Carman-Ainsworth FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition®) Team 314 competed at the FIRST World Championship with 404 other teams at Cobo Hall in Detroit April 25 – 28, 2018. The teams in attendance represented 26 different US states, 2 Canadian provinces, the Netherlands, France, Chinese Taipei, Japan and Poland.

Team 314 Big MO qualified for a spot by earning enough points during their season in March to compete at the Michigan State Championship for FIRST Robotics earlier in April. Even though awards were not won at the World Festival, setting the bar for team history was obtained.  In their division of 67 teams they were overall ranked 9^th after the qualification matches.  While Alliance Selections was going on, they ended up being the 7^th Alliance Captain. Big MO selected team 4678 Cyber Cavs from Breslau, Ontario, Canada, team 3667 Mecanum Knights from Port Huron, Michigan and team 5114 Titanium Tigers from Fenton, Michigan to join their alliance in the elimination rounds. Their alliance played well, but was ultimately eliminated by this season’s Michigan State Champion and their alliance in quarterfinals.

Throughout season, the team won multiple awards, learned new skills, and established many new partners in the community. The team won the Quality Award sponsored by Motorola Solutions Foundation and the Innovation in Control Award sponsored by Rockwell Automation, this season. The team’s safety captain also was recognized at multiple competitions as the Underwriter Laboratories Safety Star of the day. The team ended the season ranked 71st out of 508 teams in Michigan and surpassed the previous team record at the World Championship of ranking 12th in qualifications. The team also set a new high at the World Championship by being an alliance captain for the first time in its 20 year history.

For more information about the Carman-Ainsworth High School Robotics team 314 “Big MO”:

https://www.bigmo314.com/