1519 would like to thank the Mayhem in Merrimack host team of Chop Shop 166, as well as all of the other organizers and volunteers. We had a great time at the event, which was run smoothly and made for a fun time. The world-class volunteers (lots of CMP volunteer experience in the volunteer crew!) make this a great event.
We also appreciated the chance to run a 2nd robot to get the tournament closer to 16 teams for 8 alliances, as the 2nd robot gave us a chance to have more students experience being on the drive team. We ended up using all new drivers, with our CMP drivers being the drive coaches.
Thanks also to our alliance partners, 1289 The Gearheadz – we don’t think we’ve ever been allied with your team before in eliminations, and it’s always fun to make new friends!
Since folks have been asking about seeding rankings, I figured I’d post what I have. I don’t actually have the seed rankings for all teams, but only for the 7 alliance captains. I also have the alliance draft results and the elimination round results.
(To clarify for those unfamiliar with Mayhem in Merrimack, this tournament runs in a 2v2 fashion, ending in a double elimination tournament for however many alliances are present, to accommodate other than 8 alliances. During alliance selections, picking of other alliance captains is not permitted. Since there were 14 robots participating in elimination rounds, there were 7 alliances, and the alliance captains had to pick from amongst the robots in seed positions 8-14.)
Elimination Round Seedings, Selections, and Results:
#1 Seed - 1519, picked 1289, finished 1st
#2 Seed - 1735, picked 467, finished 2nd
#3 Seed - 138, picked 1922, finished 5th/6th
#4 Seed - 501, picked 1721, finished 5th/6th
#5 Seed - 9151, picked 151, finished 4th
#6 Seed - 131, picked 3323, finished 3rd
#7 Seed - 238, picked 3499, finished 7th
FYI, “9151” was 1519’s 2nd robot, which was not an FCS, but rather our “Ri11D” (robot in 11 days) which was a feeder-station-loaded cycler of less than 30-inch height with pneumatic 10-point hang. When the students on 1519 learned that the tournament might not be full, they wanted to build a new robot design as an educational experience. They took the drive base from our FCS practice robot, rebuilt it with different wheels and sprockets for faster speed, attached the practice robot shooter at the height/angle for shooting from under the pyramid, and mounted a pneumatic 10-point hanging mechanism. It worked pretty well, but really needed some practice time before the tournament to get the bugs out before using it.
Thanks again to all who made the tournament possible. Our only suggestion for a future improvement would be to work together with the Beantown Blitz organizers so that the tournaments aren’t held on the same weekend anymore. Attendance at this tournament is limited by the two events being held on the same weekend – we always used to love going to both events!