2007 St. Louis Regional

[Richard Wallace]

Registration for the 2007 St. Louis Regional is approaching 60% of capacity (25/42), with seven eight states represented as of this evening. Breakdown is as follows: 10 teams from the immediate St. Louis area, 6 from the Kansas City area, 4 from Indiana, 2 from Iowa, and one each from Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Mississippi. So far there are six rookie teams registered.

Based on strong past performance, I'll go out on a limb and predict at least one Indiana team in the 2007 winning alliance.

[Andy Baker]

Breakdown is as follows: 10 teams from the immediate St. Louis area, 6 from the Kansas City area, 4 from Indiana, 2 from Iowa, and one each from Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Mississippi. So far there are six rookie teams registered.

You can count on another from Indiana signing up, as a second regional. The TechnoKats attended back in 2003 and it's time to go again.

Never been up in the Arch,
Andy B.

[Richard Wallace]

Never been up in the Arch,
Andy B.Andy, I'll make it a priority to see that you get to the Arch (http://www.nps.gov/archive/jeff/arch-ov.htm). As an engineer you might actually prefer the movie on how it was constructed, shown several times a day in one of two theatres located in the museum under the base, to the somewhat claustrophobic elevator ride that gets you to the top. The views from up there are nice, though.

[JaneYoung]

It sways - the best part is put your back up against it at the base and then look up. That is fun.

[Jeff Waegelin]

The Rat Pack is looking at a trip to St. Louis this year. We want to do a Week 1 event, and we've heard nothing but good things about this regional. So, hopefully we'll add Michigan to your list of states...

[Kellen Hill]

We plan on signing up once we can as our 2nd regional. Hopes its as fun as its been the past 2 years.

[GMKlenklen]

As soon as we get it togeather, the MASMabots will be joining in!

[Paul Copioli]

Rumor as it that the ThunderChickens will be at St. Louis this year (we like following the teknokitties around) .....

[Richard Wallace]

Rumor as it that the ThunderChickens will be at St. Louis this year (we like following the teknokitties around) .....Egad! :eek: Thunderchickens!

Last year the Bomb Squad and the Beast, this year the T-Kats and Thunderchickens!

The rafters will resound, the floor will shake! (Really, it will; it's on plastic tiles over an ice hockey rink!)

[amandab]

Unfortunately the Robot Rams will not be attending the competition this year. All of our mentors left to teach at other schools and we have not found anyone who will be a mentor and get the team going this year. Hopefully we will be back next year.
Amanda

[Hieb]

Amanda,

Hopefully we can work something out with Spartan Robotics (2014) so you can continue in FIRST. We could use your experience, and "What?!?" says Hi.

Hieb

[Woe]

Just saw the note that FIRST will no longer be involved with the hotel recommendations. River City Robots (the Channel Cats FRC team 1094) is based in St. Charles County and would be happy to give you ideas of where to stay. The other St. Charles County teams are team 1288 and team 1706. Going out a limb, I would say they would be happy to assist as well.

[Sgraff_SRHS06]

Egad! :eek: Thunderchickens!

Last year the Bomb Squad and the Beast, this year the T-Kats and Thunderchickens!

The rafters will resound, the floor will shake! (Really, it will; it's on plastic tiles over an ice hockey rink!)

What's this? A robotics POKE WAR? :D Sounds like a good reason to pool $500 for a hotel in St. Louis, other than watching the Cardinals and Mets plodding around like they're the evil Yanks.

[Richard Wallace]

What's this? A robotics POKE WAR? :D Sounds like a good reason to pool $500 for a hotel in St. Louis, other than watching the Cardinals and Mets plodding around like they're the evil Yanks.Nobody is as evil as the Yanks. Let's suspend discussion of the Cards and Mets for the next four hours or so. :) (I'll be offline, glued to my TV, until Game 5 is over. StL is a baseball town...)

But if you're serious about coming to STL March 1-3, let me know and we'll get you signed up as a volunteer. Go for field reset, and you'll get to see the action up close.

[Kyle Love]

I am pumped about this one! It will be realllllllly fun!

[Aren_Hill]

This is gonna be interesting, The usually very aggressive defense i've experienced the last 2 years and several more offensive teams (217.45) this should make an amazing regional. see all of you there

[Richard Wallace]

Registration for the 2007 St. Louis Regional is approaching 60% of capacity (25/42), with seven eight states represented as of this evening. ...Two more states are now represented:

939 Sisseton, South Dakota (formerly known as Hiphopanonymous) STL 2005 Champs and participants at STL every year since 2002, and

1472 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, a fourth year team coming to STL for their first time.

So we're up to ten states so far. I'm guessing, in about a week, Michigan will make it eleven.

14 out of 42 published spaces are still available, with six days until 2nd regional registration opens.

[Richard Wallace]

With one day of 2nd regional registration nearly complete, the 2007 St. Louis state-count is up to 13 including pending registrations of teams from Michigan, Wisconsin, and New York!

And it is looking like a full-scale Hoosier invasion, with EIGHT teams from Indiana now registered or pending. :)

[Aren_Hill]

YESSS were in and comin back for our third year and this is gonna be interesting a normally very defensive regional with the world champion coming in and the technokats geez

[Richard Wallace]

YESSS were in and comin back for our third year and this is gonna be interesting a normally very defensive regional with the world champion coming in and the technokats geezAll five of the Week 1 regionals are now booked to their published capacity, assuming that the pending teams confirm. So it looks like there will be at least 242 teams competing in the five Week 1 events.

Several of the teams that will be competing at St. Louis have demonstrated in past games that they can rack up the points. (1625 should be mentioned in that group. ;) ) I think Gear is right -- we are in for some interesting competition.

[GMKlenklen]

So as the MASMabots don't exist yet... but we are working on it... how does one go about "holding" a position at the regional?

Oh, and a little birdie told me that WildStang was gonna be there too... hehehehehe, we get to try to beat them, hehehehehehe

[Richard Wallace]

So as the MASMabots don't exist yet... but we are working on it... how does one go about "holding" a position at the regional?

Oh, and a little birdie told me that WildStang was gonna be there too... hehehehehe, we get to try to beat them, heheheheheheThe following statement appears on this page (http://www.usfirst.org/frc/public/) of the FIRST website:

"In most cases, FIRST has reserved extra capacity for rookie teams. If you are a rookie team and would like to get into a full event, be sure to join the waiting list for the event."

As for Wildstang, I'd love to see 111 in St. Louis, and so would a lot of folks. :) But since they've already registered for Midwest (Week 3), Western Michigan (Week 5), and the Championship, I guess their season is pretty full as it stands. Students, teachers, parents, and mentors can only take so much time away from school and work in one season.

Then again, there were a few teams (four, if I recall correctly (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=423303&postcount=17)) that participated in four FRC events last year ...

[savage301]

Team 1250 from Dearborn, MI will be at the St. Louis Regional this year. We are all exciting to come and compete against some of the best Mid-Western teams in all of FIRST. Well we will see all of you on March 1st, and good luck to everyone in the upcoming season.

[Richard Wallace]

Team 1250 from Dearborn, MI will be at the St. Louis Regional this year. We are all exciting to come and compete against some of the best Mid-Western teams in all of FIRST. ...We read in many threads that this or that regional has a strong field, great offensive teams, long history, etc.

