Fresta Valley Robotics
2010 Season
Team 1731 successfully competed on March 18-20 in the Virginia Regional at the VCU Siegel Center in Richmond, Virginia. These 120-pound machines were competing in a game called Breakaway. The team competed in a total of 9 qualification matches, winning 6 and losing 3. At the end of the qualification matches, the team was seeded 11th out of 63 teams.
As the structure of the FIRST regional events go: the top 8 seeded teams pick 2 other teams (any of the 63) to form their alliance. These 8 alliances make up 24 teams who move on to have the opportunity to play in the elimination rounds where one alliance will win the regional tournament. During the elimination rounds, each alliance plays against another alliance for the best 2 out of 3 games. 4 alliances are eliminated in the quarterfinal rounds, another 2 alliances are eliminated in the semi-final rounds, and 2 move on to the finals where they play to win the regional event.
Team 1731 was chosen by the 2nd seeded team to be on their alliance. Our alliance won the 1st round of quarterfinals, and our team successfully scored multiple balls into the goal. However, in the 2nd round of quarterfinals, our robot lost power due to an unsecured electrical wire. This failure caused our robot’s communications system to reset thus causing our robot to be disabled for more than half of the game. Unfortunately, without our robot playing the critical role in our alliance’s success, the team lost this match. During the 3rd round of quarterfinals, it was either alliances game since both alliances had won 2 games. Due to a penalty against our opponents, it was originally determined that our alliance won! However, the head referee later recalled this penalty causing a tie! In the event of a tie, a 4th round is played. During the unlikely 4th round of quarterfinals, our alliance lost as a result of a change in our alliance’s strategy, thus eliminating us from continuing on to the semi-finals.
While the team was eliminated after several hard-fought quarterfinal rounds, they were also the winners of the Xerox Creativity in Design Award for their unique robot design and game strategy. The team was unique because it was one of the five teams to successfully lift themselves above the platform. They were also one of the few successful robots to score in autonomous mode where the robot is completely controlled by computer programming.
Overall, the team had a great time at the regional! Here are some pictures and a video from the regional event:
