900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Can we stop calling it "cheesecake" yet? I've never been one for euphemisms. I prefer to call things what they are. In this case, it should be called the collaborative effort of multiple teams to build one of the craziest contraptions I think I have ever seen in my 11 years of FRC experience. Granted, that's a mouthful so maybe "cheesecake" is easier to say.

I'm very proud of my team. My students are amazing and our other mentors are a dream team so let me start by describing the robot that my team constructed over build season. It was an impressive feat of engineering. It had a swerve drivetrain (yeah, first time we've ever done that and we did it during build season). It had an onboard Nvidia Jetson board that was processing video footage in realtime using cascade classifiers to detect the recycling bins (which don't have retroreflective tape).

Mechanically we built an arm that could extend over 7 feet and grab a recycling bin from the step. It could do it autonomously and then slam it into the ground before doing it a second time. It wasn't fast but it was awesome. Oh, did I mention that along the way we had to redesign adapter plates to drive the arm using two AndyMark 4-Stage GEMs? We tried it with a single 5 stage but we corkscrewed a 1/2" steel shaft. We also destroyed some AndyMark raw boxes. We dealt with alignment issues and taught our students about overhung loads at not one but two regionals and even at the championship.

We also used carbon fiber tubing to reduce the weight of the arm so we could actually get a bin from the step without tipping over (at least all the way). We had originally built a claw that was made from balsa wood and carbon fiber layups that our students did in our own lab. That claw didn't work mechanically though so we ended up having to redesign it and rebuild it for our second regional using aluminum tubing that was bent by hand because we couldn't easily get access to a bender.

And let me tell you, that second regional was a doozy. We were a "sleeper pick" by the number one alliance. They picked us because we complemented their alliance and we helped them boost their scores high enough to come out above the others' average. We helped them go on to win the event. We couldn't have done it without them and they couldn't have done it without us. We worked collaboratively.

It was an amazing robot but I'm not proud of the robot. I'm proud of what my team did to build it and make it work. This all brings me to what happened on the Curie field between my team and three of the other best teams we've ever had the pleasure of working with.

Much has been said about it already. Some people seem to think that 1114 or 148 pressured a poor helpless 900 and 1923 into doing whatever they said... HAH! As if. Have you even met my team? We built a 7 foot lever arm supported by two 1/2" steel shafts with 1/8" keys trying to drive a dynamic 20 pound load... we're not just stubborn, we're insane. No, no one pressured us into anything.

It all happened because we were hungry to win. We knew getting those cans off the step was the key to winning. Over build season we built a robot to do it after all. We built that robot for regionals and we knew it wasn't enough for championships but we had to get there first. We knew what it would take to win. We had seen 1114 working on a really complicated mechanism in their pit and we decided maybe they were on to something. While our drive team was playing matches and keeping "Go Big" (that's the robot's name by the way, the practice robot is named "Go Home") working on Friday the pit crew and scouts were hard at work trying to find out what it would take to mount those mechanisms onto our drive base.

It turned out what it would take was a new drive base. Swerve is heavy and hard to program. It's a great drivetrain but it wasn't needed for what we were going to do. If this was going to work, it was going to take some out of the box thinking. So we did what we do... We bought more stuff from AndyMark (thank you to all of the AM crew, you are all amazing). We bought an AM14U2 kit (KOP chassis) and a pneumatic kit. Our pit crew went about assembling a new drive base and getting a crash course in pneumatics. We left the pits on Friday night with a plan and a new drive base. The electronics from the old robot were stripped once we were done with our last match.

We left and then did what teams do in St Louis. We went to the arch and had dinner. Then we went back to the hotel. Another mentor on the team stayed a little later and got some contact info for another mentor on 1114. We had gone back to the hotel with the plan to put the KOP drive base into CAD and then stuff the electronics in. It was a miracle they all fit. Then, we found out something else from our Canadian friends. The drive base we had assembled needed to be even smaller.

So we made it smaller and stuffed the electronics in tighter. We then sent the CAD files over to 1114. Yeah, that's right, two teams working collaboratively in CAD the night before alliance selections to build a robot from parts at the arena. It was an impressive feat. It wasn't over though. It needed to go from CAD to robot the next day. It also wasn't a sure thing. Someone else could have chosen us for alliance selections just to mess this plan up... if anyone even knew what we were doing.

The next morning we took the robot apart and then set to work rebuilding it all. We have a time lapse video of it coming together. Zebracorns and Simbotics mentors and students working shoulder to shoulder. Our pit became a tangled mess of components, tools, robot parts, and human beings. I'm sure it was a spectacle for all of those around us.

The integration testing was a challenge. 1114's programmer had code written for this whacky contraption but we kept running into issues with our Talon SRXs in PWM mode. It was likely a bunch of loose cables but we solved it by just adding more of them onto the robot. We ended up with 10 of them on there instead of the 7 we had planned.

The device, dubbed "Crossbow" by 1114 was a masterpiece of engineering. It used electric solenoids as firing pins to launch harpoons sprung by surgical tubing at the recycling bins. These harpoons then retracted along with the 4 stands that were spread out from the robot. The stands came together in a tangled mess of wires, pneumatic tubing, nylon line, and aluminum. It was spectacular. And there were safety stops build into every aspect of this thing. There were pins built into it for transport, along with multiple lines in case of failure, which wasn't likely, the lines were dynamic and designed to withstand far more force than those harpoons could ever put on them.

At this point, it was about 2:00 in the afternoon and we had missed all of the inspectors packing up on the Curie field but Ed, being the amazing LRI he is, had us covered. Did I mention that while we were doing all of this, the rest of the alliance was out winning the Curie field? We missed the handshake with the opposing alliance in the finals because we were packing up the robot and bringing it to the field inspection station.

The inspection process reminded me of inspections from when I was a student. It was a frenzy of duct tape, filing, and zip ties. The inspectors were fantastic. They were helpful, courteous, and kept a good sense of humor throughout the process. It was intense but a lot of fun. We had to trim about 6 pounds of weight from the robot. We dropped the steel weights on each of the stands and then went on to cut out some wire and surgical tubing. Did I mention the bill of materials? According to the inspector, it was one step above a napkin. I told him we were going to give it to him on a napkin but we decided typing it in Notepad was a little better. I can't thank the inspectors enough, they were great to work with even though they didn't cut us any slack.

