Team 254 has been accepted to the 2010 Indiana Robotics Invitational, one of the most prestigious robotics events in the world.  We are currently evaluating if we have enough student interest to attend.  Team Members - Email Mr. Janke ASAP if you would like to attend this very prestigious event.

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FIRST Robotics Team 254 concluded a fantastic season with a standout performance on the World stage.  For the first time since 2005 and the third in its 12-year history, The Cheesy Poofs won a World Championship division and advanced to Einstein field.

Team 254 was sorted onto Archimedes field for the 2010 World Championship - generally agreed to be the toughest in terms of the quality of teams in the division.  Despite the odds, 254 quickly showed itself to be one of the best robots in the 80-team pool, dropping only a single qualification match by a narrow 12-13 score.  Coming into the final day of qualifications, The Cheesy Poofs were seeded 6th, and needed a large amount of seeding points to catch up to the 1st-seeded Killer Bees (33) from Michigan.  That morning, in a barnburner involving four of the top robots in Archimedes, 254 prevailed, 20-18, vaulting to the top of the leader board.  The final match's 22-point victory ensured that 254 would have the #1 pick after qualification rounds.

While its drivers were tearing up the playing field, Poof scouts noticed the rapid emergence of Team Pink (233) onto the Archimedes scene - although their robot had not won either of its two regionals, it showed itself to be one of the top performers at World Championships.  As a result, 254 drafted 233 as its 1st pick and rookie 3357 as its second - 3357 had scored 16 points by itself against the Poofs in their last match.

The alliance quickly ran into a spot of trouble, though.  The 254 robot (named Onslaught) stopped working in three elimination matches while traversing a bump - only being bailed out by its alliance partners to avoid elimination.  The problem was finally isolated and determined to be a cRIO failure.  Luckily, Team 971 from Mountain View High School (254's partners in both 2009 and 2010 SVR wins) graciously offered to lend their cRIO to us, as they had been eliminated from the tournament in a separate division.  Because of this act of gracious professionalism, Alliance #1 was allowed to progress to divisional finals, where they eliminated Teams 33, 148, and 201 in two close, high-scoring matches.

Unfortunately, the alliance then ran up against one of the most stacked alliances in recent FIRST history from the Curie division - comprised of triple-regional-winners 1114 from Ontario and 469 from Michigan, as well 2041, one of the best defensive robots in the game.  They eliminated 254's hopes of a World title in the Einstein semifinals.

However, this loss is rather insignificant compared to the rest of the 2010 FIRST season - packed with a divisional win, two regional wins, as well as two judged awards - making it one of the most successful FRC seasons ever.  The Poofs will test the waters one last time this year at the VEX World Championships next week, where several of their robots are heavy favorites.

Over the first weekend of Spring Break, Team 254 traveled to the City of Lights for the 2010 Las Vegas Regional.  Despite losing three matches in qualification rounds, the team seeded second under the new FIRST ranking system.  Moreover, 254's robot (Onslaught) caught the eye of the first-seeded Team 25, winner of the New Jersey Regional and one of the best teams at the tournament.  The two elected to pair up together for elimination rounds, and drafted rookie Team 3230 to be the third partner in the alliance.  The trio played some tough matches against perennial powerhouses, but managed to go undefeated on its way to a regional victory.  Team 254 was also awarded the Motorola Quality Award, which "celebrates machine robustness in concept and fabrication."

The Cheesy Poofs enter next week's World Championships with a 28-3-1 record, and are one of a handful of teams with two 2010 regional wins under their belt.

This past weekend, the Bellarmine Robotics team stretched itself to the limit, entering three separate tournaments with high expectations.  When the dust had settled, The Cheesy Poofs had won not just all three tournament titles, but many performance and judged awards as well.

Bellarmine’s FIRST Robotics Team 254 started its season with a bang this weekend as the Cheesy Poofs proved victorious at the Silicon Valley Regional. Remaining undefeated through the qualifying matches, with a record of 9-0-1, the Poofs formed a powerhouse alliance with Mountain View’s Team 971 and Saratoga High’s Team 649. Team 971’s incredibly quick and efficient scoring ability and Team 649’s impenetrable defense allowed the alliance to break through the elimination rounds, ending with a heated finals match against fellow NASA team The Space Cookies. After a breathtaking back-and-forth battle for points, the Poofs claimed the regional victory.  Team 254 also received the Industrial Design Award, which celebrates robustness in design and mechanical efficiency, for its beautiful and effective machine.

This win marks the 11th time Bellarmine has won the Silicon Valley Regional in the 12 years it has been held, and continues the Cheesy Poofs' unparalleled 12-year streak of regional victories.  The team's next challenge lies in the City of Lights, at the Las Vegas Regional.  From there, the robot travels to Atlanta for the 2010 FIRST Robotics World Championship.

Meanwhile, three students represented the Bells at the VEX Robotics National Championship in Omaha.  Team 254A, already one of the most targeted teams coming into the competition, became the object of exotic tactics throughout the three-day tournament, with opponents draining the field of balls even during the qualification rounds.  At the end of qualifying, however, the Poofs stood alone as the undefeated #1 seed, going 8-0-0 in a very tough pool.  For the elimination rounds, the team selected Team 3018 (Iowa) and Team 404B (Southern California) to be its partners.  In finals, the alliance was pitted against an incredibly talented trio consisting of Team 1 (Nebraska), Team 12B (Virginia), and Team 990B (Michigan), but managed to pull through nonetheless, winning the national title with a 14-0-0 record.  To top off the day, the team won both side challenges, the Think Award (for best programming and automation), as well as the Tournament Excellence Award (for best overall performance and design).  Under normal circumstances, the Excellence Award disqualifies a team from receiving any other judged awards, but the rule was bent for this particular National Championship.

Team 254A has now finished its regular season and awaits VEX World Championships in late April.  Since October, the team has shattered several single-season records: most tournament wins (9, previous record 3), most Excellence Awards (4, previous record 2), most World Championship qualifications (21, previous record 5), and most awards received at a single tournament (5, mandated to be 4).  The team has won all three 2010 “Super-Regionals” – Florida’s All-Star Championship, Hawaii’s Pan-Pacific Championship, and Nebraska’s Championship of the Americas.

Finally, a few more Cheesy Poofs spent their Saturday at the Tracy VEX Robotics Competition.  Teams 254C and 254Z battled it out with other local powerhouses the entire day, and eventually came head-to-head in the final match.  Unfortunately, a robot malfunction on 254C's alliance led to a lopsided 254Z victory, but 254C was awarded the Excellence Award for its consistent match performance.  254Z also won the Robot Skills competition, allowing 254 to walk home with the majority of the day's World qualification spots.  To cap off the event, Team 9339 (comprised of two Class of 2014 Bells) was presented with the Judges Award.

This weekend concludes Bellarmine's regular VEX season.  Bellarmine will send an unprecedented 6 teams to World Championships, netting a combined 35 qualifications and 16 tournament titles this season alone.