Livonia Warriors & Tyros Robotics

In the weeks 9 and 10 both teams worked on the problems they encountered in the first event. Tyros mechanical, electrical, and programming squads focused on the amp. They reworked the angle and therefore the motor speeds and connections for the shooter in addition to the ability to score in the amp. More specifically Tyros mechanical also improved their intake, creating rollers, then to hopefully secure the Imagery win, they added some LED’s to have water for their submarine to sail through.

The Warriors, after numerous technical issues, looked to improve their reliability and driver comfort. Programming found a broken gyroscope and refined their code to make the driver controls less drifty and mechanical looked to improve its security. Mechanical also changed the shooter, climber, and intake designs partially for functionality to add the amp scoring mechanism but also to make it easier to repair. All made with the philosophy that it should be able to be fixed in eight minutes, the shortest amount of time between matches.

Warriors imagery decided the name Divine Jukebox just didn’t fit the beat, so after a whirlwind weekend decision it became Crystal Jukebox as another way to stand out among other robots. With the win of Engineering Inspiration Award at the Milford Event the Warriors Impact team had another presentation to prepare for, a special presentation at the State Championship, and whether or not the rest of their teammates would be joining them or their sister team relied upon the next event’s results.

Heading into competition in their own backyard both the Livonia Warriors and Tyros team came into the competition looking to qualify for the State Championship. The Warriors, after a rocky first competition filled with technical problems and a flash in the pan playoff run as the 6th Alliance Captain falling 0-2 in the playoff bracket. While the Tyros hoped lady luck rolled in their favor after scoring an average 6 notes and climbing in one third of the matches their schedule played against them more often than not. Despite being picked for playoffs it was a similarly short run as second pick of the 8th seeded alliance. Tyros started off strong scoring 7 notes, climbing, and earning a decent early high score in their first qualification match netting them all 4 ranking points with an 80-61 win besting the previous high score for the event thus far being equivalent to their opponents score. The next match for the Tyros didn’t fare as well, with a miss in autonomous and three more the team moved to feed their alliance partners, but despite their best efforts and climbing the match was lost. Between these two the Warriors landed on in autonomous missing their second and having identical results on the speaker during the driver controlled period but after adjustments the Warriors scored twice into the amp using their new mechanism on the field for the first time and climbed at the end of the match but it still resulted in a loss. In qualification match 14 the Warriors and Tyros were on the same alliance. The Tyros did miss their shot in autonomous but landed four solid ones into the speaker during driver controlled period. While the Warriors secured their autonomous note into the speaker and landed three then missed three and after two missed attempts at scoring in the amp secured their fourth shot into the speaker. The Tyros climbed and the Warriors attempted but ultimately were unable to, both teams losing the match 91-37.

The schedule didn’t seem to favor the Warriors as they sat in 39th place out of 40 teams and going into qualification match number 18 it would seem as if the Warriors best efforts didn’t matter. Despite making 2 out of 3 of their autonomous shots on the speaker and scoring an additional 7 in the speaker they missed all five attempts at the amp though one was due to being hit. Then despite climbing they lost with 0 ranking points 90-42. Qualification match 25 showed similar results. Despite a strong early shot in autonomous and 3 early good shots into the speaker, a missed shot while amplified became less of a problem when due to a clog between the blue alliance stage and red source the Warriors knocked over their alliance partners. Two more notes in the speaker would not help and neither would a failed climb resulting in a 0 RP match 59-38 and the Warriors ending up in 40th place. Another loss in qualification match 31 had the Warriors scoring 6 notes in the speaker and one in the amp and even though one note was amplified it wasn’t enough to win Warriors the match or a ranking point keeping them in 40th. In contrast, the Tyros bounced back from their loss with the Warriors to win qualification match 23 scoring 6 un-amplified notes and one amplified one and climbing, winning the match earning 3 ranking points 69-52 and landing the Tyros in 13th place. Even in their next match losing 82-37 they climbed and scored 7 notes resulting in earning 1 ranking point and only falling to 20th. But Tyros followed that up win a win scoring 7 notes including one in autonomous and one amplified note rebounded in time and a climb to win with 3 ranking points moving them back up to 12th. Warriors heading into the tail end of day 1 faced another loss after scoring only one note in autonomous and missing 3 shots on the speaker in the driver controlled period. Two misses on the amp and a note that got caught in the mechanism forcing the Warriors to drive defensively the rest of the match and despite climbing stayed in the 40th position with another 0 ranking point match.

