Rutgers Competition (3-10-12 and 3-11-12)

Wow, what a competition!

First, on Friday, a few of us went to Rutgers to drop off our robot and set up our pit. Meanwhile, the rest of us were eagerly awaiting the competition.

The first day of gameplay was Saturday, the 10th. We started the day very well, at one point rising to fourth place because of our many Coopertition points (from balancing on the center bridge) as well as team victories. Our robot excelled at crossing the bridges, a task that tipped many other robots, and scooping up balls and giving them to our teammates on the other side of the barrier. However, we fell back in the standings toward the end of the day after a couple of losses in a row, the last one partially due to an inability to connect to our robot during the match.

On Sunday, the 11th, we had five more qualification matches before alliances were made for the final elimination rounds. We won two and lost three, putting us far out of the top 8 in the standings. The top 8 teams got to pick their alliance partners for the elimination rounds, and they would stay with these partners the whole time. Although we weren’t in the top 8 ourselves, the 8th-place team, Team 3142 (Aperture), picked us as well as Team 223 (Xtreme Heat). Unfortunately, we were eliminated in the first round of the elimination matches (in part because of the bridge-lowering arm getting stuck), and our opponents progressed (Team 224, Team 1302, and Team 1811).

Great job, Daleks! What great performance, especially for only our second year!

Our final record can be found here, although it doesn’t mention the additional Coopertition points we earned throughout the competition.

Pictures and video coming soon!

10 Days to Go–Saturday 2-11-12

Today was another productive but long day. We finished and tested the flywheels that we will be using, and they worked very well! We also finished cutting, drilling, tapping, and mounting the plexiglass sheets we were making, and despite having to re-cut one of them so it would fit in the frame perimeter, we eventually got it done and were able to move on. On the plexiglass, we mounted (and connected) eight pieces that will control the other components, like the flywheels and the mechanism that will feed the balls into the tube. The tube itself is coming along as well–we put in pieces to help it hold its shape as well as little axles for the brushes. Great work, fellow Daleks! We’re getting close!

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NJ Regionals 3-5-11 Day 3

Today was a very fun day! We only had two matches and unfortunately we lost them both. The first match we realized that the changes to the Tele-Op program perfected our drive and were were about to score a third piece before the other team had scored their first. To all the Daleks out there, I am proud of you all!  Below are pictures and videos from today. A list of the pictures can be found HERE!

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NJ Regionals 3-4-11 Day 2

Today was a VERY tiring day. We had many matches and as a team we succeed our goal. Our robot was hitting autonomous perfectly and we perfected the art of feeding a tube to a robot. We have 4 seeding matches tomorrow and we hope to score top row logos in each round! Below are pics and videos of today’s competition. The images in a list can be found HERE.

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NJ Regionals 3-3-11 Day 1

Today was a long day! Our team’s robot started on the weak side. We had to recalibrate the line sensors and remake part of the claw since the tubes are bigger than the ones we practiced with and it made the claw extend to outside the bumper perimeter. Pics from today are below. Also the images are in a list HERE.

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