I thought it would be fun to analyze the strength of the 2007 STL field using two easily available metrics for each participating team:
(1) experience measured in previous FRC events, and
(2) awards won as listed on the FRC website.

Clearly we will have some very experienced teams that have won many awards. We will also have seven rookie teams. So what do the averages look like?

Including the whole 2007 STL field, the average team experience is 6 FRC events and the average team has previously won 4.6 awards.

How much are these averages influenced by the top teams and rookies? Re-computing without 45, 217, and the rookies, the average team experience is still 6 FRC events and the average team has won 4 awards.

I don't know how these averages compare to those for other regionals, and I'll leave that calculation as an exercise for anyone who is interested. The 2007 STL averages look very strong to me.

And oh, yeah, the 2007 STL field also includes ten teams that have previously been regional winners, six that have previously won regional chairman's awards, and six with at least one mentor who has previously been a regional Woodie Flowers Award finalist.

All things considered, 2007 STL is a very strong field of teams. :)

[Hieb]

While it's great to see a number of powerhouse teams making their way to St. Louis this year, on a personal note I'll miss the Bomb Squad, team 16. In my first FIRST event 3 years ago they were the first team stop by our pit and welcome us. They fully embodied gracious professionalism, and got our team off to a great start with a first round victory. Of course, they followed up by thoroughly defeating us in the next 2 rounds, but that's beside the point. :)
So good luck Bomb Squad in Kansas City, we'll miss you.

[pludodog]

395 is looking forward to making the trip out to the Gateway City this year, it should be an exciting regional.

[GMKlenklen]

Yay!!!! I have compleated the first step in starting MY OWN FIRST team!!! Now we just have to find that $6k Hum...

[Richard Wallace]

The truly awesome field for St. Louis looks this way, with registration closed and a couple of days to go before initial event payment deadline:

Sixteen St. Louis area teams, including three St. Louis area rookies:
931, 1094, 1098, 1178, 1182, 1208, 1288, 1315, 1329, 1444, 1451, 1658, 1706, 1985, 2014, 2219

Seven Kansas City area teams, including three Kansas City area rookies:
1723, 1752, 1769, 1939, 1986, 2011, 2109

Five returning St. Louis Regional veterans (three or more previous appearances):
525 (IA), 547 (TN), 939 (SD), 967 (IA), 1625 (IL)

Nine veterans with less than three previous St. Louis Regional appearances:
45 (IN), 148 (TX), 217 (MI), 292 (IN), 461 (IN), 829 (IN), 1472 (LA), 1602 (MI), 1646 (IN)

And three more out-of-area rookies:
2133 (TN), 2167 (MO), 2177 (MN)

As usual, watch out for the rookies -- they can and will surprise the unwary. ;)

So we will have IA, IL, IN, LA, MI, MO, MN, KS, SD, TN, and TX represented at St. Louis this year -- eleven states! :)

Caveat: Things can still change a little, registration rules being what they are.

[Richard Wallace]

Nine veterans with less than three previous St. Louis Regional appearances:
45 (IN), 148 (TX), 217 (MI), 292 (IN), 461 (IN), 829 (IN), 1472 (LA), 1602 (MI), 1646 (IN)Make that ten, with the addition of 1250 (http://www.teamfordfirst.org/team1250/), so now there are three MI teams in the 41 team field. And one team still pending; wonder who they are?:confused:

[Allison]

1747 is the team that is pending

[Richard Wallace]

1747 is the team that is pendingCool!:cool:

I was hoping all three of the Purdue FIRST (http://first.purdue.org/frc.php) teams would come to St. Louis.:)

[Eric W. Jones]

Cool!:cool:

I was hoping all three of the Purdue FIRST (http://first.purdue.org/frc.php) teams would come to St. Louis.:)

1747 isn't on the list yet, but I know I'm looking forward to heading west this year!

[Richard Wallace]

Looks like some capacity has opened up for St. Louis:

St. Louis Regional
St. Charles, MO USA
Dates: 3/1/2007 - 3/3/2007
View the 41 teams registered for this event
Pending Teams: 4
Open Capacity: 6
Event Website (http://www.stlouisfirst.org/)

[GMKlenklen]

Is anyone going to be volunteering to set up a regional-wide scouting system?

I will as long as my programmers can figure it out!!!

[Sgraff_SRHS06]

The truly awesome field for St. Louis looks this way, with registration closed and a couple of days to go before initial event payment deadline:

Sixteen St. Louis area teams, including three St. Louis area rookies:
931, 1094, 1098, 1178, 1182, 1208, 1288, 1315, 1329, 1444, 1451, 1658, 1706, 1985, 2014, 2219

Seven Kansas City area teams, including three Kansas City area rookies:
1723, 1752, 1769, 1939, 1986, 2011, 2109

Five returning St. Louis Regional veterans (three or more previous appearances):
525 (IA), 547 (TN), 939 (SD), 967 (IA), 1625 (IL)

Nine veterans with less than three previous St. Louis Regional appearances:
45 (IN), 148 (TX), 217 (MI), 292 (IN), 461 (IN), 829 (IN), 1472 (LA), 1602 (MI), 1646 (IN)

And three more out-of-area rookies:
2133 (TN), 2167 (MO), 2177 (MN)

As usual, watch out for the rookies -- they can and will surprise the unwary. ;)

So we will have IA, IL, IN, LA, MI, MO, MN, KS, SD, TN, and TX represented at St. Louis this year -- eleven states! :)

Caveat: Things can still change a little, registration rules being what they are.

Add one team from MD (888) currently pending with Chesapeake/Pitt Finals and a Western Michigan winner under its belt.

So its Roboiators follow Kats follow Chickens follow everyone else in the regional (however way you want to order it).

[Richard Wallace]

The Rat Pack is looking at a trip to St. Louis this year. We want to do a Week 1 event, and we've heard nothing but good things about this regional. So, hopefully we'll add Michigan to your list of states...And the Rat Pack now appears on the list of confirmed teams for St. Louis, bringing the number of MI teams to three (217, 830, 1602). With three teams still pending. I think 1747 (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=540408&postcount=30) is one of them, and I've also heard that two more rookie teams from the STL area are being formed.

This is shaping up to be a very interesting field.

[GMKlenklen]

humm.... is there usually wireless internet at the regional in St. louis???
it would be awsome if there where... Make networking a lot easyer... and make the php based scouting database worthwhile!!! is there internet avalable?

[Richard Wallace]

humm.... is there usually wireless internet at the regional in St. louis???
it would be awsome if there where... Make networking a lot easyer... and make the php based scouting database worthwhile!!! is there internet avalable?In the past there has been no wireless available -- we are working to change that. Stay tuned.

[GMKlenklen]

Awesome. If anything, it might be possible to set up a mobile server and just have a little 802.11g wi-fi network going on for the database. This is going to be awesome if we can get it all together.

See, last year at Midwest regional, the team right across from my team's pit had pictures of the robots that where going to be in each of the round robin matches, and a bunch of statistics for each robot, all on an excel spreadsheet. It was pretty sweet. Then my dad started to tell people about how they did this scouting system, and soon it grew into an NFL worthy database and such (in other words the tail got taller and taller each time he told it). So yah, that's mainly why I'm interested in doing it. Other than the fact that as driver of the robot last year, I had a vested interest in intelligence on the next match!!!

