Pre-season Shakedown

The Suffield Shakedown is the perfect way to start the competition spirit flowing.

The pre-season competition gives teams a good idea of how competition matches will work, and gives everyone time to practice driving and operating their robots on an official field.

Even with a 2 hour delay caused by robot communication issues, all teams behaved with gracious professionalism. As soon as things began working again, the matches moved quickly and the volunteers worked hard to ensure the competition would end at a reasonable time.

Once the practice matches began, attendees quickly realized that even on the slippery Regolith, the action was very fast-paced and the robots did not seem hampered by the low-friction surface.

Many teams also discovered that movement in autonomous is critical. Robots that did not move in the first 15 seconds were the subject of massive human player scoring.

For the elimination matches, the Gaelhawks were picked by the 3rd place alliance and were paired up with team 175, Buzz, and team 1991, the Dragons. Although the team lost in the semifinals, it was a fun and educational experience.

While the robots battled it out on the Regolith, several other important events were going on.

Team 178, the Enforcers, once again sponsored their Dream FIRST program at the scrimmage.

In addition, Aces High hosted an off-season FIRST Lego League competition.

Finally, the Gaelhawks sponsored their own food drive to help replenish the food lost from the Shelton Food Bank as a result of a school fire.

Congratulations to teams 126, 195, and 1124 on their victory at the scrimmage, and good luck to all teams as we enter the competition season.