Leading up to the event, our team was in full-on work mode, focusing on three key areas: refining our autonomous routines, perfecting our coral scoring, and ensuring our climb was rock-solid. Our programming team worked tirelessly to get our auto consistently hitting Level 4 during practice, while the mechanical and design teams collaborated with the drive team to fine-tune our climb along with the different communicative elements of our PS5 controller.
Friday was all about practice matches. Our auto performed somewhat consistently, hitting Level 4 and giving us a strong head start in every game. Even though our vision system wasn’t fully operational, our driver delivered an outstanding performance on the field. And our climb is currently 8th in the world. Thanks James! (Our human player was the main designer behind it). It worked flawlessly every match, securing crucial endgame points. Seeing all our hard work pay off was an incredible feeling.
Saturday: Quals and Quick Fixes
Saturday’s qualification matches brought intense competition. We noticed an issue with our coral intake and outtake system—corals would sometimes slip or drop during the switch from auto to teleop. We also noticed that the angle on outtake wasn’t working well for L4, messing with our auto and teleop cycles. Fortunately, our new scouting app and video reviews helped us quickly identify the problem. On the bright side, our cycle times kept improving, and we maintained a 100% success rate on our climbs, significantly boosting our scores. We also realized the importance of clear feedback from the drive team, so we’re implementing regular debriefs to help the design team make necessary robot adjustments. Due to our angle mishap, we unfortunately fell from the predicted 6th place to the stark reality of 26th place. But we’re Iron Claw, and if anyone knows anything about us, we’re statistically better than our rankings, so we worship other teams’ scouting data.
Sunday: Ranking Surge and Alliance Picks
Sunday was wild. Qualification Match 61 was crazy—came in with 20% chance to win(according to Statbotics–we love our stats) and pulled off a insane game along with Deep Space and berkelium against 581, 3970, and 7413. To make matters better, our descent was calibrated just right and by the end of the quals we had moved up from 26th to 16th, even briefly getting as high as 14th at one point.
Alliance selection was on the edge of our seats, and when Spartan Squared (Team 9584) selected us, we were super excited. We were excited to be placed with them and continue our Alliance 5 winning streak—four for four now, as captain or pick one.”.
Playoffs were a battle, and though our winning streak ended in Match 5 as a result of a surprise intake malfunction, we gave it our all on the field. Our climbs were rock-solid, and considering that our intake hadn’t even worked 24 hours before Friday practice, reaching this point was like a huge win. This weekend pushed us harder than ever, and we couldn’t have asked for a stronger alliance or a stronger team to fight against.
Beyond Our Pit: Helping Others
One of the best parts of the weekend was stepping outside our pit to connect with other teams. Our operations director spent time exchanging ideas on team displays, screens, and monitors, while our mentors were out lending a hand and offering advice to teams in need. The collaborative spirit of FRC was truly inspiring, making the experience even more memorable.
Final Thoughts
Pinnacles Regional was a rollercoaster of highs and lows, but the lessons we learned were invaluable. We’re incredibly proud of our consistent climbs, strong auto performance, and the amazing alliance we formed with Spartan Squared (Team 9584) and Red Tie Robotics (Team 1458). Despite our intake system setback in the playoffs, we’re taking these lessons to heart and working hard to improve our robot.
I can’t wait for our next competition, and I hope you’re just as excited to see what we accomplish next!
