Saturday was the first of two Philly Area Scrimmages. The first was hosted by the DCCS Knights Robotic team at their Devon Campus. With 23 teams competing and another 7 teams using it as a “build/practice” day there was a lot of Vexcellent energy in the building. They ran a reduced pace set of matches to get 36 qualification matches in before the elims. This allowed teams to have lots of build and fix time between their matches.
While there were a number of robots still in the “well it’s a base and it pushes for now, but we have this really cool idea for the sacks” There were a number of really interesting high scoring designs. Both Haverford and Upper Darby had robots that could (and did) large numbers of sacks at will. You can see the years of efforts put into their respective programs by Ryan, Andrew and Chuck come to life.
As a self professed “love those clawbots” roboteer, there were a number of interesting designs. Robot-Raiders showed off their driving skills with their basic bot, but a custom designed wrist (almost an elbow) that along with their omni wheel “wheelie bar” gave them good reach.
One of the DC Knights middle school teams had a unique dual claw design that allowed them to claw up two sacks at a time and score. The claws were inline, so they could drop down, open and grab. Each claw had independent operation for max flexibility.
But the big winner for me was 80R’s dual claw connected by plates that had 3/4" screw teeth for super grip. No chance for sack damage, but a crushing grip that allowed for high speed movement across the field. Extra reach allowed them to put two gold sacks on the high goal match after match.
One of the cool feature of the event was the Awards came with prizes! Each team that won an award was able to pick from a wide variety of sensors to add to their robots. A neat twist, and way to get teams interested in adding more sensors!
Thanks to Jim Crane and his DC Knights program, and to all the students and parents that helped run the event. Lots of good action and a great chance for teams to get set for the start of the major competitions in January.
Excellence Award
80R VEXMEN
Tournament Champions
169Y Haverford School Robotics
357 Upper Darby High School
80M VEXMEN
Tournament Finalists
80B VEXMEN
80J VEXMEN
80R VEXMEN
Amaze Award
357 Upper Darby High School
Build Award
1267X Delaware County Christian School
Design Award
169B Haverford School Robotics
Robot Skills
80J VEXMEN = 39 points
Driver Skills
80J VEXMEN = 61 points