Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Please click one of the Quick Reply icons in the posts above to activate Quick Reply.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Tonight on Global news we should have something on the national at 5:30pm in Toronto and on Global news at 6pm......I'm the camera operator that shot the vis and just ingesting it into Grassvalley now and they will start editing.

Mark

Hopefully this gets into the right forum, I'm posting via Blackberry.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

is anyone staying at the days inn?

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Hey guys,

1114 won't be with 2056

Vova

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

and your sure of this how??

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Hope your upgrades went well.

Here's my logic, that maybe Vova had as well:
1114 hasn't been top of the standings yet this year, they seem to have reliability issues and a bit of bad luck in qualifications. They have an ENORMOUS target on their back, everyone has analyzed how to defend against them, so it is possible for them to get 1 or 2 losses during qualifying. When 1114 is paired with weaker alliance partners, shutting them down = shutting down their alliance.

2056, though quite good, isn't quite as powerful as 1114, they had flawless reliability (and a smidgen of luck) at waterloo, so it is possible that they won't be top seed.

If we assume that the top seed will pick 1114 first (pretty much given unless they have catastrophic drivetrain AND manipulator failure) and top seed isn't 2056 or 1114 then 1114 and 2056 will not be together.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Close, here is my logic:

From the past years I have noticed that when 1114 is seeded very high, which they always are, they pick alliance members different from the ones they were with at a regional which they've recently won. Meaning that if a team that 1114 has just won a regional with, is at the next regional that 1114 is also at, even then 1114 is not bound to pick them. I think that 1114 wants to give other teams a chance to win and enjoy competing in the elimination rounds, not just because they can afford to do that, but because it's part of gracious professionalism. Now, an exception would be 1503, but in 2006 they were under the mentorship of 1114. Also, 2056 is a very powerful team, which would mean that 1114 would most likely want to be with them again. However, I think that there are other very successful teams at GTR this year. There is however a restriction to my prediction: 1114 has to be seeded higher than 2056.


I hope you guys understood that cause personally I'm not feeling well right now haha

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

The only way that 1114 ans 2056 get together again is if one of them is the first seed... but when you look at it, thats a very good possibility. But seeing that GTR doesn't have as many matches as Waterloo, one or two un-lucky matches (or matches against one another) could put another team in first seed. I still think one of 1114 or 2056 will end up in the first seed.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

I'm talking to a few people on msn, and the more I talk the more flaws we see in my logic even though some of it makes sense. We still think that 1114 won't be with 2056 but for other reasons. Either way, good luck to everyone!!!!! Seeing as my team isn't attending GTR I'm rooting for each and every one of the other teams :D

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Good luck to all the teams at GTR, especially 1241 who billeted us our first two years at the tournament.

We'll be watching the webcast, but after four successive GTRs it will feel weird to not be at Hershey Centre.

Mind you, seeing as the weather forecast is calling for more snow... I might be able to get over it!

Jason

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Mark, my dad caught the segment on Global at 5:30 while working out at the gym. GREAT WORK!!!

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Is there any sort of chat app going on for people watching the webcast from the Discovery Channel feed? Thanks!

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

When you say the Niagara Frontier, don't forget to count out 1503 who are less than 35 minutes away in Niagara Falls!

There will be a lot of teams from the Niagara area, including:

-1114
-1503
-1507
-1680
-2056

Anyway, hope to see you there!

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Mmmm... iframes

http://www.student.cs.uwaterloo.ca/~ahare/first.html

I don't know how to make the meebo media window smaller though, sorry.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

I think it's somewhat uncommon to be in a position to team up with the same team in the same year, and even harder to be the one picking both times. Given they had 3 regional wins with the same team in 06, 2 with the same team in 07, went to regionals in 3 completely different areas in 04 and only picked at 1 of 2 regionals in 05, I can't see how you'd reach that conclusion.

But anyways on a different note, does anyone else notice 1114 trying to catch their own hurdles off a bounce (and sometimes succeeding)? That's impressive...

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

It is... but what's also impressive is the almost total lack of defense against 1114... I mean.. no one batting the ball away from them now and then or getting in front of them for a few seconds...

I love the Discovery channel broadcast of this regional. Having a correspondant (and let's not forget our co-correspondant Karthik :D ) makes it so much more fun to watch! So, anyhow, the Toronto regional gets my star for most fun broadcast to watch today.

Lots of neat arm designs too.

Go Teams!

