2012 North Carolina Regional

[Ken Streeter]

Team 1519 has so many people and teams we would like to thank from our participation at the 2012 North Carolina Regional, that this is likely to be a quite long post!

We'd be remiss, however, if our thanks didn't start with the organizers and volunteers who worked at the event! From our perspective, nearly every aspect of the tournament went smoothly. We felt very well informed leading up to the event, were impressed by the courtesy and communication of the event staff in leadership roles, enjoyed the wide aisles in most of the pits, appreciated having two practice fields and a large queuing area for matches, observed "continuous improvement" by the event staff during the event, and generally were again impressed by the management of the regional. Kudos are due to the North Carolina Regional event leadership and volunteers!

Even before the regional started, Team 3459 invited us to attend a potluck dinner with them on Wednesday night! Their hospitality was greatly appreciated after our 14-hour drive from New Hampshire, and it was great to socialize with them and Team 2614 in a relaxed atmosphere before the event started. We definitely won't forget the mini-marshmallow shooters!

We owe a huge THANKS to many other teams, without whom we never could have become the #1 seed at the end of qualification rounds. The major design goal of our robot was to be able to balance with any robot, but our balancing partners made the task much easier -- it was largely due to their partnership that we were able to be balanced on top of a bridge for 9 of our 10 qualifying matches, with 7 of those successful balances being on the coopertition bridge. We'd specifically like to thank each of our balancing partners:

• 3229 - Double balance in our first match
• 3270 & 339 - Balanced the coopertition bridge for our alliance while we were on the alliance bridge in our second match
• 3737 - Coopertition balance in our 3rd match
• 3680 - Coopertition balance in our 4th match
• 422 - Coopertition balance in our 5th match
• 1311 - Coopertition balance in our 6th match
• 2363 - Our coopertition partner in our 7th match -- we're so sorry that the balance attempt ended up with your robot toppled and damaged! We're so thankful you were able to repair your robot before the next match! We're also thankful for the continued goodwill between our teams!
• 1771 - Coopertition balance in our 8th match
• 2642 - Coopertition balance in our 9th match
• 2614 - Coopertition balance in our 10th match. This balance was particularly exciting, as it maintained our position as #1 seed and elevated 2614 up to the #2 seed position. A true example of coopertition!

The finalist alliance of teams 2614, 1771, and 4083 was a definite force to be reckoned with. We were definitely sweating bullets heading into the finals, as your alliance had put up the highest score of the elimination rounds, amassing 68 points in the semifinals. You were excellent competitors and made the final rounds very exciting indeed!

We also would like to thank our alliance partners. Heading into the alliance selections, we had determined an ordered pick list for shooters and balancers. Team 1311 topped our list of shooters -- their incredibly accurate turreted key shooter was what we thought was the best of the event. We were relieved that as the #1 seed, we could pick them for our alliance, rather than have to face them as an adversary!

However, what we hadn't expected was that the team on the top of our "best balancers" list would still be around to pick for our 2nd pick! We were truly stunned that Team 2642, who was balanced on top of a bridge at the end of 9 qualifying matches, had been passed over twice by all the other teams!

We're also thankful to our partners of 1311 and 2642 for being willing to mix up our strategy as much as we did during the elimination rounds. We ended up running three different arrangements of hybrid programs, varying our plans in accordance with the alliance we were facing.

It was also a true alliance of three teams, rather than a case of 1 or 2 strong teams carrying the alliance. As an example of this, different teams in our alliance stepped up to the key role in different matches:

• In our first quarterfinal match, 1311's camera auto-tracking wasn't working, transforming their normally impeccable automatic shots into manually-controlled ones that went 3-for-9 in teleop. However, 1519's shooter compensated by going 6-for-10 during teleop before we headed for the alliance bridge.
  
• In both semifinal matches, when a communication error kept our driver station's image processing results from reaching the robot, making it so we couldn't shoot at all, 1311's shooting returned to a level of increased accuracy, going a total of 10-for-14 in teleop across the two matches.
  
• Lastly, in the finals matches, 2642 stepped up their defense against the fender shooting of 2614, slowing them down enough to keep the score of the #2-seeded alliance below 60 points.

It was only due to the combined effort from the three robots on our alliance that we could collectively emerge as regional winners. Thanks, 1311 and 2642!

We also want to recognize Team Spork's (3196) win of the Engineering Inspiration Award -- we were impressed with your team!

The selection of Team MARS (2614) for the Regional Chairman's Award was very well-deserved. They are a real class act both on and off the field! We'd love to have you come compete at the Week One Granite State Regional some time!

Lastly, we want to applaud the selection of Linda Whipker of 3459 as the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award winner. Her efforts on Team Pyrotech and in the North Carolina region are clear even from way up at our home in New Hampshire! This is another example of a well-deserved award!

In sum, Team 1519, Mechanical Mayhem, had a great time at the North Carolina Regional, and we look forward to being able to play with many of the great teams from this area again some time! We'd love to have you come up to compete in New England!

PS: Unfortunately, we don't have our own video of the two rounds of the finals due to one of our videographers needing to fly home before the last matches and technical difficulties on our other videographer's equipment. Is there anybody out there that has video of the final matches that they can post or send to us? Thanks!