The
Bosch-sponsored FIRST Robotics Team 342 was very successful
at the 2001 FIRST Robotics National Competition. Team
342 arrived early on Thursday to set up the pit area and
do a little preventative maintenance to the robot. One
improvement was made to the capture system to enhance
our speed in capturing the goals. The team practiced twice
on Thursday with the last practice at 7:30 p.m.. This
late practice made for a long day. To add an additional
challenge for the day, we had torrential rain for most
of the afternoon. While the roof didn't leak, the floors
did. However, our well-organized pit area kept our robot,
tools, equipment, students, and mentors high and dry.
On
Friday the team was ready to the begin the qualifying
matches. Our first match was to be the seventh match in
a series of 140 matches. Team 342 was the first to balance
two goals on the bridge and posted a high score of 336
points in the Curie Division. We were in the number one
position for a while. Team 342 played in seven more matches
throughout the day and on Saturday posted a high score
in each match which maintained our seeding position in
the top 10 throughout the qualifying matches. Team 342
finished in the
4th
seededposition in theCurie Division with a difference
of only 0.8 of a point behind the 3rd seeded team! When
the seeding average points are compared across the four
divisions, this placed Team 342 in 8th position out of
338 teams and within the top 2% of the total teams attending
the National Competition. Also, Team 342 was recognized
with an award for the Most Organized Pit Area by Team
175. The weather on Saturday morning was clear, and everyone
attending the competition had the opportunity to see the
Mars Probe launch from Cape Canaveral.
On
Saturday afternoon, the top 4 seeded teams selected team
partners for their alliance. Our alliance was matched
against the number 1 seeded team's alliance first. Normally
it takes three rounds to determine a winner. Our alliance
was able to take the number of matches to six before we
were eliminated. Brief disappointment was replaced with
relief as the team began to relax and enjoy the whole
experience of FIRST.
