Lansing, mi event

UPDATE!!  The two matches we played in the semi-finals are currently the highest scored matches out of all the matches in the entire country!!  Woohoo!!  Way to go, TroBots!!!! 

What a competition!  We had ups!  We had downs!  We had even bigger and better ups!

THURSDAY
Our 'pit' setup (where the robot lives/is worked on in between matches) went quickly and smoothly.  We were able to pass inspection quickly and get a practice match or two in. 

The video on the left is a practice match...we're robot #3668!  The first 15 seconds, the robot is operating on programming alone, with no human interaction!  P.S.  We won: 288-156!

FRIDAY
     Mechanical issues plagued our robot (affectionately known as 'Codbot') at the start of the meet and had us all the way down in 40th - last! - place.  Once they were under control, we were able to start climbing the ranks again and ended the day in 24th place. 

SATURDAY
     Saturday was a great day for us - Friday's troubles were a thing of the past and we sailed through the rest of our qualification matches, bringing our overall W/L to 7/5.  This left us in 14th place - pretty good, when you know we were in 40th at one point on Friday!
     After qualification matches are done, teams line up for Alliance selection.  The top 8 teams are captains and each gets to choose 2 other teams to compete through quarter/semi/and finals.  Being in 14th place, we were really hoping to be picked!  Sadly, we were not and it seemed our competition season was over. 
     BUT: the top 4 or 5 teams that aren't chosen are asked to stay close and be ready, in case a robot in the playoffs breaks and is not able to continue.  As the #1 backup robot, if any playoff robot had a failure, we would be called up to take their place.
     And with only a few minutes notice, your TroBots were called into action!  We filled in for Team 244 on the #4 Alliance, along with Teams 2611 and 302 for the semi-finals.  Teams play best of 3 matches; the winner moves on to the finals.  We won the first 2 matches (447-445 and 452-445), so we made it to the finals!
     We lost our first match 312-287, but won the second 261-241.  The final match of the day was fast, loud, and furious!  (See the video below!)  Our mighty Codbot got stuck on some of the whiffle balls and was knocked off by our partners 2611, who then sadly got stuck on the same balls.  This lost 10-15 seconds meant we lost the match 272-262.  But even still, we ended up in 2nd place!  We're event finalists!!

THE FUTURE
     We won't know for another couple of weeks if we've earned enough points to qualify for the State Championship in Saginaw, as there are still 2 other weeks of competition for other teams.  Right now, we're in 115th place in the State (out of 451 teams), so we're hoping we get to go!  
     We are so, so proud of our TroBots!  These robot-filled weekends take a lot of energy and a lot of stamina and they did a really great job!  Even when we were on the bottom of the barrel, they kept their positive attitudes and just focused on the next match and keeping their spirits up.  Way to go, TroBots!!