Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Audio was decent (not exactly music quality, but I can deal) - video came through surprisingly well with few hiccups. Is there anywhere that we can find match listings and results, though? FIRSTs site isn't working for me...

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I would like to congratulate John Wanninger. The Hilltoppers must be absolutely delighted.

I met John at the 2007 IRI when I turned in my 2007 IRI Word Search for a prize. I selected a Hilltopper teeshirt. :) John and I spent some time talking about what it means to be a mentor on a FIRST team. His passion for working with teenagers and helping them develop into young role models in their own right was so evident. In a pit filled with hustle and bustle, noise, and hard work, this wonderful conversation unfolded, even though he had to get back to his team. As I was leaving the gym at the end of IRI, I saw John and went over to spend a few more moments listening to his wisdom. As I walked to my car, I had tears in my eyes, thinking about the impact this quiet man has on those whose lives he touches - even for a few moments.

I had tears in my eyes again today. They were of joy and celebration.
Congratulations again, John. All the best to you and to the team.
Jane

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

The Wisconsin Regional is running smoothly here and we are having a blast.

Winnovation 1625, Team Driven 1730 and Robot Casserole 1736 are all solid shooters and having success launching the ball for hurdles. Several other teams are having success hurdling and lapping as well.

Hope the webcast is working decently for all, we were averaging around 250 viewers steadily yesterday. UStream seems to be working perfectly, minus the audio which I haven't figured out yet.

Here is some great Milwaukee media coverage of the event:

http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=728109#top

http://www.myfoxmilwaukee.com/myfox/...Y&pageId=3.8.1

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

The webcast of Wisconsin regional is the front page video on ustream.tv right now, some great exposure for FIRST.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Team 1675 would like to thank Teams 1730 and 1625 for the great alliance. That was a great regional, one of the best we've ever been to, and a great moral booster. You both have amazing robots and awesome team mates, keep up the good work! See you next year.

Team Captain Renee Becker (aka the girl in the yellow cape and blue tube skirt)

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

1625 sends thanks back to 1675 and to 1730 for being our other hurdler.

it just so happened in one of the matches something got caught and managed to burn out the one motor in the robot that takes the longest time to replace.
you know its a bad sign when your sprinting through the pits with an arbor press....

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Team 2062, The C.O.R.E. would like to thank teams 171 and 2549 for the great alliance and championship victory. You guys rock! The great team chemistry and phenomenal team work really paid off. We couldn't have asked for a better alliance. Thank you team 171 for picking us. We will be forever grateful. Team 2549, you played like you have been around for a very long time. You are a rookie team that people need to watch.

It was a hard fought battle in the final rounds. Teams 1306, 93, 2169 and 1652 should be very proud of their accomplishments and display of professionalism. Our heartfelt thoughts go out to team 1652 who broke down in the second final match. To go so far and not be able to participate in the final match must have been devastating. Congrats to 1306 for waiting in the wings and making it to the big show.

A big congratulations go out to team 1714, More Robotics for receiving the Chairman's award. You represent our state and FIRST extremely well. Very well deserved for a truly great team.

Team 93 also deserves recognition for receiving the Regional Engineering Inspiration Award. We can all learn from your team.

See you in Atlanta

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I'm not a big fan of all the typical congratulations for the winners/thanking alliance partners that everyone does, but 1714 is truely deserving of the chairman's award. While they are not that well known here, they are the real deal. Every time there is some publicity for FIRST, community service or anything related to FIRST happens in the Milwaukee area 1714 is involved and most of the time leading and organizing it.

Not to take anything away from the winners, but it is always difficult to see elimination matchs effected or decided by robots breaking down. In the Semifinals, 1625 was 'shooterless' for a match and a half, and 1730 bent their ball picker upper, making it 'shooterless' too for almost an entire match. I think those two teams were a clearly the best two teams at the regional and it is unfortunate to see them fall short by breaking. Then in the finals 1652 broke down, forcing 1306 (not 2169 as mentioned above). In the final match, 2169 broke down or got stuck on thier first lap.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Our power cord wasn't zip-tied. During the hybrid period, when we hit that wall, the power cord was knocked loose so we completely lost power and couldn't move at all.

