CCA Aluminum Narwhals team performs strongly at FIRST Robotics World Championships
The Aluminum Narwhals, the FRC robotics team from Canyon Crest Academy, closed out an eventful robotics season in April 2024 by competing in the FIRST Robotics World Championships in Houston. The team’s perseverance and unwavering diligence brought them to compete alongside elite teams from all around the world.
The Narwhals departed for Houston on April 16. Once they arrived at the competition venue, the George R. Bush Convention Center, they promptly began practice matches to familiarize themselves with the other competing teams, using their inventory of knowledge from previous competitions to prepare for qualification matches.
On April 17, the Narwhals were up against some fierce competition in the Hopper division qualification matches. Nevertheless, they were able to collaborate with their randomly matched alliance partners each round and placed 23rd individually out of 75 teams. Despite encountering issues that caused their intake to stop working, the team was able to quickly bounce back and ensure their robot was fully functional and reliable – they made several on-the-fly decisions under stressful environments to ensure their robot was in tip-top shape, focusing on preserving the robots’ reliable and consistent qualities to demonstrate their potential to future alliance captains. Out of the 10 qualification matches they played, the Narwhals won six rounds.
The Narwhals celebrating their high-score win during Elimination matches.
(Michelle Yuan)
The Narwhals’ dedication and hard work paid off when they were selected as second pick by the 1st alliance. They competed in elimination matches with Team 33 Killer Bees, Team 4414 Hightide (the previous world champions), and Team 8576 Golden Warriors Robotics. They battled against other top teams from the Hopper division and, in their final rounds, the Aluminum Narwhals were able to deliver well-rounded performances, enforcing teamwork and sportsmanship. During elimination rounds, the 1st alliance achieved an impressive high score in the Hopper division of 195 – 95. The Narwhals played alongside the 1st alliance for four elimination rounds, making it into the semifinals in the lower bracket before getting eliminated at last.
The Mechanical Department Narwhals working hard on fixing their robot in between matches.
(Karen Schaffer)
Overall, the Houston World Championships was an unforgettable experience for the team. The Narwhals all performed remarkably; in fact, it was the first time in Canyon Crest Academy’s history that a robotics team at Worlds was selected for an alliance and advanced to Elimination rounds. Now that the season has come to a close, the team is shifting focus onto offseason preparation and gearing up for summer camp, where they are dedicated to teaching the future generation about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).
–Writers Hanna Hong and Sophiann Wu are Aluminum Narwhals team members
