The 1997 season was the first year Tunkhannock Area high School participated in the FIRST robotics competitions. We were joined with six other schools and we called ourselves the LITTLES (#118). LITTLES stands for:
Lackawanna
County Vo-Tech
Intermediate Unit 19
Troy
Tunkhannock
Lackawanna Trail
Elk Lake
Susquehanna County Vo-Tech
Most of these teams eventually broke up into their own teams. The game that year was called the Toroid Terror, and our robot's name was the Charminator. We attended the Mid-Atlantic Regional in Trenton, NJ. Award won that year was the Sportsmanship Award. We ranked 11th out of 41.
Our team name changed from 118 the LITTLES to 143 the CREW. Most of the same teams of the LITTLES stayed. The game's name for the year was Ladder Logic. Our robot's name was the CLAW and it has stayed ever since. We hosted our first annual PARC (Pennsylvania Robotics Competition) which spurred other teams to have their own off season competitions. We attended the Mid-Atlantic Regional in Trenton, NJ and Championship Event in Orlando, FL. We also attended other off season regionals. We won two awards National Highest Score and Best Team Effort Award. We placed 11th at the Mid-Atlantic, and 16th out of 166 teams
This was the year that the Tigertrons (222) were born. Breaking off from team 143, (the CREW) we decided it was time to "prowl" in the world of science and technology expanding our horizons. However, the team had some difficulties staying true due to lack of student participation. Tunkhannock FIRST team members branched off because they felt more student participation was needed and it was previously impossible to allow five team members to participate on a seven high school team. Although the Tigertrons had little success in 1999, but they had confidence that they would grow strong in the years to come. We attended the Philadelphia PA Regional and the championship in Orlando, FL. We won the Most Creative Float in our local Memorial Day Parade. We also won the Defensive Play of the Day at an off season competition.
In the season of 2000, the TIGERTRONS had high hopes. Still team 222 and a robot called CLAW, the game had changed to the name of Co-Opertition. In our three competitions, we scored very well. With the Philadelphia Alliance Regional, the TIGERTRONS sixth place. We got twenty-fourth place out of over a hundred in the National Championship, finally becoming a finalist. The TIGERTRONS also participated in the PA Robot Challenge III, and the Mayhem on the Merrimack. Together, we won Best Offensive Round Award and the Above and Beyond Award.
2001In the 2001 season, the name of the game was Diabolical Dynamics. With the CLAW, the TIGERTRONS finished in the top four and in seventeenth place in the division in the Philadelphia Regional. In the National Championship, we became finalists with fourth place our of twenty-one contenders. Our other events included the PA Robot Challenge IV and Mayhem on the Merrimack.
The 2002 season started with the Tigertrons
presenting the FIRST experience at a variety of locations. One day was spent
at a Cub Scout Jamboree in NEPA, along with nightly presentations at our
local Rotary, Kiwanis and Woman's Clubs. We also enjoyed building our "float"
for the Memorial Day Parade. Also a fun week of robotics demonstrations
followed in early fall at the Wyoming County Fair.
As school started and the usual fundraising events
got underway, the Tigertrons took a weekend off to participate in the Mt.
Olive Mania Competition. The team had a great time and made it to the finals,
getting nudged out by the hometown squad!
We officially started the 2002 season sending Mr.
Harding and Mr. Kupstas to Manchester while the team at the High School
watched the NASA broadcast. After a week of "brainstorming," the
robot construction began. Preparations were also started for our Chairman's
Award and the animation competitions. Competition sites were chosen for
the season having us participating in Canada, Philadelphia and the Nationals
Competition.
The Philadelphia Regional was a premier event where the Tigertrons
advanced to the quarterfinals and got beat by the eventual winners.
Traveling to the Canadian Regional proved to be
an exciting time! We spent a day visiting Niagara Falls area attractions
prior to our event in Mississauga, Ontario.
