On March 22-24 in Spokane, Washington at West Valley High School, a competition week 4 event, FRC Team 5295 “Aldernating Current”, vault robot of the #4 Playoff Alliance,
won its quarterfinal match 2-0, defeated the #1 alliance in the first game in
the semi-finals and lost the last two semi-final matches to go 7-9-1
(win-loss-tie) overall. Team 5295 finished qualification matches with a
4-7-1 record (win-loss-tie) ranked #24th of 28 teams. The team went 7-9-1 overall.
The
ability to single-handedly move all nine power cubes into the vault attracted
the attention of the #4 alliance captain Team 5920 “VIKotics” and host Team
2147 “CHUCK”. Team 5295 “Aldernating
Current” selected Team 2147 “CHUCK” as part of our #5 playoff alliance at the Pacific
Northwest Championship last April. Our
ability to single-handedly fill up the vault allowed our playoff partners to
focus on the scale and switches.
Team
5295 had 33 people at the Spokane competition. The 18 students (the most ever
at a competition in five years) were from Shelton High (6) and Oakland Bay
Junior High (12). The teammates held various positions: Cameron (load-in, pit
crew, technician, & load-out); Carolynn (load-in, drive coach, lead scout, alliance
selection team representative, & load-out); Dylan R. (co-driver, pit crew,
load-out); Dylan S. (pit crew, technician, load-out); Hope (scout &
alliance selection); Jacob (scout &
alliance selection), Jaeden (load-in, pit chief, technician, load-out); James
(scout); Jerome “JJ” (scout), Josh (scout, & alliance selection); Joy
(photographer, scout); Juan (scout); Lluvia (volunteer field reset & scout);
Rechal (human player, & scout); Robert (safety captain & load-out); Seth
(driver, & scout); Te’Yana (human player & scout); Tristin (lead
programmer, load-in, driver, pit crew, alliance selection & load-out).
Eight
adults participated: M.Bigelow (mentor, chaperon, & volunteer robot
inspector), R.Clarey (head coach & travel logistics), F.Newby (chaperon),
V.Norwood (chaperon, lunch &
evaluation mentor), H.Sedillo (chaperon & lunches), E.Stokely (coach and volunteer
field reset lead), A.Walker (mentor, chaperon, & blogspot reporter) and
Charlene (bus driver).
Tristin’s
grandmother, great aunt, aunt, and two cousins watched matches from the stands.
VOLUNTEERS: For the first time
in five years, a student volunteered to help with the event. Lluvia volunteered
to help with field reset. E.Stokely volunteered as the field reset lead and
M.Bigelow as a robot inspector. It takes
about fifty volunteers to run a FIRST Robotics Competition district
competition. For more information about
volunteering, see https://www.firstinspires.org/ways-to-help/volunteer/event-volunteers
DAY
1: Thursday, March 22, 2018
ELLENSBURG
DINNER STOP
The
five-and-a-half hour trip was broken up by a stop in Ellensburg (I-5 exit 109)
for dinner (heading east at Wendy’s and heading west at Carl’s Jr).
LOAD-IN team of Cameron,
Carolynn, Jaeden, Tristin, another team & E.Stokely unloaded the trailer. The adults departed to volunteer
registration; E.Stokely to field reset and M.Bigelow to robot inspection. Our four
teammates set-up the pit.
DRIVE TEAM MEETING
Carolynn
and Tristin represented the team at the 7:30PM drivers meeting. Tripping
hazards was given special emphasis.
ROBOT
INSPECTION
2018
competition robot Locust again weighed 105# and easily fit inside the perimeter
box. The maximum weight allowed is 120 pounds. Due to the 7PM late
arrival (pits opened at 5PM) Team 5295 was not able to finish robot inspection
by 9PM when the pits closed. Robot
inspectors started but did not complete the pneumatic checklist.
DAY
2: Friday, March 23, 2018
BREAKFAST MEETING
Jaeden
told the team the status of robot inspection. Carolynn shared information from
the drivers meeting and organized the first shift of scouts. Tristin shared tootsie roll lollypops with
everyone. With school in session at West Valley High, robot teams were not
allowed to show up until 8:15AM when the pits opened. With the extra time Coach
Clarey did some team bonding exercises. She explained “Telephone” to those who
had never played before. “The funky monkey shews flying.” became “The funky
monkey should not fly.” H.Sedillo lead
the team in “I am going camping and I am bringing...”. Much laughter at 7:30AM is always a good
tonic.
