TA’s Robotics Team Competes in Plymouth, NH
December 14, 2023
Guest post from TA Robotics Coach Leif LaWhite.
On Saturday the TA’s robotics team 4886 took four robots to their second meet of the year, this time closer to home in Plymouth, NH. This was a large meet, with 47 robots from all over NH and VT, and again, 4886 did not disappoint.
Each robot competed in six two-minute qualification matches, and at the end of that series, TA’s 4886S (Aden Perry, Connor Kutter-Walker, and Duncan MacPhee) were ranked first. 4886W (Jesse Martin, Kai Slayton and Tanner Hardy) were the 9th seed while, due to a series of of hard knocks, 4886Y (Rowan Moody A-ness, Tristan Woodward, and Lucca Huling) and our middle schoolers 4886X (Nate Hill, Stone Riegler, and Meredith Sloop) were down in the rankings.
For the elimination series, 4886S chose a partner from the SPARK Academy and 4886W chose brothers 4886Y; sadly 4886X wasn’t chosen so their day ended. All of TA’s teams cruised through their round-of-16 matches but came to face each other in the quarterfinals. It was a closely fought match, but ended 117 to 108 in favor of 4886S and their SPARK partner. Two more triumphs later, 4886S and SPARK came out on top. This was their 2nd meet of the season, and their 2nd time bringing home the champion trophy. In the award ceremony, 4886S was also given the Excellence award for their excellent robot – and their excellent design process leading up to it.
Next weekend, team 4886 is on the road again – this time to an out-of-league meet in Lawrence, MA. We’ve never competed in MA before; it will be interesting to get a feel for their level of play. We’ll surely learn a ton.
