The 2003 FIRST Robotics Competition, Stack Attack, proved to be a highly challenging and entertaining competition. For the first time ever, we had to implement an autonomous mode of robot operation during the first few seconds of every match. This inserted a lot of unpredictability into the game, as no one really knew how four robots operating on their own would interact during those first 15 seconds. During the human control period, we anticipated a lot of violent contact as teams tried to push more Sterility totes onto their side of the field and also gain the king of the hill position at the top of the ramp at the end of the match. These factors heavily influenced our decision to create a robust, powerful robot that could withstand the amazing forces the 2003 matches promised to generate. During the six-week build period, we designed and constructed a 100% welded frame out of various sizes of square aluminum tubing. The side "wings" of the robot were also welded aluminum, and they were hinged so that they could swing open to knock over more bins and swing closed to provide extra armor protection for sensitive internal components. The drive train we created to power this beast was a six wheel chain drive. The four outer wheels were 8.5 inches in diameter and were covered by pneumatic mountain boarding tires with a knobby tread pattern for gripping the carpet and wire mesh of the ramps, while the two center wheels were 10 inches in diameter and were fitted with pneumatic go-kart racing slicks to provide traction on the slick Delran surface at the top of the ramp. The contact surface of the 10 inch center wheels were offset a fraction of an inch lower than that of the outer wheels for optimal turning ability. Three wheels on each side were chained together and mated to the output of a two speed shift-on-the-fly transmission. Two powerful DC motors served as the inputs to each transmission. Both the left and right side transmissions were shifted simultaneously by a single pneumatic cylinder. The transmission was designed with efficiency and motor preservation in mind. The system never failed to operate faithfully throughout the 40+ matches we played during the 2003 season. Newly outfitted with a Warren G. Harding Black and Gold powder coat finish, we took Xtremachen6 to Cleveland for our first regional competition of the season. It was here we learned how robust the frame and drive train were, and it was here where we learned of a design flaw that ruined our chances for success at the event. It turned out our robot had a tendency to be flipped over by a robot at the top of the ramp when we were trying to drive up to meet them. The six wheeled design kept our front end in the air longer as we traveled over the interface connecting the sloped ramp to the level top of the hill. This vulnerability allowed other robots to contact us high up on our frame, and our center of gravity was such that we were flipped over backwards numerous times. Except for a damaged plastic light cover, Xtremachen6 suffered no damage during these inversions. This is a testament to the robust nature of the frame and drive train. However, the team needed to make improvements to the robot before our next competition in Pittsburgh if we were to have any chance of success. As soon as we got back from Cleveland, the team devised a series of corrective actions to fix the tipping problem. It felt great to be a part of this fast paced team based decision making process. We decided that as soon as we had access to the robot in Pittsburgh, we would remove the center tires to keep the robot hugging the ground as it transitioned to the top of the ramp. We would also add a pneumatic wheelie bar cylinder that would extend out the robot's back side as it went up the ramp. We would relocate some of the robot's weight to a lower position. In addition, our new custom autonomous circuit and programming had been completed in time for Pittsburgh, so we would also be adding that to the robot to create a more repeatable autonomous mode. All of this activity took place during the practice day on Thursday, and we came out ready to compete on Friday. All of our changes led to a huge turnaround in our competitive results. At the end of qualifying on Saturday, we were 9-1 and seeded #1 - the first time that had happened in our team's history. We also experienced the thrill of winning the Motorola Quality Award on Friday, which qualified us to attend the Championship Event. That was quite an emotional moment. The judges also gave Team 48 a special award for the many students and mentors who had volunteered to help the regional staff out with various important tasks after they discovered they'd be shorthanded. The team eventually lost in the semifinals of the elimination rounds, but we will never forget what we accomplished together that weekend. Delphi E.L.I.T.E. followed up Pittsburgh with another strong showing at the Canadian Regional. We finished 7-1 and seeded #2 for the second straight year. We also received the General Motors Industrial Design Award for our robust robot design. We again lost in the semifinals of that competition, but as always, we had a blast in Canada, and we felt ready to move on to the Championship Event in Houston. The Championship Event was held at the Reliant Park Complex in Houston, TX, marking the first time in many years the Championship was not held at Walt Disney World. After an adventurous 24-hour bus ride, the team arrived in Houston feeling confident and ready to compete yet again. This time, however, a curious malfunction of the robot's autonomous mode operation made it much more difficult to succeed in the qualifying matches. Our skilled drive team was able to compensate for the autonomous deficiencies, however, and they guided us to a 5-2 record and a #7 seed position in the Curie Division. This marked yet another milestone for the team, as we seeded high enough to pick alliance partners for the first time ever at the Championship. We eventually lost our quarterfinal matches to a tough #2 seed alliance, but we left Houston happy that we accomplished something we had never done before.
