Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

"Looks like another team has done what waterloo is well known for, cutting off their arm and strapping on some weights. team 1006 has switched to pure defence"



Darn, we should have copyrighted that strategy :D


But I bet they didn't use a 45lb dumbell :D


I'm doing homework so its hard to pay attention how everyone is doing

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Do I hear Steve announcing now that Paul is on the field as co-MC?

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

No I am web casting

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Lol Karthik don't kill the rack :D

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Karthik is swinging on the rack! :eek: (Did he check with Mark Koors to see if it's rated for that duty?)

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Actually, last year we stole that strategy from team 1241 who in 2005 literally took a sawzall to their arm and then strapped a 20 pound vice to the base of their robot to play some MEAN defence.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

It's an AIM chat.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

my trillian isn't working properly, if u can, just add me to the chat, my sn is PimpPrince786

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

WOW!!

and i also thought that was you annoucing when Paul hit the field. :P

must just eb the canadian accent. ;)

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

QF2-4 was one of the best matches I've seen this year. Nice balance of offense and defense, very strategic endgame. Well played by both sides.

Edit: Huh? I guess while those of us in webcast land were watching the sponsors, there must have been quite a discussion to reconcile the FMS to the actual final rack configuration. Anyone got a more complete explanation? It appears the refs spent some extra effort to get this right.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

WOW! after rescoring that match not once, but TWICE. The blue alliance advances to the semi's! Great job by 188 1592 and 1334. congrats to 1503 1680 and 2166 for pulling that off and moving on.

I just realized, this will be a great set of semi's, 1114, 2056, 1503, 1680, AND 2166 are all NiagaraFIRST teams!

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Was there penelties?? i thought i saw a bot on 188's ramps at the end.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Good lord, 1114 is fast!

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

no. there were no penalties, but the robot was only lifted enough for the 15 point bonus, 1680, 1503, and 2166 had enough ringers to pull out the win by 1 point. the placing of that spoiler definitely made the winning decision

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Yeah! Might as well just paint that rack red right now.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

The #1 alliance is unstoppable 2 matches in a row with a row of 5 and a row of 6! WOW!

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

The red alliance "lost" two of their ringers in the dying seconds of the match. A ringer on the middle row was spoiled by 1503. 1592 was attempting to stop 1503 from placing that spoiler. While playing defence it appears as if they accidentally pushed a second red ringer over top of a red ringer they had already scored.

1334 was indeed ontop of 188 but apparently part of their robot was hanging off 188's platform since they only received 15 points. The initial scoring showed that red still had enough points to win. However, upon second/third/fourth look, the layout of the rack that the refs initially scored was deemed to be incorrect. The result was that blue won 28 to 27. I made a couple assumptions, but that seems to be roughly what happened.

Edit: The refs should be acknowledged for taking the time to make sure all the scoring was absolutely correct. No doubt they may have been tempted to just stick with the initial decision and keep everything going, but they took the time to ensure the correct result.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

The #1 alliance has put on the best show I've seen at a regional so far (I've attended NJ, Pittsburgh, and NYC and have watched a little of Boston and most of Waterloo on webcast). They built excellent bots and have defeated really good alliances (such as the twins' alliance). Congratulations to all of the Waterloo teams for putting on such an exciting and high-scoring regional. These elims have had it all - winning by tubes, winning by ramps, ties, spoilers, de-scoring, defense, penalties - very exciting! And the finals promises to be just as exciting with 2 such high-scoring alliances facing off!

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

1 - 1114 2056 771 vs. 2 - 854 1305 1006

Winner of first final match.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Yeah, 1114 got stuck on the rack for several seconds. First time in the eliminations that the #1 alliance failed to break 100.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

These matches are really exciting. F-2 featured some excellent defensive tube placement by 854. The 854 alliance is giving the 1114 alliance an incredibly tough time. If the robot on 854's alliance hadn't been stuck in the opponent's home zone then that match might have had a different outcome. F-3 should be intense.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

1. 1114 2056 771 vs. 2 - 854 1305 1006
# 1 alliance wins the second match of the finals and forces a third match!!!
good play by both teams

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

1114 et al just won.

Watching the webcast, I couldn't tell: Did some students get ahold of a microphone and start saying "we're back?"

