2013 Western Canada Regional
 

Starting a thread for Canada's new regional. Tons of new rookie teams out here in Alberta this year, it's exciting to see FRC getting big in our area.

List of teams attending:
188
216
244
288
1305
1334
1482
1691
1772
2915
3278
3354
3527
4001
4205
4334
4497
4591
4602
4604
4605
4606
4625
4627
4631
4633
4634
4636
4719
4720
4733
4751
4771
Rookie teams are in bold.

Any other teams thinking about registering? We could use some more veteran teams out here.

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

Proud to be the highest non-rookie team going :)

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

Make sure you guys bring your "eh" game. :D

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

The webcast has a really loud crackly sound. Just a heads up, as its really annoying.

Edit: More webcast feedback. I'm not sure if they are just testing things for practice day, but it is very annoying flashing to the goal every time 4334 shoots full court. The entire match rotated between a 1 second flash of the entire field, and a 1 second flash of the 2 point goal.

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

Is 188 going to this competition.....i thought they were gone for this season

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

No, they did not compete this season.

Updated team list: www.frclinks.com/e/abca

Personally, I'm rooting for 1334, 771 and 1772 to get banners are this event. I think all three would open up Wildcard slots.

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

As would 1305, Waterloo Chairman's Award winners.

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

True, I just saw that.

Very cool, this should be great for the teams attending this event.

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

I think 4334's got a good shot at their first regional win. Judging from the practice matches we played together, they left their shooter issues in Seattle. We're still ironing out some kinks with our Vision code for autonomous, and with getting lined up right at the loading station, but we made good progress today and we're ready to get serious and bring the heat in the qualifications tomorrow.

I noticed Karthik walking around with a disturbing lack of Toronto Blue Jays jersey. What's up with that?

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

I bet that'll change tomorrow.

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

Meet Herman.

Herman is from Fort McMurray, an Albertan city eight hours North of Calgary.

Like most of us, Herman wanted to build robots.

Unlike most of us, he the only student on FRC Team 4625, the Trappers.

You see, Herman is a rookie. He started the team along with a teacher from Father Mercredi High School and three other students. Like most of us felt in our rookie year, build season was challenging. Unfortunately, the other three students quit.

But this isn’t a pity story for Herman, but one of inspiration. He is the one-person team that could.

At fifteen years old Herman walked into the Western Canadian FRC Regional, Thursday, April 4, his family shortly behind him. It was just him and his robot, as his teacher showing up later in the day. With courage, he sat in his pit and got to work.

Soon, the rest of the regional heard of this one-person rookie team. They were curious, so they checked it out and talked to Herman. When SWAT (FRC Team 771) and the Robodawgs (FRC Teams 216, 244, 288) found out his robot wasn’t functioning, they got to work. With help from both veteran and rookie teams alike, Herman had a functioning, inspected robot by the time the pits closed Thursday. The regional administration had also given him special permission to have people from other teams be a part of his drive team. He will also have a handmade banner for his pit and scouting help, incase he happens to be in a picking position.

And as you watched the regional pull together for this one-person team, you can’t help but feel inspired. When you meet Herman, he has nothing but the biggest smile on his face. He is the embodiment of FIRST itself – determination, courage and a malleability that is common to a lot of rookie teams.

FIRST is about taking a big idea and making it happen. Within Team 1305, it was taking the feel of competition home with us for North Bay to experience – and winding up with a celebration of science and technology that includes all levels of FIRST Robotics Canada, reaches 3000 people annually and has helped create rookie teams. For Simbotics, it was the creation of an app that was downloaded over 1500 times in 65 different counties. For rookie teams, it is often just getting a robot that can compete.

Some ideas are easily successful and some are more challenging, but the great part about FIRST is that the FIRST Community is always there to support you. Today was just one example of how FIRST is a family, and families stick through things – thick or thin. Thank you Herman, for inspiring and reminding us what FIRST is all about.

- Emily Haws

Captain
FRC Team 1305

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

That is the most beautiful FIRST story I've ever heard.

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

We've fixed these issues tonight. The audio and video will be working tomorrow. As for the video mixing they're just testing things on practice day.

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

Great, thanks for all the hard work you put into it.

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

Partial list of awards from today (the ones I remember):
WFFA: Craig Maynard, 4334 ATA
Imagery: 3278 QWERTY Robotics
Engineering Inspiration: 4001 Retro-Rams

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

Cheering him on from the states!

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

Thanks for the link, Gregor.

Some of us were in 4625's pit for a little while today, along with some people from 771, 1305, and the RoboDawgs. We got the robot driving, and made some good hardware progress on the shooter, but we were stuck trying to find the laptop they had been using for programming and (as far as I know) still haven't gotten the shooter programmed in. Tomorrow I'll be our human player again, so I'll probably be too busy on the field to go down there myself, but I'll make sure one of our other programmers heads over to help him out. I really want to see him shoot some frisbees before the competition's over. I hope some other kids from his school hear his incredible story so that he's not in such a tough situation next year.

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

Beautiful story.

In fact, Herman reminded me of our alliance partner in BAE this year, Team 3609 - the Duct Tape Dragons. A team from Boys and Girls Club of Southern Maine...

They built a very robust robot and was critical to our alliance, but it's not their technical abilities that impressed me the most.

The team has 6 students in total.

Everyone was enthusiastic, eager to learn and contribute. I remembered shaking hands with them in the stands and the big smiles on their faces.

Another good example of how FIRST is working... inspiring young minds everywhere, big and small teams, veteran teams and rookies.

The bangor daily news has a story about them.

Quote: "Their 120-lb robot was made mostly with materials scavenged from their robots from previous years. Their total cost for the robot was $495, which includes the value of the recycled parts."

"They received tremendous support and assistance from other Maine teams, including Team 172 The Northern Force out of Falmouth & Gorham High Schools, Team 133 BERT from Bonney Eagle High School and Team 58 Riot Crew from South Portland High School."

Thank you to all of you who has made this possible.

Re: 2013 Western Canada Regional
 

Love this story.

Happy to have been able to watch the webcast - looked like a great event from afar! Maybe next year I'll be able to make the trip out there. :)