INsight: Indiana State Championships

[INsight]

Overall data:

• Tippecanoe - 76% breach / 18% capture
• Walker Warren - 88% breach / 30% capture
• Perry Meridian - 88% breach / 46% capture
• Indiana Total - 84% breach / 31% capture
• World-Wide Total - 68% breach / 10% capture

• INsight Prediction for State - 91% breach / 54% capture

Numbers don’t lie; Indiana has proven itself as the dominant region for FIRST Stronghold. The Indiana State Championship event may very well be the most-watched competition since Palmetto in Week 0.5. Eyes around the world will be trained on the Kokomo Memorial Gym to find out exactly what makes Indiana teams so rock solid.

Some folks may be disappointed to find that there just aren’t absolutely dominating teams found around the state. Indiana is just a collection of teams that do what they do, and do it very well. 868 taking gold at Queen City is a sterling example of this. Although a casual observer may view Indiana as a four horse race, the alliance partners really make or break the match. As the many Purdue alumni will attest, this state is full of Makers.

While high goal shooters are the crown jewels of the event, eliciting the oohs and aahs from the audience and providing the consistently high scores we’ve seen from Indiana, the low goal scorers and breachers are the true workhorses. The top 5 high goal scorers averaged 84% breaches and 41% captures. For comparison, a low goal team averaged 98% breaches and 50% captures. If one or two corn-fed duty-bots can maintain a 3.5+ ranking average and seed well (as 71 did at Perry Meridian), they could wreak havoc on the alliance selection process.

Indiana teams were also very quick to pick up on the nuances and beneficial strategies of the game. While some naysayers claim that Indiana numbers are inflated due to lack of defensive play, these folks might find that their notion of defense as robot-on-robot combat is becoming obsolete. Defense means keeping the other alliance from scoring; savvy spectators shall certainly see spectacular strategies that may feel counter-intuitive at first, but will produce results. The techniques employed by 71-1501-6012 at the Perry Meridian finals matches may very well be the first iterations of some very innovative game plans.

Perhaps the most thrilling competition of all will be the hotly contested race to the Chairman’s and Engineering Inspiration Awards. With only nine guaranteed slots to St. Louis, some very competitive and deserving teams will be spending late April at home.

Now, history lesson time: 3 robot alliances began in 2005 with Triple Play. Since then, 810 competitions have passed to date. While plenty of duos have teamed up time and again (example: 1114 and 2056, 17 times), only twice* has an alliance of three robots repeated and won multiple events. 1024, 1747, and 45 are the only 3 robot alliance to win multiple events in the same year.

*For those curious minds: 359, 368, and 3880 have teamed up to win the Hawaii regional twice, 2011 and 2015.
Some may point out the alliances of 67, 340, and 1126 & 254, 971, and 852. While H.O.T., G.R.R., and Sparx won the Great Lakes Regional and the Newton division in 2004, that was before three robot alliances. The Cheesy Poofs, Spartan Robotics, and Athenian Robotics Collective have twice combined their powers to win the Silicon Valley Regional; in 2004 (again before three robot alliances) and again in 2009.

Without further ado:


Top Contenders:

• 868

  • Quarterfinalists and Chairman’s Award at Tippecanoe
  • Champions and Quality Award at Walker Warren
  • Champions and Innovation in Control Award at Queen City Regional
  • OPR Rank 108 @ 41.1
  • 90% breach, 48% capture rates

  
  The Techhounds took their talents down to Cincinnati and were able to earn their ticket to the World Championships with a win. Can the kids from Carmel make it three event wins in a row with a State Championship banner?

• 1024

  • Champions and Quality Award at Tippecanoe
  • Champions and Industrial Design at Walker Warren
  • Champions at Perry Meridian
  • OPR Rank 34 @ 48.1
  • 93% breach, 49% capture rates

  
  Indiana’s first “Triple-Crown” Winner, the Kil-A-Bytes will be going for the 4-Banner Sweep at State. Will they have any improvements to stay ahead of the competition or will their experience and deep tournament runs continue to guide them?

• 1501

  • Finalists and Quality Award at North Carolina - Guilford
  • Quarterfinalists and Innovation in Control Award at Tippecanoe
  • Finalists and Excellence in Engineering Award at Perry Meridian
  • OPR Rank 79 @ 43.5
  • 81% breach, 26% capture rates

  
  After tasting silver twice, THRUST will be gunning hard to get the win at State. Their deadlock aiming and newly added climber will make them a force to be reckoned with.