Our team does want team 93 to get a sincere thanks, they were great in that last match even when we were immobile.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

First off: Big thank you to every volunteer, judge, referee, and planning committee member for what was probably the best regional ever. Big congratulations to Laurie Vertz for winning volunteer of the year. You worked your butt off so hard this whole year to make this regional a success and Ii can't think of anyone who deserves it more.

Thank you to teams 2062 and 2549 for the great alliance. You don't need to be thankful for us picking you; you both earned your way into this alliance and when the time came, you both demonstrated that you were the right teams for the alliance. The amount of professionalism and sportsmanship you guys had was amazing and I can't think of a decision that paid off more.

Thank you to teams 2169, 93 and 1652 for being such gracious opponents. You worked so well together throughout the eliminations to get to the finals and we cheered you on the whole way. Congrats as well to 93 for the Engineering Inspiration Award. You guys define Wisconsin Robotics and I'm happy to see you were recognized for it.

Congratulations to 1714 on the Chairman's Award. You guys deserved it last year at Buckeye and I'm so proud of you for not just the award, but for the reason you won it.

Lastly, thank you to team 2194, Fondy Fire for sharing scouting duties with us during the qualifiers. We have a smaller team and you were more than willing to show us a helping hand. I'm so happy to see you guys make it to the finals and I can't wait to see you again in Minnesota.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

And congrats to you guys. 171, that was really an amazing belt grabber and honestly, you definately deserved to win. All three of your alliance partners did a fantastic job! We look forward to seeing you guys here in MN in two weeks!

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

We won't be at Minnesota. I am volunteering there.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

In that case, we'll still probably see you there :D

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I think that if you had not lost power you would have won the match. ...Well, I like to think that because I was rooting for your alliance :)

I thought it was great that 171 and 93 proved that arm bots could do just as well and better than shooter bots :)

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Hey I didn't get to go to Wisconsin, so does anyone know if there are videos of the teams competing? Thanks!

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I think the matches should be up on thebluealliance.net this week. Nothing is up on the site from the Wisconsin regional yet.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

i'm am completely confident if both shooter robots were functioning the arms wouldn't have stood a very good chance.

if video of our last qualification match is anywhere count the hurdles.
shooters are still better

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Depends on the shooter... Depends on the arm... Depends on the driver... This can be saved for another topic.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I think it all lies in strategy. Arm bots can be just as efficient as shooter bots if they know how to play. 171 rocked it, as did 93 and 2062 and several other arm bots.

Although, 1625 and 1730 both had the best engineered robots at the competition. They were both fantastic.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Thank you. We really do get involved in most FIRST related things in Milwaukee, and we also try to get involved in FIRST events across the state. We are all very happy that we won chairmans. We are now looking forward to Cleveland next week because most pressure will be off, and we can have a good time. As a driver, I was a little disappointed that our robot didnt work, but after alliance selections we got our robot working and was hurdling on the practice field. We are excited for the Championships, and will do our best to represent Wisconsin well.
Joey

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Wow, I would just like to say thank you to all of the teams who helped out team 2526 at the regional. You all helped create an amazing experience for my entire team at our first FIRST competition. There were so many times where if oher teams hadn't helped us out, we'd be screwed, but whenever we asked, multiple teams were at our pit ready to help in minutes.

The whole experience was amazing, from the euphoria of winning a match, to the anger of losing a match. The worst part of it all was ranking 16th, but not getting picked, we're all past that now though.

And those were some amazing finals! What really surprised me was that 1625 and 1730 didn't win. As soon as Winnovation drafted Team Driven, I thought it was all over, the victory banners could be given out then. What a bummer that 1625's robot broke.

Well, once again, thanks to all the teams who helped make this regional an experience of a lifetime.

(And now I've got to wait a whole year before I can go to another regional! Ahh, the plight of a low budget rookie team!)

