On Wednesday, March 26, about 15 Flaming Chickens packed their suitcases and headed to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to participate in the 2008 Las Vegas FIRST Regional Robotics competition. We arrived at the pits early Thursday morning to start on some necessary upgrades for Nemo. After the Oregon regional, we had decided that our number-one priority was to change the back-holding pistons on the platform to something a little more robust. After some tinkering, we we were able to work out the new system, and we hoped for the best.

Unfortunately, we ended up missing our first practice match because it was so early in the morning. After that, though, we tested the robot to make sure it worked, and it worked even better than we had expected. Thursday gave us a good opportunity to get used to the new system without a lot of pressure. Our drive team was able to adjust to the changes, and our prospects were looking good.

The competition began on Friday. It was a hectic day, to say the least, as we had a number of discussions with the referees and field staff regarding the maintenance of the competition field, which was unfortunately not in ideal condition. However, we still managed to come out at the end of the qualification matches on Saturday morning with an 8-3-0 record, leaving us in the third seeded position. Team 987, The High Rollers, and Team 39, the 39th Aero Squadron, were seeded 1st and 2nd, and they joined together to form the 1st alliance, allowing us second pick. After much deliberation over our competitive analysis data, we decided to choose Team 473, the Robo-Devils, and Team 1641, Where’s Waldo, to form our alliance. The three of us worked well together and performed valiantly through the quarterfinals. Our luck, however, did not hold out, and we were eliminated in the semi-finals after some tough matches.

All was not lost, however, as we took home the Xerox Creativity Award, which “celebrates creativity in design, use of component, or strategy of play” for our robot’s design concept, which we were overjoyed to receive. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to 473 and 1641 for joining us in a great alliance. The Las Vegas regional was a lot of fun, and it was definitely a great opportunity for us to prepare for Nationals. See you in Atlanta!

View more pictures of the Las Vegas Regional here.