The team completed in the Mid-Atlantic Robotics Championship at Lehigh University where we went toe to toe (or actually bumper to bumper) with the best robots for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.   The top 55 robots in the area were invited to attend.  This was the third straight year we were ranked high enough to receive an invite.  We are very grateful to all of our sponsors, especially the Mid-Atlantic Robotics organization, for their financial support that allowed us to attend, 

The students did some fund raising of their owe by asking for loose change in decorated Piggy Banks.  Here are some examples of the banks.  This was a lot of fun for the students and it raised a good amount of funds. 

 

 

We performed very well at Lehigh.  During the first day of the competition the teams can work to improve their robots.  We first replaced a broker encoder.  This critical component is used to determine when to turn off the shooter motor.  We then replaced all six of the robot wheels.  The wheels had worn down and were losing traction.  We also made some programming changes including adding a ‘panic’ button to the controls that allow the driver to shut down the shooter motor in the event of another encoder failure.  (Luckily is was not needed.)

 Here is our robot on the field battlingthe opponents. 

 

 

We finished the first day with a record of 6 and 2.  (We actually were 7-1 but there was a scoring error in one of our matches.)  Once again we were outstanding in the Autonomous phase of the game where the robots move and shoot without assistance from the drive team.  Here you can see one of our shots going into the high goal.  We made 9 in a row at one point.

 

 

The competition at this level is fierce.  Late in the day we had one of our bumpers broken despite being made of ¾ inch thick wood.  Teams played tight defense, but because of the quality of the teams involved, high scores were the norm.  We only failed to reach the 100 point level once during the weekend.  Here are some balls flying over the truss for a 10 point score.

 

 

We finished the competition with a record of 7 and 5 which ranked us 19^th. Unfortunately we were not selected for the elimination phase of the competition.  The event was especially beneficial as we were able interact the best teams in the region and gather some great ideas that we can use next year.  Here are some more pictures from the event. 

 

 

            

 

 

Here is team picture from the event. 

Brendan Burke 77