Northern Bites Places Second at RoboCup 2009 Graz

The Northern Bites played a nearly flawless first half against B-Human, starting half time with only one goal scored against us. The field was packed with spectators who were crowding the bleachers and standing on tables. B-Human, the favorites to win the match, had scored at least 7 points in every match during the tournament. To combat this legendary opponent, we pulled out some ballzy, never before seen or game-tested dribbling code which wowed onlookers.

The audience packed the stands

The audience packed the stands


In the second half, this gamble went awry, resulting in some technical difficulties with our robots. Our goalie, which made some amazing saves in the first half overheated under the battery of shots in the second half, and fell limp to the ground, letting in four goals. The final score was 0-5 for B-Human. This was the lowest scoring match B-Human played, which prior to the finals scored between 7 and 11 goals in each of their matches.
Team picture with B-Human

Team picture with B-Human


More pictures and stats after the break:

Arriving in Graz, we had never scored in a regulation match with the Naos. In every game, our team improved significantly, and it became clear early on that we were one of the top teams in the league. At the end of pool play, we were one of only two teams who had never been scored on. By the end of the tournament, we were the second leading goal scorer with 15 goals. B-Human had 64. The 3rd and 4th place teams, the Nao Devils and UT Austin each scored 7 goals.
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Over and over in this tournament we have been impressed by the great sportsmanship of all the teams in our league. In our semi-final match, the Nao Devils offered to call a time out for us when our robots appear to be malfunctioning. After the final, the B-Human students shared their stash of german beer with us, and we replayed the match substituting humans for robots. Unfortunately, we lost that match as well, 4-1.
Bowdoin '09 alumni were in attendence

Bowdoin '09 alumni were in attendence


Human nao soccer team from Aldebaran

Human nao soccer team from Aldebaran

[caption id="attachment_754" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Spectators packed every side of the field"]Spectators packed every side of the field[/caption]

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