It was a season of hard work and high hopes for team Error Code Xero robotics, but the road to the world competition ended for them on April 11th just two places shy of back-to-back championships berths. Although the highest stage was not attained this year, the journey to near glory was anything but a loss.
Looking strong from the get-go this year, the first competition of the season, the PNW District Wilsonville Event, finished with 1425 taking 2nd, going 12-6 in matches. They also took home the Autonomous Award, an award given to the team with the best robot during the autonomous period of the competition (when the robots are on program only, no human control).
Carrying the success into their next competition, Error Code Xero thundered into the PNW District Clackamas Academy Event finishing 2nd once again with a record of 14-3. These strong finishes qualified them for the district championships in Cheney, Washington where they went 7-7 which punched their ticket to the playoffs.
Selected as the 2nd pick in alliance 4, Error Code Xeros made it two just two rounds into the double elimination playoffs, with a brutal beatdown in their first match, and a heartbreaking nailbiter in the second round that sent them home with an early exit.
Although the season itself finished a bit earlier than expected, the team is already looking ahead to next year. Current junior and member of the software subteam of 1425 Prenay Kollu said “The (software) team worked really well together with a lot of people contributing to the coding, but next year all the (sub) teams will need to integrate a bit more for better success.”
Michael Candrian, another junior and driver of Error Code Xero’s bot, followed with “I felt that the organization of the team was much better this year compared to past years I’ve been on the team, if we continue that into next year, I feel we will go back to worlds.”
The task is clear, and doubt is xero. Worlds 2027 for 1425 is the goal, and no error will get in their way of returning to the promised land.