Once we were through with inspection we went about practicing the setup and teardown of this contraption. It was a complicated monstrosity. Four pods plus the robot. We had it down though. It could be setup quickly and transported onto the field. If you saw us on the side of Einstein, that's what we were doing.

Was it an elaborate ploy? A threat of mutually assured destruction in a literal arms race? Maybe. Maybe not. We were ready to deploy it and it had been tested. I don't know if it would have worked on the field and I don't care. The experience of working alongside 1114, 148, and 1923 to build something so insanely complicated so quickly was astonishing. We now have some incredible stories to tell and we're going home with another banner. We were on the number three alliance in the world and for that, I'm ecstatic.

We took a robot built collaboratively over the course of a day all the way to Einstein. That's the stuff of legends in FRC. The students and mentors of 900, 1923, 148, and 1114 aren't going to forget this experience. We worked well together and created something amazing. We fought hard and did what we had to do to win. In the end, we didn't make it as far as we were hoping to, but we were ready to go all the way. The hunger was there.

To our alliance partners, thank you. Everyone on 900 is awestruck by what we did together. The students and mentors of 148, 1923, and 1114 are an inspiration. It was a pleasure working with you.

I'll leave you with something I've been pondering. I really want to know why it takes 3 days to build a robot. Our alliance can do it in 7 hours and we can take it to Einstein. ;)

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

You guys are an incredible team and this is one of the coolest and most inspiring stories I've ever heard.

Did you end up with the harpoons, or does 1114 have them?

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Great to hear the story behind your "cheese caking".
Do you guys still have the robot that was built during the build season, or is it in pieces now? I feel like it's still sad to just let go of a project that you have worked on for so long.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

We have one of the harpoons, and we have kept "go big" intact.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

That's really cool. I saw that video you guys posted of it on Instagram and was awestruck. And as a side note, I think this is the longest Chief Delphi post I've ever seen.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

We held on to one of the harpoons, and we're definitely going to be messing around with that stuff in the offseason.

Our original robot is still mostly mechanically intact, though we had to strip out the electronics for the midgetbot. It'll come back together easily enough.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Cheesecake is a euphemism?
As far as I recall (and looking back confirms), cheesecaking was allowed, and even encouraged (if formally in violation of the rules) until the answer to Q416 came out o/a 16 March. It became explicitly legal (and apparently still encouraged) on 17 March. Why would an encouraged activity need a euphemism?

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Wow, this is amazing.

Not only were you all EXTREMELY GP with your alliance members, but you collaborated and worked extremely hard on the bot. I can tell that this idea and design were extremely smart, especially on such a short notice. It was a risk, and quite frankly, I think it was worth it.

I feel inspired.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Did you have a team member in the alliance station during the elimination rounds while you worked on altering your robot?

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Are you asking if we had another member of our team helping with the bins? If so then no. The others had it well in hand.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Marshall, your post is amazing in its entiret. You have covered all of the points of interests that I personally enjoy. I should have looked it before I came to my own conclusions about your teams experience with the crazy insane transformation of your robot.

I know the LRI for the Curie division, I have heard many wild and intriguing tales about the testing and inspection of your transformed bot. Congratulations to your team and the highly respected alliance that y'all were apart of, best wishes to you all.

Only one question for your team though. Once y'all saw the scores of the robonaut's alliance along with the dominant highroller's alliance did your alliance think it a wise decision to continue using the harpoons?

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Well now that thats cleared up, amazing story. We (team 1225) were speculating what you guys were doing down at Einstein when setting Crossbow up. We pretty much speculated the whole time, watching through binoculars, having a couple members get close up looks. We pretty much knew that it had something to do with the recycling bins, but we weren't sure of how it worked, how many of them it got, etc. Until on the bus ride home in the middle of the night I found a short video clip of your harpoon firing. Anyways, good job to you and your alliance for getting to semifinals in Einstein.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Such a great story - you make this particular alumnus quite proud! How would you prevent this setup from getting in the way of accessing the landfill?

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Let us know when you have some video of the machine posted.

Finally a video!

I am sorry for the wait. I had the video ready, but wasn't able to post until I got back to NC.

I hope this thread and video clears up any confusion about the spirit with which this awesome collaborative effort was accomplished. We were not forced to do anything and in fact willingly did what was necessary to benefit our friends on team 1114, 148, and 1923.

Personally I experienced the most collaboration and hard work come together between teams in those 7 hours than I ever have in FRC. What an amazing experience.

Anyway, here's what everyone has been waiting for. I'm sure there will be some better footage out by 1114 soon.

https://youtu.be/-uyr-WSKnbQ

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

What Team 900 accomplished this weekend was nothing short of amazing. Their determination and tenacity in integrating our "Frog and Lily" setup into their newly built kitbot was at levels I've never seen before. They were constantly in our pit early in the event to ask us questions about what we were working on and how they could get it on their robot. I've never seen a team so focused on in event modifications. It was honour to be on the same alliance as a team with a culture that matches ours so closely.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I just want to say that 900 is a dope team and we wish we could have pants that are half as magical. This is the kind of work 422 wishes we could have the chance to do; we have mad respect to your whole team and we'll see you around.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I think that this is the craziest, most insane, wild, and awe inspiring act of in competitions build I have ever seen and I dare say will see in a while. Wish I could have been at championships to see it in person.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Very cool. Just sad we didn't get to see it on the field.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I'm going to pause for a second and put on my United Therapeutics voice.

United Therapeutics is proud to sponsor Team 900. Your story is the one I've been telling all morning as I see everyone in the office. The one I'm going to tell in my meetings at new employee orientations to teach them what FIRST is all about. The one I've already told to our CEO (and she LOVED it.)

Zebracorns are the team that did everything in their power to be the best alliance partner for the teams that believed in them. You guys worked your tails off, and it totally paid off.

