BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Which team are you cheering the most for? Being from Michigan I'd have to go with TeamCopioli.

For those of you that don't know what BuildBlitz is: BuildBlitz

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Being from Texas, and a fan of 148 since my rookie year, I'm on team JVN. May the best 'bot win. :)

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

How about Team Dan & Andrew! ha

But honestly, being very close to Texas, I'll be pulling for JVN

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Still not exactly sure what BuildBlitz is after checking out the link, but definitely gonna have to go for JVN being from Texas.

EDIT: Never mind, I guess it's a Ri3D deal except...pro?

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

From my understanding its a friendly competition between Team JVN and Team Copioli to see who can build the best robot in 72 hours.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

I am waiting for the draft, both Paul and JVN are awesome. It's like Manning vs. Brady it comes down to who is on each of their teams.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Will there be a Fantasy First draft as well?

;)

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

*cough* Fantasy FIRST *cough

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

6 Einstein appearances, going with Copioli right now.

I reserve the right to change my opinion after the draft, especially if Raul is draftable.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Copioli + RC = Mega Awesomeness. Team Copioli.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

JVN all the way. (I could ride my bike to IFI:P)

To answer a question, yes, it is like Ri3D from the pros. Now we will all have 3 robots to gain inspiration from this year just a half week into the build season.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Does one of the the teams get to draft Karthik? I think he should be a neutral observer.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

He said he was going to be apart of it during the VEXPro release, but throwing him on either team might just be too much for the building to handle kind of like Einstein in 2008 when 148,217, and 1114 teamed up IFI dominated. I think I will go with whichever team he gets drafted on. Also I wonder what the odds will be that they will make Karthik the intentional last pick. ;)

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Can a poll be added?

#TeamJVN

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Is this where we start speculating who is the number one pick?

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

My choice depends on the draftability/team of Raul and Aren :p

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

From personally knowing Paul, I'm going to have to go with his team. I'm expecting to see great robots from both of these teams. I'm excited to see what they create!

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

That would add to the drama for sure. The winning team will be the one that gets Karthik.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

They would be some of the top picks, but there is a lot of depth in the IFI shop. Even split into two teams there is a lot of talent. I'm excited, I think we will see two vastly different but very competitive robots.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

It's interesting to see the posts speculating on pick strategy, seeing as I'm one of the people who will be forced to pick. :)

A few things to note:
There were a number of Build Blitz candidates who were listed as ineligible (mostly due to work conflicts that time of year or uncertainty about their availability). Notably, the great Raul Olivera will not be bringing his legendary skills into the Blitz.

In addition Karthik & Grant Cox will be serving as Build Blitz Sideline Reporters -- they'll each be embedded with one of the two teams, but will not be part of the primary draft.

The strategy going into this sort of draft is interesting. There are a few considerations which are important to me, which many people may not think about.

1. I want to fill TeamJVN with people I've worked with before and ideally who have worked together before; in my opinion, this will improve efficiency.

2. I want to make sure we have a team with a wide-range of skills. I know I personally am not the world's best prototyper or builder (my skills are more related to CAD design). You can bet I want to make sure TeamJVN gets some great prototyping talent early in the draft.

My first pick is not who you'd expect. ;)

I can't begin to express how excited we are.

-John

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

This was to keep Karthik away from power tools wasn't it?

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Interesting approach. I figured your first thought would be to pick people who fill your weaknesses even if you havent worked with them before.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Can we get a full roster? Fantasy Build Blitz drafts will be much simpler.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

If you read my post, that's basically what my #2 criteria is. :)

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Well gosh, so it is. You just want it all then dont cha ;)

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Your wish is my command.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

#TeamTonthat

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

The list is in - check out the post on the Build Blitz Facebook page to find out who's available. We're planning to have the official draft posted next week.

#TeamBallShiftSohard

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

I will be pulling for whichever team picks me.

On a serious note, I have a lot of respect for both team leaders. I first met Paul Copioli in 2006: our pits butted up to each other. I learned so much during that competition. I had the opportunity to talk to him quite extensively in 2012 at Chesapeake. I first met JVN in 2010. We had a good conversation and continued to follow his blog through the 2011 build season. He provided a lot of insight and small details.

Since I can only choose one, I will select Team JVN. I really like his creativeness and his approach to design.

S/N: I don't think there is a wrong answer.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Oooh inside intrigue in the BuildBlitz? Aren spilling secrets? He's a key developer of some of the new products... Is it a draft or is there a robotics-sports agent involved in the contract negotiation? Raul is off the roster, but what about Art? And where is Ricky? And Sean, he's a robot maniac!

This is so much better than the "2014 finally the year for the water game, or maybe an ICE game since Texas froze over last week" threads.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

***DREAM TEAM***

(NO disrespect to _anyone_ not listed, I wish I had 1/10th your skills and abilities):

- John V-Neun - VP of Engineering for VEX Robotics (FRC20, FRC229, FRC148)

- Art Dutra IV - VEX Robotics Engineer (FRC228, FRC148)

- Aren Hill - VEX Robotics Engineer (FRC1625, FRC3928, FRC148)

- Connor Mulkey - VEX Robotics Intern, Student at University of Texas (FRC148)

- James Tonthat - RackSolutions Engineer (FRC1477)

- Charles Wensel - VEX Robotics Intern, Student at Texas Tech (FRC148)

- Alex Zettler - VEX Robotics Intern, Student at Michigan State University (FRC148)

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Plot twist, JVN selects Paul with the first pick of the draft. Karthik is the new captain of the 2nd team and we have a US vs. CAN faceoff!

