New Game, New Challenges, New Trophy

On Saturday, January 15, 2011, the Green Egg Robotics team participated in its first tournament of the 2010 – 2011 Vex Robotics season. This was the first tournament in which Leland was not able to attend. The team of James, Kieran and mentors, Josef and Bill traveled to compete in the Leominster Invitational tournament hosted by friends at Leominster Youth Robotics.  21 teams representing four states were in attendance.

G.E.R. went undefeated on the day with a record of 11 wins, no losses, and one tie. It was not a day of smooth sailing for the team despite the impressive record. Fred IV, this year's newest team member, opened the day in the very first match of the tournament with mechanical problems. Fortunately for the team, the robot was able to score on two goals before the team abandoned further attempts to score, and played defense for the remainder of the match.  After a minor fix, Fred IV was back and fully operational for the rest of the day.

Green Egg Robotics managed to finish the qualifying round undefeated as the number two seed, second to an efficient scoring robot from Scituate high school. During the alliance picking, the Scituate team chose to pick a robot from their own high school as their first pick. G.E.R picked old friend and former alliance partner from last year's Massachusetts State Championship alliance, Plan B. To round out the alliance, Green Egg Robotics chose a Mansfield Middle School (CT) robot which had a very strong showing in the preliminary rounds.

This alliance proved to be too strong for opposing alliances during the elimination rounds. The Green Egg alliance of three managed to go 6-0-1 in the elimination rounds. Fred IV's loose connection from the battery to the brain nearly resulted in the loss during the semifinals. However, thanks to strong play by the Mansfield team, it ended in a tie, despite the lone robot needing to fight off two opposing robots.

This tournament win qualifies the team for the Vex World Championship for the third time in as many years. This year's world championship will be held in a new venue at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. Plan B placed first in the robot skills competition while Millbury high school robotics team took home the Excellence Award.

New Clean Sweep Highlight Video Hits The Internet

The newest Green Egg Robotics highlight video made its debut on Youtube on 8/23/10.  The video, created by James, is a collage of clips from the 2010 VRC World Championship and the New England Championship. 

To view the 2010 highlight video click on this link.

Green Egg In The News (5/09/10)

Can't get enough of the Green Egg Robotics?  Check out the latest story about the team at Boston's online magazine, Blast Magazine.   

If that doesn't fill your need for Green, then tune in to WGBH radio (89.7) on May 10th, 2010 from 1:40-2:00PM when the team will be interviewed by Callie Crossley on the Callie Crossley Show.

Egg-citing News

Green Egg Robotics, The 2010 VRC World Robot Skills Champion and World Finalist

On April 24th 2010 at the Vex Robotics World Championship, Green Egg Robotics, a little 4 student team from Central Massachusetts competed against 396 of the world's best robotics teams from 14 different countries.  They won the Robot Skills Challenge and are now the 2010 VRC World Robot Skills Champions.  In the VRC World Championship Tournament, Green Egg Robotics won 16 straight matches and finished as the 2010 VRC World Championship Tournament Finalists and the top finishing US team in the tournament. 

On To Dallas for Fred III (Thanks to the UPS Store of Holden/Worcester/Auburn)

Green Egg Robotics team saw Fred III off today on his first long distance trip to Dallas, Texas. The team did some last minute adjustments and tune-ups including 5 effective, new autonomous programs to run while at the World Championship. GER and robot plan on arriving in Dallas on the same day next week to meet the upcoming challenge at the Dallas Convention Center.

03/27/2010 Maine State Black Bear Tournament Goes (To) GER

Green Egg Robotics traveled up to Black Bear country this past weekend to Orono, Maine for the 2nd Annual Maine State Vex Championship. The very well run event was hosted by Black Bear Robotics of UMaine and attended by 19 teams from Maine and Massachusetts. Green Egg Robotics managed to finish the day undefeated (9-0-0) despite getting mauled by new technical problems from their robot Fred III. "It was not an easy day", said team driver, James Crowther who with the rest of his team spent hours throughout the day between matches adjusting new design features so the robot could adapt to the official field.

The troubleshooting and adjustments paid off. When the final buzzer sounded signaling the end of the competition, Fred III and alliance partners from Greely High School (Think Award) and Yarmouth High School (Judges Award) were the new Maine State Vex Champions. Green Egg Robotics was issued the prestigious tournament Excellence Award by the judges. Having won the Maine tournament gives Green Egg Robotics a new team record 5 local/regional tournament championships in one season.

