Match 1: Close match with a 4-3 loss. Skunkworks’ robot got toppled over leaving the Vikings and Bear Metal robots to work even harder.
Match 2: Another close one. Score was tied but a ball got caught underneath the Bear Metal robot causing a penalty for a 5-4 loss. We’re done in Portland.
Robert Davis
Prior to lunch, the top eight teams selected their alliance partners. Bear Metal was fortunate enough to be selected by teams 8 (Paly Robotics) and 1983 (Skunkworks).
First match resulted in a DQ due to touching the opponent’s tower in the last 20 seconds. Expensive penalty!
Second Match: Heart pumping competition. We tied requiring another match. This is a best 2 out of 3 elimination round.
Third Match: Domination was name of this game. All members of red alliance worked hard for 8-0 win.
Bear Metal was scoring from a distance and playing defense. Skunkworks was bouncing balls returning to the field for quick cycling. The Vikings were scoring one after another, even two at a time.
This gives each a win requiring one more match. It’s really loud here!
Last match: Bear Metal Advances! The alliance broke a scoring record with an initial score of 10-3. This alliance is humming with similar performance to the match before.
The final score was 5-2 for the win advancing the alliance to the semi-finals. Glad I don’t need my voice for this blog.
Robert Davis
High energy erupted with Bear Metal showing how they can persevere through a lot of challenges.
Their last match had the robot scoring one goal after another. The final score was an 8-2 win. This accelerated us to 20th place. Hope the top teams were watching.
Robert Davis
An interesting match occurred with two blue alliance team members, 488 & 360, scoring all of their points into the red goals making the score 0-3 for a loss. The standings show 488 moving from 10th to 6th. 360 moved from 19th to 17th. Interesting scoring algorithm.
Currently Bear Metal is in 34th.
Robert Davis
Exciting first match of the day. Bear Metal’s robot performed as it should, kicking the balls from the far zone and then quickly scaling the barrier. From the center it attempted shots multiple times for successful scoring.
The final barrier was advanced with such enthusiasm that we almost toppled one of our allies. The initial score was 3-4 which was corrected with the opponent’s penalities to a 3-2 win.
This Bear Metal performance propelled our standing from 48 to 30.
Robert Davis
Congratulations to Skunkworks Robotics, Team 1983 for winning the Website Award. If you haven’t seen their website, check it out now. Aviation High School in Des Moines, Washington, is home to Skunkworks. Their team was founded at almost exactly the same time as Bear Metal, and we live just across the valley from each other. So we see each other frequently at outreach events. Skunkworks sets a great example to other teams in our region.
Great bot handling was exhibited by the Bear Metal drive team. Kicking a number of the balls out of defender zone and then driving over the humps to score a point. This match ended with 1-2 loss. Nevertheless a heart pumping match to watch. The match can be seen here.
Robert Davis
Penalties eliminated the alliance score for a 0:1 loss.
The penalties arose from our bot when the ball retainer barrier broke allowing the balls to enter under the robot. This strap was replaced with a stronger one.
The pit crew is humming with repairs and bumper changes. Jim described it similar to a NASCAR pit stop.
Robert Davis
Disappointment was rife throughout the team this morning. Not only did our first match end with our robot never moving, but the second match ended with two penalties upon us. Our articulating design appears to be worthy, but the fact that the soccer balls got caught beneath our belly was our downfall. Our alliance won that match, but we have yet to prove ourselves in the game we strived so hard to make a winning design for. We hope that this afternoon will be better than this morning.
Jennifer W.
Arrrrg, lights on but no one home. Bear Metal didn’t move. Luckily the red alliance had limited movement and success. The remainder of our blue alliance team scored for a 4-0 win.
Back on the field in an hour with a different set of alliance members.
Robert Davis
P.S.
Analysis back in the pit showed a dead battery in the netbook controller. So many things that all have to work in unison.
Our win was due to Team 368, Kika Mana, from Hawaii http://www.mckinleyrobotics.org/2010/index.php. Nice job.
Pit crew changing to red alliance colors and charging batteries.