Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

I have answered your questions in red.

Craig,
What confuses me still is WHY. I know you want a defensive robot, but you've put yourself in a VERY bad position. We were one of the teams you almost tipped over last year on your way to the top in the semi-finals. We weren't the only.

We can only apologize for what happened last year, as I said in my above post we did not intend to play defensive, that was simply the result since our alliance partners felt they could play better offense. The fact that we tipped some robots was also not intentional, we tried to hit low as described in the rules to the best of our ability, hence why we were not DQ by the refs.

My question is this: is playing defense by nearly tipping over robots and having a pneumatic bumper and suction cup gracious or professional?

Maybe not, but everything we did was in the rules, we purposely slowed down the bumper speed and did not hit robots from a distance to ensure that our opponents were not damaged in anyway.

Did it cross your mind that at one point that you were lucky you didn't get disqualified for tipping over robots?

Naturally this did cross our minds, however, we were not DQ so in the eyes of the refs, we played a fair game.

Did you possibly rethink your strategy to prevent such a conflict from happening?

Naturally we thought of playing offense, however from past experience we know that we would not be able to compete with teams such as 384 or 343, so we tried to take a different approach (one that is still legal) and try to acheive that way.

And what about seeking help from other teams in the area?

No we did not seek other team's help, however that is something to consider for next year.

I know $500 is not much, but couldn't the pneumatics and such go towards some sort of dumper mechanism for the balls?

We did have plans for a low goal ball dumper, however we had to sacrifice that due to weight issues. Again we could not afford the strongest, lightest materials avaliable.

I give second chances, and I wanted to see what you guys did this year, but frankly, I'm worried that if this trend continues, what next? What if the suction cup actually worked? What if the "bumpers" worked too well? Should we just chalk it up to an under funded team trying to compete? Should we lower the standard of sportsmanship in FIRST just because a team can't compete with the Beattys, Wildstangs, and TechnoKats of FIRST? I hope not.

We have no intention of being like this every year, last year we went in with what we thought was a very good offensive robot. We did not play any 'dirty defense' until the final rounds.. Prior to that we had actually been a very good scorer. This year we took a defensive approach because we saw the advantage of doing so. We prooved in the competition that with a slight tap from our bumper very few teams could shoot the centre goal.. Now if they can't manage how are we suppose to be able to?!

Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

Season 1 eh? I see, you 'totally' understand our predicament. Now if you have anymore problems, take it to me personally outside of this thread please.

Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

This is starting to get ugly, so this will be the very last thing I say. I'm not blaming 539 for what happened in the finals by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not trying to hide the fact our hopper cracked in half and 975 flipped. Nobody on our team is mad about the finals, we said it was just the icing on the cake to top off the fantastic time we had at regionals. Believe me, we all agree we didn't really stand a chance against that alliance. I'm not mad at 539 at all for the what happened in the finals, nothing that happened was even your all's fault. What I will say is this. Even with the budget you had there is a lot you could've done. The innards of the robot were great, and the 80/20 made the robot look fantastic. I just feel like you could have done so much more with wha you have. And I will also put this out there. 975 and 1541 are great friends who live right down the road from each other. Why not try to share some resources with us? You're pretty close, and both teams have great programming knowledge. Now as to the point about your autonomous, that was done for one reason, it was the only way to defend against 1610 in the finals. So in summary, I personally think with what you have you could have done more, and that there are many teams around you who I'm sure would be glad to share resources, and I in no way blame 539 for what happened in the finals.

Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

I appreciate everyone's comments and I don't want this to become any worse than it already is. I agree with nearly every point here that what we did was not necessarily in the spirit of First Robotics, and I agree it really wasn't! When we set out to build this robot we did have a plan for a dumping mechanism, however the weight limit hit us hard and we couldn't afford to mount the design with out completely starting from scratch, something we didn't want to do in week 4.

One thing I must add is that although we love competing in the competition I really don't know how competitive we can be, it would be great if U.S. first had different divisions depending on the resources available to the team.

I don't want to fall out with any of you guys since living so close to one another can have some great advantages, including but not not limited to sharing resources.

Another thing is that Trinity Robotics is planning to host a scrimmage in October, we have talked with a team in PA that hosted a scrimmage and they said it is a very good fundraiser, if we carry this out, you will all be invited.

The money that we take from the scrimmage can be used for the following team to create a competitive robot that can hopefully play the game as it is suppose to be played.

Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

Hello guys..

I just wanted to let you guys know about some things about us that you did'nt know.

