DEATH BRIDGE!

Unfortunately I was away.

BUT

I observed the other groups while they frantically built, rebuilt, revised and tested. In the end everyone failed the competition. Not by a bit but by a lot. I'm not saying that I think I would do any better but this is what I saw that led to failure.

1. The lack of "research"
   By this I mean that it didn't seem like any of the groups really explored all aspects of the game. All the robots that came up to test were quite heavy for the flimsy bridge and that added to the overall failure around the bridge area. It seemed like groups didn't grasp the full idea of the competition and forgot to plan for certain variables.
   
2. Unplanned testing time 
   Many groups did this but I'm just going to pick on one group in particular. While Sylvie and Jeremiah were fixing the robot I noticed that their project manager was just wandering around, sometimes even helping other teams. Instead of wasting time Mohamed could have been practicing throwing, which ended up to be a big issue for many groups. If you can't get the rocket in the robot, you can't win.
   
3. Irresponsible testing habits ( Evan, Cian, Prasad: Evan drove their robot of the table during testing time.) The whole point in testing time is to find the flaws in your design and fix them. At the same time you're becoming familiar with the way your robot works. Testing time is NOT to be used for doing crazy stunts with your robot. Evan, Cian and Prasad's group was a perfect example of what not to do. They were the first group to bring their robot to the table and it actually looked pretty good! They worked on driving the robot then Evan drove their robot off the table. Of course the robot fell to pieces. Not only that but their sensor also broke so they could not compete in the challenge. This was accident was irresponsible and preventable if they had stayed focused and not gotten foolish. Unfortunately that meant there are now only 3 working sensors.
   
4. Giving into failing
   A lot of groups were very unprepared for this challenge. Lots of people also just gave up because they knew that their robot was never going to win. They just gave in. Although it may have seemed like a hopeless situation I think that they could have kept trying to adjust their robot and entered in the second or third competition.