Upper school robotics team takes 2nd at Districts
The Greenhills Lawnmowers FIRST Robotics team earned a second-place finish at the Ann Arbor Pioneer FIRST Robotics District Event this weekend. The team also earned the “Innovation in Control Award,” sponsored by Rockwell Automation, for a creatively designed gear delivery mechanism.
At the event, the Lawnmowers, known officially as Team 5530, participated in 12 qualifying matches, with a record of 9 wins, 2 losses, and 1 tie. That level of success moved them into the event playoffs.
In the playoffs — in which teams invite competitors into cooperative alliances — the Lawnmowers invited teams from Dexter High School and the Lenawee Intermediate School District Tech Center to be playoff partners. Together these three teams advanced through the quarterfinals and semifinals to reach the competition’s final round.
Greenhills and alliance partners drove their robots hard in two exciting matches against an alliance that included Washtenaw Technical Middle College, Our Lady of the Lakes Catholic School, and Saline High School. Becoming finalists in the Ann Arbor Pioneer District Event helped push the Lawnmowers to a ranking of 22nd out of 451 teams in the FIRST Robotics Michigan District.
The Lawnmowers compete again in two weeks, from March 30 through April 1, at the Howell District Event. Please join the team and cheer them on at this event.
Team members include Michael Alber, Andrew Angold-Stevens, Catherine Ballard, Matthew Benson, Lawrence Bitzer, Zachary Brustman, Thomas Carson, Nikhil Chamarthi, Eric Chen, Ramya Chigurupati, Max Colis, Catherine Ferrey, Max Froehlich, Morgan Gallimore, Emily Gitlin, Amon Green, Willem Hahr, Cameron Kabacinski, Jacob Kauppi, Robert Keller, Benjamin Kovacs, Ayla Kurdak, Peter Lastoskie, Joaquin Moeller, William Ng, Jackson Powers, Alex (AJ) Pynnonen, Patrick Quinn, Alexander Schneider, Aryan Seth, Sushruta Shankar, Olivia Shulman, Justin Tseng, Kalea Vendola, Alex Wu, and Alan Zhu.
Parent mentors include Craig Angold-Stephens, Gopal Chamarthi, Kevin Kabacinski, Thomas Quinn, and Jau-Wen Tseng. The team is supported by University of Michigan Mentors Nick Eidsmoe and Michelle Wang.
The team is sponsored by Ford Motor Company and ZF and coached by Greenhills teachers Alexander Monte-Sano and Charles Dershimer.
More information about Michigan’s FIRST Robotics competition is available at http://www.firstinmichigan.org/frc/mi_district_structure.php.