The team will make a final push over the next several weeks to prepare for the 3rd Annual Vex Robotics World Championship coming up at the end of April. "We have a lot of work to do between now and then!", explained Leland, team builder and lifter operator.

03/20/2010 Green Egg Robotics and Alliance Partners Win 2010 New England Vex Championship

Green Egg Robotics made it 4 for 4 earning its 4th tournament champion trophy in as many tournaments this season over the weekend. Competing at the Vex Robotics New England Championship tournament at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, MA., the team was able to win their first New England Championship against a field of 47 robots from New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. The winning alliance consisted of teams from South High School, East Longmeadow High School and Green Egg Robotics. In addition GER won the Robot Skills Award with a record setting run of 133 in the timed event.

GER is scheduled for 1 last tournament this season on 3/27/10 in Orono, ME before traveling to Dallas for the World Championship next month.

01/18/10 Two More Tournament Wins For The 2010 VRC Massachusetts State Champions

The Green Egg Robotics Team continued to build on momentum
this past weekend in achieving its 3^rd tournament championship in 3 attempts this season. On January 16^th 2010 the team of 5 (James, Lee, Kieran, Josef and Fred III) played on their “home away from home” field at Quinsigamond Community College against teams from Massachusetts, Maine and California in the 2010 VRC Massachusetts State Championship .

Fred III performed efficiently and consistently in the qualifying rounds and managed to go undefeated edging out an undefeated team from South High School by a mere 2 SP’s in the tiebreaker to earn the 1^st seed. GER chose another undefeated team 1768, Plan B from Nashoba Regional High School as their first pick. Plan B, competing in its very first VRC tournament was a 1student team (designer, builder, driver, scout, etc.) with his dad for coaching and support. The 3 team alliance was rounded out with team 2610B from Claremont Academy in Worcester.

The alliance performed well together advancing through the quarters and semis with 4 straight decisive wins. The finals pitted them against the #2 alliance captained by the team from South High School (2606C) in Worcester which sailed through its quarterfinal and semifinal bracket. They chose the quick, effective scorer and eventual Excellence Award and Programming Skills winner, The Cheesy Poofs (254E) from San Jose, California as their first pick. Their alliance 2^nd pick was a cross town team from Worcester Technical High School. The Cheesy Poofs were chosen by the South High School team captain to be the anchor team to play in the finals in both of the matches.

The Finals pitted the #1 and #2 robots in both the Programming Skills and Driver Skills competitions head to head in both matches. GER held the edge in the Driver Skills (109) while the Poofs were the winners in the Autonomous Competition. The action shaped up as expected with the #2 alliance getting out of the gate quickly in the first match to win the autonomous period. Alliances fought hard during the match with loads of 5 balls passing back and forth over the walls in rapid succession. Teams 44 and 1768 managed to dig out of the early pileup to pull out the victory by the end of the match.

The final match started in favor of the GER alliance with the teams 44 and 2610B winning the autonomous period and getting an early advantage. As in the first match, balls were flying back and forth. The Cheesy Poof robot and its driver appeared to be more and more in “the zone” as the tournament and match progressed gathering and dumping large loads very quickly. The match ended with an exchange of bonus balls with 254E in possession of the GER ball as time ran out. The #1 alliance earned the victory and the Championship.

On December 5^th, 2009 the team competed at the Quinsigamond Vex High School Championship where they managed to earn a tournament champion award as the first pick in an alliance captained by the Connecticut team, Gus Robotics (228). The 2^nd pick was a Freshmen team from Worcester Tech (2625C). Green Egg Robotics finished the day with only 1 loss (due to a missed match at the very start of the day) and was the recipient of the Excellence award. No Driver Skills or Programming Skills competitions were held at this event.

12/04/09 Major Overhaul!

The GER team recently retired (aka. dismantled) the drive system for their initial Clean Sweep robot Fred III after the team felt they could make significant improvements to the effectiveness and versatility of their robot with a complete redesign of the drive system. Fred III served the team well in its one tournament this year in which it brought home multiple awards, however team members were not completely satisfied with the robot's efficiency in a number of areas. With the redesign, the new robot will have improved speed and agility as well as greater efficiency, speed and power in retrieving and dumping the 3 different types of balls used in the Clean Sweep game. With the changes the robot takes on a completely new look.

