This years game:
Game Summary:
The goal of this year's game is to take 10" dodge balls (or boulders) and transport them into your opponents "Courtyard" by going over a variety of defensive structures, then scoring the boulders in a high or low goal on the castle tower. The defenses can be switched out by your opponent and the audience so the field is rarely the same as it was the last match. You get points for going over defenses, shooting in the high or low goals, and at the end of the game, surrounding or even climbing the tower. If you cross 4 of the five defenses twice, they are considered damaged, and you can earn an extra ranking point for that, which boost you ahead in your competition. You can also receive a ranking point for scoring 8 boulders in the tower, and then having your alliance surround the tower, by driving up on the batter or scaling it.
Our Robot: The Killer Rabbit
Killer Rabbit Robot Reveal: Click Here!
Build Season / Competition
Gaining much experience from last year, we were ready to come out swinging this build season, and we did. We organized strategy sessions, design workshops, prototyping, CAD, and we evolved a lot during this time. Our chassis started out square, but got upgraded multiple times to the one you see now, which is curved much like a boat. Our first ball launcher was a puncher, but it turned out to be to "heavy" so we decided to go the route of a wheel shooter that was attached to a long arm. We got it under 16" so it could go over one of the defenses called the low bar which is 16" high. We used 6 8" wheels and 4 6" wheels so it could go over many of the other defenses and still have a lot of pushing power. A scissor lift sits in the middle of everything and in the last 20 seconds, we can easily scale the tower.
At our first competition, we did very well, making it to the finals and just missing the blue banner we wanted so badly. In our last match, us and our partners were broken down, and couldn't play the game to its fullest potential. We had multiple problems with the shooter, so we took it off entirely. Our scissor lift worked very well and got us many points throughout the competition.
Being inspired by other teams around the world, we changed a lot about our robot. We added a catapult, arms on the back for clearing defenses, and new intakes. These came in handy at our second competition, where even though we had tons and tons of problems, at the end of the day we were playing in finals. With a working robot we were almost unstoppable, scoring the highest amount of boulders at the competition quickly and effectively. We even scaled on the side of the tower at one point. In the final tiebreaker, we were set up for victory with 3 seconds left to go, we got off of the batter, got a ball and shot it in to take down the tower, but our alliance partners were broken down, and couldn't make it to surround the tower. We were happy at how we did at the competition though and were excited to go to the state championship.
After many tough qualification matches at States, we ended up being ranked in 24th place but picked up by the 4th alliance as a 1st pick right away based on our performance. After a solid 2nd pick, we made it to the finals facing off against 2 hall of fame teams, 67 HOT and 27 RUSH. In the tie breaker, our catapult fired the same time our lifting mechanism did, resulting in a failed climb, losing us the match by 5 points. We came home, made sure we would never have the same problem again and prepared for the world championship.
At worlds, we were in the Carver division with some pretty tough teams. After playing some good matches and winning against teams like 330 Beach Bots and with 1114 Simbotics, we were ranked 6th. We were eliminated in the semi-finals but were proud to have once beaten the world champions in our own division.
At our first competition, we did very well, making it to the finals and just missing the blue banner we wanted so badly. In our last match, us and our partners were broken down, and couldn't play the game to its fullest potential. We had multiple problems with the shooter, so we took it off entirely. Our scissor lift worked very well and got us many points throughout the competition.
Being inspired by other teams around the world, we changed a lot about our robot. We added a catapult, arms on the back for clearing defenses, and new intakes. These came in handy at our second competition, where even though we had tons and tons of problems, at the end of the day we were playing in finals. With a working robot we were almost unstoppable, scoring the highest amount of boulders at the competition quickly and effectively. We even scaled on the side of the tower at one point. In the final tiebreaker, we were set up for victory with 3 seconds left to go, we got off of the batter, got a ball and shot it in to take down the tower, but our alliance partners were broken down, and couldn't make it to surround the tower. We were happy at how we did at the competition though and were excited to go to the state championship.
After many tough qualification matches at States, we ended up being ranked in 24th place but picked up by the 4th alliance as a 1st pick right away based on our performance. After a solid 2nd pick, we made it to the finals facing off against 2 hall of fame teams, 67 HOT and 27 RUSH. In the tie breaker, our catapult fired the same time our lifting mechanism did, resulting in a failed climb, losing us the match by 5 points. We came home, made sure we would never have the same problem again and prepared for the world championship.
At worlds, we were in the Carver division with some pretty tough teams. After playing some good matches and winning against teams like 330 Beach Bots and with 1114 Simbotics, we were ranked 6th. We were eliminated in the semi-finals but were proud to have once beaten the world champions in our own division.
5460 Gets Noticed at Worlds: Click Here!
5460 Competition Info and Videos: Click Here!