THOR (Thundering Herd of Robots) was North Carolina’s first off-season tournament, where FIRST Robotics teams competed with an official field in an unofficial event. We had been looking forward to it for almost a year, so when we finally rolled up to Reidsville High School, we were very excited.
Starting Out Slow
for a match at THOR.
For this event, we had decided to give new students a chance to drive Trillian in competition. This choice, however, did have its trade-offs; Trillian was broken on several occasions and we lost many matches due partially to inexperienced driving.
Picking Back Up
In order to better prepare for the looming elimination rounds, we eventually decided to bring out our more experienced drivers. It was amazing; Trillian scored over 60 points in one round!
With this, we had the confidence we needed to finish up qualifications.
Eliminations
Our time in eliminations started out well; we won our first match with a score of 42 to 40; however, we had some issues in the second match and we ended up losing. This forced a third match to decide who would enter the finals.
The Final Blow
Unfortunately, things would go downhill from there; toward the beginning of the sudden death match, we ran into a problem. Literally.
As we were driving to the feeder station, Trillian received a bump that knocked her off her trajectory and directly into one of the tower legs.
Due to this, we were unable to shoot for the rest of the match, which eventually led to our loss and elimination.
Conclusion
We had a blast participating in THOR (Thundering Herd of Robots), North Carolina’s first off-season tournament. Though we may not have won, we really enjoyed driving Trillian and reconnecting with other teams.