Re: Most Unfortunate Incedents
 

I was actually thinking of that match as one of our most painful losses - I just didn't have the strength to put it into words. There was much wailing and gnashing of teeth.:eek:

Re: Most Unfortunate Incidents
 

In 2006 at Lone Star during a quarterfinal match, we turned our robot right, and our battery went left. Needless to say that was the end of the match for us.:(

Re: Most Unfortunate Incidents
 

Lets see...

Well for starters, last year being our rookie year we placed 5th in the VCU regional. I honestly think that this was bad for us. I know at least for myself that I and most of the returning members had unrealistic ideas about how well we were going to do this year, being very bummed when we dint even make it in the top 30.

And this year, we had a flawed idea from the start. Some I and a few other member spearheaded a tosser design, which was ultimately shot down due to the fact that it would cause the ball to be thrown out of the arena or hit other bots, damaging them, etc. Instead we settled for a design that wasn't even built, so the idea the team voted on was never put into practice. Any one who saw us could see that we had very large wide arms, to be used for catching the ball, not driving around the track. Well since we did have to drive (important people on the team *cough* *mentors and such* thought we would be able to sit and wait for the ball) it made it very tough on me as a driver to navigate the track. Eventually be tied our arms down and I had more to work with, making the team mad in the process. Over all we had problems from the start.

Re: Most Unfortunate Incidents
 

In the middle of one of our (early) matches this year, our wheels stopped firing at the same speed and our robot started turning left and slamming into the center wall at high speed. =0 We still don't know what the problem was.

Re: Most Unfortunate Incidents
 

Hmm - most unfortunate....

Quarterfinals at Great Lakes. Us, Martians and Cat Attack against the Killer Bees, Feds, and Team R.O.B.O.T.I.C.S.

We won hard fought first match against them 72 to 70.
In the first run of the second match, we were up by 30 points when a piece of the field fell off. The match was stopped with 5 seconds remaining and we were told to replay it.

In the second-second match, it was again very hard fought. At the end of the match, one of the opposing alliance bot's bumped us from the side (no more than a normal hit, mind you) and our entire lift system ejected out the front of the bot.

We called timeout and worked to fix the lift. We thought we had it together, we manually ran it up and down, and sprinted the bot onto the field with 4 seconds left in the timeout.

In the third match, the lift went up 2 feet - and then our arm operator realized it wasn't coming back down. We had tied a single knot in the wrong place. He did the smart thing (way to think on your feet!) and didn't move it up anymore. That allowed us to lap. It came down to a last second hurdle and we lost by 6 points.

It was heartbreaking.

Re: Most Unfortunate Incidents
 

2003 Championships

After holding steady at 6th throughout the event, and many teams coming in and out of our pit 'selling themselves to us' trying to get a glimpse if we would pick them for our partners.

We went out for our final match with two strong alliances, with us losing a single drill motor on our drive just out of the gate. This left us with only the ability to 'spin in circles', out alliance just couldn't pul through till the end of the match.

The match bumped us down out of the top 8, and leaving us with the hopes of being picked for the big dance with all the teams who had checked us out. However, we were left devistate without a chance to play in the finals after such a strong showing with a great robot.

Re: Most Unfortunate Incidents
 

Reminds me of an episode in 2004...
330 had one of the few "slider" robots that year, with a drill motor 4WD skid steer drivetrain. It had an angled front to allow for climbing the 6" step.

Now, at the Fall Classic, they're dominating the morning rounds. Then a drive sprocket broke. It had been lightweighted a little too much. Not a big deal, right? Wrong. If it had been the other one on that side, play on. but it was the rear sprocket, and the rear wheel provided ALL the power during a certain period when climbing the step. Ended our tournament right there, because we didn't have a spare.

In retrospect, we might have been able to try hanging from the floor, but that involved a lot of twisting as the robot climbed.

The funny part is, we were still picked for eliminations. We respectfully declined.

Re: Most Unfortunate Incidents
 

2007- In Milwaukee, or Cleveland, our programmer programed the robot to go forward for five seconds........and forgot the STOP. Thus in autonomous mode the robot goes full speed all the way across the field, crashes into the wall wheels still spinning, and we're DQed for the rest of the match.

2007- In Atlanta, we were trying to get up on team 694 ramps with about 20 seconds left to go in that match. We try getting on twice, but get hooked on the railing on the side of the ramp both times. About five seconds to go, we get about half way on, balanced on the side ramp. The match ends, the robots turn off, and our robot tips over crashing to the ground. The picture of our drivers trying to "save" the robot ended up in the FIRST intro video under Your FIRST Challenge. ^_^ that was pretty awesome. The video that I got as media, of the robot falling shakes because I'm jumping up and down screaming "NO!" at the top of my lungs.

Renee

Re: Most Unfortunate Incidents
 

aim high: our robot was seeing a circular light instead of the box so it couldn't lock on, we fixed the programming in time to make it to the quarter finals in battlecry, only to be taken out when another robot collided with us and broke off a good portion of our robot.

overdrive: festo problems plaqued us threw the Bayou regional, we replaced everything and got everything working but it was a bit to late.

animation 2008: of topic but i think it counts, we read the dates wrong and only ended up with two weeks to do our animation (i think it still looked good and had a great time doing it but we hadda pull a few all nighters to get it done)

Re: Most Unfortunate Incidents
 

On the topic of animation. That animation won the Chesepeake regional.

Re: Most Unfortunate Incidents
 

2008 Wisconsin regional Semifinals 1675 is teamed with 1625 and 1730, 1625 burns up their shooter motor and 1730s grip gets demolished.

long story short we lost.

Re: Most Unfortunate Incidents
 

2006 Curie QF match 2, back when I was on 108, our auto ran into the ramp and caused the battery to disconnect. This event yeilded the highest score of the year! 171-68. Needless to say we were less than happy with our unfortunate circumstances. Then, again in 2007, at Las Vegas we were the number 8 seed, in the third QF match against the number 1 seed, and our battery fell out about 20-30 seconds into the match, causing our heavy defense strategy to fall apart, and thus the match to slip away.
Batteries can be the root of all evil. :( :( :( :( :(