The new and improved Fred III will debut in Worcester, MA. at Quinsigamond Community College on 12/5/09 at the QCC Clean Sweep High School Championship.

10/25/09 GER Takes First Steps in Returning to Dallas for 2010 World Championships

The Green Egg Robotics team took steps in its journey to return to Dallas to defend its 2009 World Championship. Having won the Vex Championship in May of '09, the team had already earned an automatic bid to the event. However, the team members felt they would return to Dallas only if they had a robot that was worthy to compete in the international field of outstanding robots from around the world.

In "Clean Sweep" teams are challenged with the task of competing in an alliance of 2 robots versus 2 opposing robots to clean their half of the wall- divided playing field of 3 different sized and shaped balls. The winner is determined to be the teams with most balls (points) on the other side of the field at the end of the 2 minute and 20 second match.

Green Egg Robotics (GER) completed building Fred III the day before the tournament due to special challenges in building the robot. This year's design is a transformer style robot that "transforms" and expands at the start of the match to allow for greatest functionality in the game. Due to the last minute completion of the robot, the team had very little time to practice prior to the competition.

Competition at the event was strong with teams from Leominster, East Longmeadow, Worcester and Manchester, NH to name a few. Each team had 6 qualifying matches. Rankings were calculated throughout the day and at the close of play Green Egg Robotics ranked 1st with a record of 6-0. By virtue of winning the top seed Green Egg Robotics had the first draft pick in each of the 2 draft rounds. They chose teams 131B, CHAOS, the #4 seed from Manchester, NH as their first pick and team 817B the #21 seed from East Longmeadow HS in East Longmeadow , MA as the second pick.

The GER alliance of 3 prevailed in the finals against a very strong threesome of teams from the Leominster Robotics team lead by 549B, 549F and 549C. The final series of matches went to the rubber match with the Green Egg Robot and the CHAOS robot outscoring the 549B and 549F duo in a back and forth match. The Tournament Champion trophy went to the GER alliance qualifying them for the World Championship to be held in Dallas.

Other Awards presented include the Creativity Award and the First Seed Award given to Green Egg Robotics. The Excellence Award was given to team 549E, the Jr. Devil Dawgs Automonous Skills Competition was won by 817A Sparticles and the Driver Skills Competition was won by 131B, Team CHAOS.

For a video of Fred III, version 1 in action click here.

05/03/2009 Green Egg Robotics Wins 2009 VRC World Championship!

“Believe it, then achieve it.”  This is a fitting mantra for the Green Egg Robotics team for the 2009 VRC World Championship event.  The (not so) little engine that could, Fred II and his team of drivers, coaches and scouts willed their way to win the VRC world championship trophy this past weekend, May 1st-2nd, in Dallas, Texas.  260 teams from around the world sporting the most successful robots of the 2008-2009 Vex Robotics Competition season gathered in the Dallas Convention Center for intense battles to determine the 2009 World Champion.

 The game for the 2008-2009 season was Elevation.  Elevation features 2 allied teams playing against 2 other allied teams on a 12 X 12 foot playing field.  The object of the game is to score as many points in the allotted time of 2 minutes and 20 seconds.  During the first 20 seconds of the match the robot is programmed for autonomous play so it is strictly robot against robot without any control given by the drivers.  The winner of the autonomous section is determined and awarded bonus points.  The remaining 2 minutes of the match the driver controls the movements.  Each team has 1-2 drivers controlling the movements of the robots around the field. 

Teams can score points by putting 3 inch foam cubes into triangular goals around the periphery of the playing field or by flipping a large bonus cube to their alliance’s color at the end of the match.  Bonus points are awarded to the team that “caps” the goals with their alliance team’s color.  They can also score points by being “king of the hill” on an elevated platform at the end of the match.

The 260 teams were split into 2 divisions of 130 teams called Science and Technology. The Green Egg Robotics team finished the qualifying rounds with a record of 5 wins and 1 loss.  This put them in 16^th place in the Science Division at the end of preliminaries going into alliance picking for the playoffs.  Despite being positioned in 16^th they were being “courted” by several higher ranked teams to be an alliance partner.  Only the top 8 teams choose alliance partners.  Teams chosen outside the top 8 have the option of accepting the invitation to play or to decline and not play.  Green Egg Robotics, the Atlantic Coast Champion captain was chosen as the top draft pick overall in the first round by the #1 ranked team, Spur-Flys from California.  They chose ELCO Red as the #1 2^nd round draft pick to round out their alliance.  ELCO Red was part of the Winning alliance at the Tournament of the Americas a month earlier.

