Much more to come tomorrow.
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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
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
More pictures and stats after the break:
Continue reading ‘Northern Bites Places Second at RoboCup 2009 Graz’
Aldebaran, the French robot company who builds the Nao, likes to do half-times shows demonstrating the capabilities of the robot. They have had tai chi routines, acted out scenes from plays, and have added a new dance routine to their repertoire – a tribute to Michael Jackson. Here is a shot of the robot mid “Billie Jean:”
"...the kid is not my son"
Northern Bites members survived the recent semifinals match without having heart attacks, throwing up, or passing out (barely). The game was a nail-biter against the Nao Devils from Dortmund, a team who we had previously played and beat 2:0. However, they had made many fixes to their code in the time since, and did not make it quite so easy on us this time.
The first goal scored was against us… by us. When we are positioned down in the corner by our goal, we usually just continue to kick it out until a “game stuck” is called, but this time we side kicked it in front of our goal, and proceeded to side kick it in. Thankfully, we made a valiant return and scored a goal in the correct goal within the first half. The second half remained scoreless, leaving us with a game tied at 1:1, meaning penalty kicks would decide who advanced. This was an eerie echo of last year – tied in a semifinal against a German team, with penalty kicks to decide.
In penalty kicks, each team has 5 chances to score a goal against the blue goal, with the opponent’s goalie in it, within one minute. The Devils went first, easily booting it into our goal at a perfect angle. We were next, and we made it to the ball, and then just stared. This is when panic mode set in. Over the next 4 kicks, our goalie managed to save 3 with its wide stance, the Devils managed to get one more in, and our leading lady Trillian got two shots in. This meant that the penalty kicks were now tied, 2:2.
This means a sudden death shoot out. Each team now has 2 minutes, and if both teams score, the winner is determined by who scored the goal faster. The Devils managed to score a goal in 1:06 seconds, after missing the kick twice. Trillian shuffled towards the ball, shuffled some more…. kicked…… it went in!! Then we had to check the time it took. (If the times were within 2 seconds, we would have to go again.) We looked at our time…. 0:58 seconds!!! A difference of 7 seconds won us the match!!
Northern Bites and Nao Devils after the match
While a huge relief, it was bittersweet as we have close ties with the Nao Devils, and it was so close. The next semifinal match between Texas and B-Human is currently being played, and as a soon as a winner is determined, we will be sure to update.
A month ago we were the fourth best team in the U.S. Right now we are one of the four best in the world with an excellent chance of making the finals. It is an amazing achievement and the members of the team deserve all of the credit in the world. There is no question that we have improved more than any other team this week.
The quarterfinals have concluded here in Austria, and the games ended as follows:
Nao Devils: 1, NUBots: 0
NBites: 2, NTU Robot Pal: 1
B-Human: 11, CMU: 1
UTexas: 2, Austrian Kangaroos: 0
This means that we will face off against the Nao Devils at 9:00am (local time), and UTexas will be up against the formidable B-Humans at 10:00am. The losers of these two matches will compete for 3rd/4th at 12:30pm, and the winners will compete for 1st/2nd at 2:00pm.
Happy Birthday America!
The 4th of July has been a good day for the team! NBites has just come from our 6th game here in Austria, letting in our first goal of the tournament, but still winning 2:1 against NTU Robot Pal (Taiwan)! This moves us forward to the semi-finals tomorrow at 9:00am, facing the Nao Devils once more.
Northern Bites after winning our match!
There are two quarterfinals games left today: B-Human v. CMU at 3:00pm and Austrian Kangaroos v. UTexas-Austin at 5:30pm. We wish the other American teams good luck!