I've been saying all along how defining and inspiring it was to work on 1923's cheesecake with the Robowranglers - but dang. Ours was easy compared to you. You put in the long haul, and I'm so happy not only to see it work, but to see how gracefully your team is handling the backlash from the uninformed.

So proud to represent a sponsor of both the Zebracorns and The MidKnight Inventors. #teamUnither forever.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Marshal, Austin and the rest of the Zebracorns,

Thanks so much for the post and explaining to the community the effort your team put into your original robot as well as the insanity you went through at Championships to build a second legal competition robot. My team competed with you in Palmetto and North Carolina and we know the struggles you went through with your robot and have a good idea of how many design iterations you went through at those events to get that awesome grabber working that way you wanted. Though we certainly would have preferred to come out on top in the NC Finals, we have no complaints to coming in second to three teams with such class and respect for FIRST's core values.

My team was disappointed to not be selected to play on the Newton stage at Championships this year. After a quick check we saw that the Zebracorns were the only one of eight NC teams continuing to play. We made sure that each of those teams knew that you were one the #1 Curie alliance and were collaborating on an awesome 'secret' project. ALL the NC teams were ready to cheer on the Zebracorns when you got to the field. We just wish you had the chance to put all your hard work into action on Einstein.

Great job. Thanks for sharing the behind the scenes story. (You know I was going to ask the next time we met!)

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Marshal, this was a great read. I enjoyed it as much as I do any of the build blogs. After watching you guys get this working in the pits, I was very disappointed they didn't get a chance to run it on field.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

As one of the inspectors responsible for the final inspection of this contraption, I can say with certainty that all teams were fully involved with the inspection portion - there was no indication at all that any team was getting pushed around or told to stand in the corner while the big boys worked - it looked like a true, collaborative effort.

As far as the inspection went... It was a long inspection. There were a few things to fix - a couple of lbs of weight, some pneumatic plumbing issues, and a software version issue come to mind - but the teams eagerly complied and got to work getting everything fixed. The bill of materials did look hastily put together, but the entire thing was! In ordinary circumstances (ie initial inspection at an event), I would have made the team go back and spend a little time beefing it up to be more like what everyone expects. In this situation though, while they did need to have a BOM it wouldn't be fair to delay them and keep them off Einstein because it wasn't professional looking enough.

I attached a pic of the inspection process, sent to me by Jake Fischer, who I happened to run into Saturday evening after ceremonies were over. You can see, we didn't take inspection of this lightly - not with 4 LRI's participating and looking at it!

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I want to take this opportunity to thank all the inspectors we worked with over the weekend. On Wednesday we approached Ed Sparks, the Curie LRI, to show him what we had been working on. We wanted to get the inspectors involved in this process as early as possible, so we could get feedback on them to make sure this "Frog and Lily" setup met all robot and safety rules. Later Ed got Al involved, and both were extremely professional and helpful. On Saturday, Frank Merrick came by our pit to give us the final approval on the concept, especially in regards to safety. Once we picked 900 and started integrating into their robot, we had an army of division LRIs who worked with us on the inspection process. Overall I blown away by their level of excellence and focus on the job. I want to thank all of them for creating a "team first" atmosphere. This is what FRC is all about. In the past I've been very vocal about my frustration with processes that are not team friendly, but these folks were the exact opposite of that.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I can only reiterate exactly what Karthik has said. It was simultaneously one of the toughest and easily the best inspections that I've ever been through. You were all the epitome of gracious professionalism.

At one point, one of you pointed to "1114" written in sharpie on one of the aluminum poles and asked if it was a model number. At the time the joke went over my head but I was thinking back on that on the bus ride home and just cracked up.

And don't worry, next time the mentor who wrote up the BOM in Notepad will have Excel installed. He has been properly admonished for not having a locally installed spreadsheet app. Man cannot survive on Google Docs alone. ;)

Seriously, thank you to all of the inspectors. You were all amazing. Also, a massive thank you to the lady from NI who happened to have the updated driver station software on a flash drive. You are amazing!

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I have known 900/Zebracorns since they were founded when I mentored a different rookie team 'across town'. From the very beginning, they have understood FIRST's core values and have always been willing to work with other teams and help out any way they can.

As Lead Robot Inspector for the NC Regional, I see their team members throughout the pits during our event helping other teams resolve problems and helping them become as competitive as possible. They do this whether their own robot is doing well or having issues. 900 is a team you want at your event.

It is GREAT to see them have the chance to work with some of the best teams in FIRST. The experience will only make them stronger and I am sure they in turn will make North Carolina stronger in the FIRST competitions.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I'm really interested to hear more about this... and how it worked.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Dominick,

We have our students working on a white paper. We'll be sure to have them post it when they're done!

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

We are going to get a white paper out as soon as we can. Here is a link to the PDF version of the presentation we had up on our screens in the pits for Curie: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7...T1k&authuser=0

You can get the missing video over here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1ZSzxw84So

And one of it in action here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqHk50xX1_A

We were fortunate that Nvidia took an interest and we're hoping to follow up with them as well. We're tired of the same old vision targets and dead reckoning autonomous routines. We've been striving for the last few years to bring computer vision into our designs and this year we saw a huge payoff. I'm hoping it continues to improve and our new contacts over at Nvidia are going to help improve even further.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Sweet because this may be something I have our programmers do just as an off season challenge.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

To add to Jon's comments, the inspection took a while but was fun and intense. All teams were involved and were very appreciative of the inspectors even when we pointed out issues. The teams clearly worked closely together and the final robot was quite impressive. This will be one of those inspections I will never forget not only because of the robot and the situation, but because of the students we got to interface with and how gracious they were in such a tense situation.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I saw these at the Championships just off to the right of the Einstein fields, I was HOPING to see these in action and was completely deflated when they didn't get on the field.

But perhaps not for the reason most of you are thinking.

I wanted this to happen because I think that this would have be the moment that 1114 and Karthik had finally put a stake into the heart of Cheesecaking - The moment those harpoons had won a World Championship, I would have sung like the Coroner in the Wizard of Oz:

As Coroner I must aver, I thoroughly examined her, and she's not only merely dead, she's really most sincerely dead.