ROBOT
INSPECTION
The
pit team quickly finished the pneumatics checklist and got Locust through robot
inspection early Friday morning.
PRACTICE
The
drive team took Locust over to the practice field to connect to the field and
practice a match on the actual field of play.
SAFETY
Safety
Captain Robert displayed the team’s first aid kit, first responder kit, fire extinguisher,
battery spill kit, and an eye wash kit on the safety wall on the side of the
pit. No safety equipment was used at the
West Valley Spokane competition. Robert
taped down tarp seams to prevent spectators tripping nearby in the aisles. Safety advisors asked a question mentors had
not prepared our Safety Captains for: “What is the team’s gathering point in
case of an emergency?” After discussion,
the team decided to meet outside the main doors of West Valley High main doors
and to the left, which doubled as the team’s lunch spot.
PITS
The
team received a housekeeping smiley face for its pit condition early Saturday
morning from the Safety Advisors. James
displayed a miniature version of the playing field (1/48 scale) made from graph
paper. For the second time this year, another team wore flannel shirts besides
Aldernating Current. Pendleton Team 6442
“Modern Americans” had a 6’6” mascot dressed as Uncle Sam.
BATTERIES
At
our earlier competition in Wilsonville two weeks ago, Zoe was responsible for
putting a fresh battery in Locust before every match. Jaeden modified the
battery log. Dylan R. volunteered to
install a fresh battery prior to each match. All batteries used in competition
were purchased in 2018: Astroids, Centipede, DK, Froggert, Galigan, PacMan, and
Sonic. Like most FIRST Robotics Competitions, power at the high school was very
limited. The team charged batteries overnight in the room of Dylan R. and
Tristin. The team lugged the 14lbs. batteries and 20lbs charger up to the
second floor.
PIT CREW: PRE-MATCH
CHECKLIST
Jaeden
created a pre-match checklist. It has
three sections: electrical, mechanical, and pneumatics. The idea is for the
technician to complete this prior to each match.
UNIFORM
The
team uniform consisted of 2018 T-shirts, and flannel shirts. The front of the T-shirt features the team
logo teammates designed February 2017. Zoe and Carolynn designed the back of
the 2018 T-shirt. The actual back art design was a compromise between
student art and manufacturing constraints of our sponsor
BlackStarPrint.com. The retro font and pixelated letters remain a hit.
Championship sweatshirts and suspenders were spotted among team members.
SCOUTING
Carolynn
(Jedi) and Hope (Padawan) acted as our Head Scout with assistance from Coach
Clarey, V.Norwood, and A.Walker. Each scout clipboard had a legend
written by Tristin. All students participated in scouting except for those on
the pit crew or drive team. Adults rarely did scouting, a huge change from last
year. Another improvement from 2017 was giving scouts time to take a
break and walk the robot pits. Carolynn organized scouts into shifts.
OPENING CEREMONY
Kevin
Ross, co-found of FIRST Washington with Eric Stokely, said there are 1 million
alums of the FIRST programs in the world. There are 1000 teams here in
Washington State. Two hundred
institutions offer over $50 million in scholarships to high school seniors and
juniors on a FIRST team. More
information at http://www.firstinspires.org/scholarships
DEAN’S LIST
INTERVIEWS
Judges
interviewed Carolynn (10:15AM) and Tristin (11:45AM), the team’s two 2018
Dean’s List Semi-Finalists. The Dean’s List honors those students who best
exhibit the values of FIRST.
DRIVE
TEAM
Seth
added a rope to the robot cart to help turn it around corners. Electrical tape
in the middle helped hands grip the rope. Carolynn (drive coach; spoke to other
alliance coaches), and Dylan R (co-driver) competed in every match.
Backup driver Seth drove Locust in matches 6 and 10 while Tristin was at his
Dean’s List interview. Tristin (driver) competed in the other
qualification matches and the playoff matches. Cameron and Dylan S took turns
as the technician, responsible for any last minute adjustments to the robot. Jaeden was the technician in match 30.
Rechal and Te’Yana rotated as the human player. The three human players (one
from each team) puts new power cubes on the field at the portal (2) and stacks
power cubes in the vault (1). The team used a white board to list the human
player and technician for each match.
QUALIFICATION
MATCHES
During
qualification matches, teams are randomly assigned. Watch matches at https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/5295. These sometimes
are loaded a full day after the match takes place.
