Byting Bulldogs' Sixth Year

The beginning of the 2015-16 school year saw the Byting Bulldogs welcoming another new head coach, Mr. Michael Savage, who had been the founding coach of FRC team 4961, Shock and Awe-sum. Coach Savage redoubled the team's efforts to recruit girls, and toward the end of 2015, the Byting Bulldogs were able to field a team for the Bloomfield Girls' Robotics Competition for the first time. 

This was also the year that the Byting Bulldogs first acquired a space large enough to house a full-sized practice field in a building dedicated to that purpose, which enabled us to invite competitors to use the field whenever we were available, rather than at the convenience of the sponsor.

In the 2016 Stronghold competition, we were proud to have again won two judged awards at a single event and achieved finalist status at a district competition. We were equally thrilled to have had a student selected as a semifinalist for the Dean's List and a mentor named a semifinalist for the Woodie Flowers Award, both firsts for our team.

The Robot, "Gutierrez"

The 2016 competition bot, dubbed "Gutierrez", could shoot boulders, overcome all five defenses, and park on the sloped base of the tower in the FIRST Stronghold game. Its beautiful powder-coat paint job in the team's signature neon green and black colors helped the Byting Bulldogs clinch the Imagery Award at both of its district competitions. 

Honors

• Kettering 2 District Competition:

  • District Quarterfinalist

  • KPCB Entrepreneurship Award

  • Jack Kamen Imagery Award

  • Dean's List finalist

• Troy District Competition:

  • Rank 6

  • District Finalist

  • Jack Kamen Imagery Award

• World Championship, St. Louis:

  • Rank 5 in Galileo Division

  • Alliance 4 Captain in Galileo Division

  • Semifinalist in Galileo Division

The Game

The 2016 FRC challenge was called FIRST Stronghold. In FIRST Stronghold, alliances worked to breach their opponents' fortifications (cross obstacles), score boulders (balls) in the opponents' high and low tower openings, and climb their opponents' tower. The combination of changeable obstacles, goal-shooting, and climbing made this year's game especially unique.

Our 2016 Season from Start to Finish