Last year (our rookie year we had just 6 kids and 6 mentors (including the teacher) This year we have 13 kids and 6 mentors again. We are a very small
rural school with near 400 kids in the high school. We don't have the budget
that teams like 67 or a 122 have. We probably spent between 500 to 1,000
on our robot. Some parts were cast offs that would other wise ended up in the trash. Our robot was torn all the way down to the frame at week 5
because of weight issues. The kids and mentors kept changing the shooter
up until week 5. We did'nt even have a good reliable working hopper until
three days til ship date.

The mentors on our team give the kids ideas and we let them decide and run with it. Even though we have registered for nationals we still have to find money to make it there (last year the teacher used her credit card and everyone payed her back after nationals). Team 616 used to be the closest
team to us. We had planned to work with them and share resources this year
but that did'nt work out and team 616 folded as part of the result of this.
Also last year we found ourselves competeting with 616 for sponsors and
did'nt want to do the same this year. But we were willing to share what we had with team 616 until they folded (hopefully something can be done to
bring that team back next year)

What has helped us is that we talk alot about what we do or are doing.
We think things out in as many ways as we can. We use what we have as
far as we can. In short We make to most of what we have.

Were there better robots at VCU than us ...yes.

But between what we had,what we did and a little luck we were
able and very grateful to be able to win VCU this year. We did'nt even
plan on this...(although it was in the back of some team members minds)
We had already had the crate ready for the return trip home.

What does this mean?...that even the most prepared teams or unprepared
teams, near broke teams or well to do teams can find a way to compete
evenly.....

IF you got a robot to VCU you were a winner...
If you learned something about engineering or science or
some form of trade...you are a winner...and that is what FIRST
is all about.

Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

I must say, VCU is still my favorite regional that I have been to. I was very thankful to the field crew because they got us in there and out of there as soon as possible. it seemed that everything except for match 10 worked out great. It semed to me that there were a fw issues with the scoring system, but hey, that is life.

Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

Hello there, when we were pulling out our team neglected to grab our
black-and-white pirate flag :ahh: with the team number and 'Atlee" on it. The flag was hanging on the upper railing with the other flags. I'm looking for
anyone who might have seen or grabbed the flag. Please email sketner@hanover.k12.va.us Thanks, Sam

Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

hopefully you will get this...

Please look for My E-mail.
You guys were long gone and when I took our banner down I cut your flag
loose and turned it in to the pit administration desk. Hope fully they will contact you or you can find someone who was at the desk at VCU.

Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

Last weekend the NASA / VCU Regional was my first time attending although I have been involved in First for 3 years. This was my second time being at a regional, (Peachtree 2004), where Jeff Seaton was the field announcer.

Jeff is a class act and I really appreciate him. I really appreciated his describing exactly what autonomous mode was, basic ways to score and rules. The new spectators around me on Saturday were kept well informed on just exactly what they were watching. Jeff announced many times throughout Friday and Saturday the basics of a match.

The NASA / VCU Regional was well run although there were delays in some matches and problems with displaying the scores on Saturday afternoon. What a great arena to hold it in!

Both of the socials on Thursday and Friday nights were wonderful!

Dave

Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

I apologize for my earlier attitude, and in no way did anyone on our team think it was right. I overreacted to a Midlo post, and I regret doing so. Joe, I am sorry that I offended you and please do accept my apology. If I could delete the posts I would, and I reiterate that in no way did my team agree with my point of view.

Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

Hey it's ok we all have those posts we wish we could burry. Normally It's not what your saying just how you say it.

On a different topic, who at VCU got some pictures of me in the mascot outfit? We realised we don't have any and I think every team in the pits took at least one picture with me, I was the angry silver robot. It's for our team site.

Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

Don't mention it Adam, I agree, I got hot headed too, and quite frankly was very happy you lived in Richmond and I lived in Dayton. ;)

I guess in the end I should add one more thing here. In the end I point out things not to make fun of, but to instead spark change. I want to see you guys do well, I want to see you guys win a regional and win chairmans. We had troubles, even lots of "well funded" teams have money troubles. If you need help with ideas on fundrasing, I'll help you with things 384 did.

Again, I'm sorry too and I accept your apology. I guess some small verbal fights are a result of doing something we love so much.

Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

And congrats to you guys, too! We very much enjoyed it, and look forward to seeing you again next year!

Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

i want to say congrats to all the teams at NASA/VCU and a special thanks to teams 343 and 1598 for helping us win the competition.

i also want to apologize to team 384 for damaging their robot as much as i did during the second to last match.

Re: 2006 NASA/VCU Regional!
 

Thanks to 1610 and 1598 for making us look good. The VCU regional was great. There were so many excellent teams...