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

1. - 1114 2056 771 vs. 2. - 854 1305 1006

and the winner after a hard-fought finals is... the #1 alliance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Congratulations to both alliances for such an exciting finish to a great regional.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

That was Karthik.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

1114,2056,771 Good Job

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

I am shutting down the webcast for a minute or so.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Off by one. 1503 advanced, then got knocked out, not 188.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Congratulations to 1114 2056 771

Can't wait to see Kayla (kayla13) in Atlanta :)

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Wow, watching the webcast, 854 put up a really hard fight. Defensively placed ringers and a spoiler in the final Final must've had 1114 sweating over there behind the player station, haha. Congrats to both alliances.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Can't fault him for getting a little bit excited there. F-3 was a very intense match -- first a timely spoiler then a race to the ramps. Not the kind of dominant offense we saw earlier in the eliminations from the #1 alliance, but every bit as entertaining.

Congratulations all around; those were the best finals I've seen yet.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

congratulations to 1114 2056 and 771!

also congratulations to 854 1305 and 1006 for a well fought final set. you came so close to taking home the gold. you should be proud of yourselves for what you accomplished. Good luck to all at the Greater Toronto Regional next weekend!

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Will you webcast the awards ceremony?

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Congratulations to the winning alliance, I thought blue could take it but red managed to out-play them...

The fact that it was this close shows how important ramps are... (and if 1114 hadn't gotten keepers on in all those matches the outcome might have been different).

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Yeah.. these finals will probably be a good point for people arguing about the importance of keepers.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Yes it should be up now. We are just waiting to get started

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Thanks for the webcast, Steve; I have really enjoyed it and I'll bet many others have, too.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Yes, 1114 is very fast. What's in thier drivetrain?

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

I agree with Richard--probably the best finals I've seen (and I've watched a lot). The finals had everything--keepers, spoilers, ramps, defense, defenisive ringer placement. I think this was the way Rack N' Roll was meant to be played, at least it had all of the elements for a good matchup. I think this is what we'll be seeing even more next week, alliances that can do it all as the best strategies become apparent. I hope Waterloo is archived soon so I can show all of my teammates how great eliminations were.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

wow, my team (1902) went to waterloo??? Hmm I wonder how we did.:yikes: All jokes aside that was a good final. congrats to the winning teams 1114 2056 and 771

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

the rookie sensation robot looked like a mini of yours!

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

And 1369.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

I just got all the footage from Steve of the archived webcast. I am going to try and put up the elimination matches first. The footage I have now is only from the webcast, which will be low quality, but in the next few weeks we will post the footage from a DVD recorder. So no complaining about the quality :p

Link:
http://www.soap.circuitrunners.com/2007/movies/wat/

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

do you guys have the stories that the MC's were saying before the matches started, and the judges match???, i also want to hear the reaction when the scores came up for QF 2-4... i was at office depot then, (life sux when u don't have a car.)

Congrats to 1114-2056-771 for winning the match and giving us some great daytime drama, forget all my children, what about all those Niagara FIRST teams lol (lame joke)

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

I would like to take this opportunity to honestly and completely commend every single team that competed in the 2007 Waterloo regional this past weekend, as well as to thank all of the volunteers, organizing committee and anyone else that helped to make this regional possible. This may have been the most well-organized, exciting, capable and exciting regional in recent memory. Not since 2003 when I was a mere rookie member, not really understanding the backstory behind FIRST have I felt a vibe throughout myself, my own team and the entire building. Karthik and Paul made an amazing duo that kept the energy and atmosphere all the way throughout the weekend and when they switched to two MC's you could feel the intensity level jump all the higher.

On behalf of 188, thanks to our alliance partners 1592 and 1334 for the opportunity to work with both of you. I truly believe that had we been functioning optimally and executing properly, we could have taken it all the way; but in the true spirit of FIRST, I am sure that every team felt the same way all weekend, a testament to the level of competition at this year's event.

Congratulations to all the award winners, a brand new WFA holder Derek Bessette and all teams who made it out for this fantastic event!

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

I have to say I was especially impressed with the venue this year. The past two years there was talk of rearranging the setup, and I am glad they went forward with it. The extra seats definitely drew more spectators, as you might have noticed, and the practice area in the pit was a great addition.