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I would like to congradulate him also. He was the reason I got into FIRST. When I was in 4th grade he found out about FLL. He got a group together and we started a team. He was the lead mentor of 2 teams after the first year, and for 3 years in a row, an FLL team he mentored made it to the world festival. If John hadnt found FLL, I think the amount of FIRST groups in the Milwaukee area would be completely different. Great Jobb!
Joey

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

My favorite robot at the Wisconsin Regional was from Team 1730. I especially liked their Mortar. We were fortunate to be situated across from the practice field and was able to watch all teams checking out their robot. The 1730 robot was cool to watch. The mortar idea was great with the surgical tubing and ball screw. I saw them using a sensor switch that automatically closed their gripper when the ball was positioned correctly. That was a great idea. Their ball removal idea was similar to ours and very effective. They were well deserving of the Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology" Award.

As far as arm bots vs shooter bots............... I agree that there are enough threads on this site concerning the discussion. My only observation is that I believe the highest scoring points in a match at Milwaukee came from 2 arm bots. It was 118 points I believe. :ahh:

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

thats when 2 good bots were together and functioning congrats on 112.
our team almost alone got 98, us and 1730 both functioning at the same time could've blasted 112 away, sorry

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Matches can not be compared. There are so many variables going into each match, even one consisting of the same robots. Congratulations on your win, however events would have transpired very very differently had our alliances bots performed through the end of the day.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Congrats to all award winners at the 2008 Wisconsin Regional! There was a rich field of very deserving teams at the competition and I can only imagine the judges' decisions for who to acknowledge were not easy ones!

It was tough to come in second but to lose to 171 (a team that now has two NEW Apple Corps alumni on it) and 2062 (who's field coach is a visionary educator and a FIRST mentor to keep an eye on!) was not all bad. Kudos to both of your teams along with 2549 for winning the 2008 Wisconsin Regional! It was a ball playing against you in the finals!

Winning the Engineering Inspiration award was a complete surprise!! We do what we do becuase we know it is the right thing to do and it is good for our students, our community and our future. I had tears in my eyes as I came out of the judges line to the chants ("Schuff! Schuff! Schuff!) of our team members and felt embarassed that so much attention was given to me. Just to set the record straight, the NEW Apple Corps is all about its 38 students, 22 mentors, numerous sponsors and parents who support us every step of the way. While I may be the most public face of the team (my officially assigned task at the WI Regional was "schmoozing") we would not be the team we are without the countless hours of dedication, nearly bottomless well of patience, and technical expertise of all our mentors who so willingly share all of this with some of the most phenomonal students I have every known. This season has been one of the most memorable in my nine years with Team 93.

A special thanks to Fondy Fire for doing as we asked. Last year while we mentored them they asked what they could do to repay us for our help and our only request was that they pass on what we had given them. They certainly honored our request by mentoring Lancer Robotics Team 2437 from Honolulu, Hawaii and helped get their pit placed right next to ours in Wisconsin so we could both lend them a helping hand. Fondy Fire, in only their second year in FIRST, already embodies what we should all be trying to do - get the word out and inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, and technologists.

Finally, thanks to John Budish and the rest of the planning committee for thinking of our team when it came to selecting someone to speak during the VIP luncheon. It was an honor to represent the teams at the regional in trying to convey to this group how powerful the impact of FIRST can be and why we keep coming back for more. FIRST is an experience like no other and I can't get enough of telling people about how it has changed so many lives, mine included.

We CAN change the world!!

Sean

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

well on behalf of 1730, we'd like to thank all those on 1625 and 1675 for all of the hard work. hard breaks just happen sometimes, that's life.

and in reply to the shooter vs. arm debate,
if you look at the stats of the shooters and the arm bots, the shooters where scoring more (1625 with 6 hurdles), and more consistently. just my 2 cents.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

My heart goes out to all those that broke down in the elimination matches, believe me I did not want to win with your robots like that. It would have been awesome to see how the matches would have gone if these unforseeable events had not happened. :D But i also believe that robustness is a big part of a great design.

