2003 Season

2003 Team

Team 696 pictured with Viper (left-2002) and Clark Kent (right-2001)

Team members from left to right:
Back row: Mr. DeVore (faculty adviser), Patrick A., Punar, Mohammed, David, Artur, Chris, Peter, Patrick M., Andrew
Front row: Harout, Lucy, Artia, ?, Paul, Harish, Narbeh

Read some news articles about or check out photos from our 2003 season.

Build Season

Read about the 2003 game, Stack Attack.

We successfully implemented the "four motor drive" for the first time in 2003 (after failure in 2002), giving us an advantage over teams with only two-motor drive systems. 2003 was the second year of the CIM motor, and the first year the CIM had a keyed shaft. A more powerful Bosch drill motor was introduced in 2003, though despite the increased power, we had a lot of trouble with the motor's gearbox and mounting weaknesses. Interestingly, we obtained spare window motors from junked cars through eBay.

When testing the robot in the robotics room, we realized that it had so much power we'd need to give it some bumpers to avoid extensive damage. In the wee hours of the night before ship, some team members took a trip to Target to get some fabric to cover the bumpers. The only color they had was hot pink. The robot turned into a female 'bot and was dubbed Heather.

Later in the season, at our first competition, we ran into another problem. Heather was so low to the ground that disappeared under the sea of plastic boxes on the field. Someone had the idea of getting tall flags to mark her position. A team member ran to the store, and the only colors they had were...hot pink and neon green. The tradition of our team colors was born!

Competitions

Phoenix Regional

2003 was the first season we were able to attend a second regional, due to great initiative and planning in the summer of 2002 by David and Chris. Ever since, we have made an effort to attend a second regional because it's just so much more fun! We seeded 3rd in this regional at the end of the qualification rounds, giving us the ability to pick our alliance partners for the elimination matches. We ended up taking Semifinalist, which was a huge accomplishment!

Los Angeles Regional

At the 2003 Los Angeles Regional

We took Finalist at the Los Angeles Regional, but the regional is remembered more for its stories than the final ranking. Heather's famous pink and green flags were flexibly mounted with surgical tubing to the robot, and folded down horizontally whenever she drove under the low bar on the field. It was a huge hit with the crowd.

Heather also became known for her ability to tip over opposing robots, making her a formidable alliance member, and clear the opponent's zone of plastic bins well before the match end. She became famous for hurdling down the field carrying a plastic bin, occasionally crashing into the 13-inch high bar and exploding the bin, sending blue shards flying.