A great running robot got us chosen by team 11
and we made it to the semi-finals. We were "edged" out again by
the eventual winning team.
At the Nationals the robot and team performed the
best of the season, but finished mid-stream in the rankings. Ironically,
with more wins that any of our other regional events, our total qualifying
points weren't high enough to pick or get picked.
In mid-May we ran the fifth annual PA Robot Challenge.
Twenty-four teams from five East Coast states. On that day we seeded first
and went to the finals! Unfortunately, our team was unable to "get
the gold". However, our competition was voted by many as the best competition
event of the year! We are very proud of our PA Robot Challenge and strive
to make each year better than before.
We started as team 118, evolved to team 143 and
have settled as team 222 for five years! We have helped start a half-dozen
teams and continue to mentor teams and mini-regional advisors.
Special thanks go to our sponsors, volunteers and
our community for supporting our US FIRST Robotics program. We have greater
than 35, 6 faculty, 20 volunteers, 3 engineers, and 2 CNC technicians that
work together as ONE GREAT TEAM!
2003(The one labeled New Robot)
The
2003 season was a standout season for the Tigertron team. After watching
the F.I.R.S.T. Kick-off webcast at the Dietrich, the local movie theatre,
we brainstormed and came up with the 2003 edition of the "CLAW".
Our first competition of the 2003 year, we headed
to Phoenix, Arizona and the Arizona Veteran's Coliseum for the Arizona Regional.
During the competition our team gave a very good showing on top of the ramp.
We seeded twenty-fifth out of forty teams, but were chosen by the third
seeded Team 696 to enter the finals. Our alliance battled brilliantly to
take us through the quarterfinals and into the semifinals. We were eliminated
in the semifinals by just 9 points. This was a good first effort for our
robot team and we looked forward to our next event.
Our next trip on March 27, 28, & 29, took the
Tigertrons to the Philadelphia Alliance Regional at Drexel University, one
of our team's favorite events. At this event, with forty teams in attendance,
we see and visit with many of teams we compete with throughout the year.
Our driving team was ready to accept all challenges here and battled their
way to the finals in an alliance with Teams 87, RV Robotics, and 272 from
Lansdale Catholic. Our alliance very proudly came away with a second place
trophy. The Tigertrons were just as proud to be awarded the Motorola Quality
Award. We also won the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Award a.k.a.
Entrepreneur Award at NJ.
Less than a week later the team headed for the
J & J Mid-Atlantic Regional at the Rutgers University Athletic Center
in Piscataway, N.J. After fixing our robot that was damaged during shipping
and delivered late, the Tigertrons battled their way to be seeded thirteenth
out of forty teams at the end of the qualification rounds. We were chosen
by Teams 103 and 87 to be alliance partners for the finals. Our alliance
fought their way to the final match and was eliminated in a very close match
to once again proudly take home the second place trophy.
Our three very successful regional showings earned
the Tigertrons an invitation to the U.S. FIRST National Championship Event.
With only a few days to get hotel reservations, flight plans, adequate funding,
and a travel team ready for this event, we experienced a new meaning to
crunch time. Somehow we got a team to the airport and headed for Houston,
Texas and the Astrodome. Though hard-pressed we were ready for another challenge
and earned our way to be seeded sixteenth in our division. Again, our strong
showing was rewarded as we were chosen by teams 618 and 433 to join their
alliance. In the quarterfinals our alliance partners pulled off a great
victory scoring 187 to 59. The second match was just as exciting. In the
final seconds of that match, the Tigertrons knocked over our opponents stack
and headed for the top of the ramp. The CLAW was able to push our opponent's
robot off the top of the ramp and take their place as the buzzer sounded
to end the match. Though we lost that match 41 to 150, we earned enough
points to move on to the semifinals.
