The Team finished our robot just in time to compete in two off-season events. The first was the Rah Cha Cha Ruckus Rochester NY, over the weekend of Oct 26th, and the other the NY Tech Valley Robot Rumble Ballston Springs NY (near Albany), the weekend of November 2nd.
The Rochester event was a shake down of our newly built robot. We encountered several problems and completed the qualifying rounds with 4 wins and 6 losses. However, for the playoffs we were picked 1st by the 5th seeded alliance. We ended up making it to round 4 of the playoffs, placing us in 5th place overall at the end of the tournament. Here is a link to a video of our robot playing (we’re blue #2053):
FRC Rah Cha Cha Ruckus Video
At the Albany event we performed much better given the experience we had at Rochester. We were seeded 4th at the end of the qualification matches and were the 1st pick of the 1st seeded alliance. We made it all the way to the finals where we were defeated by the 3rd seed alliance. We also were awarded the quality award for our robot! This is the best our team has done! We are all super proud of the results. Here is a video of us at the Albany offseason event:
FRC NY Tech Valley Robot Rumble Video
What’s it like at a competition? Here is a montage of photos from the Rochester and Albany competitions.
The Team attending the NY Tech Valley Robot Rumble Ballston Springs NY (near Albany) on November 2nd.
The playing field is approximately 27 by 54 feet. To provide scale an NBA basketball court is 50 by 94 feet. Each team plays multiple matches to determine seeding for the playoffs. Each match has two alliances, a red alliance and a blue alliance, composed of three teams. In each match the team makeup of an alliance changes so in one match you are in alliance with a team and in another match you are competing against the same team. Each match is 2 minutes 30 seconds long. Each team typically plays 8 to 10 qualification matches to determine seeding in the playoff matches.
For each match a team of 4 students and a mentor setup and operate the robot. One student helps move and setup the robot. One student feeds the rings to the robot during match play. Two students operate the robot (a driver and a shooter) and a mentor is the coach during the match play.
During the matches the robot takes a beating as there are six robots on the field at the same time. A robot can weigh up to 125 lbs and travel at a speed up to 13 mph. There are a lot of inadvertent, as well as deliberate, collisions that test the robustness of the robot. In addition, adjustments are made to the mechanical, electrical, and software of the robot based on performance in a match. The Pit Crew is responsible for making repairs and adjustments during the competition. The time between matches can be as little as ½ hour so the Pit Crew must be ready and able to diagnose and make repairs and adjustments quickly.
An important tenant of FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC) is “coopertition”, a portmanteau of cooperation and competition. Teams are encouraged to help and cooperate with each other, sharing knowledge and resources, while still striving to win. For each match an alliance is formed from three teams. Here the three teams are discussing a strategy that uses the strengths of each of the teams to win the match. In subsequent matches the teams may be on opposite alliances.
We are at the operator’s station ready and waiting for the match to start.
Our robot, 2053, is on the field. It has driven up to a ring and proceeding to intake the ring and load it into the shooter.
The ring is being loaded into the shooter.
Our robot taking a shot at the target called the Speaker.
Team members cheering our Team members and robot.
As the match nears the end the robots can score additional points by hoisting itself off the floor by grabbing onto a chain pulling itself up.
At the NY Tech Valley Rumble our team made it to the final match. Although our alliance was defeated in the final it was the best finish our team has had so far since Southern Tier Robotics was started in 2022.
At the NY Tech Valley Rumble we received two awards. The first was being a finalist in the competition. The second was the Quality Award. The criteria for the Quality Award as specified in the competition handbook:
The award is a testament to the hard work that the Team put in to creating a competitive robot.
We are now preparing for the 2025 FIRST Robotics Competition which starts on Jan 4th, 2025. We don’t know the details of the competition yet but we’re eager to start!
