After ranking third alliance overall at off-season competition, THOR III, we knew we needed to make some critical improvements to our new robot, Arthur, in order to perform to the best of our ability at SCRIW V. With a mere two weeks between THOR and SCRIW, our main priority for this off-season competition was to be able to lift a recycling container successfully each time we attempted it and place it atop a stack of six totes. We made the necessary decision of meeting five days a week for the two weeks we had to work on our robot. After several design ideas and building efforts, we were able to create a highly efficient, reliable lifting mechanism that met our needs. We managed to finish with a few days left to spare which we used to get some practice before the competition. Despite only having enough space to practice making stacks of five totes with a recycling container, we were confident in our robot’s ability to achieve our goal of making a stack of six totes topped with a recycling container.

At SCRIW, we started out with a rough match, but managed to consistently make two stacks of six totes topped with a recycling container and litter every match that followed. Sometimes we even had extra time to make a third stack of a couple totes with a recycling container. The performance of our robot made us alliance carriers in every single one of our qualification matches. As a result, our ranking, though fluctuating, remained within the top three throughout the majority of the qualification matches.

By the end of the qualification matches, we were ranked number one, thus being the first team to pick in alliance selections. Our alliance consisted of four teams: Team 4451, Robotz Garage; Team 1226, The Gorilla’s (1225) B Team; Team 3976, Electric Hornets; and ourselves, Team 2059, The Hitchhikers. Although Team 4451 was also capable of making two stacks of six totes with a recycling container, we knew we needed our other alliance members to be able to work the landfill and possibly get a fourth container from the center step on the playing field. Our strategy worked to our advantage and at the end of it all, we were named SCRIW V Champions!