Introducing Buzz 23
In 2018, the Killer Bees will compete at FiM Southfield, FiM Milford, ONT District Windsor district events.
FiM Southfield
The Killer Bees had a very successful weekend at the Southfield district competition for the 2018 FIRST Power Up game. Showcasing a robot with a unique drive train and an innovative lift system, the team ranked #3 of 40 at the end of qualification matches and was asked by the #1 team, FRC 3538 the Yellow Jackets of Avondale High School to form an alliance for the playoffs. Also invited to the alliance was FRC 5467, the RoboTractors from Fordson High School in Dearborn. These three teams formed the #1 alliance and were undefeated in the playoff matches, earning a District Championship banner. This extended the Killer Bees streak of winning their opening tournament for the 8th year in a row.
The team earned the prestigious Chairman’s Award, automatically qualifying for the Michigan State Championship at Saginaw Valley State University in April.
2018 Southfield Photo Gallery
FiM Milford
The Killer Bees continued the FIRST Robotics Competition season with our second district event at Milford High School on March 15-16.The luck of the Irish was with the team, as we finished the qualification matches with an 11-1 record and an overall ranking score of 2.91.
The highly anticipated playoff tournament challenged the number #1 alliance of Team 67, the host team from Huron Valley Schools and Team 1701 from the University of Detroit – Jesuit High School. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the first quarterfinal match, the scores looked to favor the #8 alliance, but after the end game score was counted, the #1 alliance prevailed by only 26 points. During the semifinal rounds, the #1 alliance easily won over the #5 alliance. But, in the last semifinal match, a sensor in one of the drive pods was damaged and the Killer Bee pit crew worked rapidly to attempt to fix the sensor, using their timeout to finish the repair. We were happy to see the pod begin to respond during the first final match, but later the lift system chain failed and we ran out of time to make the field-side repair. Our team partner, Team 67 also suffered a motor failure as we battled to win the tournament. The alliance was unable to overcome these breakdowns, losing to the alliance of team from Brighton, Hartland and Walled Lake.
Despite these obstacles, the team had a great time at Milford, earning the Team Spirit Award for our efforts to help teams earn high school credit for FIRST Robotics and spreading the message of FIRST through the RoboZone television series.
Congratulations to our friends and partners, FRC Team 67 the Heroes of Tomorrow, for hosting their very first FRC competition. The entire weekend was well-run, thanks to their tireless efforts.
This completes our district season and we are currently ranked #4 of 508 teams in the state of Michigan with an automatic qualification to the Michigan State Championship held at Saginaw Valley State University on April 12-14, 2018. Our next event is an inter-district competition in Windsor, Ontario where we will have an opportunity to compete with our Innovation First International sponsor partner team, the Simbotics of St. Catherines, Ontario.
2018 Milford Photo Gallery
ONT District Windsor
The Killer Bees enjoyed another great success at the Windsor event on March 30th and 31st. At the end of Qualification matches, we had a 9-3 record which left us in 4th place overall with a final ranking score of 2.66.
For the second year in a row we graciously accepted team 772’s, The SabreBytes, request to join their alliance. Team 6875, The Amazon Warriors, joined our alliance as well. Our alliance competed fiercely through playoffs and we were District Event Winners. In addition to being District Event Winners, we were awarded the Quality Award, an award that celebrates machine robustness in concept and fabrication.
For the NewBees on the team and a few experienced members, this was one of their first international competitions. It was very interesting to talk to new people and make friends in Canada. One of the mentors created an interesting scavenger hunt that gave students an opportunity to talk to members of other teams and learn interesting facts about the FIRST program in Canada. The members on the team were able to travel to a new place, meet new friends, and learn new things about how the FIRST program impacts people all around the world.
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