2007 VCU Regional

[SURVIVORfan44]

Sorry, someone must have told me wrong info. I thought they refs had told the team to take it off but I guess not?

I actually thought I remembered seeing the robot without the suction cup. Maybe not?

[Craig1989]

You may have done at ramp riot or the state fair scrimmages, we made some changes to experiment new ideas.. however at VCU regional it was on for the entirety. Our robot also had several other features but it seems this is the one that caught everyones eye.

[Frinkahedron]

Looks like we had one serious spoiler attempt during the playoffs. I just found this picture which shows 612 defending a spoiler attempt from 435 in the quarterfinals.

http://kyle.fnsnet.net/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=778

That was the match we ended up scoring 100 points

[Azure]

Our alliances each had one win, and it was the tiebreaker match... In my opinion, that was possibly the most exciting match at VCU. Even though we lost, we still put up a good fight.

[cziggy343]

I totally agree with you. My team, along with 1885 and 435, lost in the quarter-finals to 343's alliance. At the end of Friday 116 was ranked #1, and if we had stayed in the top we would've chosen 343 for our first round pick. As it was we got 1885, a team we liked and worked well with.


yeah, i am pretty much the master student scouter for team 343, and we were hoping yall would win ur last match so yall would pick us. we knew that could b a kick butt combination. but, and we thought our alliance would b kick butt. but there's still nationals! hope to see yall there.

[rohit]

uggh.. we took our arm off for some repair and the team that was going to pick us thought that our robot was broken, so they picked someone else. I dunno exactly what happened.. but I wish there was better communication, because I think that we had a chance to go to nationals for the first time

[VanMan]

Originally Posted by Nuttyman54

There are also plenty of teams whose robots either don't work quite how they intended, or who find that they're much more valuable as defense (eg. 1281 at Waterloo last year).

That is exactly why we tried to pick something simple for our rookie year. We wanted defense and ramps that any team could get on.

[LordTalps]

Originally Posted by VanMan

That is exactly why we tried to pick something simple for our rookie year. We wanted defense and ramps that any team could get on.

The only thing I DON'T like about that, is it's not ambitious. An ambitious rookie team (as far as what I know and have heard says) can make an excellent impression on judges. Our team worked a high-goal shooter last year that was quite complex. It was a turret with vertical and horizontal motion, such that the camera could determine where it needed to be from any given spot on the field (if we could make the shot). Suffice to say the entire robot was slow and didn't work extremely well, but we did two things:

1- Learned a LOT. We learned the mad pace, among so much technologically, that you're going to need next year to keep your track record of success. I was ready for a horrible last week, and spent 74 amazing hours working at Robotics in the last 7 days. We had learned all sorts of ways to use and manipulate the camera, which we applied this year to autonomous (even though we never turned it on at competition), and expanded upon with other sensors. Learning a lot is important, cause you're not able to get the rookie awards anymore. You're now in the full running with the rest of us -- and oh boy will you have catching up to do.

2- Impressed the judges. Now of course, I can't speak for the judges all by myself, but we did win the Rookie All-Star award at the World Championships....

[blakwyte]

Originally Posted by Nuttyman54

There are also plenty of teams whose robots either don't work quite how they intended, or who find that they're much more valuable as defense (eg. 1281 at Waterloo last year).

i think this years competition was a lot more complicated than last years as far as building a bot that could do everything (which is what we did) ... we barely fit our building into the 6 weeks and we didn't have as much time as we would've liked as far as actual driving practice. in retrospect i think that keeping it simple, like awkward turtle did by just building that ramp bot, allows a team to score a lot better if they're teamed with alliance members who specialize in other areas. however, there are way to many variables as far as ramp-only robots go. how do you know that the teams you're allied with have planned to be able to climb ramps at all?

[cziggy343]

Originally Posted by VanMan

That is exactly why we tried to pick something simple for our rookie year. We wanted defense and ramps that any team could get on.

yeah, in 2000 (which seems like a lifetime ago) was our rookie year. we were ambitious and wanted to do everything. we did and succeded pretty well. we apparently impressed the judges b/c we won the rookie all-star award (i remember this even though i was seven, isnt that amazing?). but if the resources are there, be ambitious, even if it is your first year.

[blakwyte]

Originally Posted by LordTalps

We learned the mad pace, among so much technologically, that you're going to need next year to keep your track record of success. I was ready for a horrible last week, and spent 74 amazing hours working at Robotics in the last 7 days.

the huge amount of experience that my team had in the first year was really helpful to me when i joined up with the program this year. they were also a really ambitious rookie team and learned everything about programming the camera's, building an effective drive-train ... using a band saw i was really glad that i we didn't have to start with a completely blank slate, and we did manage to equal the school record this year making the semi-finals, thanks largely to the things the team learned and was able to build upon.

in other news i hear that we might be riding the same bus down to atlanta with you guys from 1885 ... all i can say is be prepared

[Frinkahedron]

Originally Posted by Azure

Our alliances each had one win, and it was the tiebreaker match... In my opinion, that was possibly the most exciting match at VCU. Even though we lost, we still put up a good fight.

I completely agree, we battled that round out to the end.

Do you know if there's video for that match posted yet? I'd really like to watch the three quarterfinals again.

[LordTalps]

Originally Posted by blakwyte

the huge amount of experience that my team had in the first year was really helpful to me when i joined up with the program this year. they were also a really ambitious rookie team and learned everything about programming the camera's, building an effective drive-train ... using a band saw i was really glad that i we didn't have to start with a completely blank slate, and we did manage to equal the school record this year making the semi-finals, thanks largely to the things the team learned and was able to build upon.

in other news i hear that we might be riding the same bus down to atlanta with you guys from 1885 ... all i can say is be prepared

Whoa whoa whao dude YOU'VE GOT FREAKING PMs

[mrmummert]

If anyone took a very close look at our robot you might have noticed the 30X30 extruded aluminium frame...in the corners there had been posts which we cut off. these were to be for our ramps...which due to time and weight we
did'nt do this year...but almost did.

Our first year (2005 triple play)we tried to use and do everything...
not only were we the top rookies, but also rookie allstars...which got us
to Atlanta.

During the alliance selections...we had been approched by 116, but when we were selected by 928 we went with them. And the rest is now FIRST VCU
history...In a way we were kinda glad we did'nt go to Atlanta..(not that, thats a bad thing)...its just that..ok we had been twice in two years and have never been able to have more time to build the team...so hopefully not going will make us a stronger team next year. Lord knows we came close though.

[Metalhugginman]

VCU was fun and Metalinmotion - Team 343 - was very honored to recieve the GM Quality Award. Unfortunately, we lost a laptop computer during the competition. If anyone found a laptop computer in a case and is unsure who it belongs to, we sure would like to hear from you. My boss is not happy....... Anyway, any leads would be appreciated. Use the contact information on our webpage at www.metalinmotion.com.