2023 Mayhem In Merrimack
Last weekend, the Lobstah Bots traveled to Merrimack, NH for our first off-season competition this year. This was the first off-season event the team has attended in many years, and we were really excited for the opportunity to compete during the fall and introduce new members to the thrills of competition! Offseason competitions use the past year’s official rules, and teams bring the same robots. These events offer a fun and low-stakes opportunity to have some fun before the next season starts!
A new rotation of drive team: George '24 (Drive Coach), Maxwell '25 (Operator), Owen '25 (Driver), Kendree '25 (Human Player), Audrey '27 (Technician), and Llama (robot).
Our robot placing a cone onto the high node in front of our driver station.
We used this offseason competition as an opportunity for all returning team members to try their hand at driving the robot, and it was exciting to see so many new faces cycling through the drive team. After six qualification matches, our team managed to place 5th out of 24 teams! Thanks to some great scouting by many of the freshmen who attended (Jacob, Audrey, Teddy, Coco, Eddie, Dora, Nate, and Ziyan '27, led by Kendree and Ella '25), we were able to make a strong pick list and form a killer four robot playoff alliance. In our playoff matches, we clawed out two wins, including one nail-biting win by a single point! We’re planning to attend another offseason competition, N.E.R.D., on October 14, so keep your eyes peeled for updates on that event!
Audrey '27 pushing the robot cart to the playing field for one of our matches.
In the meantime, the Outreach and Business subteam has been busy applying for robotics grants for the coming season. We’re happy to announce that we have already received three major grants, including contributions from the Bayer Fund, Boeing, and Boston Scientific.
On Tuesday, we demonstrated at BUA’s annual activity fair. In the coming weeks, we plan to finish onboarding new members onto the team, and in mid-October we expect to officially start our fall training. Trainings are split into focused groups by subteam (Mechanical, Electrical, Programming, etc.), and this year we are also planning to work on some major team-wide projects in the offseason.
Owen '25 positioning a cone on the human player station tray during a match for our robot to pick up.
Kendree '25, Nathan '25, Owen '25, Oliver (mentor, '16), Luke '25, Nate '27, and Audrey '27 playing an intense game of Catan during our lunch break.
Thank you for all your contributions! If you want to get involved or have any questions, you can email us at lobstahbots@gmail.com and we would be happy to respond!
Sincerely,
The Lobstah Bots
