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Slimmed Down Robot Racks Up 3 Wins
In Second FIRST Competition
By Sara Sugrue (April 1, 2005)
Spurred by chants of "Vae Victus" the George Mason Robotics
team,
1418, and their robot, Manus Imperitorus (Latin for hand of the
emperor), marched onto the black playing field ready to compete in the
For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST)
Regional Robotics Competition held at Virginia Commonwealth University
(VCU) March 3-5, 2005.
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With
a record of three wins, four losses, and one tie, team 1418 placed 38th
out of the 62 teams in attendance. The team competed in eight different
matches over the two days of competition.
The matches were called "Triple Play," which consists of
six teams
that are then split into three team alliances. One or two teams play
offense while the remaining team/teams play defense. The teams have to
work together within their alliance to score points during the two
minute and 15 second match. The teams compete on a 3x3 grid with a
large tetrahedron or "tetras" placed in each individual square. To
score points each team must use smaller tetras to either cap off or
place inside one of the larger tetras. Some of the match highlights
include an autonomous period (no man control) as well as a race to the
end zones the end of the match.
Team 1418 spent all day Thursday performing necessary
repairs and
preparing their robot for inspection. The robot was .8 pounds
overweight, therefore it did not pass its first inspection at 8:30 a.m.
Friday. "Jigsaw in hand, Mr. Ballou started removing large sections of
plate metal with a maniacal look in his eye," said senior team member
Daniel Sheffler. With a new weight of 119.8 pounds the robot
successfully passed its second inspection at 9 a.m.
Team 1418 lost their first two matches due to some
unexpected
mechanical failures involving the robot’s arm as well as an error in
the driving code.
With superior driving, weight, and traction, team 1418
played
defense while their two alliance members scored at will, wining team
1418 its first victory..
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Team 1418's robot, Manus Imperotorus, on
display at the FIRST Robotics Competition at
VCU. (Photo by Alex Douglas)
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The next victories did not come until the fifth and
sixth matches.
"The robot used is superior traction and transmission to literally push
an opposing robot that was trying to drive us across the field and into
the back glass, effectively pinning him for the rest of the match,"
said Sheffler. Team 1418 lost their 7th match.
In their final match one of 1418’s alliances received a
30-point
penalty because one of their alliance members touched another team’s
robot while in the landing zone.
"Although our robot had problems at the beginning of the
matches,
our team pulled together and worked hard to place a competitive robot
on the field", said senior team member Alex Nette.
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Senior Dustin Rodner(?) and () are busy
getting
Manus Imeritorus ready for competition.
(Photo by Alex Douglas)
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