Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

The most credible theory so far. If the hooks of the climbers touched the corner pole while they were still on the floor...

The refs should have said that was the reason if that was the reason. I hope someone has high-res pictures/video

Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

I'm on the field. The ruling was that both robots were touching the ground, though I'm sure that would be nearly impossible to see from the webcast.

Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

Now that's a ruling that can actually be backed up. If the paper slid under, though, then there just might be a little bit of a problem...

Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

That might do it then. It's possible the robots were hanging initially and then settled on the ground a little while after the match ended. It didn't look like they checked for robot climbs until a few minutes after the end of the match.

Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

The ruling we got was that 3182 got a frisbee stuck under their robot and 20 was still touching the floor.

Congrats to 2168, 3044, and 3280 on a great win.

-Jack

Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

Team 3182, Athena's Warriors was on the ground. Team 20, The Rocketeers, only managed to hook one of their grapples, so they were tipped to the ground.
There is no rule about two robots on the same rung. RTDM

Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

More importantly, this turned into an outstanding regional event.

Congratulations to the Winning Alliance of 2168, The Aluminum Falcons, 3044, OxBE4, and 3280, The Rhode Rebels. This was a first regional win for each of these teams. They were the sixth seed with 2168 reluctantly pulled into the draft picking role. Their choices of 3280 and 3044 were dark horse steals.
3280 came close last year at FLR, and the Aluminum Falcons had their hearts broken several times last year.

The Finalist Alliance of 2791, Shaker Robotics, 20, The Rocketeers, and 3182, Athena's Warriors acquitted themselves quite well through the eliminations and were gracious in their razor thin defeat. (Shaker did two Regionals in 10 days! Losing to 610 at GSR last week)

The eliminations emphasized the importance of a defensive strategy as we witnessed 2168 defang every powerhouse from 126, Gael Force and the 177, Bobcats, through 558, Robo Squad and 1100 T-Hawks (who's shooter had failed rendering them in the difficult position of choosing a backup robot from a thin field or soldiering on).

2168's driver is one of the best I have ever seen. The Colson wheels helped.:)

Just to recap the final match. The first match went red 100-87, the second, blue 89-64. In the third match 2791, 20 and 3182 went for a strategy where 2791 would just fire from the feeder station, and 20 would pick up the trash from the floor with one of the best floor pickups that I have yet seen. This was a great idea and prevented 2168 from playing their defense as it eliminated cross field traffic. The scoring for blue was consistent from 3280 and 3044 and the match was an even draw as the Rocketeers were making nearly all of their shots in the 3 points goal. 2168 was trying to stop them, but that was a dangerous proposition as 20 always shot in contact with the pyramid.

The fatal flaw was when 3182 chose to hang on the pyramid rung closest to the wall, that was 20s spot, so when 20 tried to hang, they could only engage one of their hooks. They were nearly flawless the whole regional with the 10 point climb and usually shot two or three more from their hang position.

If they had managed the climb, the score would have been tied at 68-68, and the foul tie breaker would have given them the win. (2168 committed the foul trying to disrupt 2791 from shooting)

Oh, for the want of a climb, the regional was lost.

The spirit was high, the cheering intense, the energy recyclable.

Team 1100 won the Chairman's award. Totally deserved. Plus they, along with 2648 Infinite Loop, and 3044, really made this regional pop.

Woody was all smiles.

Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

I am incredibly disappointed 2791 won't be attending champs. I felt they truly deserved a spot. What a shame.

Congrats 2168.

Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

This is a reasonably accurate description of what happened. A few extra details: We switched strategies not just to help avoid defense on both of us, but also because of a mechanical problem we thought we had solved before the Finals... If 2168 hits us hard enough, in just the right position and configuration, our shooter would jam and be out of commission for the rest of the match. We decided to split the difference and go for a feeding strategy until 20 had plenty of ammunition to go around, then go for as many cycles as we could before we jammed.

Unfortunately, we jammed one cycle too early. If we hadn't jammed when 2168 hit us at the pyramid, and we were shooting, that 3 point foul would have become a 20 point technical foul, winning us the regional. Not to mention the extra 12 disc points would have put us on top. If 20 had spun around to the side to hang and gotten lucky with the discs, we would have won the regional. If 3182 didn't hang in front, we would have won the regional. I wouldn't blame anybody for this. It took a series of very unfortunate events, very skilled opponents, and just plain bad luck for this to happen, but it is what it is.

-----

I would like to thank team 20 and 3182 for being great alliance partners. After years of getting assistance, advice, and inspiration from our sports rivals down the road, being able to finally, FINALLY seed #1 and pick them was a dream come true for us. 20 was an absolute pleasure to work with and helped cover for us so much in elims as we chased technical failure after technical failure. 3182 was particularly helpful to us in the semi-finals, slowing down the potent 2648 alliance and setting the occasional pick or two. I just wish we could have gotten you guys gold.

