The first qualifier, December 7th, West Central PA Qualifier, at Pitt Johnstown, and the scrimmage, November 23rd at North Catholic, were vastly different. In the scrimmage, teams had very little code ready and almost no driving practice. The qualifier was different and much better for all teams. 

Early into the competition, Hopper decided to take off their claw and become a pushbot. This led to not having nearly as many issues as at the scrimmage, since one of their major problems was that the claw would get stuck on the floor and obstruct movement.   As a group, they switched around drivers, giving someone new a chance to drive at the qualifier. This helped them gain driving practice. They also had multiple opportunities to practice on the practice field at team meetings, which made them more comfortable driving over the foam floor and pushing around blocks or “stones”. The drive team roles started to make more sense, as the coach could help  and direct on what to do. Most of the alliances had good robots made for stacking, so their pushbot robot helped them save time. Plus their autonomous program worked nearly every time. The only time it didn’t work was when they had to adjust the starting direction of the robot to work with an alliance’s robot, which they were not used to and didn’t practice. Hopper, along with the other Girls of Steel teams, also had fun while dancing after lunch (though everyone was sad that Austin didn’t join). This qualifier was more enjoyable and more successful than the scrimmage, since Hopper placed 15th out of 16 teams in the scrimmage, and 13th out of 23 teams at the qualifier. Yay! GRAHAM is the name of their robot.

Hypatia also had an excellent qualifier, placing 10th overall. After passing inspection, the team got everything plugged in and the matches started. For the second match, they learned a hard lesson; always plug in the robot! The matches were back to back, leaving limited time for the robots to charge. They used their lunch break as a way to recharge all of the batteries and switched the connection cord from the phone to the game pad. Hypatia’s robot stayed a pushbot throughout the day. They had to readjust the robot’s starting position at the beginning of 2 of the matches, so that the autonomous would work with their alliance’s autonomous.  Since all the Girls of Steel FTC team members are rookies, this had been the first time Hypatia  presented in front of judges! They took away valuable information from the presentation. For example, be better prepared for the questions asked at the end. At the end of the competition, Hypatia was not picked to go to the semifinals. This came as a shock, but showed how important it is to make a good first impression and scout the other teams. Throughout the qualifier they made some observations and created new ideas of how to change what was messed up. For example, after missing a few items in a match, like remembering to turn on the robot during the competition, they decided to create a checklist for the next qualifier. Done! Another observation was: the team was not organized and tasks were missed or not completed as expected. They decided to appoint a team leader to organize the group. Team members recalled that this seemed to work well based on prior FLL experience at competitions. Another observation was: there was not enough rotation of the drive team positions. Suggestion: Everyone should be offered the same opportunity to drive, be a coach, and/or be a human player. Another observation was: they didn’t scout enough before the matches. Suggestion: Split the team up. Half walks around with a notebook and pen and scouts, while the other half works on the robot. Final observation: Be better prepared for judging. Suggestion:  to be better prepared for the questions asked at the end of the presentation by rehearsing the presentation more and learning even more about what judges might ask.  

Lovelace did fairly well at the qualifier. They got 16th place, but didn’t get picked for an alliance for the finals. They passed inspection after downloading the right version of the Driver’s Station and Robot Controller apps onto the phones. However, they were told they should use a grounding strap to prevent static electricity – we will be sure to have that at the next qualifier.  [It has been ordered!] If they don’t use a grounding strap, the robot might freeze in the middle of a match. Lovelace did a great job presenting, felt confident, and enjoyed meeting the judges. They memorized all of their lines, and talked enthusiastically. They learned they should have done more scouting during the event to learn more about what other teams are doing with their robots and teams in general. Throughout the competition, there were many troubles with the robot.  For example, the attachment was unable to work because it wasn’t stable. They also had a strafing problem, which was finally fixed at the December 12th meeting by turning the wheels into an “O” configuration. Originally , they had an “X” configuration. The robot works so much better now, so they’re excited about the next competition coming up on January 11th. 

Their robot’s name is “Ellie.”  Ask them about the name at the next competition.

Next competition: Southwestern PA Qualifier, Saturday, January 11, 2020, Eden Hall Upper Elementary School in Gibsonia, PA.