2007 - Rack 'n Roll
The Challenge
Rack ’n' Roll is a game played with two alliances, one red and one blue, composed of three teams each. The object of the game is to attain a higher score than your opponent alliances by placing toroidal game pieces on the central goal structure (the rack). During the first fifteen seconds, robots drive themselves towards the rack in an attempt to put a special game piece, called a keeper, on the rack for bonus points. The keeper cannot be removed or blocked by spoilers, black inner-tubes that block out regular tubes, keeping them from being scored. Points are awarded for tubes placed in a row, either up or down. Points increase exponentially as the number of tubes in the row increase. In the last twenty seconds of the game, robots can go back into their home zone and earn bonus points for being suspended four inches off the ground (for a bonus of 15 points) or 12 inches (for a bonus of 30 points). The bonus is not counted if the robot is in contact with a game piece.
Our Robot
We needed to design a manipulator that would be able to easily move the tubes onto the rack. After a few days of playing with several different ideas, our mechanics team struck gold with their "sucker" idea, which consists of two motors and two rubber belts. This design applied constant pressure to the tube in order to easily suck up and spit out tubes. Because this claw weighed at least 10 lbs., we needed a strong arm to hold it up. Instead of the traditional one-pole arm, we welded three metal tubes into triangle shape to give the claw maximum support. This arm is connected to the "tower", which behind it's plastic sheets hides a triple–layer electronics "cake," designed to take up as little space as possible. Mounted on our drive train and painted orange, our robot was packed into its crate and shipped of to its first regional.
San Jose
The first regional that our team decided to go to was the San Jose regional. We rolled in on Thursday, pumped and ready for the games to begin. At the end of the first day of competition, we were the #1 seeded team and undefeated. We fought to the quarterfinals and then where defeated with 114 Losa Altos and 973 Atascadero. Determined to have another go at a shot at Atlanta, we geared up for our next regional: Davis.
Davis
Enlivened by our loss and ready to win, we threw ourselves into our second and last regional at UC Davis. We fought our hardest, making it again to the #1 seed and staying there this time. With team 997 and team 1458, we won the finals and earned our right to Atlanta.
Atlanta
Teams from all over the world dream of going to Atlanta, so when we won the chance to go, we leaped to the preparations eagerly. Teams poured in from all over the world, filling the Georgia dome to its rafters. We where placed in the Archimedes division, one known to have the toughest and the best robots out there. We fought hard, and ended up being chosen for an alliance partner in the eliminations. We fought hard, but we only made it to the quarterfinals before we where eliminated. This was a great season, and we were overjoyed when we were able to surpass it in 2008. Good luck to all teams, and let the games begin!