Quals Match 1 Blue: Left position.
Technician Cameron & Human player Rechal. Our autonomous program was not turned
on. Locust got 7 cubes into the vault. 468-204 Win 1-0 2RP (Ranking
Points) Dylan R. noticed that our alliance partner, host West Valley High Team
2147 “CHUCK”, had a lot of spirit. We would hear them chant“C-H-U-C-K, we chuck
it all the way” whenever their team played a match.
PIT Tristin discovered
that our autonomous program did not reset encoder values to zero at the
beginning of autonomous. He added a line
of code to reset the encoder values. Cameron and Jaeden added two side bolts to
hold the plastic triangle more securely on the cube grabber. Jaeden figured out
how Locust could hold the cube in the high position at start.
Quals Match 6 Red: Center position.
Technician Dylan S. & Human player Te’Yana. Locust moves past
baseline and puts a cube in to the switch.
In teleop Seth drives Locust and puts 8 in the vault. 215-426 Loss 1-1 +0RP
for 2RP total ranked 15th.
PIT Crew discovers that
Locust cannot get cubes into the switch during teleop. The lifter does not work
as intended. There is no easy fix.
Quals Match 10 Red: Center position.
Technician Cameron & Human player Rechal Cross the baseline for five
points. Seth drives and moves 9 cubes into the vault. Park on platform in
endgame. Alliance partner Team 3712 robot does not show up for the match. 117-380 Loss 1-2 +0RP ranked 20th.
PIT Crew added the
surgical tubing to help support the initial cube during autonomous. A robot
inspector (not M.Bigelow) signs off on the configuration change.
Quals Match 18 Blue: Left position. Technician
Dylan S. & Human player Te’Yana. Past
baseline in autonomous. Team 5803 drops a cube on the switch. Tristin drives Locust
and moves 9 into the vault. 299-280 Win 2-2 +3RP for 5RP total ranked 16th.
PIT Cameron and Dylan R. remove blue bumpers and
install red bumpers. Each tightens two wing nuts and one bolt. Jaeden H. discovers an Anderson electrical
connection unplugged hidden by tape. Tristin notices that our pneumatics is
losing pressure. E.Stokely recommends
tightening the dial and leaving it alone.
As all this happens, Team 5920 visits. They are an alliance partner in upcoming
match 22.
Quals Match 22 Red: Right position. Technician
Cameron & Human player Rechal Locust
moves forward in autonomous but not past the baseline. During teleop, Locust
gets 9 cubes to the vault. 398-50 Win 3-2 +2RP for 7RP total now ranked 13th.
PIT Crew notices that
of the right two motors, one is cooler and the other warmer. Tristin N. says the right motors have died
the last two matches. Ben, the lead mechanical guide of Team 4120 (alliance
partner for match 28) wonders if enough power is going to both motors. Tristin
checks this with a multi-meter and sees power going to both motors. Jaeden has
Cameron swap out the #3 motor just in time to queue. Time is critical; there
isn’t enough time to go through the checklist.
Quals Match 28 Red: Center position. Technician
Dylan S. & Human player Te’Yana Locust moves forward one foot in autonomous
and stops. Locust can only move in circles. Places 0 cubes into vault. 261-261 Tie
3-2-1 +1RP for 8RP total
QUEUE The drive moves
directly back to the queue for match 30. Jaeden and Dylan R. replace red
bumpers with blue ones. Ben with Spokane Team 4120 “Jagwires” sticks around to
help diagnose the problem. We discover that no one plugged the motor controller
into the new motor #3.
Quals Match 30 Blue: Left position. Technician
Jaeden & Human player Te’Yana. In autonomous, Locust crosses baseline.
Yeah! The right motors are now working. Both partners place a cube in our
switch. Locust and Kettle Falls Team 4980 “Canine Crusaders” get six cubes into
vault. 490-228 Win 4-2-1 +3RP 11P total. Our alliance set a new high score for
the day. Te’Yana exclaims “We’re in 11th place!”
PIT Jaeden notes that
the checklist was used in only four of the first seven matches. Using the
checklist would turn match 28 into a win from a tie simply by plugging the
motor controller into motor #3. Gremlins
now visit us more regularly.
Quals Match 34 Red: Right position. Technician
Cameron & Human player Rechal. Crosses baseline in auto. In teleop Team
5295 gets one cube into the vault and then plays defense preventing Team 4980
“Canine Crusaders” from climbing. The
strategy does not work and a 289-300 Loss drops us to 4-3-1 +0RP for 11RP total
now ranked 16th.
