mock competition

the oregon trail isn't complete without a covered wagon :o)

i went over to simmons at 1pm to attach sensors to our robot, test the ball shooter, and eat more cookies. then emily and i ran to lab at 5pm to give our robot a little test drive on the game board before the competition (which started at 7pm). here's a video of our robot in action -- it worked amazingly well for the camera --

16 teams participated in the mock contest, and our goal was just to make it to the second round. there were 8 matches in round one, and 6 matches ended in a double loss (no team scored a point). we went up against team 01, and while our robot did not do exactly what we wanted it to do, we did manage to score two points. the robot didn't drive straight, so our shooter did not point to the scoring bin. instead, it shot balls at the wall, and one of them ricocheted into our two point bin. it was freaking AMAZING. unfortunately, we didn't get it on camera, but we did make it to the 2nd round!

only one other team scored any points (and their robot worked way better than ours did) so the second round was also the final round. we matched up against team 08 in a best of three match. in the first match, our robot turned the wrong direction and instead ran into the wall, and so we got to stand and watch the other team score on us. we thought our robot had finished its course, but it hadn't, and after about 40 seconds, it started firing the balls at emily. it was really really really funny. we didn't get that part on camera, but here is what we did get of the first match --

team 05=0, team 08=1

in the second match, our robot didn't drive straight, and it fired at our opponent's robot instead of our four point bin. their robot didn't work, so this match ended in a double loss.

team 05=0, team 08=1

in the third match, our robot did what we wanted it to do. unfortunately, since the other team had a similar strategy, our balls got blocked by their robot. we blocked all of their shots to their four point bin as well, but their strategy included depositing a ball in their two point bin as well, which meant that they won. so sad. :o(

team 05=0, team 08=2

even though we didn't win the competition or the laptops, we were REALLY REALLY HAPPY with how our robot did, especially since we are a team of two biologists and a chemist. to celebrate, our team (cindy came and joined us) and team 07 went to chipotle for dinner!

the reaction after hearing the fatty fatty 2X4 poem :oP

after chipotle, we went to TOSCIS which has REOPENED!!!! i am superduper excited about that. :D

cindy, kelly, jake, and emily with TOSCIs! :D

we went back to mccormick and watched about 4 more episodes of antm, and then called it a night. what an excellent day. :D