NYAN won 7/9 matches and made the finals! We were #5 going into the semi-finals,
and then lost the semi-finals in 2nd match. We had the highest Ranking Points (out of all 128 teams), the 2nd highest
rank in Autonomous, and the highest score in our division.
There were 5400 FTC teams this season, and we ranked 9th at the World Championship (including both Detroit and Houston).
There were 40,000+ in attendance in at the Detroit Championship. It was quite the spectacle.
NYAN finished the season in the top 0.2% of the 5400 teams, worldwide.
NYAN put up its highest scores this season at this tournament: 673 (the highest in its Division,and 2nd highest
at the tournament going into finals), and in the top 10. Did I mention... we made the finals at the World Championship!
Wow!
Unexpectedly: 1.) We won the Control Award, even amongst this tough group (out of 128 top teams in the world!).
Kudos to Allen and all those who helped tune, test, and strategize on autonomous.
2.) We had judges in our booth for several days..It was crazy, sometimes 3 judges for almost half hour.
The team members were on full alert conveying everything they could!
3.)Brian was invited to meet Dean Kamen in his VIP suite. DDC is currently bidding work for
Deka Research, Dean Kamen's company that created and owns FIRST.We spoke for 1/2 hour,
all the while we were talking, he was on his iBot vertical wheelchair balancing like on a Segway.
4.) Dean Kamens engineering manager was so impressed with NYAN's VR (virtual reality) and AR (augmented reality)
apps that Tommy got an invite to meet Dean Kamen too, where Tommy was offered an internship at Dean Kamen's company.
A guy from Tesla apparently also expressed great interest in this and mentioned he should intern there.
5.)Matt did not injure himself or wipeout, despite his best efforts to teetering on doing so,
as he zoomed around at 20mph with his front wheel wobbling about! (although truth be
told, he did disable an elevator with his scooter getting jammed)
6.)Finals were a letdown, because with the new venue (they moved finals to the Ford Field),
they probably didn't static control the mat, and both matches had dead robots (presumably
due to static buildup), and so it wasn't even a fight. Disappointing.
Drive Team
Special thanks to Allen, Brendan, and Ricky,with nerves of steel, who had an extremely mentally
and physically challenging several days. There were 9 matches before finals! They had their
hands full since not everything went as planned and the competition was tough.
Parents Thanks to the parents attending. It was so nice of you to support the team and support your sons.
And so many of you helped so significantly, which greatly helped us concentrate on the competition.
Special thanks to Jeff Coda for loaning the booth since ours is out on the road, and for coming and supporting
us at the event. That was a nice surprise. His son, previous-captain Kevin was watching "everything"
as well remotely and offering advice, support, and tips. Nice..
Carmel Thanks to Carmel for funding this, and supporting the team.
President (Dr. Bonham), principal (Ms. Crook), and vice principal (Ms. Budris) texted cheer for us throughout the event.
Matches
Match 1: 367 (to 603)
Match 2: 534 (to 383)... wow
Match 3: 452(to 206)
Match 4: 470 (to 548)
Match 5: 432 (to 193)
Match 6: : 578 (to 482)... wow
Match 7: : 673 (to 403)... wow
Match 8: 382 (to 376)
Match 9: : 602 (to 501)... wow
Wow!
NYAN finished #5 and so made the finals
Finals
Made it into the finals, but lost in semi-finals and so was done after that.
Match SF1:483 (to 593)... wow
Match SF2:588 (to 658)... wow