[Mr.D]

Warren Robotics Team #829 "The Digital Goats" from Warren Central HS/Walker Career Center will be attending the St. Louis Regional.

[DeAnnaC]

Digital Goats? Sounds interesting..
We did have a 'killer rabbit' at the competition last year..

DeAnna

[gren737]

Anybody got any recommendations on where to stay? (Or have any extra space??)

I'm coming up to referee from TN I'll be coming in late thurs staying thru sat nights. What hotel(s) is everyone going to be at?

-Sarah

[Richard Wallace]

Here is an idea we will be trying out this year:Teams -

We at the St. Louis Regional are attempting to address the issue of team well-wishers and family members aimlessly wandering the St. Charles Family Arena, stopping strangers and asking if they know where their team is sitting in the stands. They don't know the team number or the team name but they do know that their child/husband/boss is on the team and they can't find them.

Well, we think we have a solution. We want each and everyone of the teams that are coming to the St. Louis Regional to send us a picture of one of your team members wearing a team t-shirt with the team number and name displayed prominently in the picture. We will then produce a large drawing of the seating area in the Arena. At the event, we then want your team to send a representative down to the Arena lobby and place your team number on the drawing in the area where your team is sitting, urging your team on to victory. We will place the picture you send on a legend poster so that viewers can look at the pictures, pick out the correct team, then go to the map and figure out where to go for the big reunion.The excerpt above is from an email that was sent to each of the main contact people for teams attending the 2007 St. Louis Regional. If your team is going to St. Louis and your main contact hasn't received the message, please PM me. We really want to make it easy for visitors to find the teams that they support.

[tbmantia]

What teams from the STL regional are going to have ramps/lifters? We are on team 1288. I am wondering if there are going to be a ton of these, because really there only needs to be a 1/3 of them if they can pick up 2 at a time.

[Ryan Dognaux]

I'm very excited to be coming to St. Louis this year for the first time. I've only heard good things, so I'm pumped.

[GMKlenklen]

2167 has all the parts ordered for raps enough to lift two 'bots. 18 degree angle too.

[tbmantia]

Check us out, still some work to do. Wish we had a few extra days, but who doesn't.

[DeAnnaC]

That looks eerily familiar..

I found a similar looking robot drawing on CD the week after kickoff and several since then.

Good luck to all!

DeAnna

[tbmantia]

So where is everyone else's pictures of their bots?

[DeAnnaC]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pUEmt91ZDGs

Short and sweet, as requested :)

DeAnna

[Richard Wallace]

See attachment.

[EOC]

1208 robot a week and a half ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asHXq1-BpRM

[Allison]

1747 is ready for St. Louis

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/27138

That was sunday at open house.

[tbmantia]

Here is our latest just before ship, a few changes/additions but nothing fundamentally different.

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/27196?

You can find more pics on our website:
www.ravenrobotics.org

[IndySam]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/27151

Digital Goats new Robot Randy ready to Rack 'n' Roll

[tbmantia]

IndySam, do you have anything you can share like how high can you score or how many bots can you hold?

[IndySam]

IndySam, do you have anything you can share like how high can you score or how many bots can you hold?

All the way if our BB holds up and two robots if the untested ramp lift works.

[GMKlenklen]

heh, it looks like 2167 will be bolting the rest of their robot together during opening ceremonies! lol.
also, I will not be able to join them, as I have been kicked off the team because of grades. (i just didn't study at all and got c's on my tests). I'll show up Saturday to watch you guy's duke it out tho!

p.s. are there any rules stating that a member can show up two days late, and drive the robot?

[Kellen Hill]

Here's 1625's 2007 robot in all its glory. We have bumpers for the sides and a few other things but that is pretty much it.

Picture (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/27218)

[Kyle Love]

Here is about 85% of RackStar. (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/img/b0a/b0ade419f7c8b48ddb3702d70ceb0910_l.jpg)

[DeAnnaC]

Just fyi for those who will be attending the St. Louis Regional - the Working Women's Survival show is next weekend too and it's off the same exit as the St. Louis Regional: http://www.historicstcharles.com/event/Item.aspx?ID=141

On Friday it's from 11-8pm, Sat from 10-8pm. Traffic may be a problem at lunch time and leaving the Family Arena.

DeAnna

[Ryan Dognaux]

Does anyone know if there will be a webcast available for this regional? I didn't see it on the NASA site, but sometimes events take it upon themselves to do one.

[Idaman323]

Oh great... can't wait until Thursday! I see many good teams coming/returning to the regional. Now I just have to hope that i will be with and not against these teams.

Good luck everybody.

[darsh5000]

Much of Team 461 is already in St. Loius. I'll be joining the rest of the team tommorow; how are the practice rounds going?

[Jeremiah Johnson]

Wow... I was going to ask for some info on 71... but then second guessed myself and decided to check and see if they were attending StL this year. And I was correct, the second time...

(For an Every Time I Die fan.... that was all SHINFO... FYI)

[Rich Ross]

how are the practice rounds going? Any news on 45, 71, 830, purdue teams or any other teams?

[Luckyfish05]

Update as I know it as of about an hour ago. I got off the phone with my Mom (yes, it's a family afair) who was able to make the trip to St. Louis (I unfortunately had to stay for a few classes) she told me these things.

There were a lot of software changes this morning (I believe Firmware and radio reconfiguration to be exact) so many of the teams that had early practice rounds didn't make it out. Not many teams are able to place tubes right now (so much so that when anyone does people are cheering), two teams that I do know are able to are TechnoKats (45) and us (PantherTech, 292). Other than those two teams I don't know who else is, she didn't mention any other numbers to me just that there were a couple of teams that were able too. Autonomous is yet again a challenge this year, teams are still trying to get theirs to work without much success. The Thunderchickens are yet to be seen on the field besides their human player. Off the field, they have been seen crowded around their trailer, no word on what's going on there.

That's about all I can remember. I hope this helps, I wish we had webcast for St. Louis. Best of luck to all the teams out there, I really hope we see some good matches as the weekend progresses!

[Grant Cox]

Posting from the hotel @ St. Louis :cool: after the practice matches, it looks like the game is going to be extremely low scoring. Even in practice matches (with no defense), most games were under 60 points.

45 and 148 seemed to be really good. I saw a couple robots with fast drivetrains but nonfunctional arms yet, so tomorrow and saturday should be interesting. The main weakness seems to be teams requiring close proximity to the rack in order to score (we even got tangled up in there once or twice, haha).

best of luck to all the teams competing!

[AdamHeard]

Posting from the hotel @ St. Louis :cool: after the practice matches, it looks like the game is going to be extremely low scoring. Even in practice matches (with no defense), most games were under 60 points.

45 and 148 seemed to be really good. I saw a couple robots with fast drivetrains but nonfunctional arms yet, so tomorrow and saturday should be interesting. The main weakness seems to be teams requiring close proximity to the rack in order to score (we even got tangled up in there once or twice, haha).

best of luck to all the teams competing!

How'd you guys do today?

