Welcome! We are Team 1718, The Fighting Pi, a FIRST Robotics Competition team based out of the Macomb Academy of Arts and Sciences in Armada, Michigan. This is our 11th year as a team. The team is composed of approximately 50 students from several school districts including: Richmond, Armada, New Haven and Memphis.

Our team focuses on being financially acute, promoting science, engineering and technology in our community, and drawing students from surrounding school districts to receive the FIRST experience. We are able to meet these goals by being attentive to the team budget, giving sponsor presentations, and starting FIRST Lego League and Robotics teams in the local area. To ensure our business is successful, welcoming, and has a giving environment to learn-both at competitions and at our base-the Fighting Pi donates time, money, and energy to charitable causes. By doing so, we strengthen bonds among team members, parents, volunteers, mentors, and sponsors.

The 2016 FIRST STRONGHOLD game is played on a 27 ft. by 54 ft. field. Each alliance commands one tower, five defenses, and a 'secret passage' which allows their robots to restock on ammunition, otherwise known as boulders. The low bar, one of the defenses, is a permanent part of the field. Three defenses are selected strategically by the alliance prior to the start of their match. The final defense changes periodically by audience selection.

Each FIRST STRONGHOLD match begins with a 15-second autonomous period in which robots operate independently of human control. During this period, robots attempt to cross opposing defenses and score in the opposing tower.During the remaining 2 minutes and 15 seconds of the match robots are controlled by student drivers from behind their castle wall at the end of the field. Teams on an alliance work together to cross defenses, weaken the opposing tower by scoring boulders in it, and finally surround, scale and capture the tower.