Deep Space 2019 involved teams scoring points by putting balls into cargo holders in rockets, and placing hatches onto the holders to secure the balls. There were 4 total rockets on the middle of the field, 2 on each team's side on opposite sides from each other, one on the left and one on the right. Each rocket had 3 levels in height, 3 being the highest and 1 the lowest. The higher the level, the more points it earns. Additional points were also awarded from completing all levels on 1 rocket. There was also a cargo bay in the center of the field that would also use balls and hatches to gain points, separated by the halfway mark on the field for each team. At the start of the game, all teams had a blind that blocked their sight of the field for 30 seconds before the blind retracted, and in that time, teams had to use cameras on their robots to drive around. Each game lasted 2 minutes and 30 seconds total. 

"Simple is best." As a rookie team, we lacked the materials and funds to purchase metal for our robot. This meant that we used wood for our design and decided to focus on one area of play. We believed it was best to efficiently do one thing then do multiple things at a mediocre pace. We created a small but fast bot with an extending arm that had two hands on the end. The hand would get in and behind the panel and extend out, holding it in place. Simply driving into the destination and pushing the panel onto the velcro would secure our points.

Our team, team 7504 or CyBearBots, managed to place 12th out of 46 teams in the Hudson Valley regional. Giving us the highest placing rookie team of the competition. We also advanced into the final rounds of the competition and ended up becoming a team leader. This meant we could pick teams to play in the quarterfinals and beyond. Needless to say, even with our lack of experience we did much better than expected!

Rookie Inspiration Award

The Rookie Inspiration Award "celebrates a rookie team's outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering and engineers, both within their team as well as the community." We were the only team who had built a wooden robot as opposed to the usual metal robots, which were noticed and appreciated by the judges.

Highest Rookie Seed Award

The Highest Rookie Seed Award "celebrates a rookie team's outstanding success in qualify matches in their first competition." The Cybear Bots ranked 12th out of 46 teams, making us the highest placing rookie team of the competition. We also earned the ability to be a team leader in the final rounds allowing us to pick teams for the quarterfinals and beyond.