Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

What was such a epic moment for me during the competition was the silence after the first final round, i never heard so many people pause and wait for the final points on that board, it was a nerve recking event (driver of 2513, the spining blue and green robot) but i enjoyed it and i gotta say it was an amazing experience for all of us, i was really hyped! I hope everyone got some good practice and a taste of whats it like, now none of us are rookies :)

PS - 2337 never looked like a rookie team to me, that mario hammer was an amazing touch, i liked it :) great job guys

Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

Team powersurge's robot took a thorough beating after having the wheels fall off, getting knocked over twice, and literally getting impaled through the heart by another robot's claw, but I think she did just fine. We were so surprised when we won an award, not to mention the gracious professionalism award!:D

thanks to all the teams who helped us out while we were there.

Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

I definitely agree on 2337's hammerbot. That thing was a lot of fun to watch in action.

Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

Here are some more pics from the Kettering Rookie event. All the photos are full resolution if you click on the medium sized photo it will open in a new window (or right click to save-as).

NOTE: Selecting on "all" photos takes a long time to load because only the "favorites" are cached.

DTW Eliminations Day: Favorites (284) All (968)

-J

Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

Great job Indy girls.

Tell Ollie I see him hiding behind the robot.

Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

not gonna lie, i had fun, met some cool people from 2619, 2645 and 2431 had a lot of fun talkin with them and hangin out. looking foward to regionals. btw, did our team win any awards, we all left early because were rebels

Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

Video will be available in a few days. This is being compiled from the Kettering Video Department, who did a great job of capturing the whole event.

Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

From what i've been hearing, im starting to get nervious for GLR. Now all of these non-rookies are going to outshine some of the older teams! Great job guys and cant wait for GLR :)

Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

Ditto for West Michigan. I wish I could have made it over to see all of the fun.

Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

Bullet Bill was awesome to watch! We were so impressed by all the rookie bots, and being the only Canadian team there, felt very welcomed by our American friends. Thanks rookie (and now not-so-rookie) teams!! That event prepped us big time for our actual regional and despite the technical glitch, was very well run. Everyone on the team had an amazing time.

Antoine
Mentor - Team 2609

Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

im gettin some video and picture off my camera, so if any of you want me to check and see if i got something of your team let me know and ill get it to you

Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

carter i need our pictures so we can get them in for the yearbook

Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

Had a great time at the Rookie Competition. Here's the story of the competition from my perspective:

The Super-Rookie

2337's robot was head and shoulders above everyone else. Beautiful mechanum drive that was speedy and expertly driven. They were a launcher that could shoot stationary or on the fly. Their "Mario Hammer" launcher mechanism was a plastic sledgehammer that started vertical-up, and swung 270 degrees and literally punted the ball over the overpass. Plenty of lift, plenty of distance, super-efficient, fast reset. Beautiful! The only thing stopping them from being a world-class hurdler is their ball pickup, which they struggled with a lot early on. Like 25, they depend on pushing the ball up against the wall of the field, but unlike 25, they had to maneuvre an arm in place to get under the ball to do it. Improving pick-up will be key, and will push them from a 1-3 hurdle/match robot to a 3-5. That's enough to captain and carry an alliance at a lot of regionals, IF they can improve pick-up.

I normally don't single out teams like this, but the potential behind this machine certainly deserves recognition.

Next Week's Darkhorse

2668 came out of nowhere in the eliminations and attempted a ton of hurdles. I didn't see anything resembling a hurdle from them in the qualifications, so when they perfectly shot one over for the first time, my jaw dropped. Some hurdle attempts hit the front crossbar of the overpass (robot too close to overpass), and a few hit 2668 on the way down as the trackball fell (driver drove full blast under the overpass as it shot). Both looked to be easy fixes, and this robot will probably be good for 2-3 hurdles next time around. That's 1st round pick potential in my books.

Rookie Underdogs

2513 was ranked 2nd last after qualifications. They had a speedy, well-driven, low-profile, small foot-print robot. It had no arms or claws, but it was arguably the competition's best herder - when it had a chance to herd. Early in the competition, trackballs in play were hard to come by. With no mechanism to knock them down from the overpass, 2513 was pretty much relegated to being a pure lap-bot. Even when a trackball was knocked down, the fasionable thing to do was hurdle, so other robots would gain possession of it immediately, leaving 2513 to do laps again. The double jeopardy was that many end-games were decided by knocking down your opponent's trackballs to prevent the 12 point bonus. 2513 was powerless to do this, and as a result lost most of their qualification matches. Their upside was outstanding, but I wasn't sure they were going to get picked for the eliminations. Despite their near dead-last ranking, given the right strategy, I felt they had the 4th highest scoring potential of any robot at Kettering. But would any teams see the same thing?

