Robots in Space!

Ok, the theme was all about going to space, but we only went to Arizona. I'll try to sum up and if you want more details, you will have to ask me. We went into the competition not expecting to do very well. There were some traditionally really good teams coming. Our robot was not behaving on practice day so we weren't very hopeful on how things would end up. Either way, we love our team and we are some pretty die hard fans.

This is a vew of the entire field. Basically the robot needs to pick up round disks (hatch panels) and put them on holes in the ship in the middle and the rockets on the side of the field. After the holes are covered, cargo (balls) are picked up and put into the ship. Then, your robot needs to go to the platform at the end. More points are added depending on which level of the platform you climb onto.

This is our drive team. They did not get practice during the build season because the robot was just not functioning until this competition. They got a really hard crash course on driving. We have a human player, two drivers, and  Corrine is the head scout/strategist.

Kates favorite thing to do is go to the "pits". These are stations where your robot comes back after matches to get worked on. People can go down to the pits and see the teams and the different robots. They usually have a lot of team bling you can collect. This is our awesome pit crew!  These kids are amazing and did a great job keeping the robot in excellent working condition all weekend. Sometimes we got hit really hard and things got broken. They had to fix it quickly and get it back out to compete. 

I was so disappointed to see as much snow as we did in AZ. It was so very cold and I was not very happy about that. I'm so done with snow. (no, I can't go a single blog without complaining about snow)

Keith is the head coach and his job is to help the drive team. He spends the weekend working on strategy and then keeping the overall view of the game in mind. He does a lot of talking to other teams and then yelling at the drive team during matches because it's so loud down on the floor. I think he is so good at his job. He works so well with these kids and with the coaches of other teams. He really has a talent for this.

Our robot has a very good and consistent climb. It scares me to watch it every time, but we always make it. Its nice to see good ole 3230 on the top platform.

Here is a video of the climb so you can get an idea how how it works.

We have a week off and then we will be competing in SLC. Since the competition got over in AZ, Keith has been thinking about modifications to the robot that can be made in a week. The idea is to make it a little more effective and competitive. Never mind the robot head on the kitchen table. It's all part of my robots life.

We are looking forward to competition in SLC. It will also be crazy competitive. Once again there are a lot of really good teams coming.  We ended AZ in 3rd of 54 robots. I don't even dare say what will happen in SLC.  That is the week in review! All robots, all the time.