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On Friday morning at around 4:15AM I was getting into my van to drive to Oshawa, Ontario.

My son's robotics team had arrive late Wednesday, but the actual competition started Friday morning, so I wanted to get there as close to the start as possible.

Here's the team's (Team 296) first round:

From the start to the 15 second mark the robots are autonomous, and by crossing the defenses and being clearly separated from the defenses, the robots earn 10 points for their alliance. Once the autonomous mode is done, the robots become remote controlled and they gain points by:
1. Breaching a defense for the first time 5pts
2. Breaching a defense for the second time 5pts
3. Putting a boulder into the lower hole 2pts
4. Launching a boulder into the upper hole 5pts
5. Being on the apron at match end 5pts
6. Raising the robot up by grappling onto the tower bar and being above the lower door 15pts.

In the video above, G-Bot's team's robot scored the highest score for the event: 44 points made up of 10 points autonomous, three defenses breached, two balls scored into the lower hole and then ending on the apron.

The next video their team scored fewer points, but it was thrilling to see them score so many low hole balls.


The team who ranked highest through qualifications and whose robot's alliance won this event is shown in this one:


I stayed at an AirBNB apartment associated with a hotel, so I got to eat breakfast at the hotel on the Saturday morning. I stayed for the first half to see the remainder of the qualification rounds, then G-Bot's team got picked fifth in the selection round to see what teams would make it into the finals tournament. The alliance that had G-Bot's team lost both quarter final matches and so they were eliminated from the tournament.

I watched the first two semi-finals and then left.

I was fairly impressed with the fuel efficiency of my Dodge Grand Caravan which usually hums along at 12L/100KM (the Canadian way of expressing mileage). But for the long haul back the car told me this:

9.1L/100KM is pretty good for a V6 3.8L engine.

I got home around 21h30 and then had to pick up my son as the team arrived at around midnight.