Newsletter and Updates

The East Metro Collaborative Competition (EMCC) is a FIRST Robotics “off-season” robotics event hosted by four FRC teams from high schools in Woodbury and Cottage Grove, and held at Park High School in Cottage Grove, MN.

We got to the EMCC a little late and set up the pit before heading to the field for the drive team meeting where we were told how to sign up for games. Just like the MRI our normal team went up for the first match as a warm up and after that we rotated so everyone could try every role at least once and get the hang of it as we head into the next season. They even had a human match and a mentor match both of which we participated in.

The Minnesota Robotics Invitational (MRI) is an off-season FIRST Robotics Competition event, hosted in Roseville, MN. It features a real FIRST field, real FIRST electronics and a trained FTA to run the competition.

The mission of MRI is to host an enjoyable, high quality, and well-organized FIRST Robotics Competition event, bringing together teams from across the Minnesota FIRST community.

At 7:00 we started loading our robot inside and setting up our pit. We had a driver’s meeting so everyone knew what changes were added to this off season competition. Since this competition was more experimental than competitive, everyone that attended was given a chance to try out every role in the practice matches.

Our original competition driver’s team started us out in our first match. For the rest of the matches we started rotating drive team roles.

When the matches ended we participated in alliance selection. We didn’t get selected for alliance, but we had fun giving everyone a chance to try out every single role in the drive team. 

Come join us on Thursday, November 13th from 3:00 PM to 6:00 PM in the cafeteria for a hands-on STEM experience! Cummins engineers will be working alongside students to build working LEGO models of two-cylinder engines—designed to simulate real mechanical motion. This is a fun and interactive way to explore engineering concepts, ask questions about STEM careers, and connect with professionals who are passionate about innovation and technology. Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to build, learn, and get inspired!

This year, our FIRST Robotics team had the amazing opportunity to represent STEM and robotics at the MN State Fair and what an experience it was!

We joined with two other teams to showcase our competition robots, and the highlight of the day was watching kids light up as they took the controls themselves. With team members guiding them, kids of all ages got the chance to drive the robot, ask questions, and learn more about how it was built. It wasn’t just a demo, it was hands-on, interactive, and all about sparking curiosity.

Beyond the demos, we also rolled into the spotlight, literally, as part of the MN State Fair parade! Our robot made its way through the crowds, waving (in its own robotic way) to thousands of fairgoers. It was a fun and memorable way to show off what students can accomplish with teamwork, creativity, and engineering.

Another highlight of the event was our custom-designed poster, which shared our team’s goals, values, and impact in the community. We put a lot of thought into telling our story about how we build more than just robots. We’re building leadership, collaboration, and outreach. We were proud (and a little stunned!) to learn that our poster won second place overall. It was a great reminder that our work off the field matters just as much as what we build for competition.

Events like this are a reminder of why we do what we do: not just to compete, but to inspire. Whether it’s through building, teaching, or sharing our passion, we’re proud to be part of the FIRST community and excited to keep reaching more young minds.

At the 10,000 Lakes Regional in St Paul, MN we ranked 17 out of 51, had a record of 6-3-0, and earned 15 qualification points and 5 award points. 

Day 1:

Pit set-up first thing in the morning led by Eli. After setting up, our scouters, Sal and Peyton, split up and started talking to other teams. Meanwhile, our drive team (Remi, Skyler, and Logan) were discussing how to strategize with other teams and getting ready for practice matches. We had 4 practice matches, winning the first two and losing the second two. Victoria and ThuyVi were our coaches and media personnel, switching positions each match throughout the competition. 

Day 2:

On our second day of the competition we played 7 qualification matches, finishing with a record of 4-3-0 on the day. Judges walked through during the day and talked with every team. Because of this it was important to always have at least one person in the pit, typically Ada. We explained what our robot could do, how and what we did while brainstorming our robot, talked about our sponsors and outreach, and answered any questions the judges had. For each match we always made sure to strategize with the other drive teams on our alliance to ensure we had a solid plan. 

During one of our matches we got stuck on an algae, which resulted in a loss. We were able to overcome this issue and avoid it the rest of the competition. Though we avoided seriously damaging our robot, we did have to rebuild and strengthen brackets for the intake due to repeated collisions with other robots and the coral station. 

Day 3:

On the last day of competition, we had 2 qualification matches in the morning. They were both wins, bringing our ranking up, and finishing at 17th. We were not chosen to be in an alliance for the finals, but, based on our ranking we were asked to be a backup team. While we were not needed, we watched the matches and were ready to go at a moment’s notice. Awards were announced throughout finals between matches We were awarded the Creativity Award sponsored by Rockwell Automation! It was very exciting. 

Now that the FIRST Dive Reefscape season is done, we are planning what to do next. Here are some things we have going on:

• Sponsor Appreciation Night on Tuesday, May 13, 2025
  • Watch for invitations in the mail and/or your email
• Team Banquet
• 49er’s Day Parade on Thursday, June 12, 2025
• Summer meeting schedule
  • Arduino practice
  • Organizing equipment and ordering new
• MN State Fair – date TBD

Thank you to all of our sponsors who helped us out throughout the season!

Gene Haas Foundation grant winners!

Nailed down autos, practiced driving and climbing today! We added a coral deflector and sponsor panels to the robot. We worked a lot on figuring out our cycle times and rehearsing talking to judges and scouts. Things are looking good for our upcoming competition.

Feb 1, 2025

We have been extending our meetings due to losing a few from school closures. Our goal today is to have everything CADed so we can move forward with the build process. Team shirts have been ordered, thank you TeeSquared for your sponsorship!

Feb. 8, 2025

Thanks to the snow, only six students were able to make it today. Despite that, a lot got done. Our elevator is attached to the robot and the bumpers are able to be mounted. For our listening pleasure today, we listened to the music of John Williams to celebrate his birthday. If you don’t know who he is, he composed music for over 100 films; including Star Wars, Jurassic Park, and Harry Potter.

Feb. 15, 2025

Coral Manipulator done and mounted, Algae Manipulator 90% done, Climber mounted, 80% of wiring done and Cage Catcher done and mounted! Job well done for the students here today!

Feb. 27, 2025

I missed this past Saturday post because we were at Week Zero. We had a great day! Our bumper was complimented and several teams were impressed at our ability to hang from the cage!

March 1, 2025

Lots of stuff was done today! We are using Pathfinder to map out autonomous routes, and it is working really well. Algae is claw is reinstalled and the plexi coral intake will be mounted and ready for fine tuning.

On Saturday, September 28th our team competed in the Minnesota Robotics Invitational (MRI) in Roseville, MN. All members were given a chance to explore different roles in the drive team and alternate between each match.

Our main goal this year during the pre-season is to give all our team members experience and preparations for competitions in EVERY aspect of Robotics. We want all of our members to be capable of driving a robot, understanding how its coded, being a human player, scouting, answering questions, planning strategies and more. To do that, we are competing in 3 pre-season competitions before official seasons start.

We want to start the 2025 season strong with our best abilities. These competitions give us the opportunities to learn without the same stress and risk of larger competitions. We also get to introduce our new members to the FIRST environment!

Today ,June 13th, our team participated in Fridley’s 49er’s Day Parade!! We showed off our 2016 robot for a bit, handed out candy, we even got to answer questions and encourage other students to join robotics! We had a blast, enjoyed the weather and had our fair share of technical issues along with overcoming said issues.