Introduction ~ The food on the day of the event has no taste?! ~

After a production period that seemed long yet short, the day of our culmination, the fateful KICK OFF, has finally arrived!

I honestly couldn't eat breakfast because of the anxiety of whether I would be able to function properly and the pressure of everyone's expectations. (Even the bigwigs from the company came to see me (crying))

But the real thing will come whether you laugh or cry. Now it's time to show everyone the results of these past two months!!

Rule Summary - Just keep scoring goals! -

The game is very simple! It's a 2 vs 2 team match between our homemade soccer robot and a commercially available soccer robot, and the rules are to see which one scores the most points.

Of course, there are no defenders or goalkeepers, so the only thing you can do is steal the ball from the opponent and score as many goals as possible! That's the rule.

There are three new graduates, including me, who participated in the production training, so we will play a total of three games.

In addition, there are three prizes depending on the results of the match. The first is the MVP award, which is given to the robot that scores the most points.

The second award is the Good Design Award, which is given to the best robotic product.

The third award is the Good Performance Award, which is given to the robot that most excited the competition. I would like to win all three awards and finish on a high note!

First Match: Hmm, aren't the commercially available robots too strong?

As a result of the lottery, I was chosen to participate in the second and third matches, so I thought I'd start by seeing how my fellow robots and the commercially available robots performed.

To be honest, I don't think it's a competitive match even with commercially available robots, because the quality of the parts used is completely different.

The power source they use is AA batteries whereas I use a 7V LiPo battery, and I also use a better motor.

The difference in horsepower is so overwhelming that if you try to tackle it, it will be blown to pieces!

There was a time when I thought so. But when we actually tried it, our robot was no match for the overwhelming mobility and operability of the commercially available robots.

In the first match, after just four minutes, the score was 0-4, showing an overwhelming difference. It was like a match between an elementary school student and a professional. If we had played full time, the difference would have been around 0-50!!

I lost my fighting spirit before even playing a match, and the second match ended with a score of 1-4, with nothing particularly exciting happening.

Final Round -If we don't put in a good performance here, it won't end!!

The third and final game. We can't let our two months end like this! I'm fired up to deal with adversity, and I'm going into the game with renewed determination to score as many points as possible.

The match was heating up in the early stages, but as the game approached the middle stage, the dreaded incident finally occurred!

An unexpected collision occurred between my robot and the synced robot! Some parts of the synced robot came off, and my robot's behavior became unstable, possibly due to a poor connection in the wiring!

Although I was able to get the synchronization back on time, my robot still exhibited unstable behavior and was unable to move backwards properly, and instead only managed to charge ahead headlong.

I was confused by the accident when I was trying to get a point, but the game was nearing the end. The score was 0-2 and there was no chance of a comeback. With everything decided by this one play, my chance finally came!

The ball was loose from the opposing team and landed right in front of my robot!

This was the only chance to make the final decision! I held the ball and drove the robot towards the goal, shaking the net! The dramatic goal sent the crowd into a frenzy, and the cheers were so loud that they drowned out the final whistle. The match ended with the crowd in a frenzy (though we lost the score).

Final result: We won the Good Performance Award!

Although we suffered a crushing defeat in the match against a commercially available robot, we were awarded three prizes at the end based on each evaluation category.

As a result, I was given the Good Performance Award because I thrilled the crowd with my dramatic tackle shot at the end.

Although we were unable to win the other two awards, each of the three new graduates was awarded one prize, resulting in a satisfactory outcome.

It was disappointing that I didn't win every award, but I was able to actually create something that I made from scratch that worked and entertained everyone that came to see it, so I think it was a very satisfying result!

However, I do have some regrets, and from a designer's perspective, I feel that two months was a short time and there is still room for improvement.

So I'm hoping that at some point I'll have the chance to improve it again and make a robot that can beat commercially available robots.

Afterword -Thank you for reading-

First of all, thank you for reading this work to the end! (If you haven't watched it from episode 1, please do so!)

I have written an article about the training that new FAEs undertook in which they were confused as they built a robot, and I would be very grateful if it stirs even a little emotion in those who read it.

As we are a technical trading company, our main business is to provide product proposals and technical support to designers.

Through this training, we hope to gain some understanding of the product development process for our customers, the issues they face and the support they need, and we plan to hold this type of training every year.

Through this internship, I hope to become an FAE who can be considerate and provide support to customers when I start working in the real world!

This time, the story was the main focus and I wasn't able to write about specific technical details, but in the future I would like to write articles little by little about the technical content I learned through this internship and the knowledge I gained through my actual work, so I look forward to seeing everyone who has read this far in another article.

(We are currently accepting requests for technical articles you would like us to write!)

[A rookie engineer's soccer robot production diary]

Episode 1: "Macnica Cup is being held?!"

Episode 2 “Is this the strongest soccer robot? ! Your name is Maradona! ! ”

Episode 3: "Maradona, the Phoenix who comes back to life even after being burned"

Episode 4: "The time to wake up has come, let's go! Maradona-kun!!"

Episode 5: "The fateful KICK OFF!! Who will grab the crown...?"