SAFETY GLASS TABLE From 4-5PM, James and Juan sit at the safety
glass table. They collect safety glasses, clean them, and hand them out to
visitors (not team members). Each team
signs up to cover one hour at the safety glass table at the entrance to the
pit.
PIT Matt, a mentor with
Team 4061 “SciBorgs” suggests installing the “Power Over Ethernet” (POE)
distributed in the Kit-of-Parts at the radio.
Jaeden discovers we did not bring this along. The POE greatly reduces
the chance of a power reboot during a match. Mentor Matt hands out a dozen red
clips that tie two mating Anderson connectors to each other; they cannot
separate. Silverdale Team 3223 also says
any wires should be unstressed going into electrical boxes.
Quals Match 41 Red: Left position.
Technician Dylan S. & Human player Rechal. Crossed baseline in auto. In
teleop got 2 power cubes into our switch and 5 into the vault. Parked at the
platform in the endgame. 143-264 Loss 4-4-1 +0RP 11RP total ranked 19th.
PIT Dylan S. and Jaeden
replace the green rollers in an attempt to improve Locust’s ability to pickup
cubes. Another bumper swap. At Wilsonville (with 37 teams competing), we were
done at this point for the day having completed 9 matches. Here in Spokane (28
teams) we have two more matches today.
Quals Match 45 Red: Right position.
Technician Dylan S. & Human player Te’Yana. Locust moves forward during
auto. It drops a cube into our switch just as teleop starts. Locust moves 6
into the vault. Team 3575 adds three more to completely fill up the vault. 146-338
Loss 4-5-1 +0RP for 11RP total ranked 21st.
PIT Jaeden replaces
short bolts with a longer one that hold on the right roller. This should remove
the wobble in the roller. Dylan S. files off sharp edges including new cable
ties and vacuums chips away from the electronics. Cameron completes the checklist.
Quals Match 50 Blue : Center position.
Technician Cameron & Human player Rechal. Locust does not cross baseline in
auto. Got a cube in our switch, one on our opponent’s switch and 4 in the
vault. Parked at the platform in the endgame. 259-426 Loss 4-6-1 +0RP for 11RP
total ranked 24th.
SENIOR PHOTO Kevin Ross exhorts seniors to: recognize
that being part of the FIRST community will open doors in the future; stay in
touch with your team; and always apply ‘Gracious Professionalism’.
PIT Crew fixed the lift
and practice picking up cubes and placing them in the switch. Tristin believes
that Locust was in the best condition of the season.
TEAM 488 SUMMER
CAMERA WORKSHOP Seattle Team 488 “Xbot” (24-9 so far in
2018) is losing a lot of seniors this year.
To mitigate this, they will have a camera workshop this summer covering
both hardware and software. Team 488
uses top of the line gear (ZED camera or the professional version of Microsoft
Connect camera). One step down from this
is the JETSON TX1 (a $200 part available for free at FIRST CHOICE) which does a
very good job according to robot inspector J.Wright. Out of the box, J.Wright
used his Jetson to video his kitchen and then walked it virtually. At the 2017
week 1 competition in Auburn, robot inspector J.Wright educated Dylan R. and
Tristin on how best to write autonomous code. He admires Team 5295 for our
mentality of “We don’t have a skill; let’s go get it.”
DINNER MEETING Everyone ate as
much pizza as they wanted in the lobbly/dining area at our Ramada Inn. Coach
Clarey ordered dinner from a local pizzeria. Having spoken earlier with
head coach Clarey, coach Stokely shared some positives: our robot Locust was
functional and moved in every match. A.Walker commented that Clarey and Stokely
are doing the best job in five years teaching ‘Gracious Professionalism’ to
teammates.
DAY
3: Saturday, March 24, 2018
TEAM
5295 RANKS POTENTIAL ALLIANCE PARTNERS
At
breakfast – with a good night’s sleep - Carolynn, Hope, Josh & Tristin
reviewed the scout sheets for a quick half-hour. They prioritized
potential robot partners based on their performance noted on our scout sheets.
Quals Match53 Blue: Right position. Technician
Dylan S. & Human player Rechal. In autonomous, Locust drove past the
baseline to the switch. Locust bumped the switch wall and accidently dropped
a power cube on the opponent’s side of our switch. Locust got 9 cubes in
the vault. 302-385 Loss 4-7-1 +0RP for 11RP total and #24 after
qualifications.
