2016: FIRST Stronghold
The Challenge
This game hearkens back to ye ole days of baking-hot armor and, more importantly, castle sieging! Robots had to bypass defenses and destroy the enemy tower with speed and versatility. The wide array of defenses provided a unique challenge to the teams, inspiring quite a few awesome solutions!
Our Solution
Our smallest robot to date, Underscore, stood 14 inches tall, less than 1/5 as tall as the preceding year's robot! Underscore could surmount all 4 of the driving defenses, 2 of the manipulated defenses, shoot boulders into the high goal as well as hang from the tower and the end of the match. Underscore used a drive train with raised wheels at the front to drive over defenses, and was equipped with a curved kevlar and carbon-fiber composite material peice, dubbed the "Flooptywop", to manipulate two defenses. Underscore utilized a 2-axle 4-wheel system mounted at an angle to shoot boulders, and a motorized tape-measure and bungee-cord system to hang from the tower.
Our Awards
Colorado Regional - Regional Engineering Inspiration Award
Colorado Regional - FIRST Deans List Finalist Award