Kentwood District Event

We qualified for states!! Bedford Express is ranked 51st in the state. States will be held at Saginaw Valley State University on Thursday, April 16th- Saturday, April 18th.

This past weekend Bedford Express travelled over to Kentwood Michigan for our second district event.

Between week 2 and week 6, our team realized that our robot had reached its peak and would not be able to improve in the ways we wanted. With that in mind, we decided to take the “REBUILT” game theme to the next level by redesigning and rebuilding most of our robot, keeping only the turret/shooter the same. We carefully considered how much work, time, and dedication this major change would require, but ultimately committed to the challenge. In the end, our efforts paid off. We successfully built a new robot in just four weeks, compared to the six weeks it took to build our original robot.

The first major obstacle our team faced occurred when we arrived at our competition on Thursday, April 9th. During the weigh-in for inspection, we discovered that our robot was 4.5 pounds overweight. Everyone quickly stepped up to the challenge, working together to reduce the weight. Through teamwork and determination, we successfully shaved off the excess pounds, made weight, and passed inspection.

The first day of the competition Friday, April 10th we went 5-3 in our qualification matches. We tried our very best to work around obstacles and challenges within our own robot. Every match we made a small tweak to make our robot perform better.

In between the first and second day we discovered that our top lexan plates were causing jamming in our hopper and causing us to shoot slower. We quickly tried to come up with a fix to this issue and started trying new things such as a net, which worked way better.

The second day of the competition Saturday, April 11th, we went 2-1. At alliance selection we were the first pick by 3260 average joes, the number 1 ranked team. In the playoffs we were eliminated in the Double Elimination Bracket (Round 5). We were proud of our performance and held our own.

We were rewarded with the Industrial Design award which celebrates the team whose machine demonstrates industrial design principles, striking a balance between form, function, and aesthetics.

Once again we wouldn't be able to do this without the support of our parents, mentors, and sponsors. Thank you all so much.