The Spur-Fly alliance chose Green Egg Robotics to be the anchor team for the playoffs which meant that it would play in all matches.  The Green Egg robot’s consistency, defensive power and ability to score points from autoloader cubes was a factor in the decision. 
ELCO Red was assigned to play in the opening and 3^rd match of each series if necessary.  ELCO’s autonomous program consistency and multi-goal scoring ability made the Spur-Fly alliance teaming with Green Egg Robotics nearly unbeatable in the playoff autonomous rounds.   The Spur-Flys team chose to play the 2^nd match of each series. The Spur-Flys alliance managed to win the first round in 2 straight games and moved on to the divisional semi finals to play a super team of 3 scoring machines from China.  The Chinese teams swept the World Championship in 2008.  Their divisional semi-finalist team was captained by team 8203a from Nanhai, China and their alliance picks were teams were numbers 8164 and 8199, both from Shanghai, China.   The battles were fierce with aggressive defensive play by the #1 alliance.  The #1 alliance was able to shut down the robots from China in the first and 3^rd matches of the series.  The Chinese alliance won the 2^nd round by playing strong defense against the Green Egg Robotics team slowing down their scoring of cubes.

Photo courtesy of Vex Robotics

The Science Division finals pitted the Spur-Flys alliance against the #7 seed from the group, a team captained by team 211a, the Robodogs from Ontario, Canada and including 2 teams from Texas called the Robowranglers.  In the opening match of the series 211a devised a strategy to slow down the Green Egg Robotics team by removing ½ of their supply of autoloader cubes from the field and emptying them outside of the playing field.  The strategy worked as the Spur-Flys alliance opened up an early lead but ran out of easy cubes to score as the match neared the end.  The #7 seed won the match 38-32 in a close upset. 

 In the second match of the Divisional finals series team 148 had an unfortunate malfunction so 211a was pitted against 2 robots, Fred II and the green painted robot from the Spur-Flys.  After securing a large lead early in the match the #1 alliance partners positioned themselves for the final moments of the match to trap team 211a from moving out of the corner.  The final score of that match was 44-15.

The final match of the Divisional series was a rematch of the 1^st of the series.  The Robodog alliance attacked with the same strategy as they used in the first game emptying the Spur-Flys’ autoloader source.  This time the #1 alliance was prepared and the Green Egg Robotics robot followed the CAMS robot around the field capping goals in favor of the Spur-Flys and then played strong defense against 211a to seal the match.  Team 404, ELCO Red delivered the knock out blows with a killer autonomous and smart consistent play throughout the match.

 The World Championship Final matched the Spur-Flys alliance against the champion and #2 seed from the Technology Division, captained by Kamikaze II from Los Angeles, CA.  Also rounding out the alliance were 2 teams from the California Academy of Math and Sciences from Carson, CA.  The Spur-Flys alliance team of Green Egg Robotics and ELCO Red were able to match the Technology Division champion cube for cube and in the end were able to win the first match by a score of 57-17.

Green Egg Robotics team member Leland requested and was given a new crystal from the field officials for the receiver for the final match to correct the interference issue which proved to do the trick.  The match started with the Spur-Flys alliance partners winning the autonomous with both robots working to perfection to score in 3 goals.  As in the 1^st match of the series they were able to match the Technology division champion cube for cube and ended up finishing the match with Fred II claiming “king of the hill” on the elevated platform to punctuate the win.  The final score was a playoff high of 60-18 in favor of the Spur-Flys alliance.

05/05/2009 Green Egg Robotics Team Wins Prestigious Build Award In Dallas

The Green Egg Robotics team received the prestigious Build Award at the 2009 VRC World Championships in Dallas, Texas on May 2nd, 2009  for the team’s robot Fred II.    The team consisting of James and Leland Crowther, Josef Ameur and Kieran O’Sullivan were very pleased and honored to have their robot chosen out of the field of 260 robots from around the world participating in the World Championship.  In order to qualify for the world championship, teams must win local and /or regional awards or tournaments so the quality of the field was extremely high.

The Build Award is a judges’ award given to the robot which demonstrates the highest level of excellence in “craftsmanship and construction".  During the presentation of the award the announcer describe Fred II as a robot that was not ”fragile like an egg” in reference to the team name, Green Egg Robotics.