ALLIANCE
SELECTION
After
each team competes in 12 qualification matches, the teams are ranked based on
wins and ranking points. The top eight ranked teams become alliance captains
and select their two alliance partners. These alliances do not change
throughout the playoffs.
With
eight teams unpicked, the alliance captain of the #4 playoff alliance – Paulouse
WA Team 5920 “VIKotics” (#5 after qualifications) – and its partner host
Spokane Team 2147 CHUCK (#8 after qualifications) “graciously invite Team
5295”. Cheers rang out. Team 5295 representative Carolynn C. said we “accept
your gracious offer.”
Palouse
School District has one elementary school and one high school. Palouse High
home to Team 5920 “VIKotics” graduated 14 students last year, and will graduate
23 more in 2018. Its sister school district, Garfield, has one elementary
school and a middle school. Neither
elementary school has an FIRST Lego League team. Students from both school districts attend
the sole middle and high school. There
is no FIRST Tech Challenge team at the middle school. Both school districts are
FFA (Future Farmers of America). Team
5920 is in its fourth year. Its key
mentors came from other teams. A mentor from Tekoa Team 4608 “Duct Tape
Warriors” knew the tools and grants to get. Another mentor had been with
Pullman Team 4061 “SciBorgs” for seven years.
Key funding comes from a fall spaghetti feed which raises $5000. There
are only 300 students in the two school districts combined!
After
alliance selection, teams ate lunch.
After lunch we moved to the other side of the spectator stands and sat
with our alliance partners.
PLAYOFFS
QF2-1 Red: Our #4 playoff
alliance (5920-2147-5295) faced off against the #5 playoff alliance
(6442-4089-2148) in the quarterfinals. The favored alliance wears the red
bumpers. Technician Cameron and Human player Rechal. While our alliance dressed
in flannel, our three team alliance in the stands chanted “Let’s go Vikings,
let’s go!”, “C-H-U-C-K; we chuck it all the way”, and “Al-der Po-wer” to get
our alliance in the right mindset. Locust got nine cubes into the exchange
filling the vault. Team 5920 and 2147 dominated the scale and our switch early.
418-190 Win 1-0. Another chant: “We are proud of you. Yes, we are proud of
you.”
QF2-2 Red: Technician Dylan R.
and Human player Rechal. Team 5295 got nine cubes into the exchange filling the
vault. Team 5920 controls the scale and both alliance partners control both
switches. 342-54 Win 2-0 and advance to semi-finals.
SF1-1 Blue: Our #4 playoff
alliance (5920-2147-5295) faced off against the #1 playoff alliance
(5803-4513-6076) in the semi-finals.Technician Dylan R. and Human player Rechal.
Team 5295 got nine cubes into the exchange filling the vault. Although Team 5803
“APEX” controls the high scale, our alliance partners control both switches.
284-229 upset Win 1-0. We are one game
from the finals.
SF1-2 Blue: Technician Cameron
and Human player Rechal. Locust got nine cubes into the vault. The #1 alliance
protected their switch very well. 274-503 Loss 1-1. The winner of the next
match heads to the finals.
SF1-3 Blue: Technician Cameron
and Human player Rechal. Locust got nine cubes into the vault. The #1 alliance
holds their switch. 279-407 Loss 1-2. Our #4 playoff alliance is eliminated and
will not play in the finals. Afterwards a Team 5803 mentor said to Team 5295
“You have a good robot.”
FINALS:
The #1 alliance defeated the #2 alliance 2-1 in the finals.
THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS When the volunteers were thanked Dylan R.
and Tristin led a cheer of “We are proud of you. Yes we are proud of you.”
LOAD-OUT Cameron, Carolynn, Dylan
R., Dylan S., Jaeden, Robert, & Tristin bagged Locust, packed up the pit,
and loaded the trailer.
TEAMMATE COMMENTS “Excited” “Fun”
“We
were closer than last time.”
“We
went here and had fun”
“A
little bit stressful and a lot of fun”
“Scouting
is fun but tiring”
“Stressful
crazy and an emotional roller-coaster”
“We got things fixed a lot”
“Ah we had a problem. Ah they are fixed.”
“Gremlins
think we are a rest stop”
“Tired
and we are really happy to be going home. It was amazing.”
HOME We arrived back at Shelton High at 11:30PM.