• 1747

  • Champions and Entrepreneurship Award at Tippecanoe
  • Semifinalists and Chairman’s Award at Walker Warren
  • Champions and Innovation in Control Award at Perry Meridian
  • OPR Rank 67 @ 44.7
  • 89% breach, 54% capture rates

  
  The Pandas from Harrison were able to return to being a high-performing, high-goal shooting cycler. They were able to overcome their performance issues from Warren to return to the winner’s circle at Perry.

Corn-Fed Contenders (Dependable and valuable alliance members):

• 461

  • Quarterfinalists at Tippecanoe
  • Finalists and Engineering Inspiration at Walker Warren
  • OPR Rank 417 @ 32.5

  
  The finalists finish at Walker Warren marked the 6th time in their team’s history that the Westside Boiler Invasion has fallen short of winning an official FIRST event. Can they find the alliance needed in order to finally successfully invade the opponent’s castle and hoist a Event Winner blue banner?

• 1529

  • Quarterfinalists at Walker Warren
  • Semifinalists and Imagery Award at Perry Meridian
  • OPR Rank 334 @ 34

  
  The CyberCards have continued to fly higher as competitions have gone on. They started Walker Warren as a low-goal dedicated late pick and ended Perry Meridian as an alliance captain and scoring machine capable of matching most alliances point for point.

• 1720

  • Champions and Judges Award at Walker Warren
  • Quarterfinalists and Judges Award at Perry Meridian
  • OPR Rank 442 @ 32.1

  
  The PhyXT Gears took a small step back from their strong showing at Walker Warren, having several code gremlins and streaks of bad luck affect their performance at Perry Meridian.

• 3940

  • Finalists at Tippecanoe
  • Quarterfinalists, Safety Award, and Imagery Award at Walker Warren
  • OPR Rank 406 @ 32.7

  
  After reaching Finals, CyberTooth spent Walker Warren attempting to join others by scoring in the high goal. Will they be able to get the kinks worked out and join the ranks of Indiana’s high goal robots or will they return to low goal specializing? Either way, they still are the most entertaining Outer Works crosser in the state.

Hiding-in-the-Corn (Sleepers/Darkhorse picks):

• 71

  • Quarterfinalists at Walker Warren
  • Finalists and Gracious Professionalism Award at Perry Meridian
  • OPR Rank 65 @ 44.7

  
  The BEAST roared back to life at Perry and they’ve scared away their code bugs to be the best low-goal dedicated robot in the state. As they get deeper into State, they will continue to feed on the rest of the competition and use their climber to compete for the win on Saturday.

• 135

  • Quarterfinalists and Judges Award at Tippecanoe
  • Semifinalists and Engineering Inspiration at Perry Meridian
  • OPR Rank 136 @ 39.6

  
  The Black Knights have made steady improvement and continue to contend for the win. Their scaling ability has been consistently good and compliments their boulder scoring ability nicely.

• 4103

  • Quarterfinalists and Engineering Excellence Award at Tippecanoe
  • Semifinalists and Creativity Award at Walker Warren
  • OPR Rank 141 @ 39.5

  
  The Roborioles used their scissor-lifted winch to fly high through their two competitions and claim the title of best climber in the state. Can they continue to soar and compete for the win or will they fall from their perch?

• 4982

  • Semifinalists and Industrial Design Award at Tippecanoe
  • Finalists at Walker Warren
  • OPR Rank 123 @ 40.2

  
  An under-the-radar team that has performed very well this season, Olympus Robotics has impressed with their quick intake and quick-thinking drive-team. They quickly adapt to the performance of their robot and have the ability to score low and high.

Honorable Mentions:

• 1741

  • Semifinalists and Gracious Professionalism Award at Tippecanoe
  • Quarterfinalists and Entrepreneurship Award at Walker Warren
  • Semifinalists and Chairman’s Award at Perry Meridian
  • OPR Rank 354 @ 33.5

• 3176

  • Quarterfinalists and Spirit Award at Tippecanoe
  • Quarterfinalists at Walker Warren
  • OPR Rank 450 @ 31.9

• 3559

  • Quarterfinalists at Tippecanoe
  • Semifinalists and Quality Award at Perry Meridian
  • OPR Rank 320 @ 34.3

• 5403

  • Quarterfinalists at Tippecanoe
  • Semifinalists at Perry Meridian
  • OPR Rank 850 @ 27.2