Welcome to Creston F.I.R.S.T. Robotics Team 904

The Creston F.I.R.S.T. Robotics Team 904 is a group of High School Students (grades 9-12), mentors from local industry, parent volunteers, and corporate sponsors. The program is organized under the sponsorship of the Grand Rapids Public School System. The team participates in the FRC Challenge, community outreach support activities, and social activities. The Team brings students from different cultures and diverse backgrounds together, to learn how to work as a team and have fun. Please take the time to explore our web site and learn more about Creston Team 904 does and the F.I.R.S.T. program.

New Sponsor for 2009-2010 Season: Atomic Object!

In this economy, Team 904 faces challenges we have never encountered before. One of the largest challenges we are facing is the issue of money. For much of 904’s history, we have been sponsored and backed by General Motors. This year looks like it was one of the last years that GM will give us as much money as they did. Consequently, 904 has been forced to look for new sponsors. Well, we’re excited to announce that we have found one, Atomic Object LLC. Carl Erickson and Bill Bereza founded Atomic Object LLC, in 2001. Atomic Object recently purchased, and renovated, the historic Heimus Brothers building, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is where they are located now. Their company is the second largest software development company in the West Michigan area, yet they are focused on being “great instead of big” and emphasize“software craftsmanship”. Both of those values not only make Atomic Object LLC stand out from the crowd when it comes to business, but they also make Atomic Object LLC an ideal sponsor. We are very excited to have them sponsor us. To show our appreciated, and give them a better idea of what we do, 904 went down to their headquarters and gave them a short demo of our robot. We showed them our awardwinning autonomous mode, that found the flags of the enemy's trailer and followed it across the field, and they were very impressed. Through that demo we really sent home the message of what FIRST is all about, and gained a great sponsor. Our mission, however, isn’t over yet! If you’re interested in becoming a sponsor of Team 904, please contact us and we’ll get back to you as soon as we possibly can. That’s all for now, stay tuned!

Creston 904 places 11th in State and earns their way to Atlanta!!!

This past weekend was an exciting one for team 904. Our team went to Ypsilanti, Michigan for two days to attend the Michigan State Championship Competition. The competition was like riding a roller coaster, we lost our first match but quickly responded with a landslide win in the next. Before the elimination matches, 904 was ranked fairly high on the chart and there was hope that we might be picked as an alliance partner.

Well, the top eight teams picked their first alliance partners and we weren't chosen. Then came the second round picks. We were picked as a third alliance partner of team 1918, a team that we had worked with in the past and one that has always been a terrific partner. After some insane and exhilarating matches, we found ourselves as finalists in the Michigan State Championship Competition.

We were up against the Thunderchickens (team #217), H.O.T. (67) and team 65, all extremely good teams, in the championship matches. Our first match with them we lost, and in our second one our robot broken down. The drive team immediately called a six minute timeout, and the programmers rushed to the field to figure out what was going on. We had only a few minutes left, and our drive team decided that we needed to call a replacement robot on the field and team 904 was out of the picture.

The programmers took the robot back to the pits, and after a few minutes realized that it was simply just a loose wire. Ironically, team 1918's robot also malfunctioned in the match we weren't in. Their robot's elevator broke, and our alliance ended up loosing the match.

Even though, we didn't win the competition we were all winners. Our team was a finalist in the Michigan State Championship Competition! We qualified to go to Atlanta, Georgia and compete in the Georgia Dome which takes place on April 16 – 18. Wish us luck!

• The Official Lunacy Game animation
• Team 904 in Traverse City
• Team 904 on Maranda
• Team 904 in the RapidGrowth e-magazine

Code of Conduct

Members of Creston Team 904 are expected to abide by the Student Handbook.