Curie 2010!

[Don Wright]

Originally Posted by Steve Compton

Hey Don,
Good to hear from you! I've been impressed by how remarkably constrained your kids have been in responding to the immense number of posts made about you and others this year.

Thanks Steve... We find, unfortunately, that posting on CD these days usually gets our posts turned against us so we would rather our students share our robot in person at events so please stop by and talk to them in our pit. They will be more than happy to share everything with anybody...

See everyone in 56 hours...

Don

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by rocketperson44

Strive for excellence in everything you do, but also recognize it in others when you see it, rather than try to drag it down.

Wisdom.

[Steve Compton]

I won't try to explain or explain away too much of our season, but maybe a bit. Been doing this for eight years as a mentor, first with an inner city team I founded as a teacher there, and now with 1391. Our virtually all-rookie team this year came together as a unit - in terms of ingenuity and confidence and capability - in ways that were remarkable to me. Best year I've ever had with a team.

Our robot - we can kick (and usually score) all balls from any zone in autonomous. We have an interesting drive base with a combination of plactions-on-pods for both high traction and maneuverability over the bump and omnis on the other end for high mobility. Even though we can push with the best of them we can also fine-scale our movement for precision driving. Our kicker is dial-adjustable to any force required and set by operator continually during the match, so if a short ball move is best, we do it, but if sending it 30 feet in the air is a good idea, we do that. We swapped out drivers after our first regional, and the new guy is the best driver I've ever had - a real sense of how to work the robot well and a very cool head - clearly not fazed by pressure or noise or anything else - he remains in the zone regardless. End game we consistently hang on any of the the vertical bars in 'strongman' fashion, and at our second competition the 2 times we did not do this was because it wasn't in the alliance strategy - we had other roles to play during endgame. At Drexel, we were in the seventh alliance against the eventual regional winner, and without a doubt the first match was simply the most total domination of a high alliance by a low alliance I have ever seen - all three of our alliance robots worked well together and my kid/robot in defense completely shut done two very high scorers working simultaneously in their offensive zone - he was a defensive maniac. We won 10-3 (all of their balls I believe were scored in auton.) Second match we suffered a failure of our power control board of all things - nothing we could either engineer against during the build nor see coming. We were winning the second match when this happened and, dead on the field, our alliance lost that match by a close margin. third match, even after fixes, checks and double checks, the same disaster struck again (we could not swap out the PD board but thought we had managed a work-around.) Lost that too. I believe we could have done quite well without the PD crapping out on us - it's been solved and we're ready to go in this event.

Good luck to all and hope each of us gets what we're looking for from the event - we're shooting to win the whole thing, as I bet we all hope to do!

[thefro526]

I can vouch for Steve Compton's post above.

1391 had an exceptional autonomous in Philadelphia, I remember them consistently kicking balls from the far zone in Autonomous during the Eliminations. They also hung very well, and I don't really ever remember them struggling to hang like some teams.

[Alpha Beta]

Team Titanium is very excited to be at The Championship Event for the 2nd year in a row.

Last year we won our first Chairman’s Award at the 10,000 Lakes Regional, and this year we won our first Regional Championship at the North Star Regional with 2667 and 71.

Our programming is entirely student led, and our mechanical design is a tight collaboration between engineering mentors and a dedicated core of students. This is our first year with a swerve drive system. If you are considering this type of drive train for the future come on by the pits and snap some pictures. We have a display model in our pit that anyone can look at even when the robot is not available. We took a ton of pictures at last years Championship Event, and it proved an incredible resource as we designed our own variation. We are thrilled with the results in this year’s game.

The robot has scored 3 from the back or 2 from the mid in auto on multiple occasions. We have auto for the front, but have never found ourselves starting in that position. We are open to the idea if it makes sense for the strategy of our alliance. We cross the bump with a delicate grace, and have a variable kicker capable of blasting through the chains or dribbling a shot up the scoring ramp. We have an effective ball control mechanism on a rocking arm which signals to the driver when a ball has been possessed. The top of our robot effectively dampens the ball coming off of the return rack and efficiently returns it to the playing surface where our ball control and kicking mechanisms can put it on target. We score effectively from all three zones. We play in a wide orientation. There is plenty of video on TBA of both the KC Regional and North Star.

The camera is on board, and software has been written to make use of it, but our drivers have developed enough touch over our 2 regionals to not depend upon this feature.