Qualification match 44 saw the red alliance of 6861 The Tyros Team, 2048 The Pink Panthers, and the new, but bright, 9572 CC Shambytes up against the blue alliance of; 2832 The Livonia Warriors, 240 Tempest, and the always brilliantly inventive 6914 Retro5ive. Both Livonia teams scored a note into the speaker during autonomous but over on the red alliance CC Shambytes also scored successfully giving red a 5 point lead heading into the driver controlled period. But a struggle around the red amp between Tyros and CC Shambytes turned into a fatal flaw for the alliance as between an early amplification for the blue alliance and an ability to choke out the red source the Blue alliance and the Warriors with 7 notes scored and a climb managed to earn a 3 ranking point win 53-31 win. The Tyros only fell to 16th and only raised the Warriors to 37th. The Tyros would follow that up win a 7 note speaker and climb win 49 - 21 only netting them 2 ranking points but keeping them steadily in the top 20 at 16th place at the end of day one.

The Warriors would pivot off the win in match 44 to an astounding win in match 53. Despite a miss during autonomous the Warriors would score 8 notes and manage to squeeze in a climb despite minimal room to maneuver because a disconnected robot was close to the blue stage. The match high score 101-44 and 4 ranking points, was a win and moved them in 36th at the end of day one. They started day 2 off strong, scoring 7 notes and climbing on the same chain as another robot to secure a 62-56 and 3 ranking point win despite being one robot down most of the match. Then cascade it into another 4 ranking point win in qualification match 62 climbing solo while their alliance partners harmonized on one chain but shoring up the red alliance amp scoring 4 notes there and 2 notes into the speaker getting the Warriors up to 21st place. But Warriors were not the only ones finding success with the amp as the Tyros fed theirs in qualification match 60 to win the match 39-28 boosting them into the top 15 teams at 14th. The Tyros also didn’t shy away from the speaker either despite only scoring 4 notes into the speaker in qualification match 65 they timed it right to have half of their notes amplified winning 74-38 with 3 ranking points. Following that up with an impressive 10 notes in qualification match 72, but despite losing that match they only fell to 17th. But the Tyros would claw back their top 15 status finishing their last match scoring 8 notes and landing a spotlit climb to claim 4 ranking points and by the time of the final match the 13th rank spot. The Warriors would spend their last two qualification matches earning back to back 3 ranking point wins strategically timing shots on the speaker in their first to score a rebound of a missed note by an alliance partner in qual 73 and filling the amp and timing their shots for another 2 amplified shots in the final qualification match ending up in 18th.

Finally alliance selection, after a series of move ups The Tyros Team ended up as 8th Alliance Captains and alongside their first pick 7553 OSTC Sweet Bots, the Warriors joined the Tyros as the 8th seeded alliance.

The stakes for playoffs for both teams were high. In order to get both teams to the State Championship as the 8th and lowest seeded alliance they would at minimum make it to the lower bracket semi-finals securing 4th place alliance and netting a good chunk of points towards State Championship and Tyros would have to win an award. The Warriors now tied to the Tyros for the rest of this competition would only theoretically get to that lower bracket final and that alone would net them enough points to proceed to the State Championship as a full team with the extra points of being a higher seeded captain the event before and the Engineering Inspiration award getting them in a better position. So in double elimination even surviving an almost inevitable trouncing from the 1st seeded alliance it would be a brutal gauntlet surviving the winner of 4 versus 5 and most likely the 3rd seeded alliance.

So with the game plan in hand the matches started. In most cases the first playoff match was a foregone conclusion and not even worth watching, but coming out of autonomous both alliances were even on points. But set up better with two amplifications coming out of the #1 seeded red alliance simply outrunning alliance #8 scoring 14 notes in the speaker and 5 in the amp compared to 13 in the speaker and 2 in the amp for the blue alliance. So despite the immaculate triple climb and harmony with the Tyros and Warriors it was lost at 93-74 loss and down into the lower bracket. But things looked up watching the following match to determine who would stay in the upper bracket and who would fall to face the Warriors and Tyros in the lower bracket. Despite Alliance #5 losing 73-62 the score minus penalties told a different story with 7 points from alliance 5 coming due to penalties meaning they only scored 55 points and underscoring that point was only 10 notes being scored in the speaker during the driver controlled period and only one robot being able to climb.