[DeAnnaC]

Video footage from tonight's news:
http://www.myfoxstl.com/myfox/pages/Home/Detail;jsessionid=F4BB3E2887156A387016D70FBAE4ED65 ?contentId=2540871&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=1.1.1

Another plug on another channel (the video will be taped tomorrow morning at 5am)
http://www.ksdk.com/life/programming/local/tisl/default.aspx
There was a short video clip on Channel 5 of the teams uncrating their robots today, but I couldn't find it online to link it.

There are some great bots here at the St. Louis Regional. The grasper designs are very interesting. I'm always amazed at the different ways each team created something to play the same game.

Good luck to all!

DeAnna

[Joel J]

Does anyone now have pics of what each robot looks like? Also, how did 461's ramps work out?

[Richard Wallace]

We started the day with a little extra excitement, when the tornado warning siren forced everyone inside in a hurry. The tornado itself didn't attend our event, although it did touch down in a nearby town. For us it was just lots of wind and some rain, and then in less than an hour things were back to normal.

We were fortunate not to have any injuries, damage, or delays due to the severe weather.

[Compnerd]

We are Having a "meeting" for all webteam members of teams participating at the FIRST St. Louis Regional. Read more information here (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=55149)

[Schnabel]

This is a post from Kyle Love.

We are having a GREAT time here in STL. The robot is performing brilliantly. The atmosphere around the event is also great. There are two really good bots really, 217 and 148. 525 has scored in automode about 2-3 times. The site is nice and clean. I definitely want to come back next year.

[Luckyfish05]

This is a post from Kyle Love.

I definitely want to come back next year.

Kyle, my friend, I do believe that, that's going to be kinda hard considering you're a senior. It's great to hear you guys are preforming brillantly though!

[Hieb]

While most rounds have been low scoring, the ThunderChickens (217) have been consistently scoring 5 or more on the top row, including a round of 7. It does look like defense is going to be important (which is good for us since we've burned up 3 of the banebots 540 motors so far and have pretty much scrapped our arm). There are some interesting ramp designs, as well, but many teams seem to be having difficulty in the endgame either deploying their ramps or getting on to other teams ramps.

Well, 3 hours to the fun begins. Good luck to all.

[Richard Wallace]

This is a post from Kyle Love.

We are having a GREAT time here in STL. The robot is performing brilliantly. The atmosphere around the event is also great. There are two really good bots really, 217 and 148. 525 has scored in automode about 2-3 times. The site is nice and clean. I definitely want to come back next year.

Kyle, my friend, I do believe that, that's going to be kinda hard considering you're a senior. It's great to hear you guys are preforming brillantly though!Go to college in St. Louis, Kyle, and come back as a volunteer or a mentor! :cool:
(Just don't forget that you'll be a student first, and students must learn, and they are measured by their grades.)

[Joel J]

Wow.. 45 and 148 are going nuts!

[EricLeifermann]

How is the lifting of the robots going? I've been watching the VCU regional and it is mainly scoring of tubes. Teams seem to be having problems climbing teams ramps. Are teams doing any better in St. Louis?

[Jherbie53]

Match #39 just had teams 1315, 148, 2133 scored a combined 7 on the lower racks for 128pts. The Thunder Chickens were on the other alliance and scored 2 by them selves.

[Joel J]

Does anyone else think this match schedule is weird!?!?

I mean, 148 goes against either 217 or 45-- everytime. It looks like the same initial block of matches being run over and over.

[Stephen Kowski]

I wondered if anyone has any vids that they have encoded of the heavy hitters at this regional. I love the feed so i can see what is going on, but I would love to see some of the intricacies of the teams discussed in this thread (45,217, etc, etc)

[Luckyfish05]

Does anyone else think this match schedule is weird!?!?

I mean, 148 goes against either 217 or 45-- everytime. It looks like the same initial block of matches being run over and over.

I agree, not just for 148 but there are a few other teams out there that never get to play with any of those teams (148, 217,45), they're always against them multiple times. The randomness of the schedule didn't work out well this time around.

[Joe Ross]

Does anyone else think this match schedule is weird!?!?

I mean, 148 goes against either 217 or 45-- everytime. It looks like the same initial block of matches being run over and over.

148 also always has a rookie partner. Not only that, but every team with a 2 or 3 digit number always plays with 2 other 4 digit numbers. There also isn't a single match with all 6 teams being 4 digit numbers, which should happen about 10% of the time.

[Dave Flowerday]

148 also always has a rookie partner. Not only that, but every team with a 2 or 3 digit number always plays with 2 other 4 digit numbers. There also isn't a single match with all 6 teams being 4 digit numbers, which should happen about 10% of the time.
From talking with some people here, I've been told that the scoring system is not working correctly for match generation. Teams complained about the match schedule but supposedly FIRST said there's nothing they can do about it.

[AdamHeard]

From talking with some people here, I've been told that the scoring system is not working correctly for match generation. Teams complained about the match schedule but supposedly FIRST said there's nothing they can do about it.

I hope they have fixed by next week....

or if they don't, I hope were stuck with 330:)

[Richard Wallace]

From talking with some people here, I've been told that the scoring system is not working correctly for match generation. Teams complained about the match schedule but supposedly FIRST said there's nothing they can do about it.Sorry if I gave you the wrong impression, Dave. What FIRST actually told me is that this is the way the algorithm is supposed to generate matches, and there is no means to vary the match-ups. So the intent seems to be that low numbered teams will alternate playing each other. I was told this is not a defect in the system; matches come out that way because that is the algorithm that FIRST specified.

Several people who have been recognized as sources of inspiration to the FIRST community have told me that this match generation system seems unfair, and I concur. I understand that these feelings will be communicated in a respectful manner to the appropriate people at FIRST, probably within the next few days.

On a related note, the scoring system worked flawlessly today at St. Louis -- no crashes, no restarts, no lost data, no delays. We finished about four minutes ahead of schedule, and the only (relatively minor) problems encountered were due to human error.

[Alan Anderson]

...the intent seems to be that low numbered teams will alternate playing each other. I was told this is not a defect in the system; matches come out that way because that is the algorithm that FIRST specified.
It's the way FIRST wants it to be, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a defect in the system from the point of view of many of the veteran teams. :p
On a related note, the scoring system worked flawlessly today at St. Louis...
Again, it worked as designed, but one specific feature could be considered a flaw by the users even though it's exactly as FIRST specified: it takes serious intervention to correct a match score after the fact.

But there haven't been any noticeable glitches in the system. It all seems to be working exactly as FIRST wants it to, and that's good.

[Dave Flowerday]

What FIRST actually told me is that this is the way the algorithm is supposed to generate matches, and there is no means to vary the match-ups. So the intent seems to be that low numbered teams will alternate playing each other.
It'd be interesting to know what the spec really said. I would think the intention would have been to "prefer" setting up low number teams to play each other, but I doubt that they really wanted to have the same teams play each other over and over and over.

As I see it, there's a defect here one way or another. It might be an implementation defect or it might be a requirements defect, but either way I can't see how the current situation could be considered "desired" behavior (certainly isn't to me and clearly a lot of others as well).

The other interesting thing about this is that it means FIRST is assuming that lower-numbered teams are somehow better. While there might be some truth to this when all the teams across the country are averaged, it would seem to seriously penalize low-numbered teams who aren't so good, or perhaps have had a rebirth and despite the team's overall age are basically rookies. The converse is also true for very young teams that happen to be very good (and are sometimes that way because they're essentially made up of a bunch of people from veteran teams).