-q

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

GTR has been amazing for Team 1676- we're having a blast. The upgrades to our elevator have really helped us out- we're now 7th in scoring average, and 21st overall- a huge improvement over NJ.

Congrats to Where's Waldo on their Woodie Flowers! Congrats also out to all the other teams that won awards today.

We'll see what happens tomorrow!

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

we are having a blast as well! Our arm upgrade is working well and we are currently ranked 10th (we seem to have horrible luck in certain matches:( )

and we won Innovation and Control award!!!!!!! :D:D

Good luck to all teams tomorrow, and see you in the Eliminations!!!!

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Yeah I LOVED 1565's drivetrain. It's so beautiful :eek:

I also loved a lot of the robots. I mean, I expected a certain design to be dominant. There was really never much dominance of one. People wanted to build something unique, you got it.

Our team's having fun!

It's unfortunate though that someone messed with our trimming and the robot went totally wild for one match. Aye! It was horrible I admit. Imagine (actually you can see the match) a quote, "Zoom Zoom" robot thats drivetrain was not trimmed -- It's having a Ferrari without any breaks. That was close. Yay for a low-mass robot.

Sorry for those at the other side if you're reading this!

E-button for the win!

Have fun :)
- Team 1219

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Props to 1565 for their drivetrain & the rockwell award - it is truly a thing of beauty.

Asa for 1114, I will be highly surprised if they are not in the finals on Einstein. Their bot does everything perfectly, their drivers REALLY know how to drive, and reliability seems excellent.

Having a great time up here, this place is huge... Kinda like NJ, but just a bit larger. I can now understand what all the talk is about.

Don

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Thanks, I ended up going to the station and looked at the air-check for the 5:30 and the 6pm show and they did a decent job putting it together, I also saw it on the weather network and it will be on TWN again tonight at 11:10pm.

I am always worried because you never know how they are going to put something together or what the reporter will say or write...I just shoot the video, but this time it looked decent.

mark

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

has the tournament already started, im going tommorow hopefully, how many matches are left!?

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

well tomorrow is a few qualification matches 2 per a team i believe, and then after lunch its the final rounds.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

ok cool im so there

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

It has started, tomorrow is the final day at the Hershey centre....practice was Thursday, and today started the competitions. I am not sure how many matches left....

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

I saw a short little segment on CBC at the end of 6:00 news today about GTR.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Does anybody know where 1114 is placed in the standings? and what are the top 8 teams right now in the standings

thanks

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

:o :o

How could I forget you guys!?! We just saw you at Finger Lakes! Sorry, ... Rookie mistake!

I hadn't noticed Fort Erie (there are just so many teams), and I wouldn't have realized where Stoney Creek was, so thanks much for enlightening me. My best to all our neighbors across the border!

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Well seeing that im from burlington and used to help mentor st martins i must say:

Go St. Martins and Rambotics!! It would be so cool if they were in an alliance, anyone know how they're doing?

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Thank you very much

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

lol no surprises there:rolleyes: me senses another win for simbotics

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

well i dont know what people think of this years game, and the judges decisions. But for our team its been nothing but bad luck this year. All our matches have been pretty good but then we have other allied teams who end up with penalty's and we loose. Lets see if any team will choose us for finals based on what we can do and not our really bad rank.

Good luck to all,

Roborams - 2185

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

No mistakes there but i think 1114 will lose in atlanta to team 70's alliance unless they are on the same alliance with team 70

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

If your robot is truly performing well and it is just bad luck, then you have decent shot of getting picked. GTR has several veteran teams who are skilled at scouting; 1114 comes to mind immediately, you don't win 8 of your last 9 regionals just off of luck and a good robot. Those who have been around for a bit know to look past ranking.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

1114 is an awesome team

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Uhm, I respectfully disagree.

1114 does the best scouting I have ever seen in FIRST. They have exact statistics on every single team at the regionals they attend - how many lines and balls they do in hybrid, how many laps they do, how many hurdles they do, how many places they make. They use this as the basis of their pick lists.

The reason 1114 is forced to pick a middle-of-the-road robot for their second pick is because of the nasty thing called the serpentine draft - but that's a whole other can of worms to be opened at another time. They will always pick the best available robot to complement their alliance, and make the best use of them possible, because they do know that they aren't unbeatable. They want to ensure they have the best chance possible of winning the regional, therefore, they pick the best robots possible. I would expect nothing less from any team out there. Noone is guaranteed a regional win, let alone 1114, but they do an amazing job at inviting the best possible alliance mates to work with them, to give them the best chance possible.

