NYAN Robotics at Nationals

3/29/2017-4/1/2014

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Leading up to Nationals: Tech Ed Magazine, Chicago Tribune , and a mention from Newton Busters article in the Chicago Tribune
Carmel pep rally beforehand and a Carmel Spotlight after.

The team had a great time.Despite losing internet at the beginning of the presentation and being cut short
(again!... same thing happened last year), the presentation went very well.

We started great (3 wins in a row, and defeating the top team a few other top teams), but then
ran into a few technical issues and had a few losses. Although we came back and won a couple more,
and then some tech issues had us losing the last 2, which we deemed somewhat critical. So we finished in 12th.

In the last match we blew 2 motors (but thought it was only 1). These taking about 30 minutes to change, each).
Replace 1, everything great... not... oops... other one bad too.
Even with that, while finals selections were occuring (i.e. when the top 4 teams
are deciding who take to finals with them), our robot was completely dismantled (yikes), we
continued to sell ourselves and try to get picked.

Many wanted to pick us since we did so well. However, when they saw our robot
in parts, they got nervous. So Kevin and Zach took the robot outside the pits behind
a wall, and made a Herculean effort to get it ready, and coincidentally, while that
was going on, the 3rd place team picked us as their first choice, to which
Jonathan nervously accepted (yikes!).

In the end, we performed well, and did what we were supposed to do... the robot and team performed well
in the semi-finals, but we narrowly lost,

Ultimately, we won 2nd place for the coveted Rockwell Innovate award
"celebrates a team that not only thinks outside the box, but also has the ingenuity and
inventiveness to make their designs come to life. This judged award is given to the
team that has the most innovative and creative robot design solution to any or all specific field
elements or components in the FIRST Tech Challenge game"

Which landed us with going to the World Championship!