Power Players at the Regionals

[Squeaky]

Most people overlooked 122 at the VCU regional. My team, Team 401, #3 seeded alliance captain was able to select them during the second round of selections. 122 doesn't have an auto mode and can't pick tetras up off of the ground, but they consistently stacked tetras every round. They also have excellent drivers and a drive train that no one noticed.

My team, team 401, has an automode that works every time in which we stack a tetra on a back corner goal, knocking down the hanging tetra. We also have a turret design which allows us to pick up tetras and stack them on goals when our robot isn't perfectly aligned. A previous post said we drop tetras and flip easily, but I was shocked by this post. We dropped a couple throughout the competition, but we're able to right our mistakes in a matter of seconds. We flipped once, but the ref's disabled 539's robot so they must've seen some malicious intent. We don't flip easily, and we are able to play great defense as shown in the one round where our chain fell off our arm's sprocket. We drive with 2 4 inch treaded wheels at a possible 14 fps. We pushed one robot sideways away from a goal to prevent them from ruining our middle row. I can't wait till national's to see how we compare with robots from around the nation.

I was also surprised by 1610's automode in which they came the closest to picking up a green tetra and stacking on the center goal. I never expected a rookie team to come that close.

Thanks to teams 435 and 122 for helping us win the VCU Regional... never could have done it without you guys.

[slickguy2007]

As usual I heard that 254 did a magnificent job. Great job guys, when I saw your robot I had some flash backs to 2004.

GO 1403!!!

[rocknthehawk]

Team 126 is a force to reckon with. They have an extremely good robot.

Thanks for the kind words. The only damage our robot suffered the whole weekend was a spring clip on the master link snapping (we were still able to drive) and after being hit from the side by team 58, the hub on our wheel snapped, but that problem was fixed within 30 minutes.

[santosh]

I helped man the practice field at Peachtree, and I think the best robot out there was team 832, Roswell High School, who unfortunately did not win the event. But my personal favorite robot was the Raminator from Jackson Mississippi. I forget what team number it was though.

[team1611]

Originally Posted by santosh

I helped man the practice field at Peachtree, and I think the best robot out there was team 832, Roswell High School, who unfortunately did not win the event. But my personal favorite robot was the Raminator from Jackson Mississippi. I forget what team number it was though.

i agree... team 832 was awesome. we had the opportunity to play on the same team with them. 832 also had a pneumatic drive train system. i also liked the rams. i think they were team 462. they had a great design. i liked the flipping mechanism and their ability to stack high. i wish we would have had the chance to play with them. fortunately, the only time we had to play against them, we pulled off a win.

[Joe Domingo]

Originally Posted by web2linc

i feel we had the best robot a Sac regional because we could play both defense and offense. In most of our rounds we caped almost all the goals. scoring 70+. One time we did not have a 3rd bot because they were having drive train problems (100) and it was 2 against 3 and we placed tetras on almost every goal scored 78 but we don't get that much recognition, we did sweep the finals with our other teamates

I went to Sacramento just to see what was happening as we are going to San Jose in a couple of weeks.
After your first semi final match against the "Beach Bots" I knew you would go on to win the Final, you guys wrer so consistent throughout the whole week end.
Congatulations to 245 and 1072 also !

We are so much looking forward to San Jose, of the 6 teams in the final we will get to participate with all but 245.
See you there.

[FreakyAntelope]

Up at BAE...

In my opinion 126 (Gale Force) was the strongest bot there, followed by a number of strong teams. 1027 was VERY fast and VERY efficient, and 121 was also great offensively. Congrats to everyone who was there, and good luck over the rest of the season!

- Toby, and the overly ecstatic Team 246 (who placed 18th, which is more than good enough for our 19 person engineer-less team.)

[razor95kds]

I thought our entire alliance of 245, 766 and 1072, were all superb robots. We were strong at capping and defense. 245 was a capping machine. When a team worried about 245, 766 would score points and vice versa. Also when 245 or 766 were being blocked from capping, 1072 would bolt in and make the cap, while the other alliance member found another goal. All the robots were mechanically strong, had good drivers and outstanding teamwork. There could not be one robot to try to take out. Because the other two filled in the gaps. Its a shame 245 is not coming the silicon valley, our alliance got along so well. At least 766 and 1072 will be there.

