Mad Science concluded its season this Sunday, March 10, in the state competition at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.  Madison won three out of the five matches played throughout the day. Unfortunately, they did not win any distinguished awards for design or final team rank.

The robot design had changed multiple times throughout the season. At the first meet, the robot had been fitted with two arms to score rings on the lowermost pegs. For the second, the team added second joints (“shoulders”) to the arms to be able to score on higher pegs. After realizing the double-jointed arm design was too slow and unsteady, Mad Science completely redesigned the robot and made it a defensive bot – with a four-wheel, direct-drive drivetrain and a long ramp. Eventually, they added a scoring cup to help score rings on the bottom row of pegs.

At the state competition, Mad Science encountered issues with the 18-inch cube sizing limit. With the ramp attached to the robot, the team was unable to fit the sizing box over the robot and consequently had to remove the entire roof. Thus, for all five matches, the team played without one of their key advantages. Instead, drivers Kyle L and Jesse K played defensively for the majority of the time, blocking enemy teams from scoring rings and accumulating points.

Though the season started optimistically, design changes and unforeseen problems hindered the team’s final success. However, as members agreed later, it had still been an eventful and memorable year.