RoMeLa RoboCup 2012: Friday Evening wrapup

DARwIn played two games last evening. One for real, the second for funsies. The first game was against Team Ro-Pe. It is the first matchup in the second round robins. There are three teams in our group. If we advance, we will be in the quarter finals. Every time we advance we are up against more challenging teams. This is a good thing, as the stiffer competition highlights bugs in the code which would otherwise go unfound. Last night’s bug was a frustrating one, and kept causing the robots to bump into each other. The UPenn guys are working hard to find and fix that one. The second game was another demonstration game against the Darstadt Dribblers. Unfortunately the DARwIn code was still buggy, however, DARwIn walks so well and is so robust, he held on for only a three point loss.

DARwIn studies his code intently before every game.

As promised...SJ on the left rocking his Mac

As well as he plays soccer, DARwIn does not play hide and seek well.

DARwIn attempted all three technical challenges. He was most successful in the throw in competition. In only two tries, he was able to make it to the ball accurately enough to use his new shiny gripper to pick it up. JK and Viktor’s last minute design and fabrication job paid off. His throw in distance was not as far as the leaders, but everyone was pleased in how well it worked. While DARwIn attempted both the obstacle avoidance and the passing challenge, he only received a few points for both.

DARwIn sports a fancy gripper

In other news, Dr. Hong arrived today in a spectacular fashion as always. He was quite excited to see us all, and hear first hand how we've been doing. One thing Dr. Hong always provides for us is good food, and he delivered once again. On last nights menu was grilled swordfish kabobs, sea bass, jumbo shrimp, and Turkish coffee. Mike was happy.