Issaquah Robotics Log
2006 FIRST Competition

Build Period: Week 1 - Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4 - Week 5 - Week 6
Competition Period: Pacific Northwest Regional - Fix-it Window - Davis/Sacramento Regional

Our main focus today was to install our two upgrade motors and the bumpers we made during the break. The motors worked great, we now shoot at least twice as fast as we did in Portland. The elevator is also faster. The bumpers on the side work well, but the front and back bumpers interfere too much with climbing the ramp, so we left them off.

We got the software we developed over break up and running on the robot. Our autonomous mode is improving, but we've actually been using defensive modes a bunch. When we try to shoot autonomously, we tend to get blocked, so we're at least keeping the other side occupied.

Today we played well but lost the first match. Actually, we played well all day. We are a very effective defensive robot, we can score 6+ center goals when not being blocked and can even score some against active defenders. Our scouting effort is very polished and the info being fed to the drivers enabled us adapt to our opponents and win a couple of matches we might have otherwise lost.

In one afternoon match, we got tipped over during autonomous, broke a PVC post and lost the match. We only had about 20 minutes to replace this critical part with many connections to other pieces, but we got it done and made it back in time to win the next match. Later, in the pits, that team made a point of coming over and apologizing for the autonomous incident; very gracious, especially since they did nothing wrong!

Teamed with 726 and 1662, we were able to get one the highest scores of the day at 63, just behind the highest score at 65. We finished 5-2-1 in eighth place. By win/loss record, we're in a four-way tie for fifth place. The tie breaker is the sum of scores from the losing side of each match we're in, with higher scores ranked higher, although one could argue that having the lower ranking score is better.

Anyway, we're in good position for the final seeding matches tomorrow!

Saturday morning we had two tough matches. We played well, but lost both, dropping our ranking to 17th out of 40. Still, we kept our scouting effort running to prepare for being chosen for the final eight alliances.

Three of the top eight teams picked a first partner from the top eight, which moved the number nine, ten, and eleven teams into the alliance choosing process. The freshly minted number eight alliance captain chose us as their first partner. We then together chose a third team we both knew to be strong.

In the first of the quarter finals, we faced the number one seeded alliance. Our scouting data helped us work with our partners to put on our best game against the higher seeded alliance. Our scouting, strategy, robot design and well-practiced drive team prevailed, beating the other alliance two straight matches to advance to the semi-finals. Winning two straight matches against a presumptive stronger alliance was an incredible thrill and a real testament to our team's tenacity and skill.

In the semi-finals, we faced the fifth seeded alliance, which had defeated the fourth-seeded alliance. We lost the first match by a good margin, but fought back in a very exciting battle to tie the second match. Our robot sustained multiple injuries - destroying the camera communication module, ripping off a PVC support, and dropping a chain. We got the chain fixed, hadn't been using the camera and decided we could function without that support piece, plus helped our partners patch up their robots. We adapted our strategy, hoping to overcome the first loss, but we lost the third match.

This was our best performance in three years and four regionals. It took a lot of hard work from our team and amazing support from our sponsors to advance our team to the next level, competing in two regionals and really pushing our students to create success in both engineering and teamwork.

Build Period: Week 1 - Week 2 - Week 3 - Week 4 - Week 5 - Week 6
Competition Period: Pacific Northwest Regional - Fix-it Window - Davis/Sacramento Regional