Curie 2012!

[Rachel Baker]

I'm the driver from rookie team 3940, and I would like to introduce you to our high-performing robot and team.

At the Boilermaker Regional we won Rookie Inspiration, were the third overall pick, and were a finalist.

At the Queen City Regional we were the 9th overall pick, received Rookie All-Star and won with teams 45 and 781. In order to win Queen City, we had to beat the number one alliance then the 1024-71-3494 alliance, then the 48-3193-1038 alliance. We would keep up with these high-performing teams in ball points and then beat them by balancing.

We are a wide drive base, 22 inches long, perfect for being in the middle of a triple balance, which we did multiple times in the Queen City finals. We're getting much better at balancing, and are practicing a lot.

Our shooter is very accurate, and flings the ball catapult-style, so the new balls in the finals don't affect us. In the finals at Queen City, we had an 88% shooting percentage, making 30 for 34 balls. We only shoot from the key and we aim for the top basket.

We can shoot 2 for 2 in hybrid mode, and can even receive balls from another robot to shoot more.

We have a strong bridge manipulator and have good traction on the bridge so we can push another robot as well as go on the bridge first to balance.

Although we are only 22 inches long, we have never tipped over in a match since our CG is incredibly low, mainly due to about 20 pounds of added weights in our base.

We have an all rookie drive team, including a rookie mentor coach, but we are prepared well by our other veteran mentors.

Here's a link of one of our finals matches from Queen City. We are the tall purple robot on red alliance.

We are excited to make new friends and have fun on Curie!