2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional

[dbell]

My dad will be a volunteer again this year, and he has talked to these people.
Yes Benge Ambrogi is again scheduled to be the head referee, with Kari Karwedsky as his backup. And Field Manager Randy Bohannan's stated intention is to have a "singles line" for robots to fill otherwise unused practice slots on Thursday.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by dbell

My dad will be a volunteer again this year, and he has talked to these people.
Yes Benge Ambrogi is again scheduled to be the head referee, with Kari Karwedsky as his backup. And Field Manager Randy Bohannan's stated intention is to have a "singles line" for robots to fill otherwise unused practice slots on Thursday.

Alright! That's what I like to hear.

Also, does anyone have any pictures from BAE's Unveiling?

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by iCurtis

Alright! That's what I like to hear.

Also, does anyone have any pictures from BAE's Unveiling?

Not sure but some robot pictures have been posted on the event site through Flickr

[Dan Petrovic]

Originally Posted by iCurtis

Alright! That's what I like to hear.

Also, does anyone have any pictures from BAE's Unveiling?

Dang, I knew that's what I forgot! A camera!

Someone on our team videotaped the whole thing. I could talk to him about it to see if we could get it uploaded somewhere.

[Jessica Boucher]

Looks like WGIR has stepped up to the plate and will be broadcasting play-by-play of the finals on Saturday! More information can be found here: http://www.baesystemsfirst.org/regional/

[Jay Trzaskos]

so let's hear about the practise rounds, how is everything going in Manchester?

[Nathan Streeter]

The practice matches... Well, in many ways they were sad to watch, but it helps me to remember that the practice matches are never as impressive as the qualifiers and finals.

My general take on the practice matches was that essentially all teams are hurdlers (only a handful designed differently) and that most of these still have a long way to go before reaching their potential. Also the matches seemed much more "slow-paced" than I anticipated. Part of it might be that you have a hard time traveling faster than the slowest bot on the track or part of it might be the relatively quiet music. However, I think that only says that average-sized robots with tank drive have a harder time racking up the laps.

Most of the robots that impressed me today are from teams we expected it from; 121 (Rhode Warriors), 126 (Gael Force), 175 (Buzz Robotics)... Although that certainly isn't to say there weren't any other proficient hurdlers. For robots that were not designed to hurdle 58 (Riot Crew) and 1519 (Mechanical Mayhem) both come to mind. 58 is a full size robot capable of cleanly collecting the ball and reliably driving around the track to score the 4 pt. lap, I didn't time its laps, but it rarely had to pause. 1519's speed racer (Mach 6) was demonstrating its aversion to balls by shunning all things spherical. Once it earned 24 pts. in auto by driving past 6 lines, before (spectacularly) colliding with one of those pesky walls... Also, as a note, 190 managed to keep their potential Ace robot up their sleeves (it didn't see a practice match...)

So, to restate, the practice matches here in Manchester were interesting to watch, but I found them slightly more slow-paced and with fewer operational hurdlers than I had hoped for... I'm eager to see/compete in the next two days' matches!


Nathan
Head Scout
Mechanical Mayhem #1519

[Joe G.]

Any word on how it's going down there?

[JamesBrown]

Does any one know what 121's judges award was for?

[kevin.li.rit]

Does anyone have match video up yet?

[Dan Petrovic]

Originally Posted by JamesBrown

Does any one know what 121's judges award was for?

I think it was for helping a team that was far away.

[Travis Schuh]

Does anyone know what 190 does? One of our alumni goes to WPI and all he has been telling us is that 190 has an awesome robot and strategy (but he won't tell us about the robot). I am really curious to figure out what they are doing...

Thanks, Travis

[afi419]

They use what appears to be a suction cup on a crane like device to pick up the ball. They also have a side wheel that drops down and allows them to drive sideways.

[dbell]

Originally Posted by Travis Schuh

Does anyone know what 190 does? One of our alumni goes to WPI and all he has been telling us is that 190 has an awesome robot and strategy (but he won't tell us about the robot). I am really curious to figure out what they are doing...

Thanks, Travis

I picture is worth a thousand words. I wish i had a picture to post. I think the strategy is: pick up the ball, and swing it round and round over the middle support of the overpass, getting 8 points each time. It is VERY complicated. I haven't figured it out completely, but i know it has 10 victors, a suction cup, an extending crane tower, an up down cable, and a confusing drive base. A significant amount of it is not done, and so it doesn't really work. They are currently ranked 44 out of 48 I think. So, bottom line: In a few weeks of time they could be so good that they might win every match. Until then, their not much of a threat.

[Travis Schuh]

Originally Posted by dbell

I picture is worth a thousand words. I wish i had a picture to post. I think the strategy is: pick up the ball, and swing it round and round over the middle support of the overpass, getting 8 points each time. It is VERY complicated. I haven't figured it out completely, but i know it has 10 victors, a suction cup, an extending crane tower, an up down cable, and a confusing drive base. A significant amount of it is not done, and so it doesn't really work. They are currently ranked 44 out of 48 I think. So, bottom line: In a few weeks of time they could be so good that they might win every match. Until then, their not much of a threat.

Thanks! Definitely sounds interesting... I am especially curious how they deal with having the ball touch the ground or another robot before they touch it again... Hopefully they will have it working by SVR (their second regional).