On the 22nd of August, Team 357 Royal Assault descended upon the city of Baltimore to compete in the Battle O’ Baltimore offseason competition for the 2009 game, Lunacy. With a newly refined autonomous and a highly motivated group of kids, we were ready to compete against some of the Baltimore area’s finest teams. Once there, the completely student led team quickly established the pits and got the robot ready to start qualification rounds. During these, the robot ran without a hitch, implementing the new autonomous routines and showing off the power of their shooter design. When lunchtime came, Team 357 was ranked in the 1st seed. With the opportunity to select our first alliance partner, Team 357 chose Team 2534, the Lakers from Baltimore, and following the lottery for the third alliance selection, Team 357 was partnered with Team 449, the Blair Robot Project from Allegeny, MD. The newly formed alliance fought a tough battle through quarterfinals and into the semifinals, where they were at last defeated by the alliance that went on to win the competition. Even with the loss, we were still happy with our performance and are glad to have had the opportunity to compete. We are going to take our performance in Baltimore and use it to improve for Duel on the Delaware in just a few short months.
Article by Tim McGovern
Posted on 2009-08-26