In the first match of the semifinals Teams 222
and 433 lined up to meet the challenge. Early into the match Team 433's
robot was tipped over leaving 222 to run alone. The Tigertrons built a two
stack and then headed to the top of the ramp knocking both opponents robots
off the top. Our opponents did recover, however, and made it back to the
top of the ramp. We lost that match 40 to 140. In the second match Team
618 and 433 took their place on the field. They had a great start knocking
most of the bins into our scoring area. But shortly after doing so, 618
got hung up on the ramp somehow and 433 broke a drive chain. This allowed
our opponents to clear the boxes from our scoring area. This resulted in
one of the lowest scoring match of the day, 10 to 1. We won the match, but
were eliminated because of total points.
This was the best showing of the Tigertrons at
the Nationals in our team's history. We were all very proud of the effort
our entire team put forth. The Tigertrons were also very excited to receive
"The Daimler Chrysler Team Spirit Award". The only downfall was
that since we only had two weeks to get plane tickets we were on our way
out of pits when they presented this award. (At this competition the pits
were in a different building than the actual arena. It was about a 10 minute
walk to the arena.)
When the National Game statistics were released
it was revealed that no team in the nation ran as many matches as the Tigertrons
did this season. That also helped Team 222 to be ranked fourth in the nation
in overall qualifying points scored. The news that no team had as many matches
as we did spurred us on to compete in six mini regionals after the National
Championship.
We started the mini regional tour at our own event,
on May 10 with the PA Robotics Challenge, PARC. The winning alliance at
PARC was made up by Team 25, Raider Robotix; Team 225, William Penn; and
Team 341, Miss Daisy.
We also competed in other mini regionals along
the east coast and in Indiana. The Tigertron team did exceptionally well
at these regionals.
The
Game
The 2003 F.I.R.S.T.
Game: "Stack Attack"
The 2003 F.I.R.S.T. game is known as Stack Attack. Plastic storage containers are collected and stacked on one of the two sides of the playing field by robots. There are two robots on each alliance, and each alliance has their own scoring zone. The object of the game is to get as many bins as possible in to your scoring zone. If the robot can stack bins and does this, then the number of bins stacked is used as a multiplier. So, if there are 3 bins stacked and 10 bins in my scoring zone I would have 30 points. There is another way to score as well. There is a ramp in the middle of the rectangular field which leads up to a platform. Alliances can score 25 points if their robot is on top of the platform at the end of 2 minutes.
2004
The 2004 Claw was designed to master every aspect of the game.
In Autonomous mode, the Claw could
knock the 10 point ball down in 3.7 seconds or get set up to grab one
of the goals from the center of the arena.
This Driving System was the most sophisticated
drive train we had ever created! Our machine achieves four to two
wheel drive conversion using an air cylinder to deploy our sliders. This
year we used two CIM motors to power our machine. These motors each had
their own custom built three-speed shift on the fly transmission. This system
allows us to obtain the speed we want and the pushing power we need. The
transmission design is well proven and has worked flawlessly in our testing.
It will easily hold up to out 12.5" wheels used for climbing.
The 2004 Claw or shall we call it the "Master
of the Big Ball!" is well built for Ball Handling. It features
a simple gripper design that allows us to pick up the big ball anywhere
on the playing field. Our machine is also equipped with lexan teeth for
pushing around small balls.
Not only does the Claw like to grab balls, it loves
to Hang. It uses a single mast arm design with a hook to hang. A
seat motor deploys the hook and two drill motors and 3/16" aircraft
cable supply our winching action.
The Human Player had to shoot balls into
the goals quickly and accurately.
The
Game
The 2004 Game was themed on FIRST's middle
shape, the circle.