Team 900, no disrespect, but I believe your story is a horror show, start to finish.

If the Harpoons had taken the field and carried the day on Einstein, Pandora's box would have been opened so far and wide that everyone would see the problems that Cheesecaking pose: From that day forth, for the lower 90% of teams, the World Championships would become an exercise in whether and when to sell their souls to the devil.

Our team built a robot, we love our robot, but as soon as it becomes clear that we have no chance of making it to Einstein, it's time to figure out how we can toss that robot in the dumpster and build a platter to hold cheesecake (largely) conceived of, designed & built by a team that still has a chance to get to the Big Show.

It is my sincere hope that FIRST can figure out a way to prevent this in the future.

Joe J.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Everyone,
Thank you for the nod to the inspection staff. We are happy to be of help, you really challenged us. This device/assembly/(add your own words) was a challenge to evaluate for legality under the robot rules and to believe it to be safe for the teams and any human close by. I am happy to report that everyone we were involved with, acted with the utmost GP in assisting us with the process. It was obvious that the design team had thought and planned for everything I thought might be an issue. While scary in looks and operation, it contained significant safety features and system backups should anything fail during deployment or operation. I would like to restate for the team involved that you acted with all the decorum expected of a Hall of Fame team and I am proud to have been involved in your endeavor.
Attached is a picture of the device in the transport configuration behind the Einstein fields. Yes it fit!

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I'm going to take your comment with the spirit in which I think you meant it and not as an insult. Saying "no disrespect" and then "horror show" in the same sentence does not come off as respectful. I don't think you meant it that way and I think I know what you meant.

I personally feel like the fix for this is better game design. I don't feel like you can stop teams doing what we did without seriously hurting something truly wonderful about collaborate at-event designs and re-designs. We used COTS items and KOP components to do what we did. The few custom components were well under the 30 pound limit. I would not want to remove the ability of any team to redesign their robot at an event.

I don't know that you can make it illegal but you can remove the incentive for anyone to do it. I think that is the best method forward.

I'm glad we are all talking about this though. It should be talked about.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I was a bit disappointed when I saw the harpoons field-side without them being ever deployed, but I imagine it was great fun and a real learning process to create an entirely new robot from scratch in only a matter of hours. I'll bet it was quite inspirational for all who were involved, both on the "donor" team (1114), the "recipient" team (900), and the other teams on the alliance (148 and 1923). You could even say the fact that some think it was a horror show is merely a form of recognition of their achievements in such a short time schedule.

While I understand that teams and individuals (me included) get attached to their specific robots, I fail to see the downsides of allowing teams to help others improve their robots. My team sends out members of our electrical, mechanical, and software sub-teams to help out anyone who asks on Thursday and Friday at regional events, and has even gone so far as to assist in building a robot on Thursday with a team that ended up on the winning alliance come Saturday! I personally would have loved to have experienced what the members of all four of those teams went through to design, build, inspect, and tweak a design like that in a matter of hours. I find the idea of collaborating with some of the greatest well-known minds in FRC (and even those who aren't well known!) to create an elegant solution to a problem immensely inspiring. Cheesecaking also helps people who enjoy the competition aspect more than the inspiration by creating a more competitive environment. If teams weren't allowed to make changes after the six weeks, except to replace broken parts, the whole year would go on looking like week one events.

Cheesecaking is something that, to me at least, is a great example of people working together to accomplish a difficult task in as little time as possible. That's what you will be expected to do in the workforce, even if it means taking cues from your competitors. Rebuilding is a part of the iterative design process and should not be feared to the extent that it is for some.

On the topic of the harpoons themselves, I can't wait to read the paper on them! I stopped by 1114's pits on Friday during lunch to see if I could take a look at their robot and was surprised instead by the four harpoons in the process of being assembled. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing them successfully deployed at IRI this July, so I might be able to see them in action!

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

The amount of work put into the in-event modifications was nothing short of amazing. I felt I really needed to say how AMAZED I am by the speed at which teams were able to produce new pieces and modifications. An unbelievable feat to witness. Truly remarkable!

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

My opinion: I support "cheesecaking" (still not the biggest fan of the term). BUT there is a difference between improving or adding a feature to a robot, versus builing a whole new robot.

At multiple events, can grabbers or ramps were added that made a world of a difference for teams. I support this, especially if the team learned from the experience.

in 900's case, (from what I can tell) a whole entire new AM14U2 chassis and superstructure was created. The only main thing from the original robot was electronics, from what i have read. This in my eyes is a whole new robot (especially since it was even said that 900's original robot was mechanically intact). I appreciate that all rules were followed to the dot, and especially love how each team dealt with it proffesionally, and I can tell everyone (even 1114) learned from the experieince, but my hopes are that in the future a rule is created that prevents "cheesecaking" to this degree.

Overall im happy (and not upset) that 900 did what they did, and learned so much in such a short time (probably a seasons worth of knowledge), but hope that a rule is created that prevents alterations/improvements to the point of creating a 2nd/new robot.

Side Note: Cudos to 900, for the crazy idea of approaching 1114 about being there "cheesecake platter". The amount of effort you guys put forth such as CADing a new drivetrain overnight, is beyond inspirational. 1114 could of tried to find a team themselves but 900 put fate into their own hands and made sure they were the chosen team. INSPIRATIONAL, BRILLIANT, AND SMART! 900 has shown that they arent afraid to go with a crazy, out of the box idea (another example: 2014 - shooting the ball almost full court)

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

My team's pit was directly next to 900's and across the aisle from 1114, so we watched this process the entire weekend. First, simple observations - I'll attempt to avoid opinions:

* It was clear that 1114 had designed the harpoons before arriving. They had a crew that began working on them almost immediately (Wed.?) in St. Louis. It's hard for me to know the precise start time as they spent time working on both their robot and the (at the time) unidentifiable cheesecake.

* It was also clear that the harpoons, by design, were more than a little cheesecake. They would have to replace most, if not all of a robot.

