It was a long day at the Fingerlakes Regional at RIT for the Warlocks. In a semi-final series that the alliance of 1126, 1507 and 3838 put up the high score of the finals round at 196 points, it still wasn’t enough to bring up our average after a disappointing 94 point first match. Our semi-final average of 147.33 only put us in third place, just shy of the final round.
The three match semi-final series sends the alliance with the highest average score on to the final round. Our valiant effort to bring up the scores in the last two matches wasn’t enough to overcome the match where 1126 broke and dropped a potentially winning stack of totes.
We were chosen to the #2 alliance by Rochester’s Sparx, Team 1126 and joined by third team 3838, Roc City Robotics, also from Rochester. It looked like a strong team and we all were very happy. Only bad luck stopped us.
But we didn’t go home empty-handed. The Warlocks, Team 1507, were awarded the Innovation in Control Award, sponsored by Rockwell Automation by the judges. The award recognized our point-scoring autonomous routine that picked up a bin and three yellow totes and took them into the autonomous zone, all in the first 15 seconds without the drivers intervention. The judges were so impressed, that the award was presented in the form of an “interpretive dance” where MC Angry Eric played the robot, knocking over the extra bins. It was a highlight of the awards ceremony.
Our neighbor team from Newfane, The Circuit Stompers, Team 378, did better. Their alliance, headed by Team 4039, MakeShift Robotics, of Hamilton ON, and second pick Team 3015, Ranger Robotics of Spencerport, NY, won the competition, starting from the #7 spot. The Circuit Stompers played a key role in their alliance’s success by retrieving recycling bins from the center bar of the field which both guaranteed their alliance the ability to get those bonus caps and denied them from the opponent alliance. At one point, they were in a tug-of-war with opponent Team 174, The Arctic Warriors, which was resolved when 174’s arm broke. It was an exciting finals all around with many deserving teams falling short of victory by only a little bit.
Team 378 also brought home the Underwriters Labs Industrial Safety Award.
New team 5590, The Alumiboti, from St. Joseph Collegiate in Kenmore, were also recognized as the Highest Rookie Seed of the regional. They were ranked 19th out of 45 teams. We look forward to big things from this team in the future.
