Team shout outs
 

After seeing threads on successful teams, I figured it was time to give a shout out to teams who may not be as well known, but still display some great FIRST characteristics and show great potential. So say their team number and why they deserve a shout out. Mine would be team 3937 Breakaway, they have helped our team tremendously, but also have built a very competitive robot and were very good with their strategy analysis. They also practice Gracious Professionalism constantly, but don't brag about it!

Re: Team shout outs
 

Before this year I would have named 2481 but they finally broke through on their first regional win and then a well deserved trip to Einstien.

Since 2481 is now 'well known', 706 probably shifts into that role. They were a regional finalist in 2010, 2013 and twice in 2014. They were also championship quarterfinalist in 2010. And they essentially built a 233 clone but with a swerve drive (unfortunately, that was 233's (and 706's) down year of 2009). Their students also give one of the best, most information and thorough, explanations of their robot every year.

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I would like to thank 3847 (spectrum) for being great alliance partners in dallas also for teaching us so much in the short time that we meet you guys! I really hope we do have the chance to work together in the near future.

Re: Team shout outs
 

There were two fantastic rookies in Archimedes this year that were close to the top of our pick lists (but unfortunately no one else's!).

4946, The Alpha Dogs, was a fantastic trussing machine. On our list of trussers, they were either second or third. They could long truss like 900 or they could do a shorter truss as well.

4914, The Panthers, had an interesting robot in that they had no floor pickup. And we wanted them to finish for us :D. They had a large net for human loading that made human loading super-easy, and we wanted them to receive a pass from a human player and make a high goal shot from the low goal. They were right on the cusp of being picked by our alliance.

Unfortunately we did not get the chance to pick either of these rookies- and an even greater folly was that they didn't get picked at all!

4946 was rightfully awarded the Rookie Inspiration Award, however, and both rookie teams deserve to be mentioned.
Look out for them in the next couple years!

Fun fact: In researching these two rookies, we ventured out of Archimedes to 610's pit and found one of their students there to ask about these Canadian rookies they had competed with. Upon mention of 4946, his eyes lit up:

"You mean ALPHA DOGE!?!?!?"

Needless to say that's what we referred to them as for the rest of the weekend in our strategy meetings. Alpha Doge and the Net-bot. They both would have made such fantastic alliance partners.

Re: Team shout outs
 

I'd like to give a shout out to team 5172 Gators for being a great first year team. They did very well in the Northern Lights Regional with a great pick up and an even better shooter. They were a great rookie team that went on to Worlds and did a great job and they really deserved the highest rookie seed award. I can't wait to see their new robot next year:D

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Team 612 (6 What?...6 12!)

This team was local to the Greater DC Regional, and contacted us before the competition to welcome us. They told us that there would be a "welcome basket" at our hotel...but we were unprepared for the contents: Among other things, they had contacted all three of our representatives in Congress and had personal letters from them cheering us on.

When they discovered that there was no organized team social, they arranged gatherings every evening at a local Chipotle Restaurant, and when the restaurant was too crowded, a handful of their team members walked with us to another nearby restaurant and hung out with us for the whole evening. They were so personable, that to an outside observer, it was impossible to tell they were not part of our group.

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I, as a member of team rembrandts, would like to do a shout out to team 836 - the robobees. However they are one of the older teams, they are not that well known. They actually won there first ever regional this year, congrats!, and ended up 7th in galileo. But the reason they stand out for us is the help they have given us both at our regional in north carolina and at worlds. Helping us fix our robot, actually going out and buying parts for us to make sure we could compeat. We would not have been able to compeat the way we did if it wasnt for them.

The second shout out goes to team 122 - the Nasa Knights. Again an older team which is not very well known and they werent able to make it to worlds this year. But they were the ones that came all the way to the Netherlands to tell us about first en frc and inspired and mentored us to the team that we are now. So eventhough we get quite a lot of praise from other teams and even Engeneering Inspiration at regionals and Imagery at worlds, we would not have been able to be the team we are now without them. So a major shout out to them!

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I would like to give a shout-out to two teams who have helped catapult us to where our team is today. And ironically, we were with them both in Eliminations at Dallas this year!

Numero Uno is Team 704 Warrior Robotics. You guys got us started, and have been helping us ever since. We can always count on you guys, and we hope at some point that we can return all the favors you guys have given us. It's always fun to share ideas with you guys.

Secondly, Team 3310, Blackhawk Robotics. You guys have a clean machine every year, and are always open to talk about it. You guys may not realize it, but by being selected as the last pickwith you guys in 2012 (our rookie year), you guys brought a wakeup call to our program. Because of all that you guys have showed us, we know what to strive for. And slowly with a couple of different influences, we're working our way to a better program. But none of it would have been possible without you guys inspiring us that very first year.

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I'd like to give another one to team 4522, team scream, they have an amazing robot this year and can really hold their own on the field this year. It was really fun working with them at Arkansas regional and they were great at analysis and game strategy!

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They were some intense competitors! We faced them in OKC! Oh my gosh

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Team 4819, Flat Mountain Mechanics.

In 2013, they were the highest rookie seed at both of the districts they went to (Kettering and Troy). Their robot had no shooter, but had a perfect 30 point climber.

We won the Great Lakes Bay Region District with them week 4. They were the main scoring robot on our alliance and were absolutely phenomenal to be partnered with. They had an intake that preformed very well, and also had a great shooter to boot.

I think the issue with this team not being noticed by other teams is their number. Who wants to be with a 2 year old team in eliminations? Who cares about a 2 year old team at all? I know I do. I find it very hard to believe they weren't picked at MSC or on Curie this year. They were ranked 14th at MSC and 22nd on Curie.

They've definitely earned my respect and I think they deserve a shout out.

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2586 Copper Bots! - TBA

Two time district winner, three time district finalist, three appearances at MSC. And yet, they're often overlooked, as they usually build the proverbial "defense bot".

At the last three consecutive events, they've been last pick by the #1 seed, and have finished winner for 2, finalist for 1.

And they are the team in Michigan absolutely farthest from downstate, being about 20 minutes or so north of 857.

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I have to give this one to 3266 Robots-R-Us. I always enjoy going to events with them and they have been very competitive the past few years.

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I would like to give a shout out to 2220 Blue Twilight. They have helped us a lot this year with lending us parts and helping us prototype a shooter. They even lent us a cRIO for our demo bot when we needed one due to our only cRIO being bagged with this year's robot. They've even been helping us find a programming mentor for next year.

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So I know that 612 has already been mentioned, but they really deserve a second shoutout.

In addition to everything they did at DC, they also hosted a play day scrimmage the last weekend of Build Season when the official play-day was canceled due to snow. Also they did this all on extremely short notice (we got warned about play-day being canceled maybe 3 days in advance?)!

Thanks for saving our butts during build season 612! 449 owes you one.

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There's two teams id like to give a shout out to. The first is the Dirty Mechanics 3932 of Boca Raton. They are a three year old team that has been strong since day one, twice earning bids to worlds. They were a strong in bounding robot for S.P.A.M. at South Florida 2014 and played some heavy defense in the Curie division. Their kids are probably the most friendly in Florida behind Exploding Bacon and S.P.A.M.

The second would be S*M*A*S*H 2152 from Port Orange/Daytona Beach/Volusia County. Their 2013 robot was a 30 point climb robot that nobody else had even attempted from my searching of videos, as it was an end over end corner climb and 20 point dump. Every design they produce has been unique in its own way and sometimes it takes the Orlando Regional by surprise. And again some of the most friendly kids I have met, which is why when I heard that they had no Community Outreach Mentor I joined on and am willing to drive over 3 hours each way every weekend just to help them out. This season as well they decided that no matter if they qualified for championship or not, they'd be attending every year to help out and to cheer on the Florida teams which is a HUGE thing in my books as it shows some serious GP.

(completely my personal opinion, does not reflect the views of any teams)

Re: Team shout outs
 

There are a lot of entities that made 4901's first season the wild success it was, but probably the least-sung of them was (my alma mater) 1293.

When we started the team with an empty shop corner, they loaned us a chassis and electronics to get running for SCRIW. (Their part worked great!). When they found themselves short-handed selling programs at USC football games, they gave us a call and a shot to raise some money.

During the build season, we traded parts back and forth and they invited us over to scrimmage before bag day. After Palmetto, they loaned us some extra batteries and chargers for Orlando. After we won that, they let us make use of their crate for Championship and sent the SCRIW robot back to let us test the sensors we added on our intake and launcher.

These are things that we generally could've scraped together or gotten by without, but their help for our occasionally-shoestring upstart operation has been unwavering and phenomenal. How they've gone eleven seasons with an empty trophy cabinet is completely beyond me*, but so help me the twelfth time's the charm!

*Okay, I'll take the heat for the first couple years when I was associated with them since I can see our mistakes with hindsight. So, uh, eight years? :)

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To add to fact that they are not only quality people but also very intelligent.

This year above most I really think they should have competed again. They had by definition one of the most perfect machines I had ever seen built dedicated to assisting and inbounding. Scouters at Palmetto were not educated enough to see it, but 1293 was by far one of the best 2nd picks any alliance could have asked for.

2014 may not have been kind to them, but with some of our new collaboration efforts in motion for 2015 I hope to see them rise to the top.

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I would like to give a shoutout to Team 217 ThunderChickens.
At MSC this year our gearboxes stopped working, the cause being we hadn't lubed them since day 3 of build season, and general wear and tear. Needless to say there was a lot of aluminum powder :). There was a mentor from 217 at MSC even though their team was not competing there, he worked tirelessly and missed his lunch break just to help us get them back together and on the field.

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I would like to thank team 125 for joining our alliance at the first RIDE, which we ended up winning in three final matches. You guys were allot of fun to work with, and we worked together really well.