First there would be Autonomous mode, where the robot would be programmed
to perform some job, such as knock off a ball from a stand, set up to pull
a goal towards the starting area or something of that nature. After the
mode was done, the drivers would have control of the robot for 2 minutes
to test their skills. In the center of the arena is a platform with a bar,
which the robots can hang from. Then in front of the bar on both sides are
large stationary goal areas. Beside the bar on either side are the movable
goals with the big 2x multiplier ball on top. Above the drivers' heads,
are bins filled with balls 5 points each. The balls will automatically fall
after 30 seconds, or during the autonomous mode, the 10-point ball is knocked
down. Human players can either throw balls (3 provided from the start and
any others that roll into the ball area) at the large stationary goals or
the movable goals. Then if the robot is capable, it can place the big 2x
multiplier ball on top of either goal to multiply the point count of balls
in the goal by 2. Once nearing the end of the 2 minutes, the robots would
hurry to go hang on the bar. The robot can not be touching the floor in
anyway to be counted for 50 points.
Other teams had very interesting ideas. Most robots
could pick up balls, hang, and one other specialization. One team would
from the start go hang on the bar, then using wheels slide along the bar
keeping opposing teams off. Many robots herded or gathered balls from the
playing field for their human players to sink another few points. On the
playing field was an array of designs, ideas, and colors, something that
makes this all just another aspect of THE GAME.
2005This year's challenge was called Triple Play. Our objective was to get the little tetras on the big tetras as show by our robot and to create rows like a giant tic-tac-toe board made of tetras. Our robot was able to score as well as play some mean defense.
How we did at competition:
Regional Competition
At the Chesapeake Regional, held in Annapolis Maryland,
the Tigertrons did quite well. The team was ranked 26 out of 55 teams in
attendance, and was the third pick of the 6th team 203 and 1449 seed alliance.
The 6th seed alliance was defeated in the quarter-finals by the 3rd alliance.
The 3rd seed alliance, teams 007, 122, and 175 defeated the 5th
alliance, teams 165, 88 and 1524, in the semi-finals. The 3rd seed alliance
was defeated in the finals by the 1st alliance, teams 173, 1027, and 53.
The Tigertrons
received the Safety Award at the Chesapeake Regional.
The Philadelphia Regional was an exciting time for the Tigertron Team. In Philadelphia the team was ranked 10 out of 41 teams. Since there was picking in the top 8 to move us up to pick in the 7th seed spot. For our alliance partners we picked team 87, Diablo, and team 211, MAK, to be our alliance partners. Our alliance faced the 1st alliance led by team 365, MOE, 56, RoBBe, and 316, the LuNaTeCs. The 1st alliance defeated our alliance in two matches. Both matches were hard fought by the Tigertrons and their allies. After winning some tough matches MOE, RoBBE, and the LuNaTeCs went on to win the 2005 Philadelphia Regional. The Tigertrons were chosen to receive the Johnson & Johnson Sportsmanship Award at the Philadelphia Regional.
National
Competition
At the National
Competition the Tigertrons did extremely well. On Saturday before picking
started we had 5 wins, 2 losses, and were ranked 12th out of 85 teams.
Although we were ranked 12th we did not get picked in the elimination
rounds, but were a stand-by team. Congratulations on another excellent year
and good luck this summer!
Off-Season
Mini Regionals
The Tigertrons
hosted PARC VIII on May 7th 2005. We won 2 matches out of 7 and were picked
by the eighth seeded team 316. Their third pick was team 225. We lost
to the number 1 alliance; teams 103, 56, and 25. The number 1 alliance
team went on to win PARC.
We were 3rd
seed at York's off season competition, "Summer Frenzy" on July
13th. We made it into the finals with teams 225 and 116, but lost to 341,
84, and 1123. We added two new pieces of hardware to our collection; "Finalist"
and "High Score of the Day."
At Duel on the Delaware we were ranked last. The
team was picked by the 8th seeded team, 75, and a pre-rookie (1712)
team using one of team 25's old robots. Our alliance went on to win the
competition.
The Tigertrons were ranked 4th at Ramp Riot. We
picked teams 103, 99 -using 103's clone robot- and team 303. Our alliance
were finalists.
The New Brunswick Eruption ended the season of
the 2005 robot. Despite problems with our robot's arm, the team was ranked
6th. We were picked by team 38 and lost in the semi-finals.