I couldnt agree with this more.
The trick to getting through life is to learn to roll with the punches. :p

I personally like arm robots because not only can they hurdle, but they can also place, knock down, and potentially block shooters shots (not sure if this is legal though). Just my 2 cents... ;)

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

It's legal if the shooter isn't lifting the ball or moving towards the Overpass... then again, you still gotta be ale to take the hit ;)

It was a great regional, thanks to 1625 and 1730 for the pick, and congrats to all the other teams at the regional. It was a blast.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I think that is a big claim to make without bringing any numbers (besides 1 match) and looking at the teams. According to 1732's scouting numbers, 1625 and 1730 were #1 and #2 in hurdles per match. 1736 was #6 and 141 was #10. Also, all of those four teams are not your average teams. Without looking at thier robots, I would have expected those 4 teams to be near the top in scoring. So, was it that they built shooters or because they are just good teams? Its like having 111, 233, and 1114 build arms bots and compare those three robots to three rookie shooter robots. I would bet that the arms would be better, but just because they were built by better, more experienced teams.

I would have liked to see an alliance against the 1625 and 1730 alliance slow the match down, keep the scores low and attempt to win it at the end by placing.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Although there was a 112 point match, there was also a 118 point match by the same alliance, 2 arm bots.
I don't think you can say arm robots are better than shooter robots or vice versa, but rather that it depends on the individual robot. There are shooters that are better than some arm robots; and some arm robots that are better than shooters.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I really liked CORE's arm too. They could run up to the overpass as fast as they wanted and release it without having to worry about falling over but getting caught on the overpass.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Fondy Fire also sends kudos to John Wanninger for getting the Woodie Flowers Award. John and his wife Sue have done so much over the years.

Also congrats to More Robotics for winning the Chairman's Award. They have definitely done Dean's Homework. I swear they must be looking for opportunities to demonstrate a robot. I thought it was great when some team in the upper deck started chanting "wicked awesome" when the award was announced.

NEW Apple Corps are definitely our Engineering Inspiration. They have showed us how to succeed since our first kickoff meeting. We couldn't be happier that they won the Engineering Inspiration Award, and also finished in the 2nd place alliance with King TeC, Lakeview Legends, and the Badger Bots.

Congrats to the winners, Extreme Engineering, CORE Robotics, and the Millerbots. Our team shared scouting duties with Extreme Engineering, and they also have one of our alumni as a mentor at UW-Platteville. Your alliance showed how important it is to have a durable robot at a FIRST competition.

Our hearts go out to Winnovation. I was packing up in the pits, and I knew it was bad when I saw one of your team sprint by us carrying an arbor press. We were very impressed with your performance at both the Midwest and Wisconsin Regionals. Team Driven and Chop Shop both came a long way to Wisconsin, and you all have great teams and great robots.

Thanks to the Masters of Machinery and the High Jumps for choosing us as an alliance partner. We gave it a good run.

My favorite play of the day happened in Quarterfinal 1, Match 1, when I believe it was Charger Robotics that stuck up their arm and blocked successively launched trackballs from Winnovation and Team Driven. I can't wait for that video to be posted.

All the rookie teams did great at Wisconsin. Thanks to all the veteran teams that helped the rookies as needed.

Thanks to all the volunteers who made everything possible. FIRST couldn't survive without you.

Finally, congrats to the Lancer Robotics team from Honolulu. Your team was well prepared, you consistently scored 8 points in hybrid, and you never got any penalties. The cost of entering the Wisconsin Regional - $4000. Shipping your robot back to Hawaii - $3000. Airfare, hotel and food for each person - $1000+. Winning Rookie All-Star (and sponsorship to go to Atlanta) - Priceless!

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Robot Casserole would like to thank NEW Apple Corps for the Supershifter part that brought our robot back to life.
Note to anyone using servos to shift: There aren't supposed to be washers on the shaft where the servo connects to it. If there are, your shifter will grind itself into oblivion, and being unable to move in high gear during a quarter-finals match is not fun.

Another thanks to the Robohuskies for picking us for their alliance!

Also, we heard over the intercom that someone was in need of a plutonium battery. Are you sure that's a legal part?
(Better yet, how'd you get that announced?)