So down in the lower bracket it was do or die; this was only one match of two matches the teams would need to win to almost guarantee themselves a spot at the State Championship. But as if the slight delay between matches wasn’t enough almost last minute Alliance #5 threw a wild card into the mix having to call on a back up robot for the match delaying the start of the match further. Had their previous lackluster performance been a fluke and the first backup bot be a powerhouse all on their own as or more worthy to compete; or had damage in the first match made a robot unable to function for the next match? All but the newly called up team 66 Grizzly Robotics had their robots on the field and teams in the stands. But nonetheless powerhorse 548 Robotstangs were out for the match and pending a win they would stay out of the competition. Coming out of autonomous the #5 ranked Blue Alliance led by two points and it seemed the former prediction of a malfunctioning robot in the previous match held true as the speaker was well fed by the Blue Alliance, even Grizzly’s signature of scoring in the trap on stage was neglected to feed the speaker. But in the end aggressive play to feed the ever demanding speaker came back to bite Alliance #5 as with some good play on the amp by the Warriors, and well timed shots on the speaker the #8 alliance drowned out the noise of the #5 Alliance 75-69. But it wasn’t a stable record yet, even Warriors operator Hayden Y. commented “Even I don’t know how I did that” after the win.

But the inevitable match against a giant once again came due in the form of Alliance #3 of #3604 Goon Squad, #3614 The Flying Toasters, and #280 TnT who only fell to Alliance #2 89-88 seemed to far exceed the previously seen scoring capabilities of the alliance. But defeating them just once, on penalties, whatever! Would almost guarantee a spot at the State Championship for both the Warriors and Tyros. Sure if you had your good glasses on the Killer Bees were unmistakable on the field with their yellow hexagons, but those were not anything radically different to the almost 20 years of yellow hexagons the team was known for. Sonar, Tyros little yellow submarine was unmistakable from almost any angle on the field, something physically had to be in the way for you not to see it streaking across the field and would almost certainly win Imagery gaining the points needed. Only one match stood between the teams and States. But with pressure like that things break. OSTC’s autonomous didn’t move them far enough out to be counted as moving despite turning the robot to get the corner over the line losing two points early on. Then shortly after the start of the driver controlled period the Warriors missed a shot on the amp and while retracting the mechanism got the note caught on top of the robot unable to dislodge the note and were forced onto defense. Two notes from Sweetbots into the amp simply sat on the edge refusing to go in without more intervention and so the little submarine swam alone firing ultimately useless notes into the speaker and were further hindered on their climb as Warriors didn’t manage to clear off the ground and with bumpers touching bumpers the Tyros were counted as parked. So alliance #8 and the Tyros hopes at State Championship sunk as the final score of 92-43 appeared on the scoreboard. Tyros would go on to make a splash as the winners of the imagery award but all chance at states laid as sunk as a vinyl record.

There was nothing more for Tyros to do the math was already in and said they were out of contention. But the Warriors, they sat at an edge. They weren’t mathematically locked out or in for State Championship as a team. A team would go for the Engineering Inspiration award with no robot in tow. An award could tip them over the edge but was still up in the air but the Impact Award was still possible. The Warriors stood in good contention for the award but nothing but Impact would be a guarantee that the whole team would go to the State Championship. But falling just short the Warriors took home the Sustainability Award, a good indicator for future success for their presentation on Engineering Inspiration at State Championship. But after the week six competition results came in neither team qualified to compete at the State Championship and only if the Warriors win the Engineering Inspiration Award at State Championship a base 1 in 26 shot then the Warriors will compete at the World Championship in Houston, Texas.

Email: icarlini@livoniawarriors.org
Website: www.livoniawarriors.com
Location: 8985 Newburgh Road, Livonia, MI 48150
Phone: 734-845-7961

The Livonia Warriors Communication Team would like to thank the Tyros Captain Catherine Gruenewald for writing all the articles. Way to go Captain Gruenewald!! And special thanks to Daniel Ernst for providing wonderful photos!!