[Ken Streeter]

Is there a place this year for robots that cant hurdle?

Absolutely! The robot that I've seen this year that clearly demonstrated this was the robot of "The Riot Crew" from Portland, Maine, Team #58. At the week 1 Granite State Regional, this robot was the #4 scorer through the first 9 qualifying rounds according to the data collected by our scouting team. They scored a total of 292 points (an average of 32.44 per round) as follows:

• 0 hurdles
• 39 herds
• 20 robot-only laps
• 96 points in autonomous

They also dislodged quite a few opponent's balls at the end of the matches with their amazingly simple ball-dislodging mechanism which enabled them to dislodge balls while driving under the overpass at full speed.

They ended up as the #11 seed, and were the first pick by the #3 seeded team (1512) in the selection draft. The alliance of 1512, 58, and 1517 progressed to the finals of the tournament -- team 58 was a major contributor to that alliance's success!

The driving of Team 58's robot was a joy to watch, and once they acquired the ball, there wasn't much of an opportunity for other teams to take it away. It was a joy to watch and was well-deserving of the General Motors Industrial Design Award it received.

As to whether or not there will still be a role for such herders at the Championships, I don't know, but Team 58 and their herding robot was definitely a factor at GSR!