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We sent two high school teams
to the Botball 2005 International Conference and Tournament. We also
sent a Beyond Botball adult team. The events were held July 14 to 17
in Jacksonville, Florida. Out of 37 teams, we came in 14th and 15th. The competition was very good. We stayed at the University of Northern Florida. You can see more at http://www.botball.org/. |
Our Teams:
We were also helped by other members |
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Team A:
Strategy: 20 points for Botguy, 10 points for orange ball, 30 points for
bottles, 20 points for trash
Seeding Rounds: Average: 39.5 points, 14th place
Competition Rounds: Two wins, two losses, Final 16, Overall 15th place
| Seeding Round |
Score | Official Video | Sideline Video | Comment |
| 1 | 9 | none | SeedingA1.wmv | |
| 2 | 32 | seedinga2.asf | SeedingA2.wmv | Got Botguy |
| 3 | 47 | seedinga3.asf | SeedingA3.wmv | Got Botguy |
| Competition Round |
Score | Official Video | Sideline Video | Comment |
| 1 | 13 | competitiona1.asf | CompetitionA1.wmv | Win, other team had 4 |
| 2 | 33? | competitiona2.asf | none | Loss, bot in trash |
| 3 | 42 | competitiona3.asf | CompetitionA3.wmv | Win, got Botguy |
| 4 | 25? | none | CompetitionFinalA.wmv | Loss, the other team had more than 40, just missed Botguy |
Team B:
Strategy: 30 points for orange ball, 30 points for bottles, 20 points for
trash
Seeding Rounds: Average: 53 points, 11th place
Competition Rounds: Two wins, two losses, Final 16, Overall 14th place
| Seeding Round |
Score | Official Video | Sideline Video | Comment |
| 1 | 72 DQ | seedingb1.asf | SeedingB1.wmv | Disqualified because robot didn't turn off after 90 seconds |
| 2 | 80 | seedingb2.asf | SeedingB2.wmv | Orange ball, 3 bottles, 4 trash |
| 3 | 26 | seedingb3.asf | SeedingB3.wmv | Missed orange ball |
| Competition Round |
Score | Official Video | Sideline Video | Comment |
| 1 | 45? | competitionb1.asf | CompetitionB1.wmv | Win |
| 2 | 74? | competitionb2.asf | CompetitionB2.wmv | Loss, the other team had around 95 |
| 3 | 67 | competitionb3.asf | CompetitionB3.wmv CharmedLabs video jville.wmv |
Win, Wootton had 38 |
| 4 | 61 | competitionfinalb.asf | none | Loss, other team had 88 |
Lessons
- Make a check list, and use it.
- Keep a test log, and use it.
- Make better use of all our people.
- Build more bots -- we have plenty of resources.
- Test symbiosis of 2 bots earlier.
- More use of diagnostics, especially on the XBC.
- Keep a working copy of old design.
- Build a universal base for navigation.
- Try building a bots that doesn't use navigation -- just sits with long arms.
- Auto calibrate the bots.
- Establish code version control.
- Control the use of the laptops.
Beyond Botball Competition
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Bob Ekman and Chris Wikman
participated in the Beyond Botball competition. There were eight
other teams -- some university students and some hobbyists. The
challenge was different from the student Botball competition, but the
operations of the competition were similar. We built two bots -- one to pick up tubes and balls and score lots of points, and one to block the other bot from scoring any points. They worked good, but there was room for improvement. We didn't have time to refine the operations of the bots and we didn't focus on the competition tie breaker strategies. A catapult did us in. Our average for the seeding round was 37.5, far below our target of 100 points, but good enough to tie for first. We came in second in the competition rounds and second overall. We also won the Judge's Choice award. In one round, we scored 300 points. No other team scored over 50 points. |
| Seeding Round |
Score | Official Video | Sideline Video | Comment |
| 1 | 15 | none | BeyondSeed1.wmv | |
| 2 | 5 | none | BeyondSeed2.wmv | |
| 3 | 50 | none | BeyondSeed3.wmv | One blue ball in green basket |
| Competition Round |
Score | Official Video | Sideline Video | Comment |
| 1 | 300 | beyond1.asf | Beyond1.wmv | Win, 4 blue balls in green basket |
| 2 | 15 | beyond2.asf | Beyond2.wmv | Loss by 5 points |
| 3 | 160 | beyond3.asf | Beyond3.wmv | Win, 2 blue balls in green basket |
| 4 | 0 | beyond4.asf | Beyond4.wmv | Loss by one ping pong ball |
* The official videos were segments from the KIPR archived broadcast. The sideline videos were from Bob Ekman.
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