Seems like this is probably a case of good intentions gone awry. Hopefully it can be fixed and we can move on.

[ChrisH]

148 also always has a rookie partner. Not only that, but every team with a 2 or 3 digit number always plays with 2 other 4 digit numbers. There also isn't a single match with all 6 teams being 4 digit numbers, which should happen about 10% of the time.


As I understood the explanation from the guy who designed the system, this is exactly what is supposed to happen. The alliances in a match are supposed to be closely matched in terms of total experience. So a ten year team is paired with maybe a two year team and a rookie. The average experience would then be around four years. They would wind up laying against either a similar alliance or maybe three three or four year teams. Further, the goal of the alogrithm is to have all of the matches have very similar "average ages".

This is an interesting idea and is similar to what AYSO and some other youth sports organizations do in assigning teams. They attempt to spread out the top ranked players so that the teams are close in ability.

I think the problem might be that the distribution of team ages is not uniform. There can be huge gaps that a dumb algorithm will not be able to account for. Another factor is that there is more room for adjustment when you are working with 13 or 14 individuals than when you only have three. Or they might be trying to work with too small a "window" for an acceptable match. There are a lot of ways for something like this to go wrong.

[Joel J]

What does everyone think: 148+217? 148+931? Who do you think will take this competition?

[Goober!!!]

can anyone give details about 217's ramp/lifter?

[Hieb]

can anyone give details about 217's ramp/lifter?

Unfortunately I've yet to see it work properly. However, if they are well protected they are incredible at scoring.

[Luckyfish05]

can anyone give details about 217's ramp/lifter?

I do believe that it looks like they have "lost" their ramps. as or right now at least.

[Travis Hoffman]

I do believe that it looks like they have "lost" their ramps. as or right now at least.

Weight problems?

[Luckyfish05]

Weight problems?

Maybe, but as Hieb said, he hadn't seen them work yet. So your guess is as good as mine.

[Dave Flowerday]

Alliance selection is delayed until 12:45 due to scoring system failure. Apparently it can't calculate the rankings correctly so they're having to do them all by hand.

[Luckyfish05]

Alliance selection is delayed until 12:45 due to scoring system failure. Apparently it can't calculate the rankings correctly so they're having to do them all by hand.

Ugh... that's got to be horrible....

[Swan217]

Update from 217: Scrapped ramp wings 50% because they'd rather be scoring ringers than getting ramp points, 50% because of weight issues.

Look for a high scoring round from 217 and whomever picks them.

Make that 148.

Alliances:
1...0148...0217...2133
2...1444...0045...829
3...1769...1208...967
4...1723...0525...1625
5...1502...0931...1182
6...2177...1094...830
7...1178...1985...888
8...1747...0547...461

[xzvrw2]

alright for 45 and kyle....hot dog???? hahaha

[AdamHeard]

It looks like 217 + 148 may make some big rows.

[Alex Cormier]

It looks like 217 + 148 may make some big rows.

it's all over. those are your champs.

[AdamHeard]

As I understood the explanation from the guy who designed the system, this is exactly what is supposed to happen. The alliances in a match are supposed to be closely matched in terms of total experience. So a ten year team is paired with maybe a two year team and a rookie. The average experience would then be around four years. They would wind up laying against either a similar alliance or maybe three three or four year teams. Further, the goal of the alogrithm is to have all of the matches have very similar "average ages".

This is an interesting idea and is similar to what AYSO and some other youth sports organizations do in assigning teams. They attempt to spread out the top ranked players so that the teams are close in ability.

I think the problem might be that the distribution of team ages is not uniform. There can be huge gaps that a dumb algorithm will not be able to account for. Another factor is that there is more room for adjustment when you are working with 13 or 14 individuals than when you only have three. Or they might be trying to work with too small a "window" for an acceptable match. There are a lot of ways for something like this to go wrong.

The idea seems nice, but is pretty flawed.

The age of a team doesn't necessarily reflect how good they are.

Also, I wish the spread was a little wider than just adjacent numbers. The LA regional won't be that much fun next week if we have to play against 254 and/or 330 in every match.

I bet 1503 and 1680 are liking this system though, they will probably be playing teams they are consistently better than...

[JackN]

Alliances Please:)

[Joel J]

THe alliances are on the previous page..

How did 148 pull off number one seed? I thought they ended in second place..

[Swan217]

THe alliances are on the previous page..

How did 148 pull off number one seed? I thought they ended in second place..

There were ranking issues. Apparently 148 went 8-0 with 1444, but had a higher tie breaker. The 9th didn't count and I guess the scoring program missed that.


Alliances:
1...0148...0217...2133
2...1444...0045...829
3...1769...1208...967
4...1723...0525...1625
5...1502...0931...1182
6...2177...1094...830
7...1178...1985...888
8...1747...0547...461

[Joel J]

Yea-- 148 wins, 45 gets second. This one seems clear, eh?

Or I don't know.. 45 may turn up the defense when they get to the finals.

[Luckyfish05]

I have to agree with Joe, Technokats can handle playing defence if they need to.

[Luckyfish05]

Can some one explain to me what just happened there? The Score was 0-0 and going to a rubbermatch. Then the score was reversed to 14-0? I have to say I'm confused. What reversed it?:confused:

[Joel J]

Alright.. here we go. I bet 148+217+45 couldn't have asked for a better weekend!

[Luckyfish05]

I would tend to agree with you.....
I've got to cheer for the Technokitties on this one though they are all pretty nice robots...


Edit: After watching the finals, great job teams! Can't wait to see you live!

[Joel J]

Congrats to 45+1444. The ramp/defense makes the difference.

[Travis Hoffman]

Huzzah to the 2 @ 12 of 1444!!!!! #1 seed and event champions!


Congrats 1444, 45, and 829!

I say that the only way an effective ramp/defense alliance loses in the elims is if another effective ramp/defense alliance faces them.

[Clark Gilbert]

Congrats on the win 45! Can't wait to see you guys at Purdue.

[ShaneP]

Congrats to teams 45, 829, and 1444 for winning the regional.

Also congrats to teams 148, 217, and 2133. Good job to all teams.

[Taylor]

Congrats IndianaFIRST teams! Way to show 'em what Hoosier (or Boiler) Robotics are all about. I don't know if I'm excited about the BMR or scared now. Either way there's gonna be some pretty spectacular matches.

[natis]

Hey can somebody link me to the finals we couldnt see it
thanks
natalia

[Lisa Perez]

Any list of the awards, by any chance?

[Travis Hoffman]

Any list of the awards, by any chance?

http://www2.usfirst.org/2007comp/events/MO/awards.html

[Kit Gerhart]

It's good to see my old team, TechnoKats, get off to a good start this year. Congrats also to 829, and 1444. See you in Atlanta.

[RoboPhantom]

Can anybody explain how team 1747 got to pick Alliance #8 ahead of team 1329? When you take out 1747's 9th match, they both had 5 and 3 records, with 1329 hoding the ranking score tiebreaker advantage.

Since it was our goal to finally get to the finals this year, I'm just wondering if we actually would have, except for a scoring snafu.

I've been working the numbers all afternoon, and I just can't make sense of the scoring. Any help appreciated. I'm actually hoping I'm wrong. Either way it was a great regional. Contrats to everybody!

