The 2014 season introduced the District Model to the 200+ teams in New England. For Team 811 it meant the end of the Granite State Regional at the Verizon, but it was replaced with TWO District Events and the possibility of the New England Regional Championship!
The Game
"Aerial Assist" required robots to move 2' diameter yoga balls across the field and into goals. Extra points were earned by robots passing the ball between alliance members, tossing the ball over a 6' high truss at mid-court, and catching the tossed ball on the fly. (Unique this year, there was no "end game".)
Our Robot
Borrowing some concepts from 2008 robots, we constructed Incendio, an incredibly agile robot that used Mechanum wheels for incredible maneuverability, a pair of tennis racquet-like arms to grab and catch the ball, and a powerful catapult controlled by an awesome winch clutch.
Accomplishments
Incendio proved as amazing as we hoped, helping us reach the Granite State District Event Quarter Finals at Nashua High. Our disappointment quickly gave way to elation, as we were awarded the Chairman's Award at GSD, becoming the first team to ever earn a slot at the New England Regional Championship Event
We traveled to WPI for our second District Event, where we continued our winning streak. Pushing Incendio, our Drive Team and our Pit Crew to new limits (the students replaced a severed arm unaided by mentors within the 6 minute "fix-it" window!), we made it to the third match of the Finals Match. Although our Alliance was strong (Teams 2648 "Infinite Loop" and 5122 "The RoboTies"), and regularly scored well in autonomous mode (including a 75-point three shot, all Hot Goal performance), none of our robots scored autonomously in that last match. We lost the match by just 13 points, and had to settle for District Event Finalist.
At the New England Championship Event at Boston University, we again performed well enough to enter the Elimination Matches. After winning the Quarter Finals, however, our catapult clutch seized during the first match of the Semi Finals, and we withdrew ourselves to give our Alliance a chance to win. But like GSD, disappointment was brief, as we were awarded the Regional Chairman's Award, and a ticket to St. Louis!
The trip to the World Championships involved a 22-hour chartered bus ride (with our newest best friends Teams 319 "Big Bad Bob" and 4925 "The Resistance"). When competitions involve both some of the best teams in the world AND a number of rookie teams, the results can be erratic, and we ended with a mere 3-7 record.