Coyote Robotics January Competition Announcements

FTC EASTERN VIRGINIA QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT

Saturday, January 14, 2012

The GW Community School/Coyote Robotics Teams participated in the FTC Eastern Virginia Qualifying Tournament in Norfolk, Virginia on Saturday, Jan. 14.  Both teams, 965 and 3749, built new robots from scratch for this event, using ideas and performance from their past two events.  Team 3749 found some of their new design elements were not effective, and were not very successful in their matches.  Team 965’s new design, though still suffering some problems, performed well enough to finish 5-2 after the qualifying matches, ranked #3 out of 23 teams.  They ended up leading the 2^nd seeded alliance for the semifinals.  Their alliance won their first of three games, but lost the other two and failed to advance to the finals.Both teams continued to suffer software problems that prevented the robots from working as designed.   The good news is that a new version of the software has just been released that supposedly fixes these problems.

We now have a quick turnaround during a 4-day week before our next competition this Saturday at nearby NOVA off Little River Turnpike and Wakefield Chapel Rd.  This is your chance to watch us compete nearby!  The best time to come is between 11:00AM and 12:00PM, or between 1:00PM and 3:30PM.  Come out and cheer us on!  We promise an exciting and fun event!

The photo below shows both teams in action as opponents.  Thanks to all the parents who helped drive and came down to support us and cheer us on.  Go Coyotes!

Gary Lindner, Robotics Team Coach

FTC NORTHERN VIRGINIA QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Both robotics teams from GW Community School and Coyote Robotics were very successful at the FTC Northern Virginia Qualifying Tournament this past Saturday at Northern Virginia Community College.  After bouncing around at the top of the heap of 25 teams during the qualifying matches,  Team 3749 “The Department of Redundancy Department” finish the qualifying round 4-0-1, for the #2 ranking, and Team 965 “Redstone Rangers” finished 4-1-0, for the #4 ranking.  During Elimination Alliance Selection, they captained the 2^nd and 3^rd seeded alliances.  Unfortunately, they faced off in the semifinals, which 3749 and the #2 alliance won to advance to the finals.  Team 3749 was a crowd-pleaser all day with their scissor-lift.  As it lifted a crate higher and higher the crowd would go wild.  The photo below shows a semifinal match with both our teams competing, and shows the 3749 scissor lift holding up a crate.  That scissor-lift earned the team the Rockwell-Collins Innovate Award with its nice trophy.  Unfortunately, in the finals a very strong #1 alliance composed of three teams from Sidwell Friends played good defense and prevented 3749 from grabbing a crate to lift.  So the #1 alliance were the champions, but 3749 earned another trophy and medals as the leader of the Finalist Alliance.

It was a fun and exciting competition despite the 2-hour delay due to the weather, and many students, parents, and GWCS faculty members were in attendance and got a great show from our two teams in their new bright blue t-shirts.  Thanks to all who came out and cheered for us and for your continued support.  Next Saturday is our last qualifying tournament in Charlottesville, and we will compete again but are already qualified for the FTC Virginia Regional Championship in Richmond on March 3.  Go Coyotes!

Gary T. Lindner

Robotics Team Coach