March 8th and 9th saw the Albany High Robotics team compete to defend their title from last year’s victory, taking them all the way to World’s for the first time in Albany High history.

No longer underdogs, the team ended Friday’s competition in fourth place competing against elite groups such as Shakers 2791 and Shen’s team 20. Our drive team included senior Noah Greenblatt, junior Asa Mohammed, senior Gilad Asal, and junior Derek Dalton as our beloved human player.

On Saturday, Albany were against the top guns at Shaker High. Albany emerged with what today’s twenty-first century teens would label a “big dub”. It shook the auditorium and we continued with that precedent for the remainder of the day.

Let me break down the competition for you. Each year, FIRST has a certain theme accompanied by a task each robot must be able to complete. This year that theme was Destination Deep Space, and the goal of the game was to collect cargo (balls) and hatch panels (donut shaped plastic) and place them into a rocket or cargo ship. After a series of 72 quarterfinal matches, with randomly selected alliances,the top eight teams get to pick the following alliance members for the semifinals. Team 1493 was among that group. Albany were the second picked alliance, and proudly accepted the opportunity to ally with a fellow FIRST team.

In the semifinals despite a disable order from the judges for a fallen bumper, a topple over from a hard defense, and a replay after the clock stopped running, Albany qualified for the finals against Shen and Shaker and rookie team Bethlehem. The auditorium was ready for the finals of their lives. Dramatic, right? But this is no joke. Watching a robotics competition is the equivalent of a spectator sports for all you nerds out there.

Unfortunately, Albany lost in the finals, but it was a loss for the history books. What’s important is that Albany is now labeled as an official threat and will be ready next year- in it to win it.

Stay tune for more updates as team 1493 shows the robotics world what its all about!