Thanks to everyone who made it all possible - way to up the ante :).

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Wow... what a weekend... That was simply an amazing regional, everything from the atmosphere to the level of play on the field was top notch. There was a great group of teams there, who all showed that Canadian teams are some of the best in FIRST. As Karthik announced to the crowd the offensive qualifying matches on Friday made Waterloo the highest scoring regional to date, and with GTR next weekend expect nothing less.

Congratulations to 1114, 2056 (amazing rookie!), 771 (first ever win) on winning the regional, and 1305 Congrats on winning the Chairmans Award! It was great to see 1114 pick an (amazing) rookie team 2056 and 771, a great group of girls who deserved to win, for their alliance. Thanks too 1241 and 2076 (great ramp!) for making a great alliance. If we could have fixed our manipulator we would have had a very good chance on those two last matches. 2076 your ramps were great, you were the reason we made the semi-finals.

For my team Waterloo was an up an down battle, on Thursday we installed a new (roller style) manipulator which we had been designing an building since BAE where we saw our original design was not effective. After BAE we knew that we could play defense, but we wanted to be the offensive team like we were last year. In our first practice match (that we showed up to), we scored 6 ringers a large leap from the 0 we scored at BAE. When our robot was working we showed that we could be one of the top robots in the competition, but the problem is we ran a nasty streak of bad luck. It seemed like every qualification match we played there was an electrical or mechanical problem that held us back. We are working hard and GTR will be a different story.

Thanks again to all the familiar volunteers who make this an amazing competition and all the teams that made it a fun weekend; 1114, 1503, 771, 2056, 188, ect. see you next weekend!

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

I must say that the 2007 Waterloo Regional was one of the best regionals I have ever been to. The venue was excellent, the matches were exciting, the team social was fun, and Karthik and Paul made one heck of a good emcee/announcer team. Kudos to Ian Mackenzie and the rest of the planning committee and to the volunteers for pulling it off so smoothly.

Congrats to 1114, 2056 and 771 on the regional win and various awards!

A couple of teams I'd like to mention: 854 - congratulations on your 'Innovation in Control' award; your robot was a really effective tube scorer and was mesmerizing to watch. 610 - I was really impressed with your robot and with your robotics program in general; congrats on your 'Driving Tomorrow's Technology' award and I'm sure we'll be seeing great things from you at GTR.

I also have to mention again my dissatisfaction with the FIRST/4FX match scheduling algorithm - looking at who the top performers were at the Waterloo Regional, it is pretty clear that dividing up teams by number does not achieve the desired balancing effect, while decreasing the number of possible unique matchups, resulting in far too many matches played with or against the same teams. I may be mistaken, but I believe that there were one or two teams in the top ten that scored fewer ringers during the course of the competition than 1503's human player. I sincerely hope that FIRST is working to continuously improve the algorithm from week to week.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

wow what an amazing regional, high scoring, amazing plays, great defense.
Congratulations to the winning alliance 1114,2056,771
1114 - another great robot, amazing auto. mode and scoring and super fast. I'm glad that I finally got to see your robot in action. I was pretty close on guessing how it worked when you posted the picture a few weeks ago.

2056 - Even at the your off-season debut at Wonderland you guys already showed that you will be a team to look out for. Congratulations on your rookie robot, and all the awards that you have won so far.

771 - Amazing job girls, I've been following your robot every year,since your rookie year and each year your robot gets better and better. You girls deserve this win and good luck at Atlanta, hopefully I'll be able to go and watch.

854 - I love your drive system, you guys like circled around your opponents.

610 - Amazing gripper design and great scorer

2076 - nice simple ramp bot for a rookie team

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

wow.. how fun was that!? This was an awesome weekend everyone! Congrats 1114 771 2056 on the win! Unfournatly for us, we hit a lot of bumps in the road, which were all fixed come day two, but it was too little too late I suppose. Only one part of our arm works, and our drive train kept popping its chain. It's all fixed now, so hopefully we manage to get into GTR and we will be back to being "the fearsome scorer" that we were annouced as. I can only hope and pray that we can get into the GTR this weekend, because no matter how ready we seem to be, we always hit problems, and no matter how prepared I am, the regionals still are absolutly amazing!!! congrats again everyone! what an amazing regional!