Yes, 1114 picks teams that they mentor. Not because of the fact they mentor them, but because of the fact that the teams they mentor are the best robots available. That in itself says tremendous things about their program - the teams they mentor consistently rank very high, and are generally in the top level of teams at a regional. They are obviously doing something extremely right, that they transfer to those teams. It is no wonder that they won the RCA in Waterloo - their program is, in my opinion, one of the strongest out there. Both of the rookie teams 1114 mentored last year made it to the Championship, and made the eliminations in their respective divisions - not picked by 1114. The teams they mentor have a long history of success, between them: 7 Regional wins, 3 Regional finalists, 1 Rookie Inspiration Award, 3 Rookie All-Star Awards, a Motorola Quality Award, and 2 Highest Rookie Seed Awards. Those speak for themselves to the quality of the teams they mentor, if you ask me.

Oh and by the way, at Waterloo 2008, 2056 picked 1114, not the other way around.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

I hope that's sarcasm or a joke, because I doubt 1114 ever knows their going to win, and I am certain that they don't pick bad teams in order to boost their own image (often the last robots picked are just okay, but alliance captains have no control over that, since they are the last ones picked). And I also doubt 1114 chooses teams they mentor because they mentored them. You'll note that every time 1114 has picked another NiagaraFIRST team, they picked either one of the best or the best robot available to them. It wouldn't surprise me if they leaned towards teams they knew well (more familiarity = better efficiency on the field), but I would be extremely surprised if they go into alliance selections thinking "How many NiagaraFIRST teams can we get on our alliance."

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

1114 is an awesome team

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

1114 is an awesome team

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

I have to disagree with you here, First, no team even knows they are going to win for sure, they might be favourites, but they aren't guaranteed to win, there are always upsets.
and by saying that they pick a ok or bad robot as a second pick, just so they look good and so there will be less competition at the championships. i think you just disrespect the all the hard work those teams put into their robot. I'm not speaking for 1114, but i think that they pick the best team out of the remaining teams that they think will be best for the alliance. 2006 Waterloo for example 1114 and 1503 picked 1281 as the last pick, the reason they picked us was because of our drive system and from their scouting they knew that we would be able to play good defense for them.
1114 knows how to scout and I think they have some of the best scouts out there.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

The only thing bad about this years completion anywhere is that you can't play defence like the other years. Like other years you could defeat the #1 seeded alliance, you could win with an 8th place seed this year you can't

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

The Defense i agree with

but the rest, 8v1 is a different case a each regional. Midwest was packed, while waterloo had 2056, 1114, and the rest of the robots were nowhere near their level of play.

if you want to prove this theory, let me know when championships come around

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

You couldn't have said it better. For example, say a team has done only one error, and say its a human error easy to fix, such as "someone messed with a limit switch" (which happened to another team unfortunately) or something related, I think very insightful scouters would know and come back for another match.

Well of course they look for consistency, but good scouters know what mistakes were made and how often. And if it isn't often, then I think you got yourself a good one. (Of course it depends on every other factor)

Yes and I have to stress his point -- Rank clearly does not matter in the picks too much. I would say there would be a trend for sure, but sometimes you'd have to omit that to circumstances.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

I think the inability of an alliance to do anything to repress an opponent's hybrid mode proficiency is the number one contributor to "super" alliance success at regionals this season. Alliances without spiffy hybrids are frequently sunk by 40+ points by those with awesome modes before they even touch the controls. Very hard to overcome that, whether you can play D during teleop or not.

It's a case of the match being over before it even started. And the crowd goes wild!.....:confused:

But yes, at the Championship, more lower-seeded alliances will also possess effective hybrid modes, so the hybrid gap will not be as insurmountable as often, and they will have a better shot at unseating the top seeds in Atlanta.

If you have a strong hybrid mode, you will make an attractive 2nd pick selection for most picking teams at the Georgia Dome.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

So, predictions? I'll go out on a limb and project 1114 as the #1 seed. They can't seem to score in less than triple digits.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

The only way 1114 does not get #1 seed is if 188 or 2056's opponents score 200+ points and still lose.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Yeah, I didn't say it was much of limb. :rolleyes:

So, 1114 picks 2056. 188 picks 176. 1114/2056 put up a 200+ score in the quarterfinals. The finals go three matches.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

gah, was I WRONG or what? :D

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

very true and actually i forgot about one alliance member on our alliance when we were the 8th seeded alliance vs #1which was 1114,2056,1608. 2056 couldn't pick up the ball because our alliance partner 2361 pushed their ball around the course. if our alliance partner did that to 1114 they couldn't have score by hurdling they could still race but we would have had a better chance.The only way to defeat teams like this is to push their pall around because if they cannot hurdle they have a better chance of losing

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

yes i know that they do chose by scouting but what i said came out the wrong way to people i meant to say that from what i see not from every year 1114 has chosen a team that is doing good in the competition and a team who has had some bad luck with their arm or manipulator.