We choose not to hang this year, thinking that in the time it takes to hang we could surely score an equivalent number of balls. Many times that has turned out to be an accurate assumption for us, although we have been impressed with the speed and consistency with which many teams complete the hang.

Our team has a personal approach to Gracious Professionalism that can be summed up in the following statement.

“Gracious Professionalism: As an individual I will invest in people first, thus forming a team, and as a team we will solve the problems of the day. When the combined efforts of the team create surplus time, knowledge, or perhaps even materials we shall share that with other teams, creating worthy adversaries in the field of competition. If through those contributions to others my team looses I will take pride in knowing I was a part of great ideas coming to fruition. I will expend no energy in trying to make my team appear better by tearing down others, or withholding resources from those in need. If inferior products win because better ideas were suppressed I have done the greater community a terrible disservice. Instead I will learn to be better, and when my team wins I will step up and recognize that it was probably because other people helped us along the way too.”

In this spirit we have used our Guitar Hero Robot to raise some funds with which we have purchased a wide variety of nuts, bolts, and other fasteners to share with other teams. If you find yourself in need of something come on by our pit and we will share what we have. This offer is extended to everyone whether you beat us in a previous round, are a potential alliance partner, or not even on our scouts top 40. We are here to help every robot perform at its best on the field.

It is also within our understanding of Gracious Professionalism to celebrate the accomplishments of others as well as our own. We hope that the best alliance from Curie makes it on to Einstein. We have every intention of being on that alliance. Last year we were shocked in Archimedes when 1114, 2056, and 503 were upset in the semi-finals to (IMHO) a superior strategy. It takes great robots, pit crews, drive teams, scouts, and alliance strategies to win. We plan to bring all of that to the table as well as an intense competitive spirit.

I am thrilled to see this thread turn its focus to the immensely talented and deep field at Curie. Many of you have been an inspiration to our team in person, on the field and through your posts on Chief Delphi. Should you meet us on an opposing alliance you will receive our best effort to maximize our seeding score. And if you meet us in the stands or in the pits we hope to be able to call you friend and colleague and exchange ideas and resources to make both of our teams better.

[farm3rboy101]

Ahhh! Only 2 days before everything starts! I would like to wish all the teams on Curie and the other divisons good luck this year!


Go FIRST!

[JaneYoung]

I sure hope you folks don't need much spirit help in Atlanta - your emcee is going to want to hear some noise, I guarantee.
MADAME...

[Andrew Schreiber]

Curie!

Come on folks, I need some help.

[maverickfan138]

CURIE!

I guess I'll be the spokesperson for 573.

This year, we decided to go with simplicity and also high(er) scores. Our robot is a tunnel bot with a four wheel independent tank drive bot with mechanums powered by four cims with AM Toughbox transmissions. Our kicker is a roller with a paddle attached which stays inside our frame zone for constant kicking. The kicker runs the width of our robot and gives us the ability to kick many balls in a short amount of time. We are a highly aggressive offense robot and are very flexible with how we play the game. Although we like to start in the far zone, we can start in any zone and score. We can also be an efficient feeder and an efficient striker.

Being a team from Michigan, we faced some of the best in the world. We won the Ann Arbor District Competition with 2337 and 66(not in Curie, but can't be forgotten). At the Troy District event, we were semi finalists and at the Michigan State Championship, we were the fifth seed alliance with a seeding score of 327. This year has been one of our most successful years and we look to continue that success in Curie and hopefully on Einstein.

Also, since I'm sure some people would be interested in photos, here are some photos of our robot:





(photos taken by myself)

We're excited for Atlanta, and can't wait until Wednesday night when we arrive. We look forward to seeing everybody down there. Be sure to stop by our pit to say hi, because I know I'll be going from pit to pit making friends. Also, if any teams need anything, just ask us. We'll be more than willing to lend a few tools or parts. We also have some excellent programmers, electricians, and other hardworking members who will be more than happy to help out.

See you there!

[ExTexan]

Also, since I'm sure some people would be interested in photos, here are some photos of our robot:

Your robot is awesome but you are not giving everyone the full picture.....orange hair and man skirts.....we need pics

[maverickfan138]

Silly me! How could I forget about those photos. Actually, here's one of the entire alliance skirted up for Ann Arbor:



The skirts, orange hair, bandanas, knee high socks, and anything else we can think of will be worn down in Atlanta, so no worries

[Andrew Schreiber]

Just gonna say, thanks... I could have done without EVER seeing Clinton in a kilt ... now you just had to remind me... You sir, owe me a lunch cuz I just lost mine.

