2011 Philadelphia Regional

[thefro526]

I was a bit bored at work today, so I figured I'd do my predictions a day early.

Believe it or not, it’s the last week of Regional Competitions for the 2011 Season. Some teams hope to extend their seasons here by qualifying for the Championship, but for many it’s the end of the line.

Philadelphia is historically home to one of the most competitive and unpredictable regional events in all of FRC. Only once in the last 10 years has the #1 Seed taken home the Banner, and the last time we ventured to the Liacouras Center (2009) the Dark Horse #6 Alliance of 365, 395 and 56 took home the gold in rather convincing fashion.

Top Tier:

341 – Miss Daisy, without a doubt, is fielding one of the strongest robots in the field. If not for Electrical problems in Florida, they’d be coming into Philly with one Finals appearance - if not a Regional Win. If 341 can come out of the gate swinging like they did in 2010, then they might just pull off another Philly Regional Win.

103 – For those of you that haven’t seen the Cybersonics yet, I’d suggest you check out 25’s Machine this year. The two machines share similar elevators and claws, with the only distinguishable difference being the drive train. Their Elevator is among the fastest in FRC, but their claw just wasn’t able to make the cut in Florida. Count on 103 making some tweaks and putting up some serious numbers.

365 – MOE has won the last 3 Philadelphia Regionals so of course they get a mention here. I’m not sure if they’re up to their usual standard this year, but they are by no means bad. They were a very capable scorer in Chesapeake with an equally capable Mini-bot. If 365 can avoid the type of Defense they encountered in the Chesapeake Elims then they just might leave Philly with another Banner.

1647 – The Iron Devils are sitting right on the cusp of the Top Tier for me. They made it to the finals in NJ with 1089 after winning some very hard matches, relying heavily on their quick Mini-bot – but their tube scoring leaves something to be desired. If they can turn their game play up a notch, then expect 1647 to do well here.

Tips:

1403 – Cougar Robotics has fielded an extremely capable machine this year. It was capable of putting up its fair share of tubes in Chesapeake, but if memory serves me correctly, they were lacking a Mini-bot. Expect 1403 to work on fine tuning their machine throughout Thursday and Friday and do some damage in Eliminations.

272 – The Cyber Crusaders had a decent run in New York, but the lack of a consistent Mini-Bot and some bad luck in Alliance Selections left them sitting in the Stands after being Eliminated in the Quarter Finals. I hope to see 272 make some tweaks with their Mini-bot and it’s deployment and come out as Strong as ever.

395 – 2Train Robotics is one of the few Regional Winners in this field. Expect them to do some big things, but I’m curious to see if they’ll fair as well as they did in New York City.

357 – Royal Assault is always a Favorite in Philly. From what I’ve heard about their bot, it should be pretty good, but with Philly being their first competition, I hope that they don’t run into any issues.

486 – The Positronic Panthers won Philadelphia last year as the 3rd robot of the #1 Alliance, and they were by no means carried. They’ve come back for 2011 with a more than capable machine, and were able to put up some decent points in New Jersey. Expect them to be a player in the Elims, at least.

1640 – Sabotage Seems to have fielded another good machine for 2011. 1640 pulled off a semi final appearance at Finger Lakes, only losing to the eventual Champions. Expect them to do some big things here.

2729 – Storm is back for another Philadelphia Regional. They had a more that respectable performance in New Jersey, putting up some decent scores, while working on their Mini-bot’s consistency. I’m not sure how they’ll do here, I could see them being one of the top players, but at the same time I could see them slipping to 14th or 15th in the draft - we’ll have to wait and see.

56 – Robbe Xtreme is fielding another capable robot this year. From what I saw at DC, they have some serious potential that could be harnessed with some more practice. Harnessing that potential could be the difference between making it to the Finals and having another Quarter Final Exit. In any case, they’ve got a darn cool Mini-bot and deployment system, expect it to work well.

303 – Panther Robotics built another strong robot for 2011. With a Regional victory under their belts already, they’ve already proven their worth. Expect 303 to play a solid all around game and make it into the Eliminations.

Wildcard:

3553 – The South Philly Rambots have fielded one of the most interesting machines that the Philadelphia Regional may have ever seen. Their robot is essentially a semi-mobile wall, capable of expanding to approximately 7 feet wide. From what I’ve seen this could be a huge advantage for them, and for whoever they ally with in Eliminations. 3553’s major flaw will be their inability to control their destiny, as they rely on a scorer or two to get points on the board while they play defense. A good Mini-bot should help cover this flaw up somewhat, but who knows right now.

Others:

The remainder of the teams playing in the Eliminations will probably be some of these teams: 87, 102, 223, 316, 433, 834, 1302, 1370, 1712, 1980, 2607, 3123 and 3629.

Notes:

The Evolution of Mini-Bots since the earlier weeks of competition will be interesting to see. Almost every team that has competed in a week 4 or earlier event has probably been exposed to a “fast” mini-bot in one form or another so expect smart teams to show up with newer “Faster” mini-bots. Hopefully by this point in the season, there will be more teams with Mini-bots than without, and that should help move the focus of the game back to Tube Scoring and winning the Mini-bot race – not just being the only one to get to the top.

Ubertubes will be as important here as they were anywhere else. Expect at least one team to attempt scoring two Ubertubes in Autonomous (Most likely 341), and expect each Elimination Alliance to be capable of putting up at least two Ubertubes on the top row.