Huge shout out to 271, Mechanical Marauders from Bayshore, New York. Don’t know a more dedicated, humbler, kind, gracious team than them. They’ve always had extremely mechanically robust robots, with their custom shifter gearboxes they make from scratch. I know members who easily machine from 5 pm to 5 am for months and still go to school the next day while keeping up their grades.
Not only that, but this year they started stepping into outreach in addition to their insane schedule. They may not have the most flashy international outreach - but their new step into the world of different FIRST programs has been amazing. On top of their rigorous build schedule they found time to found/mentor some Junior FLL Teams. Walking through the FLL Jr. pits I felt the passion from the kids involved in their programs - they absolutely loved what 271 did for them.
Lastly, without 271’s help and resources, our bot would probably be a heap of metal on the ground covered with my tears. We bagged a bot that could barely score 1-2 cubes in the switch the entire match. After a hard decision to completely redesign in under 30 pounds, we were able to get some pieces Waterjet for us by our sponsor but still had 2x1 extrusion to machine for some axles. Not only did they reply back within 10 minutes of me asking if I could use some of their machines, when I got there, their lead mentor helped clean up some of our CAD, helped make our design more robust, and then taught me how to CNC Mill for about 6 hours, putting aside their own bots pieces to help us get done.
At SBPLI #1, between matches where our team might not have felt the most confident, their scouting lead would stop by our pit to encourage us with his most current data, which gave us a necessary push to keep going, with our spirits high.
Between that and their volunteers at our Week 0 Event during clean up, I could not have met a more wholesome team with wonderful members and mentors.
Even after adding the 3rd regional in last minute (which they had to fundraise for), not qualifying for champs had me upset. Quality team with amazing members. I wish them the absolute best of luck, and it was a pleasure working with them this season.
