Day TWO of the Great Northern Regional robotics competition is underway at the spacious Alerus Center in Grand Forks.
MATCH No. 1:
B-B-E Resistance Robotics just competed in their first match of seven matches to be held today. Things did not go well due to a major electrical connection issue. The robot performed flawlessly in the final practice session yesterday. Today it failed at both the initial autonomous stage and then the grid (stacking) stage. The robot successfully stacked one charging cube, but on its run out to the center of the playing floor, a connection failed, and it stopped dead cold.
Lead driver Dominic Finken and his able crew are assessing what went wrong and trying to fix it before the next match, which is at 11:01. Once it's fixed, they'll get the robot out on the practice field and give it a whirl.
More to come.
**Update at noon: matches 2 and 3 did not go well either. Radio transmitter issues have plagued BBE's robot all morning. Their official record is 0-3 with 5 more matches to go today. This is adversity, and they are working through it.
The fourth match starts at 1:35 p.m.!! They may be a bit ahead of schedule.
Match No. 4 update:
This match had a rough start, a good recovery and then another huge fail at the very end. First, the robot's autonumous period was a fail. Dominic then had no trouble driving it during the grid (stacking) period and made a good run at that. When it came time to climb onto the charging station for the final hang, the robot stalled cold. Once again it had a communication issue with the radio transmitter. Huge fail! Very disappointing for Dominic and his fellow crew.
Match No. 5:
B-B-E's fifth match of the day took place at 2:45 p.m., and the robot worked for the entire period. Their alliance lost, however, but they will keep plugging away. The sixth match is set for 3:55 p.m. The final match of today is set for 5:05 p.m.
**At 14:30 the newspaper's entourage left Grand Forks. Now we shift gears to girls' basketball at St. John's University. Grand Forks was great while it lasted. Because of the oncoming snow storm in this area, we will not be at robotics tomorrow for the final day.