Delphi E.L.I.T.E. is looking forward to 2004 with new goals in mind. On the field, we're looking to win a regional competition for the first time ever, and do even better at the Championship Event which will be held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA. In the pits and back home, we want to continue to work on being a helpful, spirited, and respected member of the FIRST community, and improve our team according to the principles of gracious professionalism. One day, we hope to have done enough for FIRST and our community to earn the Chairman's Award - the highest honor FIRST can bestow upon a team. We have a lot of work to do before we reach that goal, but we believe our 48 family can achieve it.
Team 48 has returned from the Buckeye Regional in Cleveland. We finished a disappointing 50th out of 63 teams at the competition and failed to make the elimination rounds. While we received high praise from many teams for our robot's solid construction and robust drive train, autonomous mode problems and instability issues dramatically hurt our performance. Now that we've had a chance to observe the robot's behavior in a high-contact, competitive environment, we are prepared to make several changes that will ensure a brighter outcome at our next regional in Pittsburgh on March 13.
The members of Team 48 are feeling good after returning from a very successful Pittsburgh Regional. After our disappointing finish in Cleveland, we used the few days we had before Pittsburgh to identify several electrical and mechanical solutions for our problems, and we worked hard to implement them during the practice day on Thursday. Using our custom distance sensors, we created a stable and repeatable autonomous mode program for knocking over the main wall of bins. To cure our instability and tipping issues, we moved the battery inward, removed the two center wheels, and added a pneumatic wheelie bar that could be extended out and in at will. Because of these changes and improved driver skill, our robot performance improved dramatically during the qualifying rounds on Friday and Saturday. At the end of the qualifying rounds, Delphi E.L.I.T.E. was in first place by a wide margin with a 9-1 record and an average QP score of 158 pts. After selecting two teams as alliance partners, we promptly won our quarterfinal playoff and advanced to the semifinal, where we were defeated after a tough battle. The greatest moment of the whole weekend for us was the announcement that we had won the Motorola Quality Award. Winning this technical award would normally be justification enough to be happy, but tack on the fact that it qualified us to go to the Championship Event in Houston this year, and we all went crazy. The engineers felt so great for our kids, especially the seniors. Thank you to the robot's mechanical designers for creating such a robust machine, and thank you to all the pit crew people who kept us running so smoothly at the event. Team 48 was also recognized with a special Judges' Award for Helpfulness on Friday. The Pittsburgh Regional staff was running low on volunteers, and it was our team's pleasure to assist the event organizers wherever we could. Our E.L.I.T.E. volunteers really got a kick out of the whole experience. To student helpers Alex, Brittany, Chris, George, and Bobby, thank you for your help resetting the field and managing the team queuing. Thanks to Team Leader Paul Lam for manning the spare parts table. Thank you to Paul Jones and Pete Polanski for helping Team 1199 rebuild their drive train in time to move around the field successfully in their final matches. And a big thank you to Engineers Dave Wright and Bob Steele for serving as field referees for the event. You all made Team 48 proud.
