B-B-E Resistance Robotics gears up for Regional No. 1! (VIDEO)

The B-B-E Resistance Robotics team is settled in and ready to go for the Great Northern Regional competition at the Alerus Center in Grand Forks, North Dakota. This year's competition is called "Charged Up" with a nod towards the fact that countless modern-day devices (necessary or just amenities) rely on battery power. The basic regional schedule has the robotics team in an inspection and practice day today followed by two days of competitions on Friday and Saturday. The team's robot was ran through five practice scrimmages today on the arena floor. Progress grew with each time on the floor, and the fifth time was the charm! The robot completed all the tasks they wanted it to for that fifth run, which included operating in an "autonomous" auto mobility mode where no manual controls are used and then a period where the robot collected and stacked competition pieces in a grid before balancing itself in an endgame park on what is dubbed a "charging station" before the session was complete.

Day Two of the regional consists of seven matches each per team in their respective alliances. B-B-E's team is in the Blue Alliance. Day Three on Saturday will have three final matches.

*Here's a video featuring footage from that fifth practice scrimmage tonight in Grand Forks:


Robotics coach Reed Adrian was thrilled with that last try on the competition floor. What they accomplished today bodes well for the actual competition that gets started early tomorrow morning. The doors open at 8 a.m., and the competition heats should get going by 9 a.m. NOTE: late tonight, a formal schedule will be posted to this blog post for when the team's first heat of the morning takes place. They will run a rigorous schedule. It will be exciting!!

B-B-E's official F.I.R.S.T. robotics homepage can be found here: https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/4238/2023. FIRST stands for "For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology" which is an international youth organization that operates the FIRST Robotics Competition, FIRST LEGO League Challenge, FIRST LEGO League Explore, FIRST LEGO League Discover, and FIRST Tech Challenge competitions.

The newspaper's entourage arrived late in the afternoon after having a difficult drive north, plagued mostly with minivan mechanical issues. The drive from Fargo to Grand Forks was actually quite good with limited patches of icy interstate. We got here safe and sound, and that's what matters!

This weekend in Grand Forks is the first of two regional competitions that the team will compete in. The second takes place in LaCrosse, Wisconsin two weeks from now.

The Voice entourage is enjoying a peaceful evening of hotel time tonight. Everybody Loves Raymond is the feature show on our hotel room's TV. The rest is welcome. Tomorrow will bring about 15 straight hours of work, beginning with robotics coverage and ending with girls' basketball coverage!

***Friday morning update: the team's first match is at 09:40. The second match is at 11:01. 

***A new blog post is up as of 10 a.m. Friday.