* Team 900 did start formally working with 1114 Friday afternoon/evening.

* Though, until Friday, it was clearly the work of 1114, once the Zebracorns were involved, their students were actively involved in the construction process - there were typically more of them around the bot working than 1114.

* Before eliminations started, team 900's entire bot (sans electronics?) were put into their crate. They did, in fact, build an entirely new robot.

* The new robot was clearly very small and only meant to make it legally defined as a robot. It was not going to be picking up and moving the harpoons anywhere. It also had no other ability than to perform the autonomous routine.

* The students on 900 seemed fine with the arrangement.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

At what point does improving a robot become a new one all together? I have no issues with improving a robot, but when you pour your heart and soul into a robot that you call your own, then 95% of it gets replaced by someone else is it really you improving your bot?

I have great love and respect for the teams involved, it just makes me sad to see whole robots thrown aside.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

This is a great question, and one I've mused over with many people. So far, I've found it impossible to come up with a rule wording that can draw the line clearly at a certain amount of cheesecaking- how do you allow an assembled gearbox without allowing an entire arm? How do you allow and arm without allowing an entire robot? A vague rule could be created that would require on-site interpretation for each presented solution, but I don't see how we can make it a plain black and white difference.

I also think it's important in this thread to be clear on one thing: any dislike of the rule that allows cheesecaking should not extend to these teams or this situation. They played the game according to the rules given and to the best of their abilities - if this rule hadn't been present, then I highly doubt we would have seen this take place :). One of the great things about FRC is seeing teams push the limits and boundaries in a gracious manor, and forcing the rest of us to rethink our basic conceptions of how to approach the game challenge. They definitely accomplished that here!

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

It's just some metal and electronics. Yeah, work went into it but the point is to inspire and build students, not just robots. Does a robot make the team or does the team make the robot? The determination and drive of a team is what gets you to Einstein, not just a robot.

Our team looks at engineering challenges as just that, engineering challenges. The goal is to win the challenge and come out on top. Sometimes that involves going back to the drawing board. Our strategists predicted a machine like the one we built with 1114 would be required to help win the event and I'm glad we got to build it. It wasn't going to win a regional but it very well could have decided Einstein.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Now, my opinions...

* I do not believe the teams did anything against the rules. (Okay, I was wondering whether or not the harpoons would be considered "safe," but figured that was something the inspectors and/or referees could decide.)

* I got the idea that the harpoons may not have been fully ready for competition... The last time I saw them fired (during the Curie finals), they grabbed two bins, but knocked the other two over to the other side.

* I am not a fan of this level of cheese-caking. The harpoons were clearly a device that very few teams were able to construct and, were we to compete against them, we would have felt like we were competing against an alliance of 148-1114-1114. That just does not seem right to me. Moreover, if a team is going to be competing on the championship fields, should it not have to use its own robot?

* Are we really at a point that the key to being asked onto the #1 alliance is to toss the competition bot you've played with all seasons, bring a KoP kit and ask an elite team to cheesecake you? This just strikes me as bad - and quite un-inspirational - especially to teams who were far stronger than 900 this weekend and had to watch the elimination rounds.

* It also begs the question, with all the emphasis and prestige of winning, does 900 now get to claim they reached Einstein? I suppose. It just seems strange to say so as the team finished in 75th place out of 76 teams and didn't enter into a single playoff match.

* I don't really blame the game-design for this. Designing a game that has never before existed or been played is difficult. It is nearly impossible for a group to foresee all the possible ways teams will interpret and/or play the game before it is actually played. It's not like they can look at last year's games and see what this year would be like. No, this is largely a question of culture. What do we as a community consider "acceptable?" How do we define "sportsmanship" and "gracious professionalism"? These are questions FIRST will have to tackle and we'll likely get some sort of rule clarification from it. Of course, none of that will do any good unless the FIRST community can come to some sort of consensus about whether this sort of activity is acceptable.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I didn't check (was a little busy Saturday) but I'm willing to guess there are other alliances who had not yet played their 4th bot when reaching Einstein.

Of course they 'get' to claim they reached Einstein. They put in more work in one day than I think I've ever seen in my now 15+ years as a FIRST observer.

They were on our alliance. Even if just for that one day, we're a family. We win and lose as a unit.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Indeed.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

First of all, 900 is one of my favorite team in FRC. We had a qualification match with them in Archimedes 2014, and they were fantastic to work with. We tried some crazy ideas in our practice match with them before it that most teams wouldn't have been willing to try (full-court catching strategy. It would have been sick if it worked.
900 consistently thinks outside the box and has an overwhelming desire to win at the highest levels, which I admire about them so much.

From what I've heard from everyone involved, it was an incredibly inspiring experience for students on that whole Alliance, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it from that perspective.

I can understand why an opponent might be upset at this, but I don't blame any of the teams involved, I do blame the game design.

Everyone knew from then beginning of the season that finals on Einstein was going to be decided by can races- that was an obvious game flaw, and we knew how an arms race would end- we saw it happen in 2011, where teams with more resources were able to create faster minibots and won a world championship because of it.

Congrats to Team 900 on doing what it takes to reach the Einstein semifinals, as well as their alliance partners and supporters.

I'll be using 900 as an example of doing what it takes to win for anyone who will listen for the next year or so, until they reach Einstein again.

Bold prediction: 900 reaches Einstein again in 2016. Calling it right now.

Good luck, and I hope to compete with you next year.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

You are a brave man. I hope it comes true but only time will tell. I can tell you that next year will be just like this year. My students, fellow mentors, and myself will be working towards the same goal we had this year.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

They certainly were on the alliance and, yes, I do hold the belief that you win and lose as an alliance. However, should that not not also include playing as an alliance? Yes, had the harpoons been deployed, 900 would have played a role. (Whether or not that really would have been team 900 is a different question.) I also struggle with your team's role in eliminations. You burgled cans (with 148's cheesecake, yes?) and then rolled into a corner - when you were in matches. You spent most (?) half (?) off the field while 1114 and 148 did everything.