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Thanks again to 1625 and 1730 for giving us a chance to play with the big guns! While it is unfortunate that we were never able to get our lift working, we're glad that our speed and defense did not go unnoticed. In the end, though, it's simply not possible to win an elim match when your alliance has no way to hurdle. This brings an end to the Ultimate Protection Squad's official FIRST season, but we're hoping to make it to some offseason events and show what we can really do!

Also thanks to teams 904 and 2039 for the parts to help with our lift. Sorry we couldn't put them to better use at the event, but know that they will not be wasted!

Congrats to John Wanninger for the Woodie Flowers Award. He possesses a passion and spirit for all things FIRST that can inpsire everyone, from the youngest student on an FLL team to the oldest mentor on an FRC team. It was an honor to present this award. I had goosebumps and had to choke back some tears prior to reading the award after hearing the "Kevin! Kevin! Kevin!" chants in the arena

Thank you to everyone for making this an event to remember. The US Cellular Arena was packed all three days and the competition was intense. It was great to see all my old friends and make quite a few new ones too!

And to all of you waiting for video, patience is a virtue! I have all of it and will be parsing as quickly as I can. I will get the elims posted first and then the qualifying will roll in as quickly as I can. I should be able to get through the elims within a day or two (I have a lot of FIRST time to make up at work now..)

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I was wondering not if the shooter gets hit, but if the arm robot moves so that its arm blocks the ball.:(

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I don't think there is any rule against blocking an already launched ball.

The rule about protection for shooter is that the top of the ball has to be higher than the line divider (it doesn't matter if the ball is being lifted or not) or the robot has to be moving towards the overpass in order to recieve protection. This is something that I noticed with 1730. Right before they shot, they stopped most of the time allowing them to be hit. I didn't see any teams take advantage of it, though.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Last year we got "Attention in the pits. Team 2169 is in need of a flux capacitor." announced.

It was amazing.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Also, in the practice matches, it was team 2169 and another arm bot that scored 130 points.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Did that match have all 6 robots and 2 minutes long, because I know that there werent always 6 robots, and many of the practice matches were longer the 2 minutes.:confused:

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

1675 had a flux capacitor that ran on safety tokens instead of plutonium!

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

On our robot before the regionals, when we had weight to spare, we had an extra vector speed controller and spike relay, which we connected with a green piece of pneumatic tubing, and called the spike relay "super charger", and the speed controller "instant win". :cool:

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Team 166 would love to thank everyone for what you did when we received the Gracious Professionalism award.

Nothing was better than hearing everyone else chant "Wicked Awesome!" as we made our way down to the field. :p

We would like to thank Team 141 and Team 1259 for being great partners in the elimination rounds. You guys kept a great, positive attitude during those matches.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Yeah, we were concerned about having defense played on us while we were hurdling. We talked to the ref about it and checked it out. On a field built to the specifications put forward by FIRST, we ball would have protruded above the top of the lane divider. However, the one at milwaukee was 6'2" instead of 6' so we weren't covered. And yes, blocking an already released ball is a legitimate strategy, kudos to 537 on blocking and withstanding the force of the projectile. That was quite a sight.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I do agree with you that 1714 is a great team and deserves recognition for all of there accomplishments.

However, I don't agree with you about finals being decided by robots breaking down. You are taking away from my alliance accomplishing winning the regional, and I will tell you why. You can build an awesome shooting robot, but it doesn't do any good if you don't build it robustly. During the entire competition our robot, need only fine tuning, but no major repairs. Our alliance and pit neighbor 2549 needed little repairs either. It is also not wise to hinge your whole design on the fate of one small component. If you watch the footage from the regional 171's ball collecting belt cam off in the end of the final match, however we were still able to operate with the other belt.

So, although I am bias, I disagree with your assessment of the best teams at the regional. The design process starts with the concept and ends with the longevity of your design. I think the best teams won the regional!

Casey Gales
Mechanical Engineer

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

If both shooters were built more durable they may have been better. But the shooter design is more fragile, and it is still part of the outcome if your robot breaks. Thats like saying, my car would have won the race if the transmission didn't blow up. So, its not shooter verses arm, its durable versus fragile. That is the design dilemma.....

