The New Zealand Sack Attack season continued this weekend with the second Auckland scrimmage, hosted by Glenfield College. Teams had one month since the season opener, and it was a chance to test changes to their designs under the rigor of competition. Improvements in design had a noticeable impact on general game play and strategy from teams, as teams became more competent at Sack Attack they developed their game stratergy further, resulting in faster paced and more exciting games.
The teams played through 50 qualifications matches, with 2915A “Jack Attack”from Lynfield College, 2918C “GCEC” from Glenfield College, 2941 “Oats VeXmen” from Otumoetai College and 2919A “K-Force” from Kristin School making up the top four after the end of the qualification round. The teams then played through a knock–out elimination bracket, from which emerged the two finalist alliances: The top seeded pair of 2941A (Otumoetai) and 2915A (Lynfield A) against 2919A (Kristin School) and 2921A (Free Range Robotics). Both alliances played a high efficiency descore and score strategy, with 2941 and 2915 eventual 2-0 winners, with scores of 255-11 and 295-1. The high level of de–scoring resulted in seemingly one sided score lines, with the matches being in actual fact much closer.
Several teams also attempted the driver skills challenge, with the top scores being 215 points, by 2915A (Lynfield A), closely followed by 2941 (Oats VeXmen) on 210 points. As the season progresses and the robots maximize their potential, it will be interesting to see who the skills challenge victor is as these two teams are both showing great early promise. In all, it was a very exciting and promising event as a mix of robot designs were on show, again showing that Sack Attack has produced some of the most compelling design challenges to date, and that teams are willing to continue to come up with innovative solutions. Lastly, we would like to give a big thanks to Glenfield College for hosting this event, the volunteers from both Massey University and the University of Auckland, and Kiwibots for their continued organization of Vex events in New Zealand.