**Week 1 Recap: **
Key field volunteers in CHS continue to prove that they are some of the best in FRC.
Expecting that the school would be closed on Friday, the host team along with CHS staff worked through the night Thursday until 3AM and gained access again on Friday evening for a few hours to finish field setup.
Very early Saturday morning they were back at the venue at 4AM to get ready for teams to load in at 6AM. By Saturday evening, the event was back on schedule and even finished early on Sunday. The Platter tips our cheese wedge hats to all involved in the event and thank you to all for fighting to complete a 12 match rotation and always putting the team experience first.
Issues with elevator reliability and maintaining control over the cube after it was lifted off of the ground plagued most robots. Teams who can solve these problems will have a major advantage over their other CHS counterparts as they jockey for DCMP spots.
Not unexpectedly, most of the usual CHS suspects wound up on top of the rankings following the qualification rounds. Yet it was 422, the only #teamhandoff robot at the event, which took home the blue banner as 7th seed alliance captain.
Going into playoffs, while most alliances had promise with capabilities of 2-cube auto modes or double-hangs, it was a succinct alliance selection strategy that eventually put 422, 3274 and #justpickmichigan team 141 ahead of all of the rest. By coordinating their movements they were able to move cubes where they wanted without interfering with each other.
Interesting CHSy Fact: Six batteries were ejected from robots and ten motors released their magic smoke in NOVA. Zero air tanks attached by zip ties exploded.
**
CHS Platter - Week Two - Penalties, Penalties, and more Penalties**
Penalties were a major part of week 1 over all of the FRC events. If they donât do something to tone this down weâre going to start seeing refs drop from exhaustion. The major design flaw in this game is how easy it is to generate a penalty from trying to complete a basic game task. âShootingâ calls at the switch and scale contact are major judgement calls, we do not envy the refs this season.
Greater DC will be the show to see this week in CHS. With 4 clear top teams, an out of stater, a curse breaker, and 2 teams that already put up impressive showings last week expect to see some early fireworks. Not only that but some robots in the next tier have been revealing some pretty nice robots with some awesome auto modes.
Glen Allen has a very thin top end this season but a pretty hefty middle ground. While you may not see a super high level of play at this event you should expect to see competitive matches all day. Is anyone surprised that 346 built a cube shooter? Anyone? No? Neither are we.
Greater DC:
Number of Registered Teams: 38
TBA page: https://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2018vagdc
CHSyness: 9.51
Extra Sharp Prediction:
In 2014, 225 & 1731 beat 1885 & 1418 using a thinking-outside-the-box strategy. The favorites will pair up again with possibly different combinations. Look for big strategies to play out in any match with two or more of them in it.
The Favorites:
1885 (21.75) - Someone ordered ILITE some Nutrisystem because this robot needed to lose weight on bag day. After witnessing 90+ matches of play in week 1, the team is rumored to be using their remaining unbag time for adjustments on everything from drive train to elevator modes. After solving their weight issue the purple machine will have a solid scale capability that joins 422 as part of #teamhandoff.
225 (20.50) - TechFire hasnât finished outside of the top 10 in MAR since 2012. Theyâll be using this week as a practice session for the next 2 weeks, but that wonât temper their performance. Expect this out of district team to take a large number of points away from CHS.
1418 (20.40) - Vae Victus was the #3 seed at NOVA and continues to prove themselves as a perennial CHS powerhouse. An interesting cube gripper and reliable climb will keep them a contender, but only if they can tune that auto to stop dropping the cubes.
1731 (19.20) - The #2 seed at NOVA, Fresta Valley showed off the best Scale autonomous at the event. Their over-the-top elevator was a little unreliable when they had to reach higher but expect them to get that straightened out this week.
**
Others to watch for:**
1111 (18.00) - There is talk of turmoil internally on the Power Hawks, but judging from Week 0 video they seem to have built a decent machine. We saw our first cube shooter last week in 614 and it landed them a final ranking of 7th. The Power Hawks can use their shooter to get cubes onto the scale early, but may have problems filling the scale against a fast placing robot.
1629 (17.75) - Can geckos have wings? GaCo has built what looks like a solid intake and is sporting multiple versions of double cube auto modes. They may come in at 6th on CHSyness score at this event but they look to have a top tier robot.
Central Virginia:
Number of Registered Teams: 37
TBA page: https://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2018vagle
CHSyness: 7.93
Extra Sharp Prediction:
One alliance will contain 2 teams with the numbers 1XXX and another alliance will contain 2 teams with 3 digit numbers
The Favorites:
836 (20.75) - As much as it pains us to do it, even as a #mdbias team The RoboBees are a clear favorite at this event. Sporting an over the top scoop on an elevator the bees will buzz around the field and score cubes efficiently.
384 (14.5) - After a disappointing year in 2016 Sparky dominated the field last year, and donât expect them to slow down this season. Theyâll likely show up to the event with a fast scale robot but will it be powder coated?
**
Others to watch for:**
1262 (17.75) - Intake: check. Elevator: check. Climber: check. The Stags appear to have something for every part of the game this year, but their elevator seems a bit slow. #teamhandoff gains another member.
1610 (17.00) - For the first time ever 1610 has a full CAD model of their robot. Along with this theyâve built a robot that can pick up cubes in any orientation, score in the scale, and will be running multiple auto modes in their first event. Being pulled along by another teamâs tug is in Blackwaterâs past.
1086 (16.50) - Last season our cheese was stinky. But our history of success, implementing path following for our autonomi, and a short 3 stage elevator for scooting under the scale are just a few of flavors that point to an extra sharp comeback this season.
401 (16.50) - Copperhead is looking to start the season off hot, just hopefully not smoking motors hot. 401 developed a 775 drivetrain over the offseason that we expect them to run this season. With a virtual 4-bar intake and a claim to have one of the fastest elevators in CHS look for them to build on their strong seasons the last two years by finally adding their first district event win this year.
Season Platter Prediction Results:
For the third year in a row, a rookie team is on the winning DCMP alliance.
An out of district team wins an event (900 isnât coming this year).
At least one team will be a first time DCA winner.
The #1 and #2 seeds do not pair up in this event. (vahay)
:ahh:
