The kickoff for FIRST: AGE – DECODE now seems an age ago! We’ve been through the exploratory builds, design and build of robot V1 (Jimmy Sheutron) and then the design, CAD, and build of robot V2.

December saw a change of plans – V1 had some design flaws which would limit its capabilities, no matter how many improvements we made. So the team made a mid-season choice to return to the drawing board for a completely new design. It included mechanisms that could theoretically accomplish every challenge the game offered.

V1 went with us to compete in the Bennington Qualifiers, which we helped host along with the Cookie Clickers and the Bennington Bolts & Biscuits. He was slow but steady, and did very well for us, earning a name (Jimmy Sheutron)! It was the first competition day where we didn’t need to fix things in a hurry between matches, which felt pretty remarkable. A couple of teams came from neighboring states, showing off a whole different level of competition than our low-key Vermont region usually experiences. So that Qualifier was a really useful day for our team, teaching us how to play the game and giving us a clearer idea of what the robot ought to be able to do.

Exhilarated from Bennington, the team threw themselves into a round of improvements on V2, while still learning to code and refine Jimmy. We just barely decided to take V2 to the Northfield Qualifier, hosted at Norwich University. Given its Work-In-Progress state, it was very impressive. It showed off its potential as our drivers improved with each match, being chosen as an alliance partner for the playoffs. Additionally, the team came home with a second place in the Inspire Award, which is a real honor.

Inspire Award Criteria

The team that receives this award is a strong ambassador for FIRST programs and a role model FIRST team. This team is a top contender for many other judged awards and is a gracious competitor.
The Inspire Award winner is an inspiration to other teams, acting with Gracious Professionalism® both on and off the playing FIELD. This team shares their experiences, enthusiasm, and knowledge with other teams, sponsors, their community, and the JUDGES. Working as a unit, this team will have shown success in performing the task of designing and building a ROBOT.

• Team is able to describe, demonstrate, document, or display their experiences and knowledge to the JUDGES.
• Team must submit a PORTFOLIO.
• The Inspire Award celebrates the strongest qualities of all the judged awards. A team must be a strong contender for at least one award in each of the following judged award categories:
  • Machine, Creativity, and Innovation Awards,
  • Team Attributes Awards, and
  • Think Award
• Team must be positive and inclusive, and each team member contribute to the success of the team.

Then, into the home stretch – with three weeks before the Vermont Regional Championships, and school vacation and travel, the team really put in the extra effort. They worked to refine the flywheel launcher, fabricate a lift mechanism, and tune RPMs vs. distance. Our chief code monkey wrote the Autonomous routine using both two-wheel + IMU odometry and the Limelight camera to localize with AprilTags. Our drivers practiced, and everyone pitched in to write an Engineering Portfolio that they could be proud of.

By the time the competition arrived, V2 could do everything reasonably well, and was a pretty interesting machine. It could intake artifacts (big wiffle balls) from anywhere on the field, drive with some nimbleness, index and sort the different colors of artifacts, recognize the AprilTag on the obelisk to determine which pattern to shoot; it could shoot three balls in pattern, in any order, or single balls of a specific color or any color. The drivers could set the flywheel to a near-target RPM or far-target RPM. The base was not so large that it would preclude any other robots from partially parking in the home base at the end of the game, allowing for a consistent full park + partial park score. It had a three-artifact autonomous routine that would also move appropriately, contributing to a Move Ranking Point in any match.

By midmorning, there were a great many “shoulder ducks” to be seen among other teams and volunteers as well, showing off our unique Manchester Machine Makers “got ducks?” style.

Qualifying rounds are always unpredictable, but the team gave a solid performance, ranking in the middle of the pack after five intense matches. V2 was easy to maintain, only needing fresh batteries between matches. With the code well-organized, we had the luxury of working on an enhanced autonomous during breaks without worry of breaking the main tele-op routine.

The judges were very busy throughout the competition and asked insightful questions, listening closely to the team as they explained everything from their brainstorming process to their outreach plans. With the careful documentation of V1 and V2, and obviously knowledgeable team members, the judges awarded third place in the Inspire Award to the team, out of 25 teams!

Topping it all off, our most senior member, Zachary Lindenberg,was selected as one of only two Finalists from Vermont for the FIRST Leadership Award.

Everyone on the team was happy to see the competition season come to such a successful close. While we’re not planning to go to any further competitions, we are planning to participate in 4-H Communications Day on March 21st in Rutland. We’ll also have another Robotics Day at the Manchester Community Library, and we plan to bring a robotics activity to the State Fair late in the summer, before the next competition season begins.

Come see us at our events to acquire your very own rubber ducky to ride on your shoulder!