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

What an amazing weekend!!! This event was just a blast. The intimate arena and amazing teams helped create an electric atmosphere. I always do a poor with these threads, and I apologize in advance if I miss anyone. In no particular order, I'd like to thank...

Team 2056 - Since 2003, it seems like there's one Canadian rookie who just blows everyone out of the water. This year it was Patriotics. This team should be example every rookie team follows. They chose a simple design, and finished their robot in 4 weeks. They used their final two weeks on programming and practice, and boy did it show. Special thanks to Tyler Holtzman for the fabulous job he did with this team.

Team 771 - Congratulations on you first regional win. Our teams have developed a strong friendship over the past two years, especially with our honorary Simbots, Kate and Michelle. We really wanted to work with you in 2006, and we're glad we could in 2007. Keep playing that hard nosed defense.

Team 1305 - After three engineering inspiration awards in the past two years, it's about time that you were recognized with the Chairman's Award. Your team is a role model within the Canadian community, and judges description of your team blew me away. Not to mention, you came to play with another amazing drivetrain.

Team 1503 - After playing with you for three events last year, it's weird playing against you so often this year. Your robot keeps improving, and I know you're going to be a force in Toronto and Atlanta.

Team 2166 - Your robot came so far this weekend. I'm glad we were able to help you out with your various issues. For those haven't seen this team, they have a very easy to climb double ramp, and a powerful drivetrain.

Team 1592 - I was shocked when I saw a team from Florida appear on the Waterloo team list. I hope you enjoyed your time up north, I know the entire event was enriched by your presence. You brought us a taste of some really intense Florida spirit.

Team 610 - You guys have a robot that is on the verge of hitting the elite level. Hopefully we'll get another match schedule where we play with each other three times.

Paul Copioli - Thanks for coming up from Detroit to our event. It was a total blast working with you, and I hope we can do it again sometime.

This was the third year of the Waterloo Regional, and each year it keeps getting better. This is a direct result of the amazing volunteers that put this event together. People like Ian Mackenzie, Rob Gorbet and Maud Gorbet put their heart and soul into this event, and it shows.

Team 1114 is very proud to support this event, and can't wait to return next year.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

It appears that some thanks are in order.

Ian Mackenzie & the regional planning committee: that was the most amazing regional I’ve ever been to. The new layout was awesome, and there was an amazing vibe through the entire regional. Thank you as well for thinking of me to give the speech at closing ceremonies – it was an amazing experience.

Thanks to Karthik and Mr. Copioli for an amazing emceeing/announcing job. Mr. Copioli, you need to put away the Michigan flag and start cheering for a decent college football team. 42-39.

1114 – It was incredible working with you guys – the whole atmosphere was so friendly. The help you gave us with our robot, the strategies that you came up with, you are truly amongst the elite teams in FIRST, with your robot, your strategy, and your gracious professionalism. You made us feel very welcome as a part of that alliance. The whole experience hasn’t really sunk in yet.

2056 - Your robot is amazing, and I'd be shocked if you guys don't go really really far. For those of you who didn't realize, qf1.1, 1114's gripper was bent. 2056 scored 7 ringers on their own. This rookie is capable of amazing things.

It was truly an honour to be picked by the two best teams at the competition. The scoring that you guys were able to put up, and 1114’s ramp - you could have won it without us, no problem.

1006, 854 and 1305 - Thank you for a very hard fought finals.

188 - Your robot was amazing, and the way you went out was incredibly painful. We really feel for you guys – hopefully GTR will be a lot better for you. Congrats on the awards.

Jess Breadner, best human player ever.

I've always loved this regional, and this year it got stepped up a notch. There were so many offensive bots, it was really cool to see the rack almost get filled so many times. Hope to see most of you at GTR!

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

maybe you guys should take a visit down here next year for the super regional, it would be a blast to have a Canadian FIRST team competing alongside us Florida Teams. I mean imagine the likes of 1114, 1503, 233, 79, and 180 in the same building, only nationals would be a better event

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

I gotta say it. Team 2056 caught my eye from the beginning of friday morning. I was quite surprised to see such a quality bot from a rookie team. Congratulations on the win.

Team 1114, you guys did an amazing job. The gold for the regional and the gold for the EIA is very well deserved. Can't wait to see you guys at championship. Like I said in the other thread, I may disqualify your team during inspection again just to drive karthik nuts. That's something I will never forget.