Casey Gales
Mechanical Engineer

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

But, our transmission did... umm... never mind. XD

A shooter isn't necessarily more fragile than an arm.
I've seen multiple arms fall apart during a match, but many shooters, especially the mechanically simple ones like ours, would have to take quite a beating to break.
Breakdowns are also often caused by parts not specific to either shooters or arms. Problems in the drivetrain or electronics can easily leave you motionless on the field.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I did not say your team was bad or that your team would have lost to them in the finals if they would not have broken. I think it is disapointing to watch a match that one or two teams breaks instead of having all 6 robots play thier hearts out and the match be decided on a last second place or knock off. As a fan watching the matches, most would agree that this is more exciting than having a robot stuck or broken. If I offended you or your team, I am sorry.

Last year at Wisconsin, we were paired with 1816 in the eliminations. We thought we had a very strong alliance. But in the semifinals, 1816's banebot transmission broke on the left (?) side. Without thier defense, we lost the next 2 matchs. It is a very bad feeling to lose because someone on your alliance breaking down. I would have much rather lost by simply losing to a better alliance. Then, I would have known that we were not the best alliance. Instead, I am still thinking "what if...".

I do stand by my comment that 1625 and 1730 were the best teams at the regional. Again, that does not mean that your team is awful or anything. Just by looking at the numbers 1625 and 1730 averaged 42.8 and 37 points respectivly. 171 was 5th with 30.9.

Yes, being a robust robot is important. But to the best of my knowledge, 1730 never had the problem of thier ball picker-upper bending, or 1625 with the motor.

I also think it is nearly impossible to make the claim that the shooter design isn't has robust as the arm design (or vica versa) without doing a huge statisically study on it.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

On Friday afternoon, 3 students were interviewed by the media from team 1091. Does anyone know where the team could find the video? Although I don't believe it was broadcast, the team would like to have a copy of it.

Team 1091 is looking forward to seeing you all next year. We were only able to attend one regional event this year, but hope to go to two regionals next year.

Thanks to the Regional Committee for putting on a great Regional.

Anne

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

On Friday afternoon, 3 students were interviewed by the media from team 1091. Does anyone know where the team could find the video? Although I don't believe it was broadcast, the team would like to have a copy of it.

Team 1091 is looking forward to seeing you all next year. We were only able to attend one regional event this year, but hope to go to two regionals next year.

Thanks to the Regional Committee for putting on a great Regional.

Anne

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I should be working...but I am having too much fun reading what everyone else has entered. Because I work as a volunteer I miss most of the competition. Thanks to all of you who have posted your fun stories of the Wisconsin Regional (really a plutonium battery, what will Susy come up with next year?). I kept asking volunteers and Cellular Arena staff how everything was going, are the students behaving. Every time the reply was that everyone was cooperative, practicing safety and having fun. People who staff events like this are always a little worried when we say there will be 1500 high school students. At the end they said it was pleasure to work with such a wonderful group. Thank you to all the participants for making this a fun and exciting event that we will look forward to planning again. Just a Mom, who is very proud!

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Laurie should be working, and I should be cleaning my house and getting ready to go out at 2:30 this afternoon.

I keep getting lost reading posts too.

I would like to congratulate Laurie Vertz on receiving Volunteer of the Year. Laurie has helped team 1091 throughout the last year. I am also "just a mom" who has now been involved with team 1091 for 3 years. Any time that I asked a question through email, Laurie was quick to respond, and I am truly thankful for all of her help.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Our team observed very poor officiating at this regional. There was one instance where our robot was on the line, backed up, and then crossed it. They still called a G22 even though the robot had not completely passed the line yet. We talked to the head referee about this so that it wouldn't happen again (it caused us to tie the match, instead of win it), and he agreed with us. But we saw the same thing happen again in the elimination rounds! Our team was in the pits for most the entire competition, so we didn't see many matches, so I imagine that this occurred many more times even.

