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Monday, January 31, 2011

More Robotics and another win!

There wasn't a lot of modeling this past week as I was coaching my son's robotics team (team 3113) to prepare for and compete in another competition - the South Central Pennsylvania Qualifier.  It was a very tough event and despite some real electronics issues we managed to eek out another win.

I was very proud of the boys as our robots electronics had real issues and required extensive on the spot repairs.  We'll need to replace or repair some of our electronic components before the next competition in March.  The picture shows the end game of one of the finals matches (best two out of three) where our robot (3113) and our alliance partner managed to balance on the swing bridge with just 4 seconds to go in the match.  The extra points from balancing swung the match in our favor.

This competition was very rough as the referees allowed a lot of contact.  It's a good thing we built are robot to be both slow and heavy (like the coach!) as the ability to either withstand ramming or push robots out of the way was critical to winning.  The boys also won a design excellence award which was really cool.

This week we'll be doing a full inspection and developing a repair prioritization list.  I may never get my game room back!

5 comments:

  1. Congrats to you and your son's team !

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  2. Congratulations aswell, from what I see in the pictures those robots look brilliant.

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  3. Thanks - this year has been very fun and I am very proud of the boys who, despite being coached by an economist, seem to be doing well!

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  4. Hey where was this competition at in south central pa? My son would love to start or be in a club in south central pa but there is no clubs around. would love to find someone close to start one.

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  5. The competition is sponsored by a national group called FIRST. Their website has a search tool that can help you find local teams. Most are organized through High Schools or youth groups (my son's team is a Boy Scout troop). Here are a few links:

    FIRST Home Page:
    http://www.usfirst.org/default.aspx

    Team / Event Search:
    http://www.usfirst.org/whatsgoingon.aspx

    Site for the groups that runs the PA Competitons for FIRST:
    http://www.weatherlyrobotics.org/techchallenge.htm

    I hope the above information helps - robotics has been a lot of fun this year
    Miles

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