Review of Auburn Mountainview

To best prepare for our district competition on April 1-2-3 at Auburn Senior High School, let's ask ourselves a few questions.

What went right?
DRIVE TEAM: Our robot "Ironwood" drove over a rock wall and successfully parked at the tower. PIT CREW: After qualification match 6, the pit crew was able to get the tread back on the robot, missing only one match. After match 18, Hunter was able to give the driver the ability to use our camera to see around obstacles.   

What went wrong?
Treads kept falling off. Tread bearings broke and we had no spares.  Also we did not use an autonomous program.

What did we learn?
Only use drive systems other FRC teams used with success. Bring spares of all parts to competitions.  Write an autonomous program.

What can we learn from other teams?
Our sister 4-H Team 3787 Westport Wild Robotocats successfully overcame both the Portcullis (A1) and the Sally Port(C2). Our parent Team 4450 Olympia Robotics Federation was the #2 scorer after the dozen qualification matches. They had difficulty against a defensive robot in their three quarterfinal matches losing two matches by just three points!  Although Team 4450 wrote three autonomous programs, none were ever used. In Autonomous a team gets ten points just for crossing an undamaged defense.

How can we do better?
Build our robots from kits that other FIRST Robotic Competition (FRC) teams used with success.

What are our resources to test?
In our robot cage - thanks primarily to A.Hospador - we have a Low Bar, Moat (B1), Rock Wall (D1), and Rough Terrain (D2).  Team 4450 invited Team 5295 to use their half field in a warehouse close to Capital High School in Olympia.  Team 2557 SOTAbots has a full size field in Tacoma that is open to everyone.  Probably the best days for a field trip to a test facility is Saturday March 19 or Saturday March 26.