There was nothing illegal about this. I just could not imagine picking a "partner" and telling them that it's better for the alliance to play short-handed than to put them on the field. Even with partners that more frequently cost alliances points than gain points, we find ways to involve them in the game.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

They absolutely reached Einstein. To me it seems strange that anyone would even question that.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I struggle with you level of disrespect. You can try all you want to insult our alliance partners and take away from their accomplishments, but it's not going to work.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Something about sticks, stones, and blue banners...

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Excuse me if I missed it somewhere, but why weren't the harpoons ever deployed? It seems to me like SF6 on Einstein would be the last ditch match as Newton and Curie were both fighting for that second spot.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Since you guys have one harpoon left, do you guys happen to have the CAD files for it? If so would you guys be willing to share them at all? They would be pretty interesting to look at. Anywise, thanks.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

We didn't play in the Curie QFs because we were still getting through inspection. Please see our own writeup about our experience here and others' responses in the Cheesecake Runaway thread. This will help explain our role in the match a little better, perhaps.

Sorry you struggled with it. My kids loved every moment of it.

They wore their medals to school today with pride, and your issue with it is not my problem.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I do not disrespect your alliance partners at all. I simply struggle with the chosen game strategy.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

As someone who was the 4th member of a championship alliance last year, never played in a single match, and made it to Einstein its an opinion that we found out is pretty common in FRC. It is an unfortunate result of the four member alliance structure that some robots just might not play and still receive a banner or medal.

Most people choose not to say it in a public forum so I actually commend you for saying it in public.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Claiming that we don't deserve to say we're an Einstein team is pretty disrespectful.

Yes, "we".
148, 1114, 1923, 900.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I'm glad your kids enjoyed it and took pride in it. I'm just saying that it is a game strategy that I could not have supported.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I didn't say that. I simply said I struggled with your role.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

No, your statement precisely disrespected them, whether it was your intent or not. Frankly I'm tired of seeing both 1923 and 900 have to deal with these slights. There are students on these teams who read these forums and now see people questioning the validity of their position on an alliance. It's both rude and unfair.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Very well. I apologize for being/showing/expressing disrespect. It was certainly neither intended nor thought.

Is it okay to disagree or struggle with a chosen game strategy on personal principle?

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Absolutely. But claiming a team doesn't deserve what they have because they didn't use your preferred strategy is what wasn't okay.

Appreciate you clarifying your intent.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

That is a 1114 question, it would be presumptuous of me to post something like that. (Although, in years past, 1114 has posted cad here: http://www.simbotics.org/resources/cad)

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I would like to thank you, Karthik, for your lovely and quite gracious personal message.

I know our team will never have as many blue banners as your team nor will we ever build robots as glorious as yours. That does not, however, mean that you have any special authority or some monopoly on integrity.

The question as to whether or not you should have to three robots on a three-team alliance is a good one for discussion. I get it: you think that it's okay to sit the third robot on the sidelines if it helps your team to win. I don't. We disagree. Deal with it.

I do not have any disrespect for your alliance partners and I'm sorry if it came out that way.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I think it is amazing what you guys were able to do in just 7 hours. it shows the level of dedication your team and your alliance partners have, I applaud you all for putting in so much hard work. Everyone who worked hard deserves to be recognised for their amount of hard work and passion they put into the robot in 7 hours.

I applaud team 900, team 1923, team 1114 and team 148. You guys all worked hard and you all deserved to be on Einstein.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Those who can, how about we all step back for a sec on the jabbing back and forth?

It’s only been two days, everyone needs some time to decompress and of course talk. Let’s just try to limit the crossfire here, and respect everyone’s need to vent; the past week has been intense for all of us. Let’s try not to drag that out.

Please don’t fight!

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I'm confused. That portion of the discussion was over. What purpose does this post serve if not disrespect?

Dragging one of the most dedicated FIRST mentors on this planet through the mud because you're frustrated about a red dot is absolutely unneccessary. I know Karthik personally - I'd venture to say better than probably anyone on this forum - and I cannot imagine a universe in which he would act in a manner that warrants such a rude public response.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

You're absolutely right. As a contributor to the negativity here, I apologize. This thread should be to discuss Team 900's journey at the Championship. Sorry that I derailed the topic. I'm going to do what I should have done long ago, which is to ignore the negativity and celebrate the positivity. Thanks for the reminder.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

First off, I want to preference my post by congratulating ALL 4 of the championship winners. It was a great strategy and well within the rules. I have no issues with the strategy.

I understand and support finding ways for any team to contribute more to an alliance. At the Southfield District in Michigan this year, a team took a cardboard trash bin from the event and taped it to their robot for the elimination matches. During the match, they loaded their alliance's remaining noodles in it and drove to the landfill to score points. No one cried "Foul" there, nor should they have. Teams then expanded to sharing can burglars and ramps, again with no one crying "Foul" (that I can remember anyways).

The strategy that this alliance came up with was brilliant. It sounds like it was an amazing experience for all involved. They didn't break any rules, no one was bullied into doing anything, they simply came up with a strategy to try to win.

I am, however, a little concerned with what "cheesecaking" may become. Are we going to continue down this path to the point at which a team simply builds three robots and slaps their partners' numbers on them for the match?Again, I am not accusing anyone of doing anything wrong. I am simply wondering what the future holds.

Again congratulations to ALL 4 of the championship winners. To insinuate that a team does not deserve the championship win as part of the alliance just because they didn't play in a match is absurd. Does a backup quarterback "not deserve" a ring when their team wins a Superbowl? Everyone has their role to fill. That's what makes you a team/alliance.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Same. It's done.

900, you rock. We love y'all. Sorry this junk ended up in a thread about your amazing story.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I think that's a great way to look at it.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Awww... We love y'all too.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I made my point and went too far... and worded things less delicately than I should have. For that I apologize. I will consider getting so sleep before posting more.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I'm up for a seven hour robot build :P Not sure how well that would go over with the rest of the 'Snow Problem team though.

Thank you for the incredible read. Your story truly is the stuff of FRC legend. Hopefully we'll see you on Einstein again in coming years!

