2015 Bedford District

[FIMAlumni]

Thought I would start the discussion by highlighting some of the top teams competing at Bedford.

2137: Team T.O.R.C is currently ranked first in FIM. Competing and Winning at Waterford and West Michigan, 2137 brags an impressive 6 stack HP loader and tape measure Canburgler. TORC will look to continue their winning streak with any improvements they've made in the past two weeks.

1023: The Bedford Express is currently ranked second in FIM. Another duel winner at Southfield and Woodhaven, 1023 transitioned from a 4-5stack landfill robot to a 6stack HP fed monster with the aid of a ramp. Expect 1023 to rank extremely high at their home event.

2834: The Bionic Black Hawks is currently ranked third in FIM. Yet another duel winner at Gull Lake and Centerline, 2834 is yet another impressive HP stacker, choosing to cap stacks of 3 with their own stack of 3 in the finals last week.

548: The Robostangs currently ranked seventh in FIM. Southfield finalist and Livonia winner, 548 is our fourth HP stacker on the list. While their stacking ability is impressive, their .45second canburglers are currently the talk of the town.

4381: The Twisted Devils currently ranked eleventh in FIM, Kentwood Finalist and Gull Lake winner, 4381 is the only landfill robot on the list. They take one tote at a time and create a stack individually. With 20 days since their last competition I would expect some upgrades.

All the teams on the list are on their 3rd and therefore "Practice event". Expect teams to try some new things (landfill?) and break out new but maybe not fully formed mechanisms and programs (Canburglers/3 tote auto). While qualifications might be time for testing, I expect all teams to go all out in eliminations to put up some truly high scores.

Other notable teams:
217, 862, 1189, 3322, and 3641

[c.shu]

Originally Posted by FIMAlumni

...tape measure Canburgler. TORC will look to continue their winning streak with any improvements they've made in the past two weeks.

Tape measure may or may not be around for Bedford. We are looking forward to showing off some improvements we have made since West Michigan as well as tuning up for the State Championship.

[orangelight]

It's going to be a ton of fun there. Can't wait to see what alliances value at this competition.

[FIMAlumni]

Livonia saw 3 quick Canburglars (548, 27 and 503) taken as the first 3 picks. Who here is planning on some can grabbing? Looking quickly through the list 2137, 548, and 3322 have all proven they they can grab the RCs in auto. Will anyone else be attempting this?

[Loose Screw]

Bedford will be very interesting. We even might get to see a new Michigan high score (in either quals, finals, or avg).

I'm looking forward to inspecting teams Thursday night, and then scoring on Friday/Saturday!

Good luck to all teams!

[FIMAlumni]

Since looking forward decided to highlight 1189, 217, 3641, and 862 in his post I figured I would do a write up on the four of them as well.

1189: The Gearheads are currently ranked 17 in FIM. Howell and Centerline finalists, 1189 is a HP fed arm bot capable of making stacks of 3 with RCs and placing them on top of existing stacks. Expect them to team up with a fast stacker that isn't great with RCs to compliment each other.

217: The Thunder Chickens are currently ranked 27th in FIM. Waterford finalists and Livonia Quarter-finalist, 217 is a HP forklift type stacker that makes stacks of 5 with a RC and noodle. 217 was ranked 3rd at Livonia and valued the fast canburglar of 27 to pair up with. Unfortunately the alliance ended with more cans than stacks. 217 will continue to improve and will be a force to reckon with.

3641: The Flying Toasters are currently ranked 31st in FIM. Gull Lake Semifinalist and Livonia Finalist, 3641 is another forklift type stacker with a built in rear loading ramp. Creating stacks of 6 with RC and noodle, expect 3641 to seed very high as they do not rely on partners to put up big points or gather RCs.

862: Lightning Robotics are currently ranked 23rd in FIM. Howell Semifinalist and Traverse City Finalist, 862 is HP forklift type stacker creating stacks of 3 with a RC. 862 hasn't competed in 20 days and will likely have some new things to show off at Bedford as they practice for MSC.

As with the teams mentioned above, all of these teams are competing in their 3rd event and are already pretty much into states. This "practice" event will be a great time for driver practice and fine tuning new mechanisms. I predict that 1 alliance will score over 200 points and miss the finals here at Bedford.

[Dragonking]

Originally Posted by FIMAlumni

862: Lightning Robotics are currently ranked 23rd in FIM. Howell Semifinalist and Traverse City Finalist, 862 is HP forklift type stacker creating stacks of 3 with a RC. 862 hasn't competed in 20 days and will likely have some new things to show off at Bedford as they practice for MSC.

Just a teaser: 1lb ramp and stacks of 6
You might even find us in the landfill.

[Richard Wallace]

Q1 score is impressive, 200-114. Fast start for 548 217 1189.
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edit: This field of titans is running away with the lead among all events to date for max QA and median QA. Four caps is the standard for "good match" at this level. I am rooting for 3542 SPEED -- the highest seeded contender that is still fighting for a spot at MSC. They look good to make it, too.

[c.shu]

Slight improvement from the tape measure.

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by c.shu

Slight improvement from the tape measure.

Uh, yeah!

[Debbie]

This is a Toledo news broadcast that features the ThunderChickens team members along with many other robots at the Bedford District.

http://www.toledonewsnow.com/Clip/11...BcLot.facebook

[Debbie]

Photographs from our event are posted HERE!

Huge thanks to our event photograhper, Marc Sidoti, for photographing our event and providing these for your non-commercial use. He is happy for you to use them for any team publications and such.