2006The 2006 game was entitled "Aim High."
The
Claw IX
The Tigertrons present the 20O6 version of the
Claw. We have modified our two-speed "Ball-Lock" shift-on-the-fly
transmission, and it's better than ever. It's small, it's light, it's genius,
it's "Tiger Drive" and it puts the Roar to the Floor. There are
two real gum rubber traction wheels, and two gum rubber omni wheels. We
can human load our robot or pick up poof balls from the floor. The Claw
can shoot 3 pointers into the center goal that is approximately 10.5 ft.
above the floor. It can also dump one pointers in to the corner goals located
on the floor. Our robot can easily climb the 12 in. ramp as well.
National
Competition
We traveled down
to Atlanta, Georgia April 25-30, 2006 for FIRST Robotics Competition Championships.
We ranked 47th out of 84 teams in the Curie Division. Team 79 invited us
to join their alliance in the finals with team 469 (2nd Seeded Alliance).
In the quarter finals, our alliance attained the season high score of 171.
We unfortunately lost in the semi finals to the 3rd Seeded Alliance who
went on to winning the Curie Division.
Basket
Bingo (Fundraiser)
We held our annual
Longerburger Basket Bingo fundraiser on April 22, 2006. We had 20 Longerburger
baskets full of prizes. Many baskets were worth over $50; some others were
worth over $100. We also handed out over 20 door prizes. Curves donated
a 24 inch flat screen color television and The Harding's donated a picnic
basket filled with assorted picnic essentials. These two items were raffled
off separately. We thank all of our sponsors that donated for this event.
We also would like to thank everyone that helped set up and run the event.
And we certainly can not forget about our local sponsors that showed up
and played bingo with us. The money we earned help defray the cost of some
trips. THANK YOU!
Virginia Commonwealth University Regional (VCU)
We ranked 30th out
of 64 teams. The 5th alliance headed by team 1137 Mathews High School selected
the Tigertrons as their first team. Then they selected team 122 NASA Knights
to become part of the alliance as well. Unfortunately we lost in the quarterfinals
to the 4th alliance of teams 1522, 435, 384. Even though we didn't win any
awards at VCU, after looking at all that we have accomplished, there isn't
one way that we can say we lost.
We also went rock climbing down in Virginia and many members would like to go to a local gym in Wilkes-Barre at a later date.
Off
Season Mini-Regionals
We attended
numerous mini-regionals during the off season as well held our own PARC.
PARC was a huge success and we would like to thank all that came out to
the PARC to compete. The Tigertrons did extremely well and ended up winning
with teams 25 and 423. We drove out to New Brunswick, NJ for the New Brunswick
Eruption and out to Ambler, PA for the Ramp Riot. At Ramp Riot
the Tigertrons teamed up with 357 and 173 as the #6 alliance and won.
2007THE CLAW
IX
This
year's claw has everything to make an excellent addition to any alliance.
We have a ramp that can hold two robots 12 inches off the floor. We can
also pick up ringers off the floor and place them on any lower leg of the
spider. Our transmission and drive system is amazing and can push over 800
pounds. (Thank you to our mentors for this information.) Our transmission
has 2 speeds which also helps with our strong defense. Keep an eye out for
our robot with the bright orange bumpers looking for some havoc on the playing
field!
Competition:
The
Tigertrons traveled to the Pittsburgh Regional and came home with a Finalist
trophy. Our Alliance partners were 1038 East Robotics and 48 Delphi E.L.I.T.E.
The Tigertrons once again joined the teams at the Philadelphia Regional. We ranked 22 out of 44 teams due to "random" pairing. However we were third pick in the drafting for teams by team 1712 Dawgma. Then 484 the Predators joined us to complete our 3rd alliance. We lost in the quarter finals to the 7th alliance composed of 84 Chuck, 341 Miss Dasiy, and 181 BOP, who eventually went on to win the competition.
Yet to come, for we are still making history!
