Archive for December, 2011

This meeting was our first since our Toledo competition. Today we were brainstorming what extra points we could get, without adding any time. We thought of getting the trailer, or pizza, while we were getting the rats. We also thought we could get the pink bacteria during Farmrun. For Fishrun we could get the green bacteria, and for Eastrun, we found a way to consistently get the thermometer, getting the purple bacteria, and getting the cooking timer. If we originally got all the runs correct, we would have gotten 176 points. Now, with our new ideas, we could get up to 236 points! We also saw our scoring sheets and saw there was room for improvement. This meeting was very productive. I can’t wait until we go to Dayton!

Competition! I never thought that day would come. But yet we were there, on December 3rd at 7:15 in the morning, standing outside Toledo Tech Academy, with Yotty slumbering in my hands. Registration took almost no time. Surprisingly, we were the first team there. I prepared to have my hair sprayed green as some other teams came in. They were smart enough to bring their own mat to practice on, so they didn’t have to quarrel over the two test tables. We should do that next time.

We went to be judged on our robot, and the judges really liked our fish sweeping arm. Then we went to be judged on our core values, where we had to make an ice cream cone out of envelopes in less than five minutes. We succeeded and rushed toward the Opening Ceremonies, where Mihir announced our team and our names to everybody. Then, we had to go and be judged on our project. We presented Eggpardy, and the judges loved it. They even gave us suggestions on what extra things we could do, if we went to districts. After that we went to the test tables to practice for the first round. We were confident that we would do good.

Then the first round came. Everything went horribly. Ratrun failed, Farmrun failed, and Eastrun failed. The only thing that worked was Fishrun. Our total score for that round was 83 points. We were so disappointed. After the round, we tweaked Ratrun and Farmrun at the test tables. We came back for the second round and did much better. Ratrun didn’t work, but Farmrun,  and Fishrun were a success. Eastrun did all right. We touched the east wall, and accidentally knocked down some bacteria, but we didn’t get the thermometer. Including touch penalties, we scored 111 points in the second round.

We relaxed for a few minutes and then headed for the third and final round. I was really nervous and the coach gave us an uplifting talk. I felt a bit more confident. We walked to the table and set up. The referee counted to three and the round started. Ratrun was a success and worked well. Farmrun got the corn, but didn’t get the truck. My heart skipped a beat when I pulled out the fish sweeping arm, only to find it was broken! We immediately decided to skip the fish and go straight to Eastrun. I jigged nervously, fearing the worst as I set Yotty off. I looked at Yotty as he rolled towards the wall. I couldn’t believe my eyes when Yotty’s arm smacked the thermometer spindle, just like we programmed, causing the thermometer arm to spin around all the way!! Then Yotty spun around and touched the east wall! For that round, we got 119 points, which put us in fourth place out of thirteen!

We went to the Closing Ceremony. We all thought we would be the alternate team because we didn’t get in the top three. To our surprise, we got handed the Project Award! The judge must have really liked Eggpardy. Those points bumped us up to third place! That meant we were going to districts! We celebrated at Mihir’s house and discussed what we could change for districts.