South Central PA Regional Qualifying Tournament, York, PA (01/18/15)
The South Central Regional Qualifying Tournament was by far the largest (34 teams) and toughest competition we had faced to date. It was obvious that teams were tweaking their robots and developing their game strategy as the competition season continues.
For our team, it was a great day on several levels. Our team won 3 out of 5 of its qualifying matches, and then continued undefeated through all the Semi-Finals and Finals matches. By winning the Finals Match, the team earned a spot in the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament on February 28th at Millersville University.
In addition to the Finals win, we were most pleased that our robot performed well and the modifications we made (and perhaps the weather) seemed to solve our prior ESD issues. There were no glitches and the drivers were able to perform as they wanted.
The arena was huge, with 3 competition fields and 34 teams.
The team added decorations to the robot.
By our third event, hardware inspections were a breeze.
This judging experience was the most fun and natural. The judges threw questions at the students (out of order from the way the team normally conducts their presentations), but each student stepped up at the appropriate time and got in their information. It was great to see how well they responded to a different and unexpected format.
The students did a great job handling themselves and fielding questions from the judges
In almost every match, our robot successfully scored in the high center goal during the autonomous mode (controlled solely by programming), worth 60 points, plus 6 pts. per cm filled.
Both red alliance robots and all 3 rolling goals were on ramp at end game, worth 150 points.
During Finals Match we set an FTC World Record of 804 points for this season, scoring 404 in match points, plus 400 penalty points for the opposing team's violations of carrying more than 5 allowed balls at one time. A win would have been achieved even without the bonus penalty points.
Still elated from scoring the record 804 points, we actually see some smiles.
Since it was ruled that EL-Panel was not allowed on robots, the team transferred the "Doge" to team hats. The Fez attracted much attention.
Our team running through the judges and referee's line up after winning Finals.
By winning the Finals Match, our team earned a spot at the Pennsylvania FTC Championship Tournament on February 28th at Millersville University.
Close Ups of the "Control Award" (for programming) and "Winning Alliance" trophies.