Rocket Scientists Build Robots & Battle
Astra Rockets (aka Stealth Space Company) build and launch rockets – wow, and they build robots & battle. They are truly rocket scientists! Our event was hosted at the lovely Hayes Mansion in San Jose; boasting conference center pricing with high end feel and touches, and excellent meeting space.
Astra proved building robots for team building is not rocket science, BUT it is challenging! Although they did not break the World Record time, two teams came close, and the aggregate build time average was likely below 30 minutes – ridiculous!
Team Dingleberries posted the fourth fastest time ever at 23:56 (twenty three minutes and fifty six seconds). They follow only Zymergen who holds the top two times including the World Record at 22:35, and Altium, who posted a time of 23:50 last October to set the new World Record at the time. They finished just ahead of previous World Record holders Chowbotics, who on on May 31, 2018 posted a time of 25:57, and Lyft who posted a time of 25:17 and Abbott who posted a time of 25:52 both last month. Of note, team Old Texas posted a time of 24:40 putting them 6th all-time!
Another impressive feat was accomplished when the founders of the company paired together under team name Stealth Robotic Company to build a robot together with only two people; not recommended. Perhaps the adrenaline of a nascent enterprise returned for a fleeting moment as they embarked on the unlikely with assured confidence and optimism. Their predictive calculations of success were no doubt correct as, remarkably, they completed a perfectly built bot in 29:04 (twenty nine minutes and 4 seconds) which beats most 6-7 person teams on any good day; in fact it is most likely in the top 20 times all-time.
I was equally impressed with the quality of the robot builds. When I asked – one founder said “we take extra care with every bolt when building rockets” … enough said. It showed. We battled for over 1.5 hours with no robots going down permanently and no lost wheels! Anyone who has battled with us before knows wheels come off in battle! … unless built by rocket builders.
Team Black Water took the battle honors beating the other teams more times than anyone else. The final battle – the all-in winner take all battle – was won by “If we lose it’s Angela’s fault” … so I hope Angela got credit for the win!
A huge thank you to Astra Rockets for inviting us to work with your talented and precise crew of rocket scientists!!!
Robot Team Building
