We have reached the top! From the morning of May 16th to midday May 17th, we fought our way past ten other bots, some of the strongest in the nation, and reached first place in the bracket! Angular Aggression took home first place, while REV3 took home third. We also earned 2nd place for engineering on Angular Aggression. But most of all, we earned the Grand Champion award for the combination of our performance in combat, in the interview, and in documentation. All our students, enabled by our amazing parent volunteers and advisor, worked vigorously to test, repair, replace, or do whatever else was necessary to maximize our chances of victory. Several pairs of hands worked on bots simultaneously in the pits, drivers skillfully controlled Angular Aggression and REV 3, and our photographer collected thousands of photos across all the fights. We were also excited to welcome back former student Ari Mastor, now a mechanical engineering student at the Colorado School of Mines, to work on our team with the bot he previously designed.
Though we were highly successful, we didn’t win every fight. In a testament to the aluminum, UHMW, titanium, and carbon fiber parts of our bots, our failures were never rooted in structural parts breaking. Rather, electronic failures were the primary cause. Here are some of the reasons we lost a few rounds. For Angular Aggression, our first loss was against SubZero. In this case, we were immobilized when an electronic speed controller disarmed. Similarly, we lost against Grayson in the elimination rounds as hard hits caused the weapon ESC to become disconnected from the receiver. For REV3, the story was much the same. Twice, weapon ESCs may have been crushed, and overheating and drive issues were also potential factors in some losses. However, against REV3 Angular Aggression did win despite losing its weapon ESC in a brilliant display of smoke, as REV3 lost drive.
For those interested, our journey was a long one. It began around 2AM on Friday, as those traveling to DENVER on UA 1479 packed into a car to travel to the airport. We quickly made it through security and boarded, and the Airbus A321 Neo crossed the threshold at 5:07:30 and lifted off. After a pleasant and uncomplicated flight, we later traveled down to Colorado Springs, checked into our hotels, and headed out for Harbor Freight to pick up some extra necessities for the competition. We headed to the competition on Friday, unpacked, and completed our inspections. After getting ready and observing the other teams on Friday, we returned at 7:30AM on Saturday and made final preparations. We remained there until about 5PM, and left around 6:45AM on Sunday to go back. Eventually, the team split paths a bit after packing up, enjoying a few hours elsewhere before returning our rental cars and entering DIA. UA 2123 was delayed a little, but at about 9:20PM we left for San Francisco. After waiting to taxi to the gate for about 30 or 40 minutes, we deplaned, picked up our bags, and headed home. Ultimately, most of us made it home between 1AM and 2AM on Monday.
Again, let us remember the following: without the immense contributions from Designit Prototype, Husky Machining, all our other sponsors, and those who have supported us at fundraising events, we wouldn’t have been able to create such a competitive bot or attend NRL Nationals.
[Article may later be updated with details regarding each fight]