Welcome back to the FIM Event Previews, there are 5 Michigan Districts this week and I’ll be doing a preview for all the FIM events, every week this season. Next up is one of the two new week 1 districts this year.
Battle Creek District
Favorites:
While the two favorites at the new district of Battle Creek were easy to determine, it is hard to pick a true one-of-one favorite. On one hand we have 3357-COMETS and on the other 4381-Twisted Devils. Starting with COMETS, 3357 was a rather unique robot last year, as being one of the only top teams to still run a tank drive. While most of the FRC community has adopted to swerve in the post-pandemic era, COMETS still ran tank in 2023, and had no problems finding success in the early season, with a week 1 win at Calvin University. But with the reveal of their new 2024 robot Vaisala, they have finally decided to switch to swerve drive. So we’ll just have to see how the drive team adjusts to this, as they have very different driving mechanics, but as one of the elite teams on the westside of Michigan, I don’t think they’ll have trouble adjusting. In regards to the other favorite, 4381, they were the only team to have 3 district wins last season. The question isn’t how many events they’ll win, but where on my top 25 i’ll place them, as I routinely underrated them last season. So I definitely have my eye on them a little closer this year.
Challengers:
When it comes to the challengers, my time at Kettering week 0 gave me the first, 3536-Electro Eagles. They’re one of the few robots I’ve seen so far this season with a turret, and they absolutely came to play last Sunday. This agile robot has an incredible source side autonomous path that would be the perfect complimentary autonomous for one of the favorites running an amp side auto. They definitely have one of the best robots of week 1, but will they be able to beat the favorites? The last team i’ll be talking about for Battle Creek is the team that was rank 1 at a week 2 event last season, 6002-ZooBOTix. Zoobotix took a week off their build schedule and upgraded to a week 1 event, as they hope to repeat their early season success last year. The only difference being they’ll be going for the gold this year, after losing in the finals at all three of their districts, and in a tiebreaker at two of them. Sadly from what I’ve seen with 3536, even a rank 1 finish and a selection of one of the favorites, they may not have enough to beat the other two combined; but that’s why we play the game.
Contenders:
6078 - RoboRams
3767 - TC Titans
Dark Horse:
5152 - Alotobots
8608 - Alpha Bots
Outside Looking In:
4422 - Twisted Angels
4327 - Q Branch
5623 - Robotic Rams
858 - Demons Robotics
Cinderella Stories:
6618 - WARHBOTS
4810 - I AM Robot
Battle Creek looks to be the event to watch when it comes to the Saturday/Sunday slate of districts. A very solid midfield could see some very solid 4 and 5 seeds, battling it out for a finals appearance.
Next is the Berrien Springs Event Preview, releasing soon.