Western Michigan Regional UPDATE!

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Posted by bill whitley at 03/09/2001 7:24 PM EST


Student on team #70, Auto City Bandits, from Powers Catholic High School and Kettering University.



Beatey. WOW! They scored a 537 in one of the qualifying matches. After 4 matches, I believe their average score was above 400! I was also very impressed by the Wildstang, thought their scores were not very high due to alliances not doing what they said they could. I expect they will have a large impact during the finals. The competition was great. The company included 45, 65, 67, 68, 71, 111, 288 among many others. It was a very exciting day, and though i will not be there, I expect very exciting finals tomorrow. I am posting about a dozen pictures I took during the day today. They will be in the Western Michigan Regional Gallery.

[archiver]

Posted by Jared at 03/09/2001 7:44 PM EST


Student on team #312, Heatwave, from Lakewood High and Baxter.


In Reply to: Western Michigan Regional UPDATE!
Posted by bill whitley on 03/09/2001 7:24 PM EST:



Well it looks like somebody was doing their homework and figured out a good strategy. Do you know how they did it? Thanx

-= Jared =-
#312
!HEATWAVE!

[archiver]

Posted by Joe Johnson at 03/09/2001 8:08 PM EST


Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.


In Reply to: Re: Western Michigan Regional UPDATE!
Posted by Jared on 03/09/2001 7:44 PM EST:



My spies tell me that Beatty/Hammond is schooling the
house out in Western Michigan.

Typically, they grab an empty goal, run to the other
side, grab a ball, put it on top of the second goal,
push both goals and the ball up the bridge, balance the
goals from the ground and run to the end zone.

50 base points times a double-double-doube-and-a-half

Thinking about it, I must have something wrong or
they'd be scoring 550 nearly every time out, but I
suppose that I am not too far from the truth.

I have also heard that the TechnoKat's autobalance is
to die for.

It will be interesting to see how they stack up
tomorrow in the elimination rounds.

I never bet against Bill and Brian Beatty nor the rest
of Team Hammond for that matter, but I suppose that
there might be an alliance out there that can give them
a run for their money.

Joe J.

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Posted by Mark at 03/10/2001 1:14 AM EST


Student on team #41, Warrior Robotics, from Watchung Hills Regional HS and Cordis.


In Reply to: Balancing from off the bridge
Posted by Joe Johnson on 03/09/2001 8:08 PM EST:



Using match 20 info:
Match 20
Team 302 488 0:36 remaining
Team 71 537
Team 68 488
Team 123 488

It appears that there was only 1 big ball w/ a 2x time multiplier. So 11 small balls+1 big ball+4 endzone bots is 61 base points...times 2 for time and then 4 for bridge is 488...everyone else's score. Since 71 had 10% bonus they recieved 536.8 or 537.

-Mark t41

[archiver]

Posted by Chris Orimoto at 03/10/2001 4:04 AM EST


Student on team #368, Kika Mana, from McKinley High School and Nasa Ames/Hawaiian Electric/Weinberg Foundation.


In Reply to: Balancing from off the bridge
Posted by Joe Johnson on 03/09/2001 8:08 PM EST:



I'm curious to know exactly HOW they balance the two goals by themselves from off the bridge. That must be an awesome feat to see. I wonder how that would work if a stretcher were in the round also. And, do they limbo???
And to the TechnoKats, I ENVY the use of the gyro.
Anyway, it's good to hear updates as the regionals progress. Thanks to all!

Just my personal thoughts...

Chris, #368

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Posted by Dave at 03/10/2001 5:46 AM EST


Other on team #308, Robo Stars, from Alumni from Walled Lake Western and TRW.


In Reply to: Re: Balancing from off the bridge
Posted by Chris Orimoto on 03/10/2001 4:04 AM EST:



hmmm, we'll try this again... (last time it didn't post my message)

It's actually very cool to watch. I know 308 has a very simialr system of balancing from off the bridge, and it works quite well.

Both Beatty and 308 get both goals to the far side of the bridge. From there, a short set of arms hold one goal close the robot. On 308, the same arms extend around the goal and have a second set of pushers off them to hold the second goal. On Beatty, they have a second set of arms that fall down around the goal. From there, both machines just push the goals up on the bridge. And balancing the goal is easy, both machines have a arm the bridge hits against to stop it, so it balances really quick, they pull their arms out, and they run like mad.

I know 308 has some pictures of them balancing the goal up in the robot gallery, but I'm not sure about Beatty. I'm sure there will be picuters floating around of them after this competition.

Dave Hurt


: I'm curious to know exactly HOW they balance the two goals by themselves from off the bridge. That must be an awesome feat to see. I wonder how that would work if a stretcher were in the round also. And, do they limbo???
: And to the TechnoKats, I ENVY the use of the gyro.
: Anyway, it's good to hear updates as the regionals progress. Thanks to all!

: Just my personal thoughts...

: Chris, #368

[archiver]

Posted by bill whitley at 03/10/2001 9:54 AM EST


Student on team #70, Auto City Bandits, from Powers Catholic High School and Kettering University.


In Reply to: Re: Balancing from off the bridge
Posted by Chris Orimoto on 03/10/2001 4:04 AM EST:



I posted some pics, in one of them you can kinda see how beatey does it. There is also a picture of trw balancing goals from off the bridge.

Bill
Team #70

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Posted by Mark Pierce at 03/09/2001 8:48 PM EST


Other on team #288, RoboDAWGS, from Grandville High School and X-Rite, Delphi, and others.


In Reply to: Western Michigan Regional UPDATE!
Posted by bill whitley on 03/09/2001 7:24 PM EST:



Thanks for giving an update.

I didn't see a lot of the matches, but I can tell you that everyone is enjoying themselves. The FIRST Crew and all of the volunteers are doing great!

There were some broken goals which were fixed quickly, and times when the bridge jumped off the 4X6, which is something I hadn't heard of from other regionals.

I don't have all the awards but among the winners were the RoboDAWGS - 288 The Motorola Quality Award. Zeelands Bob - 85 got the Judges award, in part for their using parts of last years robot in a mobile platform for a disabled classmate. WildStang - 111 had a design award, as did the Huskie Brigade - 65 their robot was described very nicely even if they did use the word "cute". Sorry I don't know which got which. The TechnoKats - 45 got the Leadership in Control Award for their balancing control using the Gyro chip. The Killer bees got an award also, sorry neither of us remember what, possibly Team Spirit?

All of the Rookies are impressive. I'm glad I didn't have to be involved in picking G-Force - 535 for rookie team.

I sincerely appologize for missing groups or getting things mixed up. The main point is that there are some top notch teams and students here.

I'll have more notes, and hopefully more details after tommorrow.

[archiver]

Posted by Mark Pierce at 03/09/2001 10:52 PM EST


Other on team #288, RoboDAWGS, from Grandville High School and X-Rite, Delphi, and others.


In Reply to: Re: Western Michigan Regional UPDATE!
Posted by Mark Pierce on 03/09/2001 8:48 PM EST:



Ignore the awards part of the previous message, go to the FIRST site to see the real awards.