2019 Week Zero Scrimmage at NREC

On February 16th, 2019, Girls of Steel hosted eight other FRC teams at the annual Week Zero Scrimmage. As always, it was held in our practice field at the National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC).

It was so exciting to see each team test their robots and compete in this year’s FIRST game of Destination Deep Space! The day started with team check-ins at 10:30 am, then at 11:00 am, teams began to practice and test their robots for the scrimmage matches. After having pizza for lunch, the scrimmage matches began at 1:00 pm and the day ended at 5:00 pm.

The FRC teams that attended this year were the Steel Dragons team 117, Brashear Bulls Robotics team 7274, Quasics team 2656, Central Catholic Robotics team 2641, AMP’d Robotics team 1708, FRobotics team 4150, Beattie Bulldogs team 2051, and SHARP team 3260.

Matches ran continuously in which 3 teams were assigned to either the red or the blue alliance. Each team competed at least 6 times throughout the day with GoS volunteers as scorekeepers, judges, and just helping the event run smoothly.

Congratulations to all the teams in attendance- the robots looked great! It was really nice to learn about each of the subsystems on each of the teams’ bot and learn why they chose to specialize in one aspect of the game or another. Many of the robots even showed off their hatch/cargo collecting skills, including our team! The highlight of the event was when we got to watch our robot successfully climb onto the third level of the Habitat!

Around 3:30 pm, we took another break for a group picture of all the teams together! After gathering to take a group picture, we continued on with the practice matches.

We received wonderful feedback about the event and the energy and excitement in the building was palpable. Here are some quotes from the event:

“I liked being able to interact with other teams plus pizza; also getting to practice with the robot”. – Charlie M. (Team 4150)

“The general atmosphere at the Week Zero Scrimmage is so welcoming and fun!” – anonymous (Team 3260)

“Everything. Especially the field.” – Phillip M. (Team 117)

“Pierogies and brownies!” – Abbey M. (Team 3504)

This event, as usual, was a great way to practice with other teams before the regionals that are coming up for all teams that attended. On behalf of Girls of Steel, we wish all teams good luck in finalizing their robot and we can’t wait to see you again at the Miami Valley and/or Greater Pittsburgh Regionals. We look forward to competing again with our Pittsburgh FIRST community! See you all at the competitions!