FIM Week 4

[FIMAlumni]

This week in Michigan four districts are taking place. Since FIM has a great ranking system through Robozone with James Zondag and Dan Kimura, this thread will highlight teams competing this week that made their lists. Note: these Robozone rankings say they are from week 2.

Lansing:

68, Truck Town Thunder. Zondag ranking: 16. Kimura ranking: 17. Although TTT has yet to compete in the Michigan district system, they previously competed at the Tippecanoe Event in Indiana. At Tippecanoe they ranked 36th and were the second pick of the second seeded alliance.
68 match video

Livonia:

27, Rush. Zondag ranking: 4. Kimura ranking: 8. Rush also have not yet competed in the Michigan district system, but did previously compete at the Buckeye Regional in Ohio. At Buckeye they ranked 8th and were captains of the seventh alliance. Rush captained their alliance all the way to the finals before falling to the first seed alliance.
27 match video

548, The Robostangs. Zondag ranking: 22. Kimura ranking: Unranked. The Robostangs competed at the Southfield District event. There they ranked 5th and captained the fourth alliance. The Robostangs lead their alliance to the semifinals before falling to the first seed alliance.
548 match video

1023, Bedford Express. Zondag ranking: 14. Kimura ranking: 19. Bedford Express competed at the Waterford District event. There they ranked 5th and joined the third seed alliance. Their alliance made it to the finals, but Bedford was unable to take the field due to mechanical issues suffered in the last semifinal match.
1023 match video

3548, RoboRavens2. Zondag ranking: 18. Kimura ranking: 23. The RoboRavens competed at the Southfield District event. There they ranked 3rd and joined the first seed alliance. Their alliance swept the eliminations and were victorious at the event without ever loosing a match.
3548 match video

3641, The Flying Toasters. Zondag ranking: 24. Kimura ranking: unranked. The Flying Toasters have not yet competed in the 2016 season, but were very successful in 2015. They ranked second at MSC 2015 and were quarter finalists. They ranked seventh on the Newton Division and were also quarter finalists there.

Marysville:

217, ThunderChickens. Zondag ranking: unranked. Kimura ranking: 25.
The Thunderchickens also have not yet competed in the Michigan district system, but did previously compete at the Buckeye Regional in Ohio. At Buckeye they ranked 6th and joined the second ranked alliance. The alliance was knocked out in the quarterfinals.
217 match video

2137, Torc. Zondag ranking: 15. Kimura ranking: 20. Torc competed at the Waterford district event. There they ranked second and captained the second seed alliance. They made it to the semifinals before falling to the third seeded alliance.
2137 match video

5926, MooBotics. Zondag ranking: 20. Kimura ranking: unranked. MooBotics competed at the Kettering University District event 2. There they ranked 10th and captained the sixth seeded alliance. They lead their alliance to three close finals matches before falling to the first seed alliance.
5926 match video

West Michigan:
85, B.O.B. (Built on Brains). Zondag ranking: 6. Kimura ranking: 5. B.O.B competed at the Lakeview Event. There they ranked first and captained the first seed alliance. Their alliance won the event, only loosing one match in the semifinals.
85 match video

1918, NC Gears. Zondag ranking: 2. Kimura ranking: 3. NC gears competed at the Standish-Sterling event. There they ranked first and captained the first seed alliance. Their alliance won the event after taking the quarterfinals and semifinals to tie breakers.
1918 match video

2054, Tech Vikes. Zondag ranking: 19. Kimura ranking: 12. The Tech Vikes have not yet competed in the 2016 season, but had a very successful 2015 season. They ranked 20th at MSC and were quarter finalists. They ranked 13th on the Tesla Division and were once again quarter finalists.

5980, East Grand Rapids Robotics. Zondag ranking: unranked. Kimura ranking: 16. Grand Rapids Robotics competed at the Lakeview District event. There they ranked 10th and joined the sixth seed alliance. Their alliance made the finals before falling to the one seed alliance.
5980 match video

Good luck to all teams competing this week!

[Richard Wallace]

West Michigan and Livonia are looking strong. 5980 is the real deal -- now that their drive team has a hard fought event under their belt, look for their defense to get smarter, quicker, more effective. They came very close at Lakeview and will be hungry like the wolf this time.

I expect this will be the week that Michigan teams start putting in a lot more high goals, and making some noise in the FRC-wide polls. That trend will continue in Weeks 5 and 6, bringing the level of play to a rousing crescendo by MSC.

Starting this Saturday morning, breach and capture will become necessary, but not sufficient, to get a W in Allendale.

