DEWBOT VII Philadelphia Regional

FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Team 1640 (Team Sab-BOT-age) from Downingtown, Pennsylvania led its alliance to victory in FRC's Philadelphia Regional Competition at Temple University yesterday. This was 1640 first Regional victory. In fact, this was also our first experience as an Alliance Captain at a Regional Competition.

We had a great Alliance! Our Alliance Partners Teams 365 (Miracle Workerz), 303 (Panther Robotics) and 2607 (Robovikings, who substituted for 365 after their robot died in the Finals) performed superbly throughout the playoffs. My heart-felt thanks to these teams.

Sab-BOT-age played well through the qualification rounds, 8 wins and 1 tie. Our Minibot (Fanger) with its reliable deployment system were our strongest feature and key to our success. This placed us as 2nd seed, after 1647 (Iron Devils). Unfortunately, autonomous proved unreliable during qualification matches.

We lost our first quarterfinal match, but adapted strategy and won the next two; advancing to the semifinals. Fanger, after nearly flawless performance in the qualifying matches, took this time to become unreliable (due to the jostling). Sab-BOT-age went on the defensive during the two semifinal matches to slow down 103's and 56's scoring. While we designed DEWBOT VII to be an offensive robot, our Pivot Drive just can't be beat when we go over to defense. We won both semifinal matches, but suffered a major setback when 365's arm broke during the 2nd match. We called a time-out.

Our Alliance started the Finals with 1640 still in defensive mode and 365's arm not working. Not a good combination. To make matters worse, 365's drive-train failed entirely during the first Finals match. We were beaten badly and our fortunes appeared bleak. With no more time-outs, we called in a back-up team (2607) to replace 365, shook hands with the opposing alliance (who were just one win away from victory), and put DEWBOT back on the offensive, turning autonomous back on. We adapted our strategy for our reformed alliance and put forth our very best effort. It worked. Autonomous worked. Teleop scoring was good. Fanger worked. 2607 was in the groove with 303 and ourselves right from the start. We won the next two matches and the competition. Robotics can be great drama!

Team 1640 received Rockwell Automation's Innovation in Control Award for our cutting-edge Pivot drive-train, integrated sensor array and control software. No other robot moves like DEWBOT.

In addition, Team 1640 received awards for other teams during the competition:

• Team 341 (Miss Daisy) awarded 1640 its Coolest Robot Award
  
• Team 365 (Miracle Workerz) awarded 1640 its Gracious Professionalism Moeward
  
• Team 204 (Eastern Robotics Vikings) awarded 1640 its Gracious Professionalism Award
  

During the competition, Team 1640 students selflessly pitched in to help rookie Team 3629 (PACERobotics) rebuild their robot to 1) pass inspection; and 2) compete and score in the matches. Our students worked long hours in 3629's pit and put in a very late night (well, an early morning, really) at the Downingtown Robotics Center, building and assembling parts for this team. Team 3629 went on to win the Highest Rookie Seed Award at the Competition. Go PACERobotics!

Match Results & Standings

Rank: 2 of 56 (48%)
Qualifying Match Record: 8-0-1
Qualifying Score: 17.00 (avg , top , stdev 3)
Ranking Score: 29.11 (avg , top , stdev )
Average Score (Average Winning Margin): ()
Offensive Power Rating (Regional Rank): () (avg , top , stdev )
Calculated Contribution to Winning Margin (Regional Rank): ( of 56)
At the end of Week 4, we're in the 26th percentile on CCWM and the 75th on OPR.
(Courtesy of FIRST & 2834).

Qualification Matches

Match 3: Win 74:69 - allies: 225 & 321 - opponents: 56, 1391 & 2539

Match 16: Win 114:25 - allies 272 & 365 - opponents: 433, 223 & 3167

Match 27: Win 33:0 - allies 486 & 3553 - opponents: 1712, 2559 & 3151

Match 38: Win 74:36 - allies 1647 & 2559 - opponents: 204, 3015 & 2229

Match 46: Win 62:58 - allies 357 & 423 - opponents: 834, 1302 & 316

Match 51: Tie 38:38 - allies 1403 & 1370 - opponents: 357, 304 & 2641

Match 65: Win 36:24 - allies 1712 & 2895 - opponents: 1143, 1980 & 224

Match 72: Win 77:6 - allies 1391, 304 - opponents: 2234, 3182 & 2534

Match 80: Win 83:0 - allies 103, 2607 - opponents: 3123, 1791 & 1495

Elimination Matches

Carly, Sasha, Matt, Clem

Qtr 3-1: Loss 48:82

Qtr 3-2: Win 78:70

Qtr 3-3: Win 63:59

Semi 2-1: Win 72:66

Semi 2-2: Win 63:50

Final 1-1: Loss 26:82

Final 1-2: Win 70:64

Final 1-3: Win 69:0

Crew

Students

Matt - Co-Captain & Human Player

Carly - Co-Captain & Driver

Sasha - Team Safety Captain & Arm Operator

Molly - Pit Captain

Douglas - Competition/Pit Safety Captain

Andrew - Human Player

Ben R - Pit programmer

Mike M - Pit programmer

Jack - Scouting

Nicole - Scouting lead

Yahya - Scouting

Ben B - Scouting

Mentors

Ben Kellom - Pit Mentor

Julie Christopher - Head Programming Mentor

Faith McKown - Administration

Siri Maley - Scouting

Mike Rizzo - Competition Volunteer (Referee)

Rita Wall

Clem McKown - Head Mentor & Coach

Gary Deaver

Scott Featherman

Parents

Joe Morganto - Scouting

Ellen Kellom

Philadelphia Regional Photo Gallery

• DB7 Phila 110407 csm.jpg

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