Servo - September 2007

WEDNESDAY (Day 5)

GAME 2

Murphy’s Law ... All that could go wrong, does. After fixing the camera, the computer problem that disabled 2A previously, happens to 2B, as well. The computer turns on, but the IRQ settings get corrupted and the CMOS hangs. Both

DARwIns are vegetables! Our next match against team FUmanoid from Freie Universitaet from Berlin was about to start, but neither of our robots would power up. We requested a two minute timeout at the start of the game, and somehow managed to boot up the 2B’s computer. DARwIn tried to search for the ball on the field, but without its pan and tilt head it took a lot of time to locate the ball. It finally did and proceeded to dash toward the ball, but somehow ripped out its own power cable and shut down, catastrophically collapsing in the middle of the field.

Unfortunately, we had to withdraw, with the score automatically set to 10:0. Our entire team was in shock and very disappointed. Team moral was zero. We had high hopes for this game, even believing we could win, but the electrical and computing hardware were just not cooperating. We had five hours before the next game; just enough time to figure out how to resurrect our robots.

GAME 3

Praying for a miracle, team member Karl somehow got the computer to boot up, just 10 minutes before the game. The computer seemed to be working fine, but none of its motors were moving, so DARwIn can’t stand up! Seven minutes before the start of the game, team member Jessie discovers that a RS-485 cable is missing inside DARwIn’s body which is causing the malfunction. Everything was so last minute and hectic, we forgot to install this crucial cable when putting the robot back together! Six minutes before the game, team member Robert runs out the stadium, back to the dorm room to get the soldering equipment and wires. Robert literally strips the wires, making the cable as he runs back to the CRC. The game had already started without a ^{After the team’s first}successful match.

functioning robot, but Robert miraculously finished the cable and team member Jesse opened up DARwIn’s chest and placed it into the tiny gap between the circuit boards. Team member Brad booted up the computer and threw DARwIn on the field, who proceeded to get up and start to play soccer! A huge cheer came from the audience!

The goalkeeper 2A threw its body to block a kick from Team B-Human’s striker. Our striker 2B dribbled the ball and pushed it towards the goal but was blocked by Team B-Human. Team B-Human’s robot walked next to 2B and 2B pushed it away, making it fall down next to the ball. Then 2B kicked Team B-Human’s robot in the head, instead of the ball next to it. That brought a big laugh from the audience. (It was probably the most entertaining game in RoboCup history.) The referees were surprised to see our robots rise up from the dead, and actually play an impressive game. With all that went wrong, it was truly a miracle!

The audience cheered for the underdog (that would be us) and though we lost with a score of 1:0, we were the true winners of this game. Fast thinking, great teamwork, skillful hands, and leadership made the impossible happen. Though we lost, we celebrated our first successful game with a late lunch and started preparing for the next day of battle.