[c.shu]

We are looking forward to coming back this weekend with a working shooter that no longer jams every match. (At least in practice)

We also had some extra time to get some programming hands onto it for auto and from what I have seen vision tracking in the high goal.

Can't wait to compete this weekend good luck to all!

[Jim Schaddelee]

I am so excited for West Michigan District ! I think the score are going to be high and we will see more captures and and more hanging than prior weeks.
I am sure team like 1918, 85,2054,74,141,107,3546 will be much improved.
Some new team have looked really good 5448 and 5980 to name a few. Good luck to all the teams competing this weekend. Also am I the only one
hearing " and 3.2.1. RUSH " in my head before the matches? Thanks Tom Nader:-)

[Richard Wallace]

Lansing was a very exciting event. I just got back from 2.5 extremely full days, inspecting and refereeing. Does that make me a Refector, or an Insperee?

This event was rough! It was the robots vs. the field, and I think the robots came out ahead -- although many of them left it all (or at least several key parts) on the field! I am thinking especially of 5222, the #8 AC that played defense the way it should be played, taking down the #1 alliance and forcing semifinal 1 to three matches. Well played, guys -- you will make some noise at MSC.*

Congratulations to the winning alliance: 3357, 2959, 5502. That was a very hard fought final with more than usual share of nail-biting drama. Comets had the best built robot, as their awards at Tippecanoe and Lansing attest, and they played aggressively throughout. 2959 was a smart pick, with a much improved high goal shot since their first event, and a determined drive team that kept fighting back after a very frustrating morning. And 5502 -- very good scaling! How were you guys available as a 15th overall pick?

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*On the field and in the stands. Congratulations on the Team Spirit Award! Most teams wish they could dance like you.

[jdunston94]

Originally Posted by Richard Wallace

Lansing was a very exciting event. I just got back from 2.5 extremely full days, inspecting and refereeing. Does that make me a Refector, or an Insperee?

This event was rough! It was the robots vs. the field, and I think the robots came out ahead -- although many of them left it all (or at least several key parts) on the field! I am thinking especially of 5222, the #8 AC that played defense the way it should be played, taking down the #1 alliance and forcing semifinal 1 to three matches. Well played, guys -- you will make some noise at MSC.*

Congratulations to the winning alliance: 3357, 2959, 5502. That was a very hard fought final with more than usual share of nail-biting drama. Comets had the best built robot, as their awards at Tippecanoe and Lansing attest, and they played aggressively throughout. 2959 was a smart pick, with a much improved high goal shot since their first event, and a determined drive team that kept fighting back after a very frustrating morning. And 5502 -- very good scaling! How were you guys available as a 15th overall pick?

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*On the field and in the stands. Congratulations on the Team Spirit Award! Most teams wish they could dance like you.

Leaving it on the field has several meanings to me. I was standing behind the glass as the drive coach for 3357. The elims were very hard fought both ourselves and our alliance the aggressive defense played against us proved to be formidable and devastating to our robot. We in eliminations lost and had to repair our intake as well as one of our manipulator arms for the cheval/porticulis. The same cheval arm broke in the final match and literally was "left on the field" thank you to our partners 2959 and 5502 for the success in lansing. And thank you Richard for your kind words it means alot. We risked alot this season trying to get this design right and it paid off.

[hardcopi]

In St Joe our bot performed pretty well overall with a few exceptions. Our cameras refused to work with the field so our drivers who had practiced camera shots (I even made them practice with their backs to the field relying entirely on cameras). By the 2nd day we had fixed the cameras and updated our strategy.

In Lansing the bot performed great (though we still have some surprises in store for LSSU and MSC).

The Comets were incredible captains. They listened to our data and had great data of their own that matched up with ours. We ended up working perfectly together.

5502 you provided the ultimate partner for us. We were so pleased to have been able to work with you and your amazing climb.

The only regret I have at the event is that we didn't get a picture of your (3357) twins with our twins. Not often that 2 sets of twins get on a single alliance.

[RedRoosterFarm]

Originally Posted by FIMAlumni

5926, MooBotics. Zondag ranking: 20. Kimura ranking: unranked. MooBotics competed at the Kettering University District event 2. There they ranked 10th and captained the sixth seeded alliance. They lead their alliance to three close finals matches before falling to the first seed alliance.
5926 match video

You seem to be misinformed. As team captain of 5926 MooBotics and a driver I should know how Kettering #2 went ... The Finals were W-L-W for MooBotics. This week we ended up being 2nd pick of the 2nd seeded alliance and won the district along with 5155 and 3534.

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