Overview:
With the completion of the build season, 612 revealed their 2023 robot name, “Bolt,” and celebrated with their annual “Bag-and-Tag”
612 competed at the Alexandria and Glen Allen qualifying competitions and advanced to the District Championships for their spectacular results
612 won the Judges Award at the Glen Allen Competition and mentor Ron Baer was nominated for the Woodie Flowers District Finalist Award
March 27, 2023, CHANTILLY, V.A. After a rigorous, 10-week build season, Team 612 competed in their two district Qualifying Competitions under the Charged Up theme. Augmented by a rigorous drive for improvement and team spirit, it has been quite a gratifying chain of events for all members!
On March 16, Team 612 officially revealed the 2023 competition robot’s name, “Bolt”; thus marking the build season. Afterward, 612 celebrated their annual “Bag-and-Tag,” a long-standing tradition consisting of an annual photo, bagging of the competition robot for load-in, and a delicious team IHOP dinner, raising team morale in preparation for the competition.
Bolt runs on a 4-wheel mecanum drive train, a grabber that can easily pick up cubes via wheel intake, a two-stage telescoping arm which enables 612 to score at any level, and a pivoting arm that can intake both from the ground and human station. Team 612 was able to consistently score points from Bolt’s autonomous routines that can score low, leave, and engage in under 15 seconds and consistent endgame balance on the charging station. This year, the alliance-flexible autonomous routines used April Tags to calibrate Bolt and a combination of the tags with encoder data and gyro readings to find its position on the field – a process known as Pose Estimation. Team 612 has also been extremely focused on modularity and has replaceable grabbers and arms. This way, the team can efficiently switch out any broken components on Bolt between matches.
March 18th and 19th, 612 members attended the first Qualifying Competition at Hayfield Secondary School in Alexandria, Virginia. All members cheered loudly with unyielding spirit for the success of all teams and alliances competing. Joining teams 623 and 4099 in the Second Alliance, 612 made a strong push through the playoffs to finish third overall. Additionally, one of 612’s wonderful mentors, Mr. Ron Baer, was nominated for the Woodie Flowers District finalist award. This award recognizes mentors who inspire their members and challenge them to be the most excellent versions of themselves. 612 is incredibly proud to have Ron Baer in their organization as he continues supporting members and the team.
The following weekend, 612 participated in the 2nd Qualifying Competition at Deep Run High School in Glen Allen, Virginia, and got selected for the Eighth Alliance with teams 3939 and 1262. The outstanding performance of Bolt and our team’s gracious professionalism, on and off the field, led 612 to earn the Judges Award! In particular, the Judges were impressed by the team’s effort to train the underclassman through Lessons Learned and pre-match checklists located in the pit. These 612 practices provide underclassmen with valuable competition experience furthering their knowledge in robotics and constantly evolving the team’s overall capabilities.
With 612’s impressive performance at both competitions, we are pleased to announce that Team 612 has placed 43rd in the Chesapeake District and have qualified for District Finals at George Mason University, which will take place in early April!
About Chantilly Robotics:
At Chantilly Robotics Team 612, we brighten the future for leaders and student
technologists within our team, school and community through fun and engaging methods of
learning and teaching while shining a light on the importance of STEM (science, technology,
engineering, math). Chantilly Robotics was founded in 2001 with eight student members and has
grown to over 100 members in the 2022 season. Team 612 competes at FIRST Robotics
Competitions in the Chesapeake District and spreads STEM as well as FIRST values through
community outreach. For more information, visit https://www.frc612.org or email
chantilly.612@gmail.com. Chantilly Robotics Team 612 is a club within Chantilly Academy, a
public educational institution.