Talk:DEWBOT VI Philadelphia Regional
Comments about the Philly Regional, add yours here!
Foster - This is one of my favorite regionals. I love the up close action, the seats are right at the field. At other places (RIT, USNA) there is 30 feet between the first row of seats and the field people. If you want to see the robots on the move, this is the place to go.
We had great pit placement this year at the end of the row and two rows away from the open door. So we were cool and uncrowded. Our pit was also a good point to watch the robot parade go by. I was able to make a few passes around the entire pit to see most of the robots. Some great designs in both drive designs and kickers. Lots of interesting hangers, with the side hangers showing some amazing engineering.
For the second year the robot was a low fix event. Two repairs were replacing a wheel bolt and doing a tread replacement. Everything else like battery swaps, kicker bands and zip ties was on the pit schedule and went well. It's nice to have our alliance team members show up and ask if everything is OK and be able to say "Yes, just a battery change." I could learn to love this design before building strategy.
Winning the Xerox Creativity Award was huge. For the second year in a row the judges have recognized the synergy between our mechanical and programming efforts. It is so cool to win Engineering Awards!
With getting into the semi-finals I had a chance to stand on the floor during a match. It's like standing in a wall of sound, bright lights and way too much activity. I'm even more impressed with our drive team to stay cool and make the plays they do under that pressure.
Bonus for me was being able to have the hot sausage sandwich from the Morning Star lunch truck three days in a row. Philly rocks!
Clem - It was very rewarding to see the effects of our post-Finger Lakes fixes. We identified the key problems, developed a plan to address these, and then executed this plan without distraction. The results were clear for all to see.
Earlier good decisions made by the team: the purchase of a spare control system and the fabrication of the proxy chassis paid dividends. The key point here was that we were well prepared to do the work necessary to recover from Finger Lakes.
It was great receive vindication for all of the time, effort and committment the team dedicated to designing and building a truely stand-out robot.
- DEWBOT VI has the moves!
- It's a serious scorer
- It gets around - over bumps - through tunnels
- While designed as an offensive robot, DEWBOT VI also does a great job on defense. The combination of speed, control, agility and traction (not to mention a cool and aggressive driver) allowed us to shut-down Miss Daisy and push MOE around like a rag doll.
We don't do everything (no hanging & autonomous is still rudimentary), but what we've focused on, we've done extraordinarily well.
Winning teams don't happen by accident. They are the result of good processes, good habits, good preparation and discipline. At Drexel, I believe I saw Sab-BOT-age turning a corner and becoming a really good, competitive team. Thinking back over DEWBOTs-past, I cannot help but be impressed by the progress we demonstrated. Let's keep this up.