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I would like to say a few things here to answer items that have come up in the last page.
In the past, if a team broke down, the alliance was forced to accept the next team in the list as a partner. If another robot broke, the next robot in line was brought up. With the current structure, an alliance now gets to chose their relief which allows them to plan strategy a little better. If more than one robot breaks, the alliance must play with what ever is left of the alliance. It is a tradeoff that most teams gladly accept. Personally, I saw the chance with the old method that more than three or four teams could share in the hardware. Please note, it is the alliance that shares regardless of how many teams actually play. The unplayed alliance team still is (should) be included in alliance decisions, successes and failures.

Team 900 and 1114 (and all teams on Einstein) played the game as designed, using the rules as any great strategist should. Have you not listened to the various strategy (cough Karthik cough) seminars? It does not matter really whether you like the rules or not, those that win, play with the rules they are given.

The robot built/rebuilt by Team 900 contained parts of their robot that was initially inspected at the 2015 Championship and was found to be legal to compete under the Robot and Tournament rules.

Inspectors were assigned to stay with the team while they worked in the pit and as the picture(s) show above, many additional inspectors were present to assist inspection behind the Einstein pits. The alliance was very cooperative in getting through this process.

The four assemblies collectively weighed around 80 pounds so the control platform had to be modified to make weight. I believe when accurately totaled, the time period was likely longer than the seven hours stated. I was brought in to check progress and review the design somewhere in the middle of the process, likely around 3:00 PM on Friday.

While the design looks scary, imposing and possibly dangerous, I can assure it was not. The team had done considerable design work to provide safety, backup systems and limits to travel. The strings visible in the video are more for travel limit than for retrieval. The only concern for me occurs during loading the darts. I had a long discussion with the pit crew and drive team on this subject. We were able to come to an acceptable method that would protect all participants and minimize any accidents. The alliance also fully understood the risks should contact be made with anything on the opposite side of the field or outside of the field boundary.

No one should question the decisions teams make to give what they think is anything less than a spectacular experience to their students. In looking back I can only hope that my involvement gave something positive to the students (and mentors) I worked with. I felt we were a team working towards a common goal. Please let me know if there was anything I could have done better. I expect that all of the inspectors, Ed Sparks, Chuck Dickerson, Ken Platteschore, Jon Stratis, and Matt Mitag (working from the picture earlier) and any of the inspectors back in the pits feel the same way.

While I am more conservative than most, I still want to see it fire in competition. IRI???

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

A bit surprised you guys feel that way. If you don't want to post it, thats a different story, but this design and implementation was a very collaborative effort by your own standards. You shouldn't think it presumptuous of you to post something like that in my opinion because by working so hard on it, it is equally yours.

Does it belong to you as much as them? I can't speak for 1114 but I would be interested to see if they feel the same way I do.

Regardless, if you/your team do not want to post, thats an okay decision, I just think you should be making it on your own behalf, not on behalf of another team.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I can't speak for others, but personally I feel that a lot of the "cheasecaking" had to do with the game this year. We knew on day 1 of build season that the matches would (99% of the time) be decided within the first few seconds by who could grab the cans first.

That being said, we also knew that there was absolutely no way that "can burgler" without the ability to then place the cans on stacks would have let us win the regionals we attend. We made the choice to build the robot we would need to (hopefully) succeed at regionals.

That robot was definitely not up to the task at Championships. Not only was it mechanically flakey (we had to replace the output shafts of the motors nearly every match which involved removing the entire arm. Just ask AndyMark how much we abused their products this year!), but we knew it wasn't fast enough.

Even before knowing which field we were going to be on, we had discussed leaving the arm at home and building something new to put on the robot for Championships. It was eventually decided that we should keep the arm, we wanted to see the autonomous with vision we had worked so hard on.

Overall, I think that there are two main benefits that came out of this.
First, our students were inspired, they got to work with some other teams very closely to accomplish a very very impressive engineering feat.
Second, we got to meet and work with 1114, 148 and 1923. We hope that we will have a lasting relationship with them for years to come. As we continue to grow as a team, having these contacts we can ask for advice and as a guide for how we can help improve our team will be invaluable. I can't wait to see them at worlds next year! Also, meeting Libby was awesome! We are super proud to be part of Team Unither and we hope to grow those bonds and be able to work more closely with them in the future!

Sorry for the long ramble-y post :)

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Al, you're amazing. I'm not sure if I had the opportunity to shake your hand but I can tell you that the inspectors working with my students behind the curtain (literal curtain behind the Einstein fields) made a huge impression on them. Thank you!

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Knowing my colleague as I do, he was simply saying that we just need to confer with our awesome alliance partners before we post anything. It is a shared setup after all.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Then fault the GDC and FIRST for allowing it, not the teams operating within the rules.

Haters gonna hate, Cheesers gonna cake.

I love the harpoons. Hopefully we will see them in action at IRI :)

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Marshall, it is all I can ask of them. I shook a lot of hands last week, chances are pretty good, yours were one of them.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Agreed, it is a shared setup, and you should discuss with 1114. Make sure not to completely defer to them, as I think your colleague may have implied in his post. It is not presumptuous of him to own that work. He worked hard on it, and it is as much your as theirs.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I admit that I really wanted to see the harpoons in action on the field, fully working. I think it's an amazing idea.

From an engineering perspective, I think it's impressive if a team came out from a six week build season with it, let alone a 7ish hour time period. Well done to all that contributed, I remember walking past it in the pits and being amazed!

From an educational perspective, I think it must be incredibly inspiring to work closely alongside teams such as 1114 and 148.

However, from a sporting/competition perspective, I think it's a dangerous precedent that should be discouraged in some way.

They tried to ban it. It just happens to be an incredibly difficult thing to outlaw and had to leave it as a loophole.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Just would like to say that I think that all 4 members of an alliance (no matter the amount of play time) get to share in the winnings.

I have a lot of respect 148 (one of my favorite teams), 1114, 1923, and 900. Karthik and Libby are both great mentors that do so much for their team and the FIRST community.