Thanks,
Jeff Holland
Team 1329

[Richard Wallace]

Jeff, when you take out 1747's surrogate (9th) match they have the same QS as 1329 (both have 5-3 records) and their ranking score goes to 10.76 (the incorrectly reported 9.56 was calculated by dividing their total unpenalized opponents scores by 9 instead of 8). So they edge you out by half a ranking point. :(

-----------------------------

Wow. What a regional! What a final! I'll post some pictures later; watching the alliance of 148/217/2133 put up 7-rows was a real inspiration. Elegant and efficient machines, well operated, well strategized. They showed us how this game is supposed to be played.

In the end they couldn't quite handle the incredible combination of rack scoring, defense, and rampsmanship displayed by 1444/45/829, and it is fair to say that the unfortunate snagging of 217's arm in F1 was too much for the #1 alliance to overcome.

Congratulations to repeat St. Louis Regional Winners 1444 and their partners 45 and 839.

Congrats also to all of the award winners and especially to 461 for Engineering Inspiration and Website Awards. Special props to Jerry Budd for handling the scoring with grace under pressure.

And congrats to 1985 for an amazing robot and a well deserved Rookie All Star Award. Now there is another Emerson-sponsored team in town, and they are starting very strong.

Once again I want to tell the CD/FIRST community that I am very proud of my team, 931 Perpetual Chaos, for taking home their second St. Louis Regional Chairman's Award in three years. They built a solid robot that scored well and seeded 6th. And although our alliance (1502/931/1182) was overwhelmed in QF2 (awesome lifter, 1625) I am still very proud of their competitiveness. Watch for them at future events: Boilermaker, Atlanta, IRI.

Special thanks to Mark Koors, of TechnoKat and AndyMark fame, for making my rookie experience as an FTA run smoothly. Since Mark prefers to remain behind the scenes, some folks on CD may enjoy seeing a rare photo of him with the winning alliance in the background, attached below.

[hillale]

Can some one explain to me what just happened there? The Score was 0-0 and going to a rubbermatch. Then the score was reversed to 14-0? I have to say I'm confused. What reversed it?:confused:

The referee's made the decision, after posting the 0-0 score on the screen, that a tube can be unscored and scored simultaneously. With that 5th tube in a row, that gave them 34 points with -20 in penalties. At first they didn't count that 5th tube because the robot never released it onto the rack. it was in contact with the robot until the end game buzzer went off. However after further contemplation they gave them the tube. Our team went down to question the call, but the ref's weren't able to give us a firm answer, just that what happened stands.

[meatmanek]

I wasn't watching 148 while that happened, so I can't comment on their actions during the match, but:

Seems to me if the refs are going to penalize them for descoring a tube, it implies that the tube was scored in the first place. The rules clearly state that a descored tube still counts, and the head ref even made an announcement on Friday to that effect.

Hence the 14-0 score.

[efoote868]

Congratulations to all teams on a great effort; way to represent Indiana!!!!
boilermaker is going to be tough, and I'm looking forward to it.

[Idaman323]

Congrats to 1444, 45, 829! I wasn't sure if they were going to pull it off, but this just shows, with a good defense and a ramp made for two robots, you can pull off a win.

(217 getting tangled up and falling also didn't help them in the first round)

[Luckyfish05]

I wasn't watching 148 while that happened, so I can't comment on their actions during the match, but:

Seems to me if the refs are going to penalize them for descoring a tube, it implies that the tube was scored in the first place. The rules clearly state that a descored tube still counts, and the head ref even made an announcement on Friday to that effect.

Hence the 14-0 score.

Thanks for the Clarification! The webcast cut out during the match, so I came back to them looking at the tube and then I was doing something else (suppose to be studying, probably just being distracted) and didn't hear why. Those rules are good to know! Thanks again.

[RoboPhantom]

Jeff, when you take out 1747's surrogate (9th) match they have the same QS as 1329 (both have 5-3 records) and their ranking score goes to 10.76 (the incorrectly reported 9.56 was calculated by dividing their total unpenalized opponents scores by 9 instead of 8). So they edge you out by half a ranking point. :(


Thanks, Richard. I was doing the math wrong when I took out the 9th match. Congrats to the scorers for getting the hand recalculation right under extreme pressure! :D

One other question. What determined who got a 9th match? I'm assuming it's either random draw or order of registration. I'm also not sure why those 4 extra rounds were even played, since it seems to put those bots unnecessarily at risk of damage just before the elimination rounds.

Jeff

[Grant Cox]

The referee's made the decision, after posting the 0-0 score on the screen, that a tube can be unscored and scored simultaneously. With that 5th tube in a row, that gave them 34 points with -20 in penalties. At first they didn't count that 5th tube because the robot never released it onto the rack. it was in contact with the robot until the end game buzzer went off. However after further contemplation they gave them the tube. Our team went down to question the call, but the ref's weren't able to give us a firm answer, just that what happened stands.
Here's the clarification I can give; if a tube is still in contact with a robot at the end of a round, it is considered that the bot is descoring it (which uses the "if the robot were to disappear, would the tube fall" rule). Descoring a tube still leaves that tube valid for points, although it is also a 10 point penalty (edit: yeah basically what meatmanek said). As soon as the scores went up, both myself and 148's driver went up to question the call, only to be told that the refs were aware already and were working to change it.

(217 getting tangled up and falling also didn't help them in the first round)
Yeahh... our whole arm/grabber structure was already not in very good shape, and the tangle/fall did not help at all.


On behalf of team 217, I would like to congratulate 45, 829, and 1444 on their performance. We knew it was going to be an incredible couple of matches, and you never let up. I'd also like to extend a special thanks to 148 and 2133; you guys were aaawwesome. 2133, although they were a rookie team, put up some great defense, and 148's ridiculous scoring abilities couldn't have been better. Good luck to all in the future and we'll see you guys at Nats :)

[Richard Wallace]

One other question. What determined who got a 9th match? I'm assuming it's either random draw or order of registration. I'm also not sure why those 4 extra rounds were even played, since it seems to put those bots unnecessarily at risk of damage just before the elimination rounds.I'll try to go back and look. At the time I assumed that at least some of the teams in the later matches were appearing for their eighth time. I didn't watch (although I am fairly certain that some of the top scouts did) to see which of the teams were playing as surrogates and which were still going for QS and RS.

[Paul Copioli]

One clarification for you "ramp + defense" advocates: It was not the ramp + defense robots that clinched it for the winning alliance ... it was effective execution of a strategy and making simple, robust robots that won the match. 2 functioning ringer robots are hard to stop especially if you leave them alone at during the last 20 - 30 seconds when you are trying to get on the ramp.

We skimped on certan parts of our arm and, as it turns out, we were not robust enough to survive the entire elimination rounds. Our arm was crippled after the semi-finals and the crash in Finals 1 did us in. We were not able to lift high after that, which is our strong suit.

The simple, reliable, and effective robots of 1444, 45, and 829 beat our alliance; but don't jump on the defense + ramp bandwagon so soon .....