Also, they mentioned during one of the driver's meetings that an arm extension passing over the lane divider wall would be a G22, but it was almost never called. Mistakes like these can decide the outcome of the match. I think they should have introduced a tiered penalty structure this year as well. 10 points for a G22 basically takes out one robot's points for their laps. That seems a bit harsh. There should be a 5 point penalty for something like a G22 and reserve the 10 point for something like pinning a robot against the wall.

Another thing that bothered me was the case of the disappearing robots. The lane divider material reflected one side of the field onto the other from certain angles, causing the robots on the other side to disappear. Conversely, you can find that there are images of robots on your side appearing ot be on the other side. I once found myself driving around a robot that wasn't even there! Things like that need to be worked out when determining materials for the playing field.

Also, I felt that the team randomization was kinda iffy. We found that our team had never been on an alliance in qualification with any of the picking teams in elimination. There were too many teams, because such a large regional has that particular side-effect. Albeit, we didn't have the best robot, but I think we deserved to do a lot better because we were always on alliances with other mediocre bots.

Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and as always it's been a lot of fun, and I learned a lot. Doing well at competition is just icing on the cake. In fact, I'm not too bent out of shape about it. About 10 minutes after the last qualification match, I stopped being too concerned with our 57th place finish.

Of course, continuing to be the only team that has won the visualization award at WI certainly doesn't hurt things either.

...and sorry for the wall of text.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I just wanted to say that there are a couple of threads where people are talking about things like this, you might want to look them up and voice your opinion! I'm sure that FIRST would also like any suggestions they can get.

Many unfortunate calls have made in almost all of the regionals so far. I know that our team lost a couple matches due to bad penalty calls. You just have to get over it, and remember that the refs are humans too. :P

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

It would have been nice to see 6 working robots in the final match. I don't think I can disagree there.

However, you also have to keep in mind, when 2169 broke down, we were forced to play with only one ball (due to the positioning of the robot). To make things worse for our alliance, those amazing Appleton drivers managed to knock down the ball we couldn't use at the last second.

Yes, I know they received a couple penalties, one of them possibly being for disabling the ball, but I have confidence that with CORE hurdling as well in that match, they could have easily put up more.

As far as shooters vs arms debate i will say EXACTLY what I said about 30 posts ago...

DEPENDS ON THE ARM. DEPENDS ON THE SHOOTER. DEPENDS ON THE DRIVER.

I don't think you can declare an overall winner in this game. There were several arm robots that did better than Casserole this year. However, it could be argued that 1625 was the best robot there. I think 217 or 233 can hurdle at the same rate as 1114... I also feel like there are robots out there that could match up to 1625.

On Friday night, we compiled our scouting data to determine Average Points Scored Per Match for each team. (Including hybrid, teleop, and end game (not including knocking balls off, or penalties due to erroneous data))

The top teams were: ArmsShootersSpeed
2062 - 35.67
171 - 35.67
93 - 32.67
1625 - 32.40
1730 - 29.00
141 - 28.67
2169 - 27.00
930 - 23.20
2545 - 23.00
1732 - 21.60
1816 - 21.33
2039 - 18.00
166 - 17.00
1736 - 15.67

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

To ReneeB/Lady Logistics of UPS:
The fact that you posted such a prompt thank you note (to two teams that had failed to help you as much as they wanted) means Brown is the new Gold.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

What would we do without the Kevin chant?
Joey

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

wow. The Wisconsin regional was one of the most amazing experiences ever. Our whole team had a ton of fun and was completely worn out. =]

On the other hand, our robot's performance was not what we expected. Our drive train gave us issues the whole time we were there. It acted nothing like it had during the last few weeks of the build season. Picking up the ball proved to be a huge weakness, a lot of that was caused by the robot's drive not responding to the joystick. Extremely frustrating. :(

This will be our first year we go to Atlanta. We'll definitely make some fixes by then.

But seriously an amazing time.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

I will just do a general congrats to all teams for a great regional! The excitement was explosive and the competition was great.
Special congrats to 93 for winning the engineering inspiration award. Sean: It's about time you guys won this and it is well deserved.

I don't know about you guys, but if there is any more teams next year will we have to go to more fields?!?!