Ok i know they properly don't know that they always are going to win but every regional that has 1114 in it always had 1114 in the winning alliance. I know that they do not know if they are going to win but the only time i have seen 1114 lose is in Atlanta with the better American teams. for example last year when the were pushed into the rack by 2 teams and their arm fell off with no penalties, so they lost in the semi's. All i am saying they don't think they are going to win the regional but everybody else does know they are going to win the regional

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

You coul always get the alliance during eliination rounds program their robot to go foward and bloakc the side form other teams going around meaing like this



| robot #1
his is the line |
| Robot#2
|
|Robot#3

it effectivil;y blocks the other team getting a second ball and getting 2-3 more lines
so it will limit them to only 16 points

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Coming from a team competing at GTR, i was appalled at the quality of the reffing. Multiple times i took video footage evidence to the head ref and he basically told me to suck it up and leave.

I have seen several other teams get in a good argument with the head ref. I even went and talked to him when the penalties where against our alliance just to show how inconsistent the reffing was. If anyone just watched the final match, the only penilty given to the red alliance was 1 <G22> to 1114, when there where a clear 2 and possible 3 infractions. Also, they somehow managed to score a hurdle in hybrid mode (at the same time they got a <G22>)

I was very disappointed how rude the ref was to myself and anyone else who went to go clarify any calls.

I would like to hear if any other teams from GTR had the same thoughts or feelings.

- Bochek

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

The info under your name in the post above lists your team role as "Mentor". If that is correct, then you should know (per rule <T04> in section 9.6.2 of the 2008 FRC Manual) that only pre-college students are permitted to interact with the Head Referee for clarification of rulings or scores. And whether you are a mentor or a pre-college student, rule <T03> (same section) clearly states that referees will not review recorded replays under any circumstances.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Ah i have allready changed my status in preperation for next year, i am still pre-collage and still attend the highschool and act as a team member.

I understand that they do not accept video footage. When i went up, i told the ref that I was not trying to affect the scores, just to make sure that he knew what was happening, but he woulden't hear a word of it.

-Bochek

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Thanks to Team 1565: T3 Think Tank Technologies and Team 781: Kinetic Knights for getting us to the Semi Finals!

Congratulations to Teams 1114 Simbotics on their 3rd regional win, 2056 Patriotics on winning both their attended regionals and 2166 Bluebotics on their win! :cool:

Good luck to 1114 Simbotics and 1547 Where's Waldo in Atlanta with Chairmans, keep striving to be the first Canadian Chairmans winners.. :)

And everyone who made it an amazing regional to watch!

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

I was wondering if anyone else saw this problem, as there was a stir amongst those of us sitting in the stands as the hybrid was being re-scored. Does anyone have any video footage? It is still unavailable on TBA and Discovery.

As well, for anyone who has contact with discovery, if you visit http://www.discoverychannel.ca/shows....aspx?sid=7826 you can see that the team numbers of the winners have been incorrectly entered, and I believe it would only be right if this were to be corrected.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Referee's have about the hardest job in a single FIRST event. Until you have been through the challenges of attempting to pay attention to about a million different things going on, it may be wise to hold off on judgement in terms of his response to you.

Since I was not there, I cannot comment on the validity of your concerns in terms of how the rules were enforced. But what I can say, knowing the head referee, is that he has been doing this for a long time and he would not intentionally attempt to bias, disregard or ignore any calls that he is supposed to be making.

Being a mentor means understanding more than a student on the team and holding yourself to even higher standards than what you would expect of those same students. It is hard in the heat of competition to restrain yourself and compose an objective opinion, but it must be done in order to have your voice heard.

Congratulations to all the teams that competed this weekend!

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Don't forget 'Where's Waldo?', Team 1547. Congrats on them specifically on winning the Regional Chair(person)'s Award.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

We would also like to thank 1241 and 781 for the awesome alliance!!

and congrats to 1114 for beating us again in semis!! we got closer this time then waterloo, but.. still no good

congrats to all winners good luck in Atlanta!!! win the gold for Canada!!

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

How can I forget?!

