900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I would like to say a few things here to answer items that have come up in the last page.
In the past, if a team broke down, the alliance was forced to accept the next team in the list as a partner. If another robot broke, the next robot in line was brought up. With the current structure, an alliance now gets to chose their relief which allows them to plan strategy a little better. If more than one robot breaks, the alliance must play with what ever is left of the alliance. It is a tradeoff that most teams gladly accept. Personally, I saw the chance with the old method that more than three or four teams could share in the hardware. Please note, it is the alliance that shares regardless of how many teams actually play. The unplayed alliance team still is (should) be included in alliance decisions, successes and failures.

Team 900 and 1114 (and all teams on Einstein) played the game as designed, using the rules as any great strategist should. Have you not listened to the various strategy (cough Karthik cough) seminars? It does not matter really whether you like the rules or not, those that win, play with the rules they are given.

The robot built/rebuilt by Team 900 contained parts of their robot that was initially inspected at the 2015 Championship and was found to be legal to compete under the Robot and Tournament rules.

Inspectors were assigned to stay with the team while they worked in the pit and as the picture(s) show above, many additional inspectors were present to assist inspection behind the Einstein pits. The alliance was very cooperative in getting through this process.

The four assemblies collectively weighed around 80 pounds so the control platform had to be modified to make weight. I believe when accurately totaled, the time period was likely longer than the seven hours stated. I was brought in to check progress and review the design somewhere in the middle of the process, likely around 3:00 PM on Friday.

While the design looks scary, imposing and possibly dangerous, I can assure it was not. The team had done considerable design work to provide safety, backup systems and limits to travel. The strings visible in the video are more for travel limit than for retrieval. The only concern for me occurs during loading the darts. I had a long discussion with the pit crew and drive team on this subject. We were able to come to an acceptable method that would protect all participants and minimize any accidents. The alliance also fully understood the risks should contact be made with anything on the opposite side of the field or outside of the field boundary.

No one should question the decisions teams make to give what they think is anything less than a spectacular experience to their students. In looking back I can only hope that my involvement gave something positive to the students (and mentors) I worked with. I felt we were a team working towards a common goal. Please let me know if there was anything I could have done better. I expect that all of the inspectors, Ed Sparks, Chuck Dickerson, Ken Platteschore, Jon Stratis, and Matt Mitag (working from the picture earlier) and any of the inspectors back in the pits feel the same way.

While I am more conservative than most, I still want to see it fire in competition. IRI???