[Clinton Bolinger]

HEY, I make that man skirt LOOK GOOD!

You never know, you may see me in another skirt on Curie.

-Clinton-

[Basel A]

Well, if we're telling stories, I might as well join in! Be prepared for a wall of text, but I swear it's a good story.

Our hours and hours of brainstorming at Kettering, the day of kickoff, was a great success. We made our most major design decisions there, and our robot was designed off of those ideas. Most things were a bit down from there. What sort of ball control? How will we hang? Will we suspend? Too much weight? What type of kicker (mini das boot?)? Many of the problems were only solved near the end of build season, which we ended with about 1.5 robots, most of a main robot and about half of a practice bot.

At Kettering District, it showed. Our ball control wasn't great, the hanger needed some serious work. Despite that, we played many good, hard matches. Our great drivers kept us in it, playing strong defense. When we finally hung on Saturday, I think almost everyone was cheering in the stands, it was a great moment. We nearly got the first suspension, in week one. Given about 5 more seconds, team 1322 and we would have been front page news in FIRST, a week 1 suspension; however, it was not to be. I must say we were a bit lucky to be selected for the eliminations. We played good matches with good partners (thanks Teams 1 and 1243!) against good opposition, and fell to the #1 alliance in the semifinals. I consider this event a great success. Our hanger worked, our kicker was good, if the ball control needed work. We also showed that defense could be a game-changer.

Ann Arbor was different. We went in knowing we should succeed, and there was pressure on us. We played plenty of very good matches, finally scoring some good goals from the midfield, consistently hanging. For the second straight event, we nearly got the first suspension in the nation, as team 1684 just barely missed our suspension bar. Again, unfortunate. Ranked fourth, we were selected by #3 team, as the #2 alliance (thanks 573 and 66!). There were some truly great moments in those elimination matches. Finals, match 3 could have gone either way. In the end, it was 573's clincher scoring, and our hanging that won the match. Team 2337's first blue banner! It was great. We had high hopes going into MSC.

The Michigan State Championship.. Said to be more competitive than a division at the Championship (well.. probably not).. We knew it would be a challenge, playing against some of the greatest teams in the world. We certainly played well when we had power. Despite losing comms for two matches, we played a very solid match against one of the only few other midfield specialists, team 469. We had a breakthrough here, our robot was hot, scoring balls, hanging almost every match, winning despite difficult matches and better alliances. We also debuted our ball deflector here, and it was as successful as we thought it would be.

Then, qualifications match 80. Getting pushed around, 20 seconds on the clock. With 18 left, we hit the bar, a huge clang. As one person in the pits said, "I was checking my FRC Spyder app for rankings when I hear a "whack!" Which, of course I just think 'oh, Enginerds are up.'" But there was more, as we moved above the platform, team 2959 moved forward, their hooks sprang to our bar, hooked on, and they pulled themselves up. The pits emptied as the stadium exploded. Michigan's first suspension. All our work to make it possible had finally paid off. And better yet, we won the match because it worked.

It was a great match, when we had a breakthrough in match 88. As balls were quickly cleared into the near zone, we saw our alliance scoring heavily, and decided to try exactly what the ball deflector was made for. halfway through the match, we hung and deflected balls into the near zone. Despite playing against defense, the partnership between us and team 910 was solid, and we scored 19 points in that match.

This led us into alliance selections, ranked 11th, hoping to be picked. As 8th alliance captain, we selected two teams that would be good partners. 2619, rivals from year 1 and the alliance captain we defeated in the finals at Ann Arbor, were our first pick. Then, 226, the Hammerheads, a quick, agile, scoring bot. We had our expectations in the quarterfinals, despite going up against the #1 alliance, led by 1918 and the dreaded 469. First match was so close, as we starved the red alliance of balls, but we finally fell 11-14, when a suspension that could have tied the game failed. Then, we got smoked in our next match, and our MSC was over.

And now we're here. Our ball control is fixed up. our hanger has been perfected. our suspension bar is itching to be used. Our ball deflector a veteran of the hardest official event outside of Atlanta. Our drivers, experienced against some of the greatest teams. Who knows where we may end up. As my sig says, Big Hopes.

Big wall of text is OVER.

[Jen.Scharl]

Originally Posted by maverickfan138

The skirts, orange hair, bandanas, knee high socks, and anything else we can think of will be worn down in Atlanta, so no worries

Oh yes. Be prepared.