At about ten matches into the game, our team is called up. Our robot is wheeled to the field and set up. We get our controllers and step behind the driver stations. There's a wide difference between our robot model and the others on the field. A commotion breaks out in the audience as everyone realizes what our robot is capable of.
The match begins with the sound of a bell. During the autonomous period, our machine moves forward, picks up two objects, and manages to place them in their corresponding areas. After the fifteen seconds are up, we start controlling the robot during teleop. Everyone has been waiting to see our robot in action during this part of the competition. As soon as the period starts, the robot flies upward over the others. It suddenly swoops down to pick up a valuable item on the other side of the field and drops it into a bin. Our alliance's score is ahead of the other alliance by two hundred. We continue doing this until the end of the match, then we take the robot back to the pit.
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We continue this for every match until the end of the competition. By the end of the day, our team came in first place. The new robot design had given us almost four ranking points, which is an accomplishment for us. I never told my team that I snuck in and redesigned the robot, but we used the design for future competitions.
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Gracious Professionalism
General FictionMargaret Nelson likes machines. It's not easy being the backbone of her robotics team, especially with a summer competition coming up. But if nobody on her team ever listens to her, how many things will go wrong?