Delphi E.L.I.T.E. went up to Canada the last weekend of March and followed up our success in Pittsburgh with another great regional performance. Our consistency was yet again our strength as we compiled a 7-1 record in the qualifying matches and ended up the #2 seed overall. Autonomous mode was rock solid, the robot never broke down, and many teams complimented us on our organization and team conduct. We were once again happy to assist other teams who were having problems with their robots. We even went so far as to offer help to one team who was going to be our opponent in the next match. We aren't the only team who extends these offers of help - the entire FIRST community is filled with teams eagerly willing to help out their fellow competitors in a time of need. For the elimination rounds, we selected teams 1006 and 776 - both Canadian teams - as our alliance partners. 1006 is a rookie team with a REALLY neat robot - they have Bauer hockey stick arms that they use to sweep bins out of the way. 776 was a nice, compact, fast robot we picked to supplement the bin attacking capabilities of our bot and 1006's. Our alliance sailed through the quarterfinals with ease, executing our offensive strategy in the first match to compile a nice scoring cushion and then playing outstanding defense to keep the opposing alliance off of the ramp during the second match. Then we hit the semifinals. If you don't know, Team 48 has reached the semifinals in 4 out of the last 5 competitions we have attended. Each time, we have failed to advance. Sometimes, it is due to mechanical failure or inability to execute proper strategy, but many times, uncontrollable circumstances have a way of derailing our team. This time, during a perfect autonomous run in our first semifinal match, a falling bin landed inside our robot. This has happened many times before without any issues, but this time, the bin knocked a PWM cable loose. This cable controls the relay output which fires the wings in once they are extended. Like we always do, we opened the wings to clear out the bin that was inside the boot. The bin fell out, but when we went to close the wings, they couldn't because of the loose wire. We had to play the rest of the match with our wings forced open. Even with this stumbling block, Jonathan, our robot driver, did a great job of maneuvering XM6 onto the top of the ramp, but the opposing bots used our open wings to push us off at the last second. The opposing alliance was ahead by 99 points after that match. In the second match, we built a stack of six to try and make up that 99 point difference. The winner of the semifinal would be the team who had more elimination points after adding their scores from both matches together. Both opposing robots sought to keep the score of the second match low, even if it meant losing, to prevent us from catching up. This meant they would stay off the ramp at all costs and try to topple our tall stack. But Jonathan wouldn't have any of it. For over a minute, he successfully held off BOTH opposing robots, and the stack still stood at the end of the match. Unfortunately, we weren't able to keep enough bins in our scoring zone to make enough of a difference. We won the match, but lost the semifinals. Even so, the entire team is proud of our drivers for their fine work in the semifinal matches. Team 48 didn't walk away from Canada without any hardware. Just like Pittsburgh, we took home an award for our robot's design. This time, we were awarded the General Motors Industrial Design Award. Xtremachen6 is gaining the reputation among everyone in the FIRST community as a robust machine, driven by intelligent drivers, who know how to score points and win matches. We are 18-8 in the 26 qualifying matches we have played in, and we have accumulated the third highest total qualifying points in the country. We're ready for the Championship Event, which will take place in Houston on April 10-12.The Canadian Regional staff and all 40 of the Canadian teams in attendance went out of their way to make the 11 American teams feel welcome. Everyone wore their Canadian/American flag pins proudly. Despite the political differences our countries might have, the event was truly an international partnership in the greatest sense.
Team 48 took the long 24-hour bus ride down to Houston in mid-April to compete in the 2003 Championship Event. The pit area consumed the entire floor of the Astrodome, with the neighboring Reliant Stadium (home of the NFL Houston Texans) serving as the main event venue. The field of nearly 250 competitors was broken into four divisions. Delphi E.L.I.T.E. was placed in the Curie Division, along with such nationally-respected teams as 16, 25, 60, 71, 191, and 343. We began the Houston competition confident that we could do well if we continued to execute in the same strong manner we displayed at the Pittsburgh and Canadian Regional. We started out by winning our first two matches, however, during those matches, we discovered that our autonomous mode which had worked so faithfully at the past two events suddenly became quite erratic. Despite our best efforts to correct the problem, autonomous mode continued to malfunction for the rest of the competition. Luckily, Jonathan and Paul, our skilled robot drivers, were able to compensate for the technical deficiencies, and the drive team battled hard to a 5-2 record and a 140 QP average at the end of the qualifying matches. This put Team 48 in the 7th position going into the elimination rounds. For the first time in our team history, we finished high enough in the rankings to select alliance partners for the playoffs. We ultimately selected Team 60 out of Kingman, AZ and Team 191 out of Rochester, NY as our alliance partners. After much debate, we decided to send 60 and 191 out for our first quarterfinal match, due to our uncertain autonomous mode. They fought valiantly, but ultimately lost a close match to a tough alliance of teams 16 and 79. The raw score was 66-41, but due to First's scoring rules which add 2X the loser's score to the winner's score, we were behind in Elimination Points (EP's) 148 - 41 after the first match. In order to win the quarterfinals, we had to make up that 107 EP difference in the second match, as EP's from Matches 1 and 2 are added together to determine the victor. However, as many alliances had done all year in the playoffs, the match 1 victors sought to "de-score" points in the second match to keep the overall EP scores low. This seems contrary to the spirit of competition, but they were only following a strategy that the rules permitted. Therefore, we ended up winning the second match 35-10, but our alliance only received 35 + 2 X 10 = 55 EP's for the effort. The final EP score: 158-96, and the #2 seed alliance advanced. Hopefully, FIRST considers returning to a more spirited best 2 matches out of 3 format for the eliminations rounds in 2005. This format was used with great success and praise during the off-season Indiana Robotics Invitational. Anyway, our quarterfinal loss in Houston ended our season, but the Houston experience was still a great one, and everyone on Delphi E.L.I.T.E. went home looking forward to building upon the great success we experienced in 2003.