[razor95kds]

I thought our entire alliance of 245, 766 and 1072, were all superb robots. We were strong at capping and defense. 245 was a capping machine. When a team worried about 245, 766 would score points and vice versa. Also when 245 or 766 were being blocked from capping, 1072 would bolt in and make the cap, while the other alliance member found another goal. All the robots were mechanically strong, had good drivers and outstanding teamwork. There could not be one robot to try to take out. Because the other two filled in the gaps. Its a shame 245 is not coming the silicon valley, our alliance got along so well. At least 766 and 1072 will be there.

[coldfusion1279]

I haven't heard any 1279's... are we overlooking this #1 seed at the VCU regional? (yes we did have one more match than most other teams with an 8-1 record but still). The misfortune of being shoved into a tetra and a goal in the corner of the field led to our demise, but we will be back at the Trenton regional and we are also looking into open spots for nationals. Although this is my team, I really must toot our own horn, capable of holding 2 tetras while driving without tipping and capping an easy 9 feet.

BTW...Hows our buddy team 1403 holding up this year aroon? Let me know and I will see you at Trenton.
All I'm saying is watch out for the robot confucious from team 1279.

[slickguy2007]

Originally Posted by coldfusion1279

BTW...Hows our buddy team 1403 holding up this year aroon? Let me know and I will see you at Trenton.
All I'm saying is watch out for the robot confucious from team 1279.

Congratulations at the VCU regional guys, you rocked!!! You are certainly one force that we will all be watching out for. At Brunswick Eruption and Frenze Finale we picked you, but at Trenton hopefully you will consider picking us when you become the #1 seed again. I am happy with the way our robot turned out and I can't wait for our first competition at NJ. Congratulations again 1279!!!

GO 1403!!!

[GORD]

I would just like to say that I was really impressed by team 56. Their capping system was easy and effeciant......props to them

[Peter Matteson]

From BAE I'm surprised that no one mentioned 88 yet. They had a strong bot and a good alliance, they just met up with the 121, 126 alliance in the semis rather than the final do to seeding.

[Hokie4Life]

I was impressed with the capping system of 122. They were our alliance partners, and our 2nd pick at VCU. While they could not stack on the center goal, they could stack extremely well on the other goals on the field. They were extremely efficent at taking tetras that were loaded onto them at the human tetral loading station, turning around, and putting the tetra on a goal. They were a team that had some bad pairings at the regionals, and were ranked low, allowing us to pick them in the second round. We could not have won without them.

[Zach]

Originally Posted by Hokie4Life

I was impressed with the capping system of 122. They were our alliance partners, and our 2nd pick at VCU. While they could not stack on the center goal, they could stack extremely well on the other goals on the field. They were extremely efficent at taking tetras that were loaded onto them at the human tetral loading station, turning around, and putting the tetra on a goal. They were a team that had some bad pairings at the regionals, and were ranked low, allowing us to pick them in the second round. We could not have won without them.

I would like to begin by thanking team 401 for picking us to join them in the finals at VCU. Team 401 and team 435 were awesome partners in the finals, and it was only because of their skill that we were able to win the regional.

Team 401's antonomous was able to cap the corner tetra every single time which saved us in 1 or 2 of the rounds. Their robot and especially their arm were very well built to do their task efficently.

Team 435's control team were very skilled and amiable during the competition. Their tactics in the game were great and they were able to pull off some gutsy moves.

Both teams robots were capable of picking of tetras quickly and together were able to hold the middle row against the offensive opposing robots. One time (I believe it was 405) we were capable of capping a corner tetra of the opposing team which gave us the 2nd highest score of the regional.

We had some intense rounds in the finals, but with teamwork and great strategy we were able to pull off a win. So congrats to 401 and 435, we hope to see you at nationals.

P.S. In response to Squeaky, we did seem to be alittle overlooked at the regional. We have a smaller team than some of the other veterans. We only had around 15 people this regional and will only have around 8 I believe at Annapolis and Nationals. Also, whenever we played our team was right behind us and not in the stands so they wern't cheering as loudly as some of the other teams. I guess you can say that Team 122 speaks softly and carries a big stick