[Tristan Lall]

One other question. What determined who got a 9th match? I'm assuming it's either random draw or order of registration. I'm also not sure why those 4 extra rounds were even played, since it seems to put those bots unnecessarily at risk of damage just before the elimination rounds.With the curious scheduling algorithm in use this year, don't bet on it being very random—though historically, it was by random selection. Also, as the extra risk goes, that's just something you have to be willing to accept. The possibility of surrogate matches is mentioned in the rules, so teams should be aware that they may be called upon.

[Chris Fultz]

1444, 45, 829!

Congrats 1444, 45 and 829 - Awesome "Indiana" showing!

Can someone tell us who won the WFA? The FIRST site just says Harrison - 1747.

[RoboPhantom]

With the curious scheduling algorithm in use this year, don't bet on it being very random—though historically, it was by random selection. Also, as the extra risk goes, that's just something you have to be willing to accept. The possibility of surrogate matches is mentioned in the rules, so teams should be aware that they may be called upon.

Don't get me wrong... I think extra matches are great. I'm just wondering if it's normal for 4 complete matches containing nothing but "surrogates" is a normal occurance at a FIRST regional. Also wondering if the teams (and the spectators) knew or should have known that these were basically practice rounds and nobody had anything to gain or lose in the last 4 matches.

Jeff

[Ryan Dognaux]

1444, 45, 829!

Congrats 1444, 45 and 829 - Awesome "Indiana" showing!

Can someone tell us who won the WFA? The FIRST site just says Harrison - 1747.

Allison Babcock of 1747 won the WFA. It's very rare when a college mentor has won it, so congrats to her and their whole team.

I'd just like to thank everyone at the St. Louis Regional, especially the St. Louis volunteer coordinator Mike Gambill for giving me a shot at being MC - I had a blast and I hope everyone else did as a result too.

Congratulations to Richard of 931 for winning the volunteer award and to 931 for winning the Chairman's Award.

All in all, I thought the regional went very smoothly for being in week 1 - there were minimal glitches with the field which helped to keep things moving and on time.

Thanks again to everyone who made it happen.

[Richard Wallace]

Allison Babcock of 1747 won the WFA. It's very rare when a college mentor has won it, so congrats to her and their whole team....

Thanks again to everyone who made it happen.Add my congratulations to Allison Babcock. Great teams have great mentors.

And Ryan, you were a big part of making it happen in St. Louis this year. Thanks for everything, and we hope you'll be back next year.

[hillale]

Here's the clarification I can give; if a tube is still in contact with a robot at the end of a round, it is considered that the bot is descoring it (which uses the "if the robot were to disappear, would the tube fall" rule). Descoring a tube still leaves that tube valid for points, although it is also a 10 point penalty (edit: yeah basically what meatmanek said). As soon as the scores went up, both myself and 148's driver went up to question the call, only to be told that the refs were aware already and were working to change it.

If the "dissappearing robot rule" were in fact a rule, then a tube suspended horizontally above the spider foot at the end of a match would be considered scored.

7.2.1 Definitions:

“Hanging: A game piece is considered hanging if it’s weight is fully supported by a spider leg and it has been released by the possessing robot. A game piece is not considered hanging if it is supported by the spider foot.”

“THE POSSESSION: A game piece is considered to be in the possession of a robot if it is being fully supported by the robot, or if the robot is controlling the position and movement of the game piece... “

“SCORED: A spider leg is considered scored if one or two game pieces are hanging on it in a legal configuration… “

After review of the game definitions, it seems apparent that if the robot never left contact with the tube, it was never considered hanging because if there’s any contact at all between the robot and the game piece, the weight of the game piece is not fully supported by the spider leg and the tube is clearly still in the possession of the robot because the robot is controlling the position and movement of the game piece. In that circumstance the tube could/should not be considered scored.

[Woe]

Missouri teams, congratulations to a job well done in completing Dean's Homework.

Thanks to all of you in impressing our team of newbies.This was FIRST at its best. Parents raved about the event and commented on the impact the competition had on their kids. A+ in generating a "WOW" factor.

A special thanks to team 1706. We love you guys. Your upbeat attitude, ability to overcome adversity and your determination to succeed is a constant source of inspiration to those in St. Charles County.

Thanks to rookie team 2177 for choosing us as their alliance, and to fellow partner 830. What exciting matches! Great strategy showcased the strength of all three bots.

Hope to see you next year!

[Tristan Lall]

Don't get me wrong... I think extra matches are great. I'm just wondering if it's normal for 4 complete matches containing nothing but "surrogates" is a normal occurance at a FIRST regional. Also wondering if the teams (and the spectators) knew or should have known that these were basically practice rounds and nobody had anything to gain or lose in the last 4 matches.Sorry, I didn't realize that everyone was a surrogate in those matches, but I just checked (http://www2.usfirst.org/2007comp/events/MO/matchresults.html), and sure enough, 24 teams played nine matches, while the other 21 played eight. To play eight times, the required number of matches is 60, with no surrogates. (Check my reasoning: if you have 45 teams, and 8 matches each, that makes 360 instances of a team taking the field; since 6 teams play each match, that's 60 matches, and since that's a whole number, no surrogates are needed.) That's idiotic—it's got to be a bug.

All teams will play the same number of qualifying matches except if the number of teams in attendance is not divisible by six; in that case the scoring system will randomly select some teams to play an extra match. For purposes of seeding calculations, those teams will be designated as SURROGATES for the extra match.Now here's what seems a little odd: the rule is based on the number of teams in attendance being divisible by 6. Since 45 ÷ 6 = 7.5, the rules call for surrogates and therefore extra matches, even if it is already possible to construct a 60-match schedule in which everyone plays eight times. How many surrogates do you need to make a (60 + n)-match schedule work? 6n. So why is n = 4? (64 matches were played.) Doesn't n = 1 work also? (Six teams play in their 9th match, not necessarily together, and the rule requiring surrogates is satisfied.) And if they did play together, that's proof that the match is extraneous.

Whatever our qualms about the reasoning behind the match-generating algorithm, this looks like a bug, and needs to be fixed, whether or not FIRST decides to re-work the methodology of choosing which teams play one another.

[IndySam]

Registration for the 2007 St. Louis Regional is Based on strong past performance, I'll go out on a limb and predict at least one Indiana team in the 2007 winning alliance.


Nice prediction! :)

[Hegemoni]

I think everyone did really well. I really enjoyed watching the robots compete in a good manner, and talking to members of the various teams. Everyone was extremely professional in their actions, and innovative in their robot designs.

I can honestly say that I'm perfectly happy with the silver, because 1444, 45, and 829 were a really good match up.

Not to be rambling, I'd just like to thank all of the teams who showed up, especially the rookie teams. You inspired me to stay in robotics till I graduate, and probably after that too.

And also a special thanks to 2133 and 217 , for being awesome teammates.

[DeAnnaC]

What a great competition!
Our team had a great time and the bot performed as expected. We were picked as an alliance partner and all played well together.

All of the people that came to see the competition were very impressed - impressed by the overall competition and the mechanical expertise shown by each team as they walked through the pits. Thanks to everyone who answered questions from the younger crowd, you'll never know how you influenced one of them to join their school team when they get older! Several of our Lego Team kids came by to check out Saturday and now want us to get back to Lego skill building now that Robot season is over. Sigh.

I can't wait for next year, but I need to recover from this one :) I think the Friday 5am tv shoot on did me in..

Best of luck to those continuing on this season, we plan to be at the IRI in July. The fish hats may be a little warm in July though..

