Users Group Conference, Maker Faire 2023, and the Waterford Lakes back-to-school farmer's market.

For offseason competitions, we went to Space Coast Showdown 2023, hosted at Rockledge High School, and Roboticon 2023, hosted at University Mall in Tampa.

Some of our more significant achievements in this offseason were our founding of FIRST Like A Mother, hosting our first STEM Trivia Night at the Fuzzy's Tacos in Alafaya, and going to our first FLL competition at Lake Highland.

This year, we won a total of 2 awards. The first award we won was at the Tallahassee Regional, we won the Judges' Award, given to teams recognized by the Judges who interview teams in the pit as unique, dynamic, well-mannered, and displayers of FIRST Core Values. The second and last award we won was at the Roboticon 2023 offseason competition, where we won a custom award, called the Rockstar Field Helper Award, for helping with the management of the field at competition.