And Week 3 is in the record book!
I’ve been off doing VEX, so this was my first 2013 event. My day job kept me away from Friday, but I was there for Saturday.
First off, the Chestnut Hill field house is a double end to end basketball court. Field in the right hand court, pits and the practice area on the left. (Practice was a 2/3 of a field, in the corner so there was no flying objects in the pits)
The stands on the main field are close to the action. You can hear the #25 chain drive sets of wheels, the high speed whine of AM wheels on shooters. And if you were there on Friday, you could sense the unique smell of burnt electronics. Key thing is you as a spectator are often closer to the robots than the teams driving, it’s a fan friendly venue.
My home team, Sab-bot-age (1640) was able to pull off a 30 point climb in the quals. The entire place was on their feet cheering the little robot on. RSisk picture of Dewbot IX
My favorite for the day was 225. A tall shooter from York PA it had a simple strategy. Score three in auto, slide back to the feeder station and make 2 point scores. 2 Pointers at the rate of 20 a minute. You’ve seen the tracer fire in movies, same thought. Just think of white disks from end to end spaced about 5 feet apart. So steady and smooth you would think you could almost walk across them like stones on a pond.
Miss Daisy 341 had an amazing robot last year, this years team set out to beat that design and I think they did. Short and strong, throws the white disks like Jet Li throwing Ninja stars. They fly flat, straight and just stick in that 3 point goal.
As the leader of the second place alliance, Daisy didn’t waste a breath picking 225 as an alliance partner.
Meanwhile 1495 from Avon Grove was having a pretty good day. With great partners they shined and ended up 18th for the day. When the serpentine came back around, they were the 341/225 top pick.
They then started a march through the elmins scoring over 100 points per match. With a surprise (well to me) upset in round one in the finals they then gathered their wheels under them and took the next two matches by +70 points to take the event. Just amazing playing, an amazing set of matches.
For as long as I’ve been doing FRC, the Firebirds **433 **have been an amazing team to watch and learn from. Hard work and spirit paid off today as they took the Chairman’s Award, nice job!
They shared the limelight with the nearby 321 Philadelphia Central High School Robolancers. 321 didn’t have a great day on the field, but the Engineering Inspiration award was a clear statement on what these roboteers are about.
High marks to the MAR event team, headed by Rob Ervin and Pete Randall it was a great and well run event. One plus for me was there was a food choice that was better than cheese pizza. Fresh fruit, a wide variety of sandwiches and juice were a welcome change from my normal robot lunch.
DJ Mike Rizzo sporting his “The Science Guy” red bow tie kept the crowd moving. Tip of the event hat to FTA Joe Troy on keeping the robots moving. There were some clear issues with robots and the robots and the field. But on Saturday, all of the robots moved and played when they should.
I was a fan of MAR district events last year, but this sealed the deal. Top robots, being able to see the action up close in a nice venue and the smaller team list to allow more matches during the weekend make it a win win.
Go MAR!