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03-26-2024 | Issue 6 | Volume 1

FIM Macomb District Event

March 28 to March 30

Sterling Heights, MI

Watch us compete against 39 other teams at Sterling Heights High School!

Event Schedule

My name is Lilli and I have been a part of Strike Zone for 6 years. This is my first year mentoring on the team, and I help with the business and media. I love being able to help students using the skills I myself learned on the team. I am a full time college student, but I make sure to help out with the team whenever I can.

“In one practice match our robot was only hanging onto the stage by our climbing reaction wheels on our carriage that we use to help us scale the stage.” - Connor

“My favorite part was when our auto scored all five notes in qualification match 24 and playoffs match 1.” - Laura

“Match 45 where we started to play defense on the red alliance. We never play defense and it was nice to see our team adapt to the situation by playing a role we don’t typically play and show our versatility.” - Natalie

“Elimination 1 was my favorite due to our alliance setting the high score of the competition at 103.” - Austin

This past weekend we competed at Durham College in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. We had a record of 10 wins and 2 losses and ranked 3rd overall.

During alliance selection, we were picked by the 1st ranked alliance, team 5406 | Celt-X. We then choose team 3543 | C4 Robotics to round out our alliance. After alliance selection, we started playoff matches. Our alliance strategy was for us and 5406 to score into the amp and speaker to gain the most points. We would then have 3543 play defense against the subwoofer infront of the opponents speaker. This would hopefully block any shots from making it into the speaker.

We won the first match and set the event high score of 103! Up to this point this had been our highest scoring match as a team for this game. We then replayed our second playoff match, match 7. The first time we played this match we had lost, but there was a field error. Any of our notes that were scored in auto were not counted towards our final score, due to his field error, we were able to replay the match and continue in the upper bracket.

Our alliance then won the next match and made it through to play match 11. We lost to the 2nd alliance by 2 points, 55 to 57. Due to this loss we started to play in the lower bracket. If we lost one more match while in the lower bracket we would be eliminated from the competition. We fought through one match in the lower bracket, winning 84 to 68. After winning this match, we were in the finals against alliance 2.

Our first finals match we ran the same strategy all competition, the other alliance was running a similar strategy with a defense bot blocking the speaker. At the end of the match we had lost 70 to 73. The second finals match started well, both alliances were keeping the score even. Then our team and 5406 had intake issues. This means that neither of our teams were able to pick up notes and score them into the speaker or amp. This really hurt our alliance and we lost the match 65 to 51. We wish a congratulations to team 1241 | Theory 6, team 1285 | The Biggest Birds, and team 9621 | Payload.

Our team did come out with the Excellence in Engineering Award. This award to given to the team that demonstrates a professional approach to the design process of the robot.

I’m Hayden, I’m in 8th grade, and this is my first year being on Strike Zone. I originally joined because I want to be a mechanical engineer and I thought robotics would be a good start to that. I currently am a mechanical and scouting student on the team. One fun fact about me is that I was born in China. Some of my hobbies include golf, basketball, and art. Even though I am only in 8th grade, I want to go to a college in Michigan that specializes in mechanical or marine engineering.

Leaving great opportunities open for all community students, regardless of financial standings, is at the core of Strike Zone’s foundation. With that being said, students and mentors are not expected to directly financially contribute to the team. One hundred percent of the funds come from the team’s partners and generous donations from the community.

Wish List

Whether it be monetary or otherwise, we are appreciative of any and all donations, as we operate year-round.