2013 Silicon Valley Regional
The 2013 Silicon Valley Regional just finished up, and it was a blast. Only losing one match, the Cheesy Poofs really made their presence known. The Cheesy Poofs hung at the 30 point level in almost every match, being one of two teams to do so. The event was incredible. On Saturday, the Poofs sat with 233, the Pink Team. Both teams sang, danced, and cheered all throughout the tournament for each other, creating an atmosphere that was both fun to watch and be a part of. For elimination rounds, the Cheesy Poofs partnered up with 118, the Robonaughts (from Texas), and 1967, the Janksters (From Bellarmine’s sister school, Notre Dame). The alliance didn’t lose a single match, and scored the highest score at SVR, breaking 200 points.
Thursday: Day 1
It started off with students waking up bright and early, arriving at San Jose State University around 5:45 AM. There, they waited in line to get the best seats to help with scouting and viewing. Thursday was purely practice rounds, so all robots didn’t make an appearance. Team 254 spent the beggining portion of the day making updates to the robot, and got in a couple practice matches at the end to ensure it was working properly.
Friday: Day 2
Once again, students woke up early and arrived at 5:45 AM. Friday was purely qualification matches, which meant these were the ones that determined what place you were in for alliance picking. Every one of these matches was scouted diligently by Team 254’s scouting team, and that data was used to help determine which team would make the ideal alliance when coupled with the Cheesy Poofs. Friday had a few quarcks, which were quickly overcome. Besides match two (where a frisbee got jammed in the intake), Team 254 went undefeated. During the awards ceremony, the Cheesy Poofs earned the Engineering Excellence Award, given to teams that demonstrate a robot with high technical proficiency.
Saturday: Day 3
Saturday was more layed back for the students in the morning. They arrived at 7:00 AM, and sat next to Team 233, the Pink Team. The teams cheered on each other, and any other team that was playing. This, coupled with the singing and dancing between each match, resulted in an encredibly enthousiastic environment. Qualification matches continued until lunchtime, and once again the Poofs went undefeated. The Cheesy Poofs placed first place, which meant they could choose their alliance partner first. Team 254 chose Team 118, the Robonaughts (from texas). For their second pick, Team 254 chose Team 1967, the Janksters (from Bellarmine’s sister school, Notre Dame). Together, this alliance went undefeated in quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals.
Updates
Friday, 9:30am – Won the first match of the 2013 SVR with a score of 133 to 9. Thanks 295 & 2489!
Friday, 10:30am – Lost our second match of the day due to a jamming issue with the intake (47-49). However, we pulled off our first ever competition 30 point hang. Should be ready to go for our next match against 118 in an hour or so.
Friday, 11:35am – Just won our third match of the day against our friends the Team 118 Robonauts from NASA Johnson Space Center (112-96)! This match also featured our second ever competition 30 point hang which gave us the edge and helped us win the match. We’re excited to be on the same side of the field as 118 in the next match as we take on our friends on 971.
Friday, 1:35pm – Just put up a high score with our friends from Team 118 (165-144). Both sides broke the previous event high score!
Friday, 3:20pm – Won match 40 with a score of 132-64. Shot a frisbee while hanging and it almost made it in!
Friday, 4:10pm – Won match 55 with a score of 78-43. Had some issues with the hanging mechanism.
Friday, 4:55pm – Another wild match, this time against our friends from Texas, 148. We pulled off the win with a score of 152-110. Our spirits are as high as our robot is hanging.
Friday, 6:30pm – Won the Engineering Excellence Award! That’s it for the day – see you all tomorrow!
Saturday, 9:10am – Won our first match of the day with a score of 162-49. Had some jamming in the conveyor midway through the match but a quick 30 point hang combined with awesome help from 115 & 4159 allowed us to pull of the win. We’re currently ranked #1 and have two matches left before lunch!
Saturday, 11:10am – Won match 87 with a score of 126-76. Had a blast playing with our friends on The Pink Team for the first time since going to Einstein together in 2010.
Saturday, 11:35am – Just won our last qualification match with a score of 119-33. Alliance selections are coming up soon. It’s looking like we’ll be #1 seed! Yeah buddy!
Saturday, 1:00pm – Alliance Selection is over. We’re the captain of the #1 alliance and we’ll be playing with 118 & 1967. The team is real excited to play with our fellow NASA house team and the Janksters from Bellarmine’s sister school. The elimination matches will start soon.
Saturday, 2:10pm – Won both of our quarterfinal matches (and absolutely loving our alliance)! Moving on to the semifinals…
Saturday, 3:20pm – And we won both of our semifinals (and broke 200 points for the first time at this event). Finals, finals, finals!
Saturday, 4:00pm – Finals match 1 resulted in a win for the #1 Alliance! One of our hooks didn’t catch so Overkill only made it to a 20pt hang. Final 2 is coming soon!
Saturday, 4:20pm – Although our robot lost communication partway through the match, our awesome alliance partners managed to hold strong. Silicon Valley Regional Champions! What a way to end our 15th Silicon Valley Regional!
Qualification Matches
- Regional Winner
- Engineering Excellence Award Winner
- 9-1-0 Record in Qualifying with 18 Qualifying Points, Ranked 1 of 59 Teams
