Troy District - 2012

[Alpha Beta]

Originally Posted by Adam Freeman

We have put camera aim on the shelf and have switched to manual mode. We feel this will give us between 3-4 extra balls/match. We are really excited to get a chance to see what we can do under these condition.

Today is going to be crazy! Stay tuned...

Definetly staying tuned.

Will camera aim still be available for your autonomous, or will that all be manual allignment?

[Richard Wallace]

Wow! QF 2-2 was decided by an inbounder's Hail Mary, 49-47!

[Adam Freeman]

Well that was an interesting weekend. After our cRIO/code issue between match 40 and 55 (3 matches missed), where 33 helped us collect 6 of our 8 qualifying points by winning a match without us and deciding to Coop balance with our short handed alliance, we barely edged out 469 for the #1 seed.

The Troy district is always a fun event. With such great teams signed up, we knew we wanted to have this on our schedule to make sure we were prepared heading into MSC. The teams this weekend did not disappoint.

Some Thanks/Notes:
- #1, even before 469...I have to give a huge THANK YOU! to 217. We were struggling with our camera aim, due to the lighting in the gym, and we were planning to switch to manual mode and see how well our drivers could do. 217 offered to give us their crosshair program to install onto our driver's station. As I said before, this was a huge revalation and really helped push our machine to the next level. I always look forward to being at a competition with the Thunderchickens. You are great friends and great competitors.

- 469: It took a long time for us to get to play together, but now we are 2 for 2 together this year. Your robot is incredible, an awesome scorer and balancer. We have so many options available to us when we play together. I love having the flexibility to change things on the fly, even though we didn't really need to this time. I can see our teams becoming closer and closer. Hopefully we will be able to continue that in the future.

- 244: We came to you with a bunch of different ideas on what we could do to maximize out Hybrid score, and you guys were open and willing to try anything we asked. You worked really hard getting that motor swapped out and writing new hybrid code. That was some awesome defense in the finals! Thanks for being great partners.

- 217, 548 and 2604, congratulations on being Finalists. I knew we were going to meet in the finals. We were really afraid of the combination of 217 shooting from the key and 548 scoring from the fender.

- Congratulations to the Killer Bees on the District Chairman's award. You are a great team and that was an awesome video. Thanks again for all the help this weekend.

- Congrats to all the teams that qualified for MSC. It going to be another amazing competition, I can't wait. See you in a couple of weeks.

[Tom Line]

I sometimes wondered if you couldn't have won that with only 2 robots on the field Adam. Frankly, 67 and 469 were so dominant it was scary. Adding a good third team into the mix with 244 made you unbeatable.

Vision aiming was a royal pain. Projection screens directly behind the targets make it very very difficult. We're going back and totally reworking our vision code because of it - especially because we know how hard it will be in the dome at St. Louis (if we can make it there).

We also learned (the hard way) that faster driver station laptops are better. Our classmate caused us some pretty significant problems.

It was fun working with you guys getting 4380's bridge balancer going. Helping rookies it always a blast.

2 weeks to fix all the problems, then we do it all over again!

[Mike Copioli]

Congrats to team 67, 469, and 244 on a well deserved win.

244 - you guys played well, and fit right in such a great alliance.

469 - So much to say about this team....I will keep it short...AWESOME as usual.

67 - The name says it all.... HOT. Every year the question is asked, "What team has the best robot?" IMO for 2012 the answer is HOT. Simply Amazing. While your robot performance may arguably be the best in FIRST, it is shadowed by your graciousness and class on the field. For those of you who were not at Troy, after the first match of the finals, the Blue Alliance having used it's only timeout, needed to make repairs to one of our alliance members. We were about to call in the backup when the Red alliance called a timeout on behalf of blue. This type of action is the mark of a true champion and sets an example for all teams to follow.

Team 469 and Team 67 have been friends of ours for several years and I have always had the highest level of respect for both teams. I hope the opportunity to work with either of you presents it's self soon.


Best of luck in the events to come.

[IKE]

Troy was a blast. As LRI I got to meet a lot of teams and I was really impressed with how prepared everyone was. thanks again for all of the volunteer inspectors helping to ensure fair competition and getting teams out on the field.

Congratulations to the winning alliance of 67, 469, and 244. Your triple balances were truly a team effort. You all were a force to be reckoned with on the field. Off the field, I was even more impressed with the generosity of time and effort applied by many of 469 to help get some struggling teams through inspection, and 67 leading an effort to improve one of our rookies. I think you all made a lasting impression in the pits.

Thank you for 217 providing the mobile machine shop. I was glad to see all the improvements from Detroit paying off for you guys.

A really big thanks to 216 for building a fun alliance. You and 226 did a great job.

Troy really showcased taht anything can happen, and I am excited to see how MSC shakes out in a couple weeks.

[Jack Jones]

Originally Posted by IKE

{snip}...

Troy really showcased taht anything can happen, and I am excited to see how MSC shakes out in a couple weeks.

The MSC just may shake out to be the year’s biggest test of coopertition. Based on what we’ve seen so far, the powerhouse team that coopertates most will seed first. That powerhouse is sure to pick another (the other?) powerhouse. There isn’t much doubt that together they will win the event.

IMO, the only way for MSC not to come to a foregone conclusion is to mitigate the effect of coopertition. One lofty goal would be for all matches to end in a coop balance so that WLT decides the seeding. Another, less lofty but more effective idea, would be for the lesser teams to decline coopertition with the big guys.

It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Will the Nash equilibrium hold, or will the lesser teams form cabals to improve their individual chances?

[Agentarrow]

Originally Posted by Adam Freeman

- 469: It took a long time for us to get to play together, but now we are 2 for 2 together this year.

Thanks Adam, I agree; it has been far too long, and we definitely need to continue playing together in the future.

To 67: Thanks for picking us, we make one heck of a team. You've got a wonderfully creative and equally dominant robot this year. I have no doubt that it will take you far. Besides the robot though, you guys were great all weekend. Students and mentors alike were willing to work with anyone that needed help and multiple teams came out better because of it. Despite the problems that arose with your own robot, you still helped others and at the end of the day came out on top regardless. We'll see you at MSC!

To 244: You guys made great partners to round out our alliance, you worked hard and were willing to do anything that the alliance asked of you, you deserve your share of the glory.

To 217: Thanks, as always, for the mobile machine shop, it helped us out a bunch and the mentors that run it were knowledgeable and friendly. Though you had a tough start to the season, I'm glad to see that things are working out for the better now. Congrats on being finalists.

To 548: You've built another robust robostang machine and I look forward to seeing you at MSC. Congrats on finalist as well.

The Troy district was thrilling as usual. Many good teams and equally many amazing matches. It's been cool to participate these past years, and we are looking forward to it next year.