DeAnna

[Richard Wallace]

Based on strong past performance, I'll go out on a limb and predict at least one Indiana team in the 2007 winning alliance.Nice prediction! :)OK, so make that two Indiana teams.

[Mr.D]

Warren Robotics "Digital Goats" arrived back at Warren Central HS/Walker Career Center in Indianapolis at 2 AM. Everyone was tired but very happy.

Many thanks to everyone involved with organizing the St. Louis Regional.

Congratulations to alliance team members:
Lightning Lancers #1444 and
TechnoKats #45.
Thank you for picking us!!
It was an honor to compete with you.

We are now looking for ways to finance a trip to Atlanta. Next stop for us is the Boilermaker Regional.

See you next year.:)

[kortlan]

i would like to thank everyone who helped out with the 2007 st louis regionals. i know yall put a lot of hard work into it and im really glad. i thanked alot of voulenteers but i couldnt get to all of them. (mainly because there was over 200). but it was a super fun regional and i think it went great.

i would also like to congradulate teams 1444, 45, and 829 for their victory. they all 3 had great robots and used each ones capabilities to the max.

i would also like to thank teams 217 and 2133 for all their help. they were great teammates. 2133's defense was extreamly good and 217's scoring capability was awesome. i hope 217's arm damage is not too bad off.

it was a super fun regionals and i think it demostrated gracious professionalism to the extreame.

[Andy Baker]

Wow, what a regional at St. Louis! Here are some random notes...

Thank you to teams 1444 for choosing us as a partner and 829 for completing a great alliance. It was an honor and pleasure to work with both of your drive teams and impressive to see you handle your well-built and durable robots. It was an honor to get to know the 1444 team from St. Louis, work with their knowledgeable drive team, and see how their students designed their own shifter gearboxes.

I am very proud to be a TechnoKat. This was definitely a TEAM accomplishment, to be a part of the St. Louis regional winning alliance. Our scouting team, pit crew, drive team support crew, and drive team all pulled their weight to help make this effort a winning one. Also, winning the Motorola Quality Award for only the 2nd time in TechnoKats history is quite an accomplishment. Way to go all of you! I was reminded just how special our drive team and pit crew is when all I was doing in the finals was fetching tools.

The quality of teams and the people in the St. Louis region is outstanding. I am not sure I've been to a regional that had more volunteers running it. There was an abundance of judges, inspectors, que-ers, and people all around to help make this competition enjoyable. Our team parents (and grandparents) who volunteered agreed that this was one of the best regionals they have attended. Kudos to the St. Louis Regional planning committee. I would recommend this regional to any team wishing to attend.

As for qualification matches, it was not fun going against 148 5 out of the 9 matches we were in. However, it was good practice for our drivers to play against the heavy defense that JVN would send after us in the form of 148's alliance partners. I was happy to see that our drivers scored at least 2 or more tubes in each match under this pressure.

Ramps are important, but time will tell if 2 tube scorers and a defender can beat 2 tube scorers and a ramp. The final round went to the 2 scorers and the ramp (1444, 45, and 829), but it was close. If 148 would have scored one last ringer in the first match, the would have one that match. That was the same match that 217 was hung up on the rack ... however, at the same time, 1444 was tipped over and inoperable for most of the match. Our strategy was to scatter the rack with tubes, play defense on their tube scorers, breaking up the opportunity for large rows, and get both robots on the ramp at the end. Thankfully, it worked.

It is especially great to see team 829 finally find success on the FIRST playing field. These guys from Warren Central HS and Walker Career Center in Indianapolis have a great team and work hard to make a well-designed robot each year. This year, their ramp-bot is a definite winner. Here's to lead teacher Randy Decker and the rest of the Digital Goats for a great win.

This game is fun... the end game makes it great. Ramps are the key to the excitement.

It's gonna be a good year for FIRST.

Andy B.

[Shayna]

I would like to thank team 148 for picking us. Your robot is amazing and I really enjoying working with you guys.

I would also like to thank 2133 for playing some killer defense. GO ROOKIES!


Congrats to 1444, 45 and 829. See you in atlanta!

[Mr.D]

i would like to thank everyone who helped out with the 2007 st louis regionals. i know yall put a lot of hard work into it and im really glad. i thanked alot of voulenteers but i couldnt get to all of them. (mainly because there was over 200). but it was a super fun regional and i think it went great.

i would also like to congradulate teams 1444, 45, and 829 for their victory. they all 3 had great robots and used each ones capabilities to the max.

i would also like to thank teams 217 and 2133 for all their help. they were great teammates. 2133's defense was extreamly good and 217's scoring capability was awesome. i hope 217's arm damage is not too bad off.

it was a super fun regionals and i think it demostrated gracious professionalism to the extreame.

I want to congratulate teams 148, 217 and 2133 for a hard fought final matches. Your bots are awesome and for a while I thought we might have a 3rd match. Congratulations team 148 on your #1 ranking and your performance throughout the qualification rounds. Your bot was fun to watch.

On behalf of Warren Robotics Team #829 "Digital Goats" I wish all of you good luck throughout the 2006-07 FIRST competition season!!

[kortlan]

for a while I thought we might have a 3rd match.

i thought so too. but after 217's fall and their arm trouble. it looked bad. then in the middle of the 2nd match our intake claw got bent up and we couldnt even grab a tube. and we had used our timeout already after the first match to fix a pneumatic problem. so even if we would of made it to the 3rd match. we would of been extreamly banged up with no time for repairs lol

I would like to thank team 148 for picking us. Your robot is amazing and I really enjoying working with you guys.

and i realy enjoyed working with yall too. yalls robot was quite awesome. i hope its up to par for atlanta

[Adama]

How did team 888 do? they have been very helpful to us
(2199) in our rookie year and we are curious how they did.

[Cynette]

I'm compiling a list of Rookie Awards and the Highest Rookie Seed was awarded to 2177, the Visitation Blazers. According to the team results section it looks like 1985 Robohawks finished prelims with a higher ranking. Does anyone have the reason that 1985 was not given the HRS? Does it have something to do with 2177 playing 8 matches while 1985 played 9?

[IndySam]

I'm compiling a list of Rookie Awards and the Highest Rookie Seed was awarded to 2177, the Visitation Blazers. According to the team results section it looks like 1985 Robohawks finished prelims with a higher ranking. Does anyone have the reason that 1985 was not given the HRS? Does it have something to do with 2177 playing 8 matches while 1985 played 9?

The 9th match didn't count.

[Cynette]

The 9th match didn't count.Thanks!

[Richard Wallace]

The 9th match didn't count.To expand on IndySam's comment -- we played eight qualifying matches per team in St. Louis, but due to an error in the match generation algorithm several teams played unnecessary "surrogate" matches. Results of those extra matches were used to calculate the standings reported on the FIRST site (under Regional Events) but that was incorrect. Correct seedings as defined in section 9.3 of the 2007 FRC Manual were calculated manually before we proceeded with the eliminations, using the results of each team's first eight matches.

[Cynette]

Correct seedings as defined in section 9.3 of the 2007 FRC Manual were calculated manually before we proceeded with the eliminations, using the results of each team's first eight matches.Oh my! I always wondered how they counted the matches when the number of teams wasn't divisible by 6. And now I know!:)