2024 Granite State

​Team 4909 Places 3rd at the Granite State District Event in Salem, New Hampshire

On March 1st and 2nd, Team 4909 - Billerica Bionics competed in the Granite State District Event for Week 1 of the 2024 FIRST® Robotics Competition. This weekend-long event was hosted at Salem High School in Salem, NH and was the Team’s first official event of the 2024 season. This competition attracted 35 high school teams from across New England, all aiming to take home a coveted blue banner.

For this competition, high school students were challenged to build robots that operate in both autonomous and remote-controlled (tele-op) modes. Robots are required to pick up notes, ring-shaped game pieces and score them at precise targets across the game field. To score, teams have developed different ways to shoot and place game pieces. To score extra points in this year’s endgame challenge, robots must climb the stage, a field element located at the center of the field composed of a rigid structure with a metal chain linked across. Robots must attach to this element to lift off of the ground in order to receive points.

In the competition, the match structure is composed of qualification matches, followed by a double-elimination playoff bracket. With a rough start on day one, Team 4909 ended up winning 7 out of 14 qualification matches, placing the team in 11th place. During alliance selection, Team 4909 partnered with Team 9443, “Aluminium Panthers” of West Newbury, MA and alliance captain Team 1922, “Oz-Ram” of Contoocook, New Hampshire to form the 4th-seed alliance.

During the playoffs, the alliance won the first match. Unfortunately, the Bionic alliance lost the second match, dropping the team down to the lower bracket. The alliance won two consecutive matches in the lower bracket, but were ultimately defeated by the 2nd-seed alliance in the final match of the lower bracket. The Bionic alliance ended up placing 3rd of the eight alliances, and the team took home 46 district points, 10 more than the team’s first competition of the 2023 season.

​Team 4909 Wins the Judges’ Award

While the Bionics did not win this event, the team did not go home empty handed. Team 4909 was awarded the Judges’ Award. This award is given to a team with unique efforts, performance and dynamics that merit special recognition. This award simultaneously granted the Bionics five district points, which boosted the team’s ranking in the New England district.

​Sophomore Luis TEIxeira Wins Dean’s List

The Dean’s List award is an award given to the most outstanding 10th and 11th grade students in FIRST® Robotics. Each team is able to nominate two students to be interviewed to be considered as a finalist at the district event. Junior Nicholas Piazza and Sophomore Luis Teixeira were nominated by the mentors of Team 4909 for the leadership, dedication, and commitment they have expressed towards STEM and their team. Of the hundreds of students in attendance, and the 70 students interviewed for the award, Teixeira was one of two students to advance as semi-finalist for the Dean’s List award at the New England District Championship this April.

Team 4909’s next competition will be this Saturday and Sunday at the Bridgewater State University event in Bridgewater, MA.