Week 2
New York teams blasted off in Week 1, with three of the four teams competing winning medals at their out-of-state events. All of Week 2’s action is focused on New York’s first Regional Event of the year in Troy, NY.
The New York Tech Valley Regional
No team has ever won the Tech Valley Regional twice, nor has any team seeded first at Tech Valley twice. The perennial contenders haven’t been able to do it, neither have the out-of-town powerhouses who drop by. This year boasts some strong hometown heroes right along with a strong contingent of out-of-towners from both outside the country and downstate.
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The favorites coming into this event have proven over the past two years they are not so Shaky anymore. Team 2791 is boasting an aggressive slate of features, including placement on all levels of the rocket and a level 3 climbing mechanism. They sport an experienced driver and have been constantly iterating and practicing since build season ended. The most likely team to repeat as Tech Valley Champions is the blue machine from right down the road in Latham, NY.
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That pulsing you hear at the end of the match - that’s 694’s innovative suction cup climber leaving room for someone else to climb the L3 HAB platform as well as them. Across FRC, teams have been winning matches in qualifications and eliminations with solo level 3 climbers. 694’s ability to climb next to a partner make them the most dangerous robot at the event if they can execute in a real match. In addition to their high-flying endgame, they can play every other part of the game. If 694 didn’t bite off too much, they’re a lock for the finals of this event.
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Last year a little switchbot no one saw coming captained the #2 seed to a blue banner at Tech Valley, dethroning the top seed and defending champs. 1493 is soaring in with another excellent tiny robot, boasting wicked fast low cycles and a fast, reliable sandstorm mode.
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Deep Space ended up being a difficult build season for a lot of teams, especially those trying to integrate multiple high-powered features into one robot. 20 is a perennial contender trying to do everything, and they’ve been having some issues. Even still, it would be unwise to discount the chances of a team who has been in the finals of the Tech Valley Regional four of the five times the event has run. If the Rocketeers can get it together, they might be one of the best equipped crews for a Deep flight into Space.
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Coming fresh off an Einstein appearance, the Megalodons sport a robot equipped to do fast, low cycles. 333 is definitely a robot capable of piling up the points in teleop, but their reveal video fails to show off any endgame upside. A climber is rumored to be in the works, but even without one, 333 has proven they can pull off upsets before if they’re allowed to put together the right alliance.
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639 got ambitious this year, building Red Shift - a robot capable of placing in every goal on the field as well as attempting an L3 climber that lifts partners with them. Knowing 639, they’re going to get everything working together all right before eliminations, and if they do - sound the alarms, Tech Valley.
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1860 and 3996 are two international teams that are returning to Tech Valley who showed up with promising, well engineered robots last year but fell short. 3996 decided not to attend Montreal this year in lieu of coming back to settle the score after last year’s semi-final debacle.
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4508 and 6880 are both teams who have built excellent robots, but haven’t been able to take home an event win quite yet. The Steel Stallions lost by a nose in a photo finish in the finals in 2017, and 6880 was arguably the best robot to plug into the second seed at Hudson Valley 2018, before they captained the third seed to the semifinals. Both teams are going to need scheduling luck or a well-built alliance to take down the top seeds here in Troy, NY.
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Tech Valley features 5 rookies this year, including two coming all the way from Brazil (7563 and 7565). New York rookies include two teams attending two events, 7400 and 7718, as well as a local rookie, 7651. Of these, The Space Bees are coming in with practice at the Tech Valley Robot Rumble offseason, and the ThunderMiners have a number of experienced FIRST mentors and alumni assisting them.