Team 1305, wow you guys have come very far. I still remember the first day I saw you guys. It seems like you guys always work as a team, always come up with a jaw dropping machine, the Chairmans is very well deserved. See you guys at the championship.

Team 771, about time you guys win the gold. I was very happy for you guys. Your strategy through the finals were very interesting. Good job.

Team 854, you guys amazed me with your machine. I admired the way the machine performed and worked. Great job.

Waterloo regional finals were by far the best finals I have seen. It was all about scoring. I can hardly think of any match where less than 10 tubes were scored. All the machines were scoring beasts. You guys will put up a good competition at the championship. Heck, who knows, maybe the gold is going back to canada again.

oh, forget to mention that the DJ rocked my socks off.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

As usual the Waterloo Regional did not disappoint me. It's a great venue and seems to bring the best competitors.

Unfortunately, we drew the short straw on pits this year. It wasn't even 9x9 because there was a huge support pillar in the corner. We were crammed against the partition but we managed OK.

Thursday was spent re-rigging our elevator only to find it was 0.3 lbs overweight at 4:15. We had some problems with throwing drive chains but they will be fixed for GTR. Our gripper got destroyed in one match but we have re-mounted a modified one.

We appreciate being able to participate in the quarter finals with 1846 and 1815. Looking at the second match on video, we might have sqeaked a win by a strategicaly placed spoiler.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Our robot was a work in progress throughout the eliminations. We added 20 pounds of steel at the beginning, which threw off the drivetrain, so we then added tread to our untreaded wheels. In Finals 1, I think it was, we lost a chain. Literally. They couldn't even find it on the field. We replaced it, and added zip tie tensioners to the chains. I think what happened was that they were too tight, as the robot would take a long time to react to the drive joysticks. We should have it all fixed for GTR.

Thank you to 1114 and 2056 for helping us through this. Without your help, we would have been unable to move.

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

I see you have all the qualifiers up now. Thanks so much for putting these up so quick!

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

I'd just like to send out a thank-you to our two partners, Teams 68 and 758. We put together one of the best defensive alliances I've ever seen, and came so close to pulling it off! So, thanks again to our fellow Michiganders from Truck Town, and our new friends from 758!

Additionally, I'd like to thank Paul Copioli for helping us with the University of Michigan spirit. I'm sure Karthik just loved having you dress up in Maize and Blue and wave our flag every match ;)

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

"WOW!" is the one word I can use to describe this regional. It was an amazing experience, and far different than any other Waterloo regional ever held - and I mean that in a VERY positive way!

The calibre of robots at Waterloo blew my mind. There was no shortage of scoring - both rings and ramps, no shortage of defense, and solid strategic play throughout. I'm getting shivers thinking what GTR is going to be like.

There are so many to thank and congratulate: 1114, 2056, 771 - with good friends on all three teams, this is as good our own team taking the regional win ourselves =P. Okay not quite, but pretty darn close! Great job!

To our alliance partners, 1592 and 1334 - I've seen many a match played in my FIRST career, both those involving our robot and those not, but Q2-4 will forever be etched in my mind as one of the most exciting matches I've ever witnessed, not only for what happend in those 2:15, but for also for the ensuing 20 minutes of drama.

To 1503, 1680 and 2166, the alliance who defeated us in the quarters - we couldn't have lost to a classier group. I'm sure there were moments of panic after Q2-4, but in the end, I'm glad that the refs took the time to correct the mistake, and ensured that the right alliance moved on. Our students and I mentally scored it 28-27 your win, at the end of the match. We were just as perplexed, however far more excited, when we saw the incorrect score posted.

Last but certainly not least, I wanted to share my personal favourite moment at the Waterloo regional. This one is a bit obscure, but fellow 188 members, alumni and friends will certainly get a kick out of this one. Listen carefully!

Cheers to all who all helped make Waterloo such a resounding success! And see you all at the GTR!

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Shawn,

How did you get that played? For some reason I don't think it was on the regular playlist. :P

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

It never ceases to amaze just how effective it is to "just ask nicely!" :p

Re: 2007 Waterloo Regional
 

Well, it should be on the regular playlist -- certainly in Canada. :cool: