Hi everyone,
We had a gripping final day of competition, then straight to the event dinner function. We arrived back at our hotel at 11:30pm and had to pack up the robots, and all the tools etc, and our own stuff, grab a couple of hours sleep and up again at 4am to start travels home. So I haven't had a moment to send an update.
The final day started early, as usual: In the team pit, sorting jobs for the day, getting the robot loaded up with programmes, and especial attention to scouting for potential alliance partners. We won our games and stayed at the top of our tournament division for the qualifying rounds. This meant we had literally 10 minutes to come together and discuss who out of the other 139 teams we should invite to join us in the finals matches. That was really tough - because we had had only 3 scouts to go out and watch games.
Once all the alliance partners had been selected, we then went into our finals matches: Quarter finals - we won. Semi finals - we had a bit of bad luck - our team partnership won the first game of the three, then in the second match the opposing team sent a robot to intervene and block us during our autonomous mode, unfortunately our robot got hooked up on one of theirs as they were smack in our preprogrammed movement pattern. The drivers couldn't get it unhooked - and even though our partner robot won the most points in that match against their one, we were disqualified for "pinning" the other teams robot (as they stayed hooked to us). That meant they got that as a win. In the final game, we lost by one point - 36 to 37. It was a tough moment for the team - but they really did so well. A rookie team from a country that has only just started the programme, being one of the top 8 teams in the world!
Also - two other NZ teams made it into the semi finals: Avondale (who we won the NZ Championship with) and Onehunga High Schools, AND the (Albany) Massey University team won the World Championship Title in the "College" (USA speak for University) division. So NZ made quite a ‘first impression'.
Our team did get first place in the World Champion Title in Programming; and third place in the World Champion Robot Driver Skills, and as world title holders have secured an invitation to the 2010 World Championship Finals. So now we have a full year to prepare for that tournament - hopefully bringing our whole team next time!
We are all very proud of the team - it's been an outstanding campaign. Spirits are high and we are excited about the new tournament game that has just been released for the next season. Already design ideas are being discussed, and game strategy.
We have another TV3 interview soon - as a follow up to the earlier one they did on our team - so look for your logo on our t-shirts and banner. I'll let you know when the programme is being aired.
We want to thank you again for your support and generosity - we couldn't have done this without you!
Rhiannon
We had a gripping final day of competition, then straight to the event dinner function. We arrived back at our hotel at 11:30pm and had to pack up the robots, and all the tools etc, and our own stuff, grab a couple of hours sleep and up again at 4am to start travels home. So I haven't had a moment to send an update.
The final day started early, as usual: In the team pit, sorting jobs for the day, getting the robot loaded up with programmes, and especial attention to scouting for potential alliance partners. We won our games and stayed at the top of our tournament division for the qualifying rounds. This meant we had literally 10 minutes to come together and discuss who out of the other 139 teams we should invite to join us in the finals matches. That was really tough - because we had had only 3 scouts to go out and watch games.
Once all the alliance partners had been selected, we then went into our finals matches: Quarter finals - we won. Semi finals - we had a bit of bad luck - our team partnership won the first game of the three, then in the second match the opposing team sent a robot to intervene and block us during our autonomous mode, unfortunately our robot got hooked up on one of theirs as they were smack in our preprogrammed movement pattern. The drivers couldn't get it unhooked - and even though our partner robot won the most points in that match against their one, we were disqualified for "pinning" the other teams robot (as they stayed hooked to us). That meant they got that as a win. In the final game, we lost by one point - 36 to 37. It was a tough moment for the team - but they really did so well. A rookie team from a country that has only just started the programme, being one of the top 8 teams in the world!
Also - two other NZ teams made it into the semi finals: Avondale (who we won the NZ Championship with) and Onehunga High Schools, AND the (Albany) Massey University team won the World Championship Title in the "College" (USA speak for University) division. So NZ made quite a ‘first impression'.
Our team did get first place in the World Champion Title in Programming; and third place in the World Champion Robot Driver Skills, and as world title holders have secured an invitation to the 2010 World Championship Finals. So now we have a full year to prepare for that tournament - hopefully bringing our whole team next time!
We are all very proud of the team - it's been an outstanding campaign. Spirits are high and we are excited about the new tournament game that has just been released for the next season. Already design ideas are being discussed, and game strategy.
We have another TV3 interview soon - as a follow up to the earlier one they did on our team - so look for your logo on our t-shirts and banner. I'll let you know when the programme is being aired.
We want to thank you again for your support and generosity - we couldn't have done this without you!
Rhiannon