Watching that last semi-final match was insane I was on the edge of my seat. I think MrJohnston also made some points that I feel are correct. Recycle Rush at its core was a game of consistency. I am personally not a fan of telling robots to sit and just wait for the end of the game (especially since this year there was no defense, or endgame. Finding a job was more challenging).

Just food for thought if 1923 had put up 1 tote in teleop, in each SF match, you would have a different set of world champions right now. That is just one tote a match, I would trust almost any team this year with that task. Even if they spent the whole match doing just that 1 tote. It still is a contribution that would have made a huge difference. And after watching 1923 this year I am sure they could have done this easily.

In the end it was just a poor strategy decision, but from reading all of the posts from 900, 1923, and 1114 it sounds like the kids had a blast being there, learning from some great teams, and were able to make some great memories which is what FIRST is all about. Great job all around :)

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

This snippet caught my attention.

First, our team are HUGE supporters of Karthik's strategy seminars. We base much of our strategy department on them. EVERY team can learn something from them.

Second, if teams don't play the rules they are given I think they are doing themselves a big disservice. This is the fun in FIRST to me. FIRST is about pushing the boundaries of engineering. Many times the teams who are successful are the ones playing in unconventional ways.

Every single team has the same rules to follow.

Last Thing:
Only speaking for myself and not our alliance but I really really wanted to see 900 play on Einstein. Not sure if we would have beaten them in the can war or not but I just wanted to see those harpoons. Crazy Idea that I thought was totally awesome. Big props to that whole alliance.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Clearly you have never met anyone on our team :). We are some of the most stubborn people I've ever met. Makes for some fascinating team dynamics! The statement was definitely to respect 1114's interest in the project as well.


I disagree with this. As 1923 has already said, they were less reliable loading their robot without their ramp (which they couldn't have and can burgle). Since 148 got nearly all of the bins stacked from the HP station, it is definitely possible that the totes falling sideways out of the feeder station trying to feed them to 1923 would have actually decreased the number available to 148 and would have meant less points for the alliance. With the close quarters and not being able to see, there was also a higher risk of knocking over stacks. As has been previously said by the teams, the alliances discussed the possibility of having 1923 stack and decided as a group that it was a higher risk than they were willing to take. I have the utmost respect for 1923 for being able to make that decision and put the needs of the alliance above their desire to stack themselves

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I never said that the strategy was not decided as a group. I am sure 900, 1923, 1114, and 148 all had long discussions about the strategy together especially with 900 getting up and running with the cheesecake. All the teams I know have great drivers, students, and mentors :)

I was saying that no stack needed to be made, even if they just dropped in one tote (from the other feeder station, opposite of Robin) and pushed it up onto the scoring platform (even if it was sideways). That would have been all they needed in the match. I think 148 would have been okay with having just one tote less. It was hard to tell but did they ever drain the human stations by themselves? And I know that it is easy to see what could have happened once the event is done and over with. But I was just showing how such a small strategical decision could have a big outcome.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I believe they were constantly within a few totes of the human stations being cleared by themselves. And the likelihood that a single tote would land sideways/upside down was not negligible.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

If the tote fell sideways it still would have been fine just push it right up onto the scoring platform. Spend the whole match making sure that at least one tote was scored. That is all I was saying.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Understood! It was a risk vs reward decision.

It could also be said that if 148's auto had worked in just one more SF match it wouldn't have been nearly so close :)

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Yup that is also very true as well :)
Little things can make a big difference.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

After all this argument, I am certain there is something we can all agree on.
From the 21-seconds-left noodling of one of 118's stacks to them pushing a piece of litter into the landfill during the last moments of the match, to each and every noodle human players missed or scored, the semifinals, especially semifinal 6, was one of the most stressful, hand-wringing, and emotionally charged moments of my entire high school experience.
As a student at the end of my senior year, I can't believe I was part of such an amazing event. I have only gratitude towards all the teams at the event, and I am certain there are hundreds, if not thousands, of other inspired students much like myself. And isn't that the point of this all?
Sincerely, to all the teams that challenged me, inspired me, and brought me to tears of joy at the end of it all,
Thank you.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Seeing the video of the 1114/900 mechanism was quite interesting. We had developed a "counter-counter-cheesecake" to this counter-cheesecake that may have left a mess in both landfills. In the end, we might have left 118 off the field and used 1671 to stack from HP station while 5012 and 900 had can wars.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Darn it.... now I can't stop imagining an entire counter full of cheesecake.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I really want to hear about the strategy you guys had developed with 5012. I have only heard bits and pieces. I hope someone is working on a write up. Y'all were an amazing alliance!

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I wish 1671 was given some cheesecake, would have been nice to celebrate with some desert lol.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

Immediately after 5012 was picked, 118 got to work putting their cheesecake on the back of the robot (dubbed "Bane"). They finished their cheesecake sometime during division semis, if I remember correctly.
Meanwhile, 1678 was building and testing a separate cheesecake. This was originally designed to be mounted on top of a robot drive base, but a wooden frame was used as a substitute since 5012 was being cheesecaked at the same time. After the 118-1678-1671-5012 alliance won their division, we started planning the counter-counter-cheesecake against 1114's harpoons. This ultimately led to the wooden frame being the final mounting spot for the cheesecake, and after cutting some weight off of both 5012 and the second cheesecake, the whole assembly (5012+118's "Bane"+1678's tethered cheesecake) was under 120 lbs. It was good to go by Einstein semis, if I recall correctly.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

It was ready just after Newton Finals. Preparation of our cheesecake was setting up the mechanism on a stand-in kitbot frame, a wood base on Friday. Saturday morning the plan changed to make it able to tether to 3rd bot with our robot parked OVER it. The mechanism was tested with 5 wraps in the pits while being weighed down with 2 cinder-blocks and 2 sandbags and grabbed the cans in 158 ms AFTER BUCKING NEARLY A FOOT off the ground and shrugging the blocks off. So if our robot could hold it down even better on the field there would be less wasted energy propelling it even faster! Then after auto we would drive off of Tether-Cake and stack some totes while leaving those 2 cans to be tied up the whole match.

Re: 900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles
 

I love it. Mutually assured destruction. The level of strategy at play is just impressive considering this game.