Week 3
The New York Tech Valley Regional
This coming weekend, 35 teams will travel to the Tech Valley Regional at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to compete. A few of our top contenders are coming hot off successful runs at the Central New York and Montreal Regionals during week 1, but even more are coming in cold, with no official field experience. This disparity in field experience will be a big difference between top tier teams at the event.
- Team 2791
is likely to continue their dominance at Utica in Troy this weekend. Teams at the RPI event need to figure out whether they can climb aboard 2791’s generous ramps, or how they can find a way to Shake up this powder-coated powerhouse’s power plays. - Team 20
, the Rocketeers, had a rough start to their competition season at the Central New York regional. Due to the brutal practice day weather, an unforgiving schedule, and some close calls, they ended 11th, and quarter finalists on the 6th seed. Expect them to Rocket up the scale scoring this weekend compared to their Week 1 performance. - Ready to bring the challenge to this event is 3990
, Tech for Kids, hoping to add another 2018 banner to their repertoire. After swerving their way to the first seed and selecting the Hawaiian Kids at Montreal’s week 1 event, 3990 could potentially be the team to rival 2791 if they don’t form an alliance together. - Teams 250
, 358, 2013, 3044, 3360, and 3996 all made it to the elimination rounds at their week 1 events. Of these teams, 3360 in particular seems poised for a deep run, captaining the 4th seed alliance at Montreal, and leading some Hyper-close matches against the 1 seeded 3990. - The most ready robot of the teams that have yet to play belongs to Team 333
, the Megalodons. With their Mega-fast climb and even faster cube placement, 333 will try to convince their 2017 regional winning alliance partners to pair up once again. - TVR is hosting two teams from Brazil, 1156
and 1860. Although 1156 has yet to hit the official playing field, the perennial SBPLI powerhouse will certainly have their robot Under Control for the event. - Teams 229
, 1493, 3624, 4508, and 5881 are coming into an event for the first time this season. Each of these teams built a simple yet highly effective robot for the Steamworks game last year. 1493, The Falcons, have an excellent collector on a single stage elevator with a ton of practice that should kill the vault and switches better than almost anyone at the event.
The Finger Lakes Regional
The Finger Lakes Regional at Rochester Institute of Technology is known for being the place where #1 seeds fall short. In the last five years, the #1 seed has won the event just once. With such a solid and evenly matched grouping of scale robots at the top of this year’s event, it’s easy to see to top seed falling once again if the right alliance forms from below.
- The favorites at the event have to be 340
and 5254, who competed against one another in the finals of the Central New York Regional. Both teams can meticulously place cubes on a fairly full scale, and quickly fill it when it’s empty. HYPE’s solo climb is faster and more consistent than GRR’s, but 340’s autonomous routines are more consistent and adaptable, giving them an edge over the HYPE machine. Could this be the year GRR finally breaks their curse and wins FLR? - Ranger Robotics’ machine Otis boasts an impressive 3 robot climber and multi-cube autonomous modes that will make them deadly in playoffs. The question is whether 3015
will have all of these impressive features within their Range, and whether the time invested in these marquee features is worth it in a game that’s largely about placing with precision. - Code Red Robotics struggles more than the above scalers in autonomous mode, and their aggressive teleop play has gotten them a bit hung up at least once, but 639
rarely misses the scale when they go for it, and their driving throughout the Utica event was stellar. Having won their second events in 2016 and 2017, don’t be surprised if 639 steps it up this weekend. - 1507
showed up to Rochester Rally prepared, showing off an elegant machine that could acquire and place cubes anywhere on the field rapidly and efficiently. Whether the Warlocks can take the first seed at RIT for the second year in a row over the experienced machines from Utica is difficult to say. - 191
and 3003 made the playoffs as first round selections and captains in Utica, and both robots can play the scale game as well as the top robots at the event when things are going their way. The X-Cats are X-cellent in autonomous, and 3003’s climber is a Tank, being able to support the weight of partners. - 1126
, 1405, and 4930 will all be in the playoffs this weekend scoring cubes in the scale, barring some Mayhem, but the three teams’ levels of success vary quite a bit from year to year. - Team 1511
designed a robot to be the best switch/vault specialist in the state, but the question is how well that design will translate to on-field success. At an event less crowded with high-powered scale machines relative to Utica, 1511 could Roll into a high seed with the right schedule, consistent switch play, and perhaps some lifters for their alliance partners and really bring the Thunder to playoffs.
