Californication
It may have been a bit quiet here in our build thread recently, but it has definitely not been a quiet two weeks for the team. We are all recovering from competing back to back weeks 1 and 2 (as per our usual schedule). The travel team is packing up and on their way home today, and the group who stayed home is recovering from staying up into the early morning two weekends in a row… that 9hr time difference is rough on the those of us gathered in the shop to watch the event, do all the remote scouting, match strategy preparation, match feedback, and remote technical support.
Before and between events the team took some much deserved rest and relaxation doing touristy things like hanging out at the beach, eating tacos, and enjoying the warm sunlight. Now onto the events.
Week 1 - Hueneme Port Regional
After landing in the USA the team settled into the hotel and then began the process of reassembling the robot. We were able to connect with 4414 who offered their shop as a place to do the reassembly and system checking on the robot so that we could be ready to roll as soon as the practice field at the competition was available (see image above). On top of that 4201 let us use their practice field to begin work on improvements to our autonomous and teleoperated driver controls.
We knew going in this was going to be a tough competition and it lived up to our expectations. Thanks to the preparations we were able to get through inspection very quickly and maximize our use of the practice field. Qualification matches went well and at the end we ranked 4th. With alliance selection the number 3 seed, 6036, selected us and then rounded out the alliance with 3859. We were able to win all our matches in the top half of the bracket, resulting in us facing off with the number 1 alliance (1678, 4414, and 696). The resulting set of matches were some of the closest and intense matches the team has ever seen. It was 4.5 matches of hard work, and in the end the number 1 seed took the win. If you haven’t seen these matches… go over to The Blue Alliance and watch them. Lots of interesting strategy and game play to learn from.
We learned a ton from this event and walked away not only as finalists but also collecting a Creativity Award for our robot design, with highlights on the spindexer. You can check out more about our robot in this Behind the Bumpers interview from FUN.
Also be sure to head over to our YouTube channel to check out our recap videos from each day at competition, for example here’s the video from Day 6 featuring the play-offs and awards ceremony:
Results: Ranked 4, Picked 3rd, Finalists [13-4-1] Creativity Award
Week 2 - Ventura County Regional
Back to the same venue with a new group of teams, some mechanical changes, and much improved autonomous options. Thanks again to 4414 and 4201 we were able to implement the following changes to our robot: new slicker material bumpers, mounted slightly higher, reduced the number of wheels on the intake to lighten it and add weight to the chassis. Improved laser cut clocking gears on the gripper and a few other small laser cut and 3d printed part improvements. We couldn’t get the robot to where it ended up without the support of these local Californian teams.
After reviewing our match schedule we felt that we had a good chance to seed higher at this event then week 1. We approached every match from a strategic perspective with a focus on securing the ranking points over total match score. At the end of qualifications we ended up in 2nd place behind 4414, both of us undefeated and within two RPs of each other.
For alliance selection, we were invited to join 4414 to play from the number 1 seed, and the alliance was rounded out by team 4. Through some hard fought matches and tough defense (shout out 1138) we were able to win out the event undefeated. It was an incredible run and we are super proud of our team, and our alliance’s performance on and off the field.
Speaking of off the field, 4481 really is a team about more than robots. One of our young team members Merle was honored with a FIRST Dean’s List Finalist Award, noting her contribution to the team and to the community. Congratulations Merle!
As members of both The Compass Alliance and The Open Alliance we seek to improve all teams FIRST experience from the ground up. In our community we work closely with our partners on our sustainability and impact on our students while supporting FTC Netherlands, now FTC Benelux (which supports the FTC League for Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg), to not only grow but be sustainable as well. We were honored to receive the FIRST impact award for these efforts.
We are proud to present our impact award video submission:
Results: Ranked 2, Picked 1st, Winners [14-0-0], Impact Award and Dean’s List
Lessons Learned
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast, this game is all about not wasting time and making every action count, this is even more apparent when collecting and scoring game pieces in specific locations on the scoring grid. Make every pick up and placement stick, then work on doing it a little faster each time.
The charging station and the cable guides really upset the CG of the robot. I think we knew this, but seeing fast driving swerve drives brings a whole new dimension to it. Care must be taken around these areas even for robots with a relatively low center of gravity.
Next Steps
Step 1 - Recover from Week 1 and Week 2
Step 2 - Welcome the team back to The Netherlands
Step 3 - Critical design review of the robot and the events as a whole
Step 4 - Do the work determined in Step 3
Step 5 - Fly Back to Texas for World Championships!
This post was written by: @Justin_Foss