The Evolution of the Game

Four distinct strategies emerged at Kettering. In order they were:

1) Chaos: Alliances would try desperately to knock off their own trackballs to put them into play. They often wouldn't achieve this until very late in the match, leaving no time to herd, hurdle, or replace them on the overpass. The other alliance would be wholly unsuccessful in knocking their trackballs off, despite their best efforts. By failing to put their trackballs into play, they secured the 24 points in bonuses, winning the match. The irony of the crowds cheering their alliances knocking off their own trackballs late in the game was mostly lost.

2) Cheapshot: Of course there's nothing cheap about it! Alliances would focus on knocking off their opponent's trackballs to prevent them from gaining the 24 points in bonuses. In the meantime, they would collectively race around the track as many times as possible, leaving their own balls on the overpass. As this strategy evolved, alliances would postpone knocking their opponent's trackballs off until as late as possible. The good arm bots like 2591, 2603, and 2609, countered by being able to place the trackballs back on immediately after being knocked off.

3) The Cream: As eliminations came around, and more capable robots teamed up in the top alliances, standard strategies emerged. Alliances would put their own trackballs into play as quickly as possible, and try to hurdle them. At the end, they would knock the opponent's balls down to prevent the bonuses. During eliminations though, matches with hurdling had 1-2 hurdles per alliance. Scores were breaking 40, but rarely 50.

4) The Clear: This is why it was hard to believe these guys were rookies. Take an alliance with robots that COULD hurdle 1-2 hurdles per match. Have them do the math, and figure out that you could consistently break 50 points by triple-team herding. Get them to swallow their pride to give up hurdling, and make it a team effort to do laps. While lapping, whenever a ball was in front of you, push it forward. With all three robots doing this, the balls would get around the track nicely on their own. No robot would feel tempted to go backwards and risk a G22 penalty to herd a lost ball, because they knew their alliance partners close behind would cover.

Wrap-up

The two top ranked alliances met in the final. #1 ranked 2604, 2337, and 2627 ran their side of the tree using "The Cream" with some extremely impressive displays of hurdling on 2337's part. The #2 ranked 2619, 2609 and 2513 ran "The Clear" the entire way through, despite having robots that could've hurdled.

When the two teams met in the finals, isn't wasn't clear if 2.5 * hurdles > herds.

Finals 1-1 was won by the #2 alliance, as 2337's Mario Hammer was damaged in the semi's, and after repairing it, their hurdle attempts drifted wide.

Finals 1-2 was a different story. 2337 was hurdling as well as they had all competition, and hurdled at least 2. They held a ~10 point lead in the dying seconds of the match, with no trackballs on any overpass. The #2 alliance couldn't make up the difference by herding the remaining balls. With only seconds remaining, 2609 smartly grabbed the trackball they were herding, elevated it, and barely beat the buzzer, releasing the ball over the overpass, and having it settle nicely on top.

Think Reggie Miller, launching up his patented ugly two-handed turnaround desperation three at the buzzer. The one that you have no doubt is going in...

It was a vet move, using gutsy strategy, which brought a win over an alliance which I thought had superior robots.

I have the feeling that many at Kettering wondered what was so great about the winning #2 alliance. Their wins were very under the radar, and I doubt any would have said their robots where the best there. I'm sure after some of their wins, many asked "How did they win that match? It didn't look like they did much."

But really, that's why they were so impressive.

-Shawn T. Lim...

Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

Good to see all these rookie teams getting out, and I can relate to you being the only Canadian team there, 2609. We were the only Canadian team at the Kettering Kickoff (held at the same facility in October, playing 2007's game) this year. Maybe 2609 and 1075 will meet up and be a force from the North (well, actually east, but who's counting) at Kettering Kickoff 2008.

Re: Kettering University Rookie Competition
 

As one of the Head Mentors for Team 2337, I am astonished to see the kind comments you all have been leaving - THANK YOU!! The team worked really hard this season, and the students worked VERY hard on the Robot. We made many new friends at the Kettering Rookie Competition - so thank you all for your support!

We look forward to seeing you all at Detroit and West Michigan Regionals!