Thumbs Up for SCRIW II!

by | Oct 24, 2012 | Off Season

What is the most fun way to get hyped for build season? By participating in a practice tournament with other *FIRST* teams!

On October 13, we rolled down to Irmo High School for SCRIW II (South Carolina Robotics Invitational and Workshops). This was our second time at the annual practice tournament where we networked and communicated with teams as far away as Florida. This year, we allied with and played against teams from throughout the region, including both of our winning alliance partners from the Palmetto Regional.

This event impacted our team in many ways. First, it proved an excellent way for us to help train new members and introduce them to robotics. Second, we bonded as a team cheering in all of those matches and working together on the robot. But when it started, we had no idea how truly exciting it would be.

The robot performed well. Very well. Despite some technical issues with the wiring to our wireless system, by the end of qualifications, we found ourselves in seventh place. Because of this, we were one of the eight teams selecting teams for one of the eight elimination alliances. After this point, these alliances would battle it out in a best two out of three elimination tournament. The winning alliance would advance to the next round while the losing alliance would be eliminated.

Once we had assembled out alliance, we realized that this was the perfect team to compete with. After all, we were paired with fellow Palmetto winners, the  Hotbotz (2640), and another fellow North Carolina team, the Hedgehogs (587).

Our alliance scored a huge win in the quarter finals, winning the first two matches, but we ran into trouble facing the top-seeded alliance of 342, 1758, and 3489. All three matches were decided by less than five points and each match went down to the endgame, balancing upon the bridges. The first match, our alliance partner balanced and we won a very close match. The second match, we struggled to balance and we were narrowly defeated. Everything would come down to the third and final match. It started rough; we missed our autonomous shots and started the match behind by twelve point, but we made up the difference with some excellent shooting and sealed the deal with a balanced bridge. We here headed to the finals.

In the semifinals and quarterfinals, Wando Robotics (4533), the Iron Wolverines (4083), and the Team PyroTech (3459) had made a series of upsets thanks to the challenging defense administered by 4083, combined with their ability to balance consistently with 4533. If we were to be SCRIW II champions, we would have needed to score a lot of points. That is exactly what we did. Everything in our alliance complimented each other like gears in a well-oiled machine. Our autonomous worked, our alliance scored, and the robots balanced. Even despite losing communication with our robot midway through the final match, our formidable alliance still managed to sweep the final rounds. Team members rushed to the drivers in celebration. We the Hitchhikers, the Hotbotz, and the Hedgehogs were SCRIW II champions! It was a spectacular, unexpected win, but it was not just the matches we won, but also the bonding and learning we won together as a team that made this moment so impactful.

We came out of SCRIW a better team; more ready to face the coming competition next year. Our sincere gratitude goes out to 2640, 587, the other teams, and especially all of the other teams that made this possible!