This has been an amazing regional for all of us. I have a lot of stories to tell, that I'm sure I'll post in the next few days when I'm less exhausted... Congratulations to the amazing winning alliance of 2168, 3280, and 3044. It just goes to show you that excellent scouting, clever strategy, and continuous improvement can get you anywhere.

Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

Hey guys that was a great regional.

Congrats to 2168 and their alliance- Great to see a CT team winning the finals!
There were a lot of good teams out there. I really liked The Rocketeers robot; they were nailing threes before the Aluminium Falcons started playing hard defense on them in the second match. Another good team out there was Team 1100. They did very in well in the most of their matches. I also want to congratulate them for winning the Chairman's award, really well deserved!

Did anyone see any other good robots or robots that were doing really well? I would love to hear from you guys. There were a lot of great robots. Anyone have a particular favorite? It was a great regional, especially for all of us that weathered the snow to get there.

Great Job Everyone!

Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

The regional was a blast, even if we came up short of the win by a hair.
Shaker- I wish you guys could go to nationals, you totally deserve it. Your bot was excellent throughout, even when it had some technical issues.
Athena- We've been on the other end- a low seed getting picked unexpectedly by the top seed- and while we narrowly lost the win, you guys were indispensable for slowing down the semifinal alliance, as well as just being a team with a ton of spirit to share.

Congrats to the winning alliance- you guys worked extremely well together, you had it all together, and you made the finals electrifying.

Now I just can't wait to see how some of these robots (especially 177's) change when they go to Hartford! (for those that are going)

Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

Chris, I wish it hadn't been us that took away Shaker's victory. Both our teams already had enough of the bad luck. This year it seems we got the good luck.

Your turn.

Rocketeers and Athena's Warriors, also class-acts. We hope to meet with the same bumpers next time.

Thanks to Colleen and the rest of the crew that put on this great event. WPI is our favorite place to play!

Thanks to the Rhode Rebels and OxBE4. I am particularly pleased that all three teams pulled their weight and showed their strengths equally. We couldn't have won if you guys didn't shoot.

Time to faint.

Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

Losing to you guys really lessens the blow. We watched you guys go through heartbreak after heartbreak last year and are really excited you guys finally have a chance to go to Championship. I can't wait to see the changes I've already heard you guys are making. Good luck the rest of the season and if things work out, we'll see you at BC and IRI.

-Jack

Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

Chris, thanks for the clarifications. Your team explained this to me at the Charlton Service area on the Mass Pike after the competition, but I wasn't confident in my ability to explain it as well as you did.

Re: 2013 WPI Regional
 

Congratulations to teams 2168, 3280, and 3044 for a great regional win! It's a testament to how strong both of our alliances were that the finals were that close and came down to a complicated hanging situation.

Congratulations to 1100 for their Regional Chairman's win! It was fun getting to know some of you this weekend, your team was really great to work with when we had the opportunity and hopefully we will see each other at Championship!

Also, a big thank you to teams 1493, 2370, 2791, 3044, and later in the tournament 1100 for collaborating with us on scouting! Bringing the teams together like that to gather information we otherwise couldn't was extremely valuable and I hope that you all enjoyed it as much as we did!

Shaker, going into the tournament I was already excited about the possibility of working with your team. It was a no-brainer to align with you guys given the opportunity to get the two most consistent scoring machines on the same alliance. If any of a number of things had gone slightly differently, we may be looking back on this differently. Your robots are getting better and better each year, and we came really close to making the hard work pay off with a trip to Championship. Hopefully we'll have the opportunity to work together again in the future. Thank you again for your advice with our drive train this year. It was really helpful to draw upon your experience when we had significant design challenges and it definitely has made a difference in our robot this year! Our drivers love our drive train this year and we'll certainly be looking to iterate this design in the future.

Thank you to 3182 for joining our alliance this weekend, you guys were absolutely essential in our advancement to the finals and we were so close to pulling off the win! We're looking forward to seeing you guys again at the Connecticut Regional in a few weeks!

Despite a rough loss, I'd like to acknowledge that this truly was a great weekend for New York Capital District FRC teams. Among 4 teams that attended the event, we had:
WFFA (Congrats Prof. Ruff!)
1 Regional Winner
2 Regional Finalists
Excellence in Engineering Award
Quality Award
Spirit Award
Safety Award
#1 and #2 ranked teams
All 4 teams participated in eliminations

It's great to have a local community of teams competing so hard on the field, but also working together off the field.

I'm excited to see many of the same teams again in a few weeks in Hartford, and you can be sure Team 20 will be coming out swinging. There are already some potential improvements we plan to explore with the robot and our practice robot will see some good mileage over the next 2.5 weeks.

Thank you to all of the volunteers who made WPI a great regional event! We always enjoy competing there, whether it be for official FRC, Battle Cry, or Savage Soccer, and the volunteers make this all possible.