If we measured our whole experience here by the win-loss record of 902A's matches on the field, then one would have to say that we have gotten off to a rocky start. The first match was a practice match with an alliance partner from Massachusetts who carried us to victory. For anyone who saw the match on live stream, it would be apparent that the robot was not ready for prime time. Thankfully, there was time in the pit before the first real match to fix problems with the intake, the arm, the programming, etc. and come up with a win that highlighted what the robot can do. Matches two and three were less than stellar as the robot "browned out" in match two and flipped over in autonomous, never to rise again, in match three. Tomorrow we have five qualifying matches to improve our ranking and be in the running for Saturday's alliance picks.
For those who don't know anything about how the robots compete in VEX, I will do my best to explain. Every year, VEX Robotics designs a new game and this year's challenge is called "Toss Up". If you want to see the details of how a robot can score in Toss Up, go to www.robotevents.com. The overall structure of a match stays essentially the same every year: Our robot is allied with another team that is assigned to us for each of 10 preliminary matches and we compete against another alliance that has been randomly brought together. Each match starts with a 15-second autonomous round where the robot is programmed to score as many possible points on its own. Then coaches and drivers take over the control of the robots and in coordination with their alliance partner must put together a winning strategy. The teams are also attempting to earn "strength points" by keeping the point spread close.
After the qualifying rounds are complete on Saturday morning, the eight top-ranked teams each choose two alliance partners to move on to the elimination bracket. Here is where the importance of establishing relationships comes in. Even if our team ranks in the top 24 by Saturday, there is no guarantee we will be chosen as an alliance partner. The goal then is to build relationships with all 76 teams in our division, so that not only our ranking, but our reliability and ease of communication will be remembered as the top eight teams choose alliances. Here's where the scouts come in. We have an awesome team of six scouts who spend their days gathering data and marketing our robot. There are more than 700 teams here, so it's quite a job to even find the team you are supposed to scout. Language barriers need to be surmounted as there are at least 26 different countries represented at this tournament. The scout's job becomes even more difficult when you consider that the robot is hardly ever in the pit area. If the teams aren't competing on the field, then they are practicing, entering in skills challenges, or literally out to lunch. Despite the difficulty of the job, our scouts are doing a bang-up job!
Let's not forget our valiant pit crew. Two members of the team are assigned to maintain the pit area in working order, fielding questions from other teams' scouts, and telling our story to the judges. Battery management is a key responsibility of the pit crew, as is the ability to fix anything that is broken when the robot comes back from the competition field. Thanks to Jill Deans, the pit crew had a full complement of engineering notebooks to show to the judges yesterday during their interview. Just in time, Jill!:)
Gotta go! The troops will be downstairs shortly, ready to start Day Two!
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