(I know, I know. Faceoff --> Hockey game, Canada gets excited)

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

The real question here is: Can Aren Hill build a functional swerve drive in 3 days?

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

I'm gonna go with team RI3D

I know they have nothing to do with build blitz but I'll be rooting for them

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

this also entered 1675's Build Blitz discussion

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Sure thing, except it'll be an occtanum swerve, and be half an inch high because it's build on the inside of a CIM.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Looks like Teams JVN and Copioli just got some company... http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hreadid=123124 ;)

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

OMG

what!

JVN vs Copioli and Andy Baker/Mark Coors vs. Dr. Joe vs. RI3D!

So many all-stars. Can we bring Bill Beatty out of retirement?

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Could we have like a Build Blitz v. Ri3D competition? All we need is a third robot to come from somewhere...

Watching some actual matches week one would be quite cool...

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

#TeamBeatty all the way!

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

The question isn't CAN he, it's HOW MANY iterations has he already started working on?

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

I'm still not sure how Vex got a product launch out the door without a swerve module while having Aren Hill on staff. Maybe he's had a paradigm shift, but old habits do die hard...

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

This will be great.

Not only will FRC get better and louder because of 72-hour competitiveness, but all teams involved in the 72-hour build-fest will be better off for it since they'll already have a secondary robot to play with/against as the main robot(s) are built. Einstein will be fantastic, and IRI will be insanity.

+1 for Copioli because I've read & seen how his team is run. He can lead a team to victory regardless of its makeup.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

RI3D did not use an FRC legal control system last year. Do any of this year's rapid prototyping teams intend to use a cRIO?

Last year RI3D went after the "Low Hanging Fruit" and provided a baseline for teams to reach for. It should be noted that they were racing the clock, not being pushed by other 3 day teams at the time in a compeition-like setting. Here are some major things they didn't do, that some teams with the full 6 weeks managed to accomplish.

• Full court shooting
• Floor pick-up
• Climbing to level 2 and/or 3
• Colored disks into the pyramid goal
• Compact designs able to drive under the pyramid
• Camera aided targeting
• Autonomous routines

If this years slate of rapid prototypers had been competing last year do you think we would have seen any additional robot features, or would we have simply seen a wider variety of slot loading wheeled shooters with 10 point hangs? It seems like some of this year's 3 day teams have more resources at their disposal.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Emphasis mine.

Einstein and IRI will both be great, but I'm not sure how much the 3 day teams will affect them. They could add more depth to Einstein by raising the bar for 2nd picks, but I can't really see them changing IRI very much. These resources will be very useful for all teams, but I think they're more targeted to lower level teams that normally do not have the resources, time, or organization to try many prototypes. The top-tier teams that compete on Einstein and at IRI will build extremely competitive robots regardless of whether videos of prototype designs pop up.

I see these 3 day teams serving more to add depth to competitions and raise the average level of play by making prototyping and the general design process more accessible, not by increasing the quality of the top-tier.

Also, I'm going either Team Copioli or Team AndyMark. Gotta root for the Midwest teams!

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

The draft video is up! Video is available on YouTube and the Build Blitz Facebook page.

#TeamJVN's first round pick: Charles Wensel. #TeamCopioli's first round pick: James Tonthat.

I'll try not to be too upset about Paul not picking me...

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

After seeing the draft, I'm going to go with #TeamCopioli

Really excited to see this unfold!

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

#TeamCopioli

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Very even teams now.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

There's really no reason to be upset. His other option was too good to refuse. ;)

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Given the poll results so far, its not surprising that its about even.
Both sides have great draft picks.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

I was hoping to see Karthik do his best David Stern and host the draft.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what you guys come up with, this should be awesome.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

On the other hand, they could have been like the NFL's Pro Bowl draft and stretch out the selection to a 3 hour 'must see' tv event.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Paul picked up two VexIQ designers. While they are all pro FRC, with IQ it's been think outside the box, outside the box will take this event.

Then at the end, Paul says "Well good luck, well not really..." Classic!

Pulling on my Paul C shirt as we speak! Go team Copioli!!!

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Sorry, John. Gotta go with Paul's crew. He got Karthik.

It's not about knowing how to design a robot, it's about knowing which robot to design.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

I notice a lot of people jumping to support #TeamCopioli based off the draft. While at first glace, I agree and think JVN's team appears weaker, BUT, people are missing what JVN defined as one of his key drafting strategies:

JVN has worked with all of his team on FIRST teams before (except for Aren and Bryan Culver, if I'm not mistaken). That makes his team incredibly strong, in practice.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

You're right Richard -- no one on our team knows anything about strategy or choosing a design path. We tremble at the mere mention of the mighty Canadian. :) Maybe we should forfeit?

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

I think it's great that John has a shop guy on his team. It is not uncommon to see engineers undervalue the shop guys that deal with their stupid decisions everyday, and having Carlos as part of the team definitely sends the right message to all the young impressionable future engineers watching.

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Not to send the thread on a tangent, one thing I learned from my internships at manufacturing sites is that a lot of the shop guys catch mistakes or issues that some of the other interns or even engineers can't. Not a lot of things can beat experience. :)

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Still don't have a 148 shirt, but I'd be repping my green right now either way.

Big P and the Small Thunder Crew :P

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

Just keep iterating. It has worked before.:)

Since I have a couple fellow mentors from 1506, Knerr & Weihman, I'm rooting for team Copioli

Re: BuildBlitz, which team are you on?
 

I am Team JVN it would be cool if teams could buy the robots the build in like a kit to practice with. Or like have the teams sign them and put them in the IRI silent auction this year