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

the part of the shooter that broke was not the part that shot, it was the part most similar to arms of the motor toasted that lifted the ball up.
if that failure had happened outside of elim's it would have been fixed in time for the next match it just so happenes that that one takes awhile to replace...

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

just curious, what motor was it that burned up?

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

the good'ol banebots 550, can't really blame it though, trying to move something that got stuck down... lol

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Thank you everyone for your kind words and congratulations. 1714 Just got back from the Buckeye Regional. I had no idea how tough it was to attend back to back events. We had a blast there, but we all are exhausted.

I want to thank eveyone who helped us at the Wisconsin regional. We will represent the event well as it's Chairman's Award winner at the 2008 Chapmionship. Good luck and skill to all who will attend the Championship. We hope to see you there.

Someone once told me, I think it was Laurie Vertz, that a team is a success even if all it does is complete a robot that can drive on the playing field. I totally agree. Those who attended the Wisconsin Regional did far better than that though. Congratulations to everyone on their success at the 2008

Cangratulations to Laurie on the Outstanding Volunteer Award.

Congratulations to Team 93 for the Engineering Inspiration award.

Thank you to all of our friends from other teams who were there with us as well as the new friends we make each year. It is always a joy to see you on and off the field and reminisce about our mutual experiences.

-Mike

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Offensive power rankings for wisconsin thanks to bongle

Wisconsin Regional
Code:

1625 49.8168
141 35.6332
1730 32.0028
1736 25.5406
2169 24.3109
2062 24.019
930 21.573
171 20.006
2547 19.1146
1675 18.0718
2481 17.3041
93 17.1033
166 15.6925
2549 15.4527
2606 15.3803
2535 14.9615
2545 14.8528
2526 14.6634
1091 14.3247
2437 13.5781
1816 13.1077
2574 12.4494
1739 11.8769
2530 11.2592
2116 10.8958
2077 10.7748
1652 10.6515
1103 10.364
2202 9.8298
2194 9.37814
1850 9.05741
2039 8.87432
857 8.77189
1988 8.39986
2153 8.3983
2143 7.923
2667 7.88136
1259 7.56955
537 7.14274
1716 6.86105
167 5.99421
904 5.74562
2136 5.62584
2129 5.27883
269 4.51404
74 3.56688
1306 3.53685
2220 3.22949
1714 2.86169
1732 2.31474
2506 2.25164
2538 1.84231
1864 0.955353
754 -0.576295
706 -1.18242
81 -2.20895
1984 -2.30947
1268 -2.98356
2586 -7.35126
2561 -9.22469

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

Thats interesting compairing those OPR's with andy's average points per match a few threads up. Big difference on the highest average comapred to highest opr

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

The OPRs are for all of the qualification rounds. While Andy's numbers are only for the Friday matches.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

He's right. 1625 had a hell of a Saturday. I would tend to agree with the offensive power rankings over my data.

Thanks Hills.

If we REALLY need to solve the debate of shooters vs arms... I would hands down have to agree that this year, shooters tend to be the best in terms of hurdling. Arm bots tend to have a better end game. But again, I'll stress it for a 689th team, it all depends on which robot you are arguing.

If you are arguing purely over if 1625 was the best robot there, I'd have to tend to agree. But if you are arguing whether or not 93 or 525 were the best robots at Minnesota, I would also have to tend to agree.

Our list we had on draft day had a shooter as #1 but arm bots at #2 and #3. (1625, 2062, 93). I have to disagree with galesc's argument a bit. Shooters and arms tend to both break pretty equally and in terms of moving parts, they are about the same. The only reason that arms MAY break less is the speed in which its parts are moving (slower). If done right, both are very good. However, in my opinion, shooters have a much greater potential as not many arms have on-the-fly hurdling capability.

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

1675 is at number ten, and we pretty much only had a set of wheels o_o

I'm amazed, even though they are just numbers, hehe

Re: 2008 Wisconsin Regional
 

My data was determined using actual scouting. Scouting was done by 2194 and 171. I have the data for every team if you want me to compile it all. This is only for Friday at Milwaukee for comparison.

Kind of interesting to see the differences.

Power Rankings
Actual