So, well, um, what now?
 

What's up now. Speculation, rumors, Segway, what will we do over the next months untill Janurary? Well, I'm already board and I haven't been off the plane for more than 4 hours.

God, that was fun :D

No joke, on the plane I started coming up with modifications to this years robot and how we could have made it better. Obviously the game will be completly different next year, but maybe some of the new ideas will help :D

i was thinking on the plane too. i was still trying to figure out how to beat team 71. i know that they were beaten when they got hung up on the goal, but i couldn't figue out any other way.

Thats easy. Turn them around.:-D

Now what?

Its FUNDRASING TIME!!
Don't forget your offseason compitions either.


Wetzel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where am I going?
Dominos, Papa Johns, local Dew distributer, welding shops
I got my prioritys strait!:D

We had them beat in the semi-finals, match 2. We had all three goals in our scoring position, but then at the 24 second mark our robot shut off for some unknown reason and rage pushed one of them back into theirs. They beat us by one ball =(

Anyway, what happened is that 60 started on the inside instead of the outside cause we figured they needed to get to the goal faster. They grabbed two and we helped push them into scoring position. Since we pushed the two goals so fast, 71 was not able to grab onto the third. We took this oppurtunity to 'swerve' around to the other goal and push it to the others. At this point, 173 grabbed onto the goal and tried to suck up balls. We pinned them up against the railing which prevented them from moving, and whenever they tried to go around we 'crabbed' and pushed them back into 71. Like I said, this continued until the 24 second mark when we were shut off *sigh*

Also, in the finals they were beat by pushing the center goal full speed into them at the very begining, which prevented them from grabbing the other two. This also broke their bot :rolleyes:

So that is how the beast can be beat, very possible. Looking back we should have done the same strategy we used in the second match in the first. Oh well, my hats off to them, they have one hell of a tough robot :D

Re: So, well, um, what now?
 

Go to a post seasonal regional run by a team. They're fun, a little more chaotic, but you get to travel again... :D I know that my team, 357, may be going to the Tunkhannock and Wissahickon Post Seasons....

well, if 810's right side chains had not fallen/been taken off the sprokects before our final qual match, we would have probably beaten rage, and then had bragging rights and possibly even kept them from winning it all. we also could have easily beaten 71, cause we're just about as fast, if not faster, than them, and we also happened to be the strongest robot in Newton (according to the techno ticks). why did no one choose rookie teams for alliance partners? oh well, next year we have to do really good to go to nats. :D

prototype drivetrains!

BAXTER BRAWL
 

Be sure to look in off-season competition where you will see the Baxter Brawl. We will probably be posting some info on it real soon (that is if we have it for sure, although I am pretty sure we are having it :)) The date is set for the 13th, 14th, and 15th, and there should be some good teams there like maybe hot bot, wildstang, beatty, and others....

Don't worry man. #810 is one of the best rookie teams this year. Your team should quickly grow into one of the elite teams that always builds a great bot. You built a great drive train and customized the PBasic program, two of the hardest things for a rookie team to do.

Well for me, I think I'm taking a 2-year or more break from FIRST, until I finish college... or maybe I'll stay involved as just a part-time mentor or something. I've come to a point where I'm forced to make a choice between GPA and FIRST, and I think GPA is the right "career choice" thing.

Patrick

Hehe, at work I was so bored I came up with three... I think two of them are a little too hard to implement on a robot though... maybe a small car :D

Off Season
 

One of the things a FIRST team should consider is the Urban Search and Rescue Robot competition put on be FEMA. I 've seen this competiton - and I think even an average FIRST team could come up with a robot that would kick-butt. Also this is something that unfortunately, in the error of suicide bombers is an important field of study.

Also:

1999-2000 Robots have to climb onto a rasied moving platform or go up a ramp, reach up high -

Dean invents wheel chair tha can go up curbs and ramps and reach up high.

2001 robots have to balance on a teeter totter

Dean invents Segway

2002 robots move heavy goals and are manuverable.

Dean invents ..... the Segway Two - which can haul medium
loads and maybe climb stairs or curbs.

(I think Dean is using us as a large, unpaid research and development group for his inventions!)

Seal this prediction in an envelope - and then you'll know who told ya FIRST.

planning
 

We have started planning for our Chairman's Award submission. As a rookie team this year we decided not to stretch ourselves thin trying to do everything. But we will try this next year.

We are also planning on building a real cart for our robot. Brainstorming is in progress now. We know we need bigger wheels and bigger speakers than this years cart had. :)

I'm finishing up my junior year in Systems Engineering and I find myself facing the same dilemma. Personally, I've decided not to care about my GPA. I value the real world experience I get from FIRST more than I value a weak abstraction of my academic abilities.

My .02

-Joel