Having concluded their build season on February 23^rd, the Hingham High Robotics Team had to wait several weeks to compete in their first competition on the weekend of March 20^th. The team was allowed only a few hours to work on the robot during this time, but they had an abundant amount of time to strategize and plan for the competition.

Finally, March 20^th arrived, and the Hingham High Robotics Team, known as the Hammerheads or Team 5000 at the competitions, travelled to University of Massachusetts- Dartmouth to compete. The competitions are tournament style as teams first compete in Qualification Matches and then the eight top ranked teams pick two other teams to join their alliance for Playoff Matches.

During Qualification Matches, each match itself was very complex. The Drive Team for Hingham, which consisted of captains Paul Barber and Billy Harrington and two other students, brought the robot onto the field and then prepared to drive the robot from a station on the end of the field. With their assigned alliance of two other teams, the Hingham robot had to cross defenses, which fit with the medieval theme of this year’s competition, and shoot boulders (dodgeballs) into the tower to gain points.

Following the Qualification Round, Hingham was in thirteenth place. Therefore, the fifth ranked team selected Hingham for their alliance for Playoffs. Unfortunately, the alliance lost in the first round after falling short in best two out of three matches.

The Hingham Robotics Team was proud of their showing at the UMASS Dartmouth competition. According to team member Kyle Thorne, despite the loss, “Hingham worked as a big team and accomplished a lot during the competition”.

At the next competition at Boston University beginning on March 30^th, Hingham placed twelfth after the Qualification Round. Hingham was ultimately selected to join the eighth ranked team on their alliance. Once again, the alliance lost in the first round.

Unfortunately, the loss brought an end to the season as the Hingham High Robotics Team did not qualify for the Regional Championships. However, Team Mentor, Mrs. Flanagan believes that the Hingham Team “did quite well with a very challenging objective. The robot had to be built robustly, and the students on the team put in countless hours of hard work, and it really paid off”. She and the other mentors are very proud of the accomplishments of the team this season.

As for next season, team member Kate Murray hopes “to develop a more organized approach to building as well as incorporating more team bonding into our program”.