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I'd like to mention team 195.
Despite beating us in the eliminations in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014, I really admire your team, and thanks so much for opening your practice field to us.

And also, team 175.
We've been alliance partners three times (Groton, Southington, CT Champs 2013 I think), and I've enjoyed working with you guys. On Archimedes, you had some really exiting matches in the finals, making some great New England representation.

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I want to thank FTC Team 4211, The Bombers and Team 2888 Oddly Charged Particles for being our alliance partners at the Missouri state competition. They picked us even though we were kind of low down in the rankings and we took winning alliance with them and all went to the North Super Regional.

And at the Super Regional, 4211 couldn't pick us because we were alliance captains, but they still helped us with scouting (We are quite a small team), came by and chatted with us and were good friends as well! 2888 was a member of our alliance at the Super Regional that helped take us to worlds and helped get our auto working, which never failed at the CMP.

Thanks 2888 and and 4211!

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Team 2832 has my sincere thanks and gratitude. Because we've had issues with getting a large enough space this year, we've been out of a full practice field to use. The Warriors kindly reached out to us and allows us full access to their field in their civic center. I know that team 308 (The Monsters) were there as well. Not to mention they are very caring individuals; especially their head coach Mrs. Isolina Carlini. She is such a wonderful, cheerful person her presence always makes me happy haha (not to mention the food she buys lol). In return for all their help this season, they've reached out to us in an effort to become a Chairman's team next year. They are always ready to reach out and lend a hand, and are one of the most underappreciated MI teams.

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Thanks for the shout-out Cory. Apple Pi is, and has always been a close friend of 195, it just seems like we never get to play on the same side of the glass! As always, 2067 is welcome to the field at anytime.

I would just like to add that 195 admires 2067 as well. Your Chairman's efforts are something we are strongly working to emulate. This was our first year presenting for Chairman's, and your team, along with others around the state, helped us extensively build a strong program. Thank you and, Connecticut Strong.

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Team 694 - Stuypulse is one of the reasons our team exists. They helped us out with parts and expertise in 2008, and we had the honor of competing with them every year at New York City since then. Jeanne Boyarsky has worked with us on the programming side, and at competition we've had Stuypulse students and mentors help us (and plenty others) out with everything electrical to mechanical. They also host an event called Stuysplash to spread their knowledge to any teams visiting. Again, respect.

As pit neighbors Stuypulse and the Steel Hawks have a pretty good relationship, I think. At the end of NYC this year the captains of our teams switched shirts, as did one of their programmers Danny and I. Danny and I look pretty alike, so I may have been mistaken for him more than once with the shirt.

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Huge shout out to FRC Team 4499, The Highlanders - one of our alliance partners for the Colorado Regional. Not only did they have a sweet robot that we were glad to be able to play with, they helped us immensely off the field as well.

After winning the Rookie All-Star Award in both Utah and Colorado, we were in the position of being qualified for Championships but financially unprepared to register and travel to St. Louis. Having been in the same place last year, The Highlanders offered us some great ideas and assistance in fundraising that helped us raise enough money to make it to Championships this year! Not only that, but they provided snacks and other supplies to us, and even invited us to dinner in St. Louis. Many thanks to this awesome team and everything they did for us this year!

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You guys were a blast to work with.

I vote super pit at any event we're together at next year!

Re: Team shout outs
 

I'd like to give another shout out to team 1939 the khunigits, they were a blast to work with in qualifications and they built a very impressive robot. They connected with other teams really well and didn't take charge, rather they listened to every body and let it be a group decision in the alliance. I definitely look forward to working with them in the future!

Re: Team shout outs
 

Team 435, Robodogs, definitely gets a shout out from our team, though it is more of a GP shout out. First, They play fantastically at each regional they go to, but for us, we got a mentor from them who ended up being indispensable throughout the season.

Second, at our regional our team managed to shatter a bearing during a match. Not as in "seize one up" but actually shatter it so that all was left was a gearbox full of ball bearings. When we put out the call for that particular bearing the Robodogs came by with a giant ziplock back full of different types of bearings and gave us as many as we needed. It really saved us and let us continue to compete.

Edit: Okay, had to come back and edit this because I had no idea when I wrote this. 435 apparently wins competitions all the time and even won Champs back in '04. So okay, they are way bigger than I thought, though I really haven't heard about them much.

Re: Team shout outs
 

Team 2471, Team Mean Machine, definitely deserves a shoutout. While they're not incredibly well-known outside of the PNW, they consistently build awesome robots every year that live up to their team name (this year's was Dr. Claw, last year's was Oddjob, and I'm still terrified of both). In addition to that, they're some of the most genuinely amazing people that I know - if you can't find me in our pit, I'm probably in theirs.

I also wanted to give a shoutout to Bryce, their co-captain and 2014 Dean's List winner. He's a fantastic example of what FIRST is all about, and I'm glad to count him as a friend.