Thanks to Team 188 and Team 703 for making us feel special. :yikes:

Fastest Robot Award for the win!

Had tons of fun.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Wow I can't believe GTR is over already. What a GREAT regional. I have so much to say I don't even know where to begin! I want to start off by congratulating our teacher, Mrs. Sigsworth, on the Woodie Flowers Award. She really is an inspirational teacher; not only to the robotics team but the entire school. I couldn't think of a person more deserving of that award.

As for other teams I really need to thank everyone. All the teams were SO nice to us (as usual) and made GTR better than ever. Specifically though I need to thank 1114 for all the help they gave us. We couldn't have done anything without them! And I need to thank 1676 for everything they did for us. They would cheer for us, give us help whenever we needed it, and didn't even kick me out of their stands when I sat there waiting to use their printer :P. But seriously everybody was such a big help.

Thank you to everyone and hope to see a lot of you in Atlanta!!
Laura
xoxo

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Congradutations go out to:
the winning alliance 1114,2056, 2166, good luck in Atlanta.
1547 on winning chairmans
1305 wow Regional Engineering Inspiration Award at both Waterloo and GTR
2624 rookie all stars
hope to see all of you at Atlanta
188 i always like seeing what new idea's you come up with on your robot, from back in the Canada FIRST days, to now, you guys always come up with an interesting robot.
to all the other teams that won an award and the competed at GTR you all did an amazing job

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

On behalf of Team 781 I would like to thank 1241 and 1565 for being one of the greatest alliances I have worked with in the last 4 years.

Congrats to teams 1114 and 2056 for doing it once again this year, to 2166, and to 1547 for all the hard work that went into your Chairmans submission! To everyone advancing I wish you the best of luck, hopefully you will be able to bring back Champions and/or Chairmans.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

On Thursday I shot the video for Global local and national (5:30 and 6pm shows) and for the Weather network in which I played a weather angle as Teams 1312 and 781 had to deal with closed roads due to heavy snow and high winds. On Friday I got a little vo-clip on weather network with team 1006 from Port perry as they are promoting Earth hour and Today Saturday I got alot of stuff (interview clips) on the weather network by playing the earth hour angle and as luck would have it Canadian astronaught walked by as I was doing a clip with a member of Team 188 on earth hour and saving the planet so I got an exclusive clip with him.

On Friday I know CTV/CFTO news did a full story as I saw thier camera/reporter there and like you said CBC was there.

Only ones that didn't show up were CITY TV. I must say it is nearly impossible to get some media outlets to show up at certain events, it all depends on who is working as the assignment desk and who is producing and I could go on and on but I would break every rule so I won't. I work in news just as a camera operator and believe me it is a tough sell to get anything positive on on the air these days, nearly impossible actually and even harder to get today's breed of reporters to understand anything.....

Was a good three days.......got me out of doing real work for three days anyways which is usually the crime beat.

I saved most of the B-roll that I shot on all three days but it is broadcast grade video and that means large files so I will try and upload it to yousendit.com and then post the links in here once it's all done, probably will take me 2-3 days to actually upload the files to yousendit.com though.

I dont have specific matches, just lots of B-roll of all the various things that were going on at the GTR.....I don't edit so it's all raw video.

was fun!

Mark

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

It could just be that I am comparing to waterloo, which was so very well reffed (I am still working on re-watching all the videos of the 168 point match tho, and yes, i am thinking that it didn't actually happen.)

And yes, i do realize that this game is very difficult to keep track of, but if something like this happens on the Einstein field i think your going to find a large amount of very annoyed teams.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

I thought it was pretty obvious then, and equally obvious now, that the score was incorrect. The error is clearly with the hybrid score, where the blue alliance somehow gets credit for 3 hurdles which increases their score by 24 (they received 64 points when they should have gotten 40 - 6 lines and 2 balls). After that everything is scored perfectly.

Probably doesn't matter though, they'll probably smash that score eventually.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Team 1676 arrived home to New Jersey from the Greater Toronto Regional at 5:00am. However, our exhaustion and my lack of voice was well worth it, the regional was GREAT!

Congratulations to Team 1547, Where's Waldo, on their Regional Chairman's win! We were so happy to spend time with you guys, AGAIN, and were even more excited to end off on that note! (Come back to Trenton next year!) But wait, we can spend time together again in Atlanta!

Congrats 1305, Ice Cubed, on Engineering Inspiration! I don't personally know your team as well, but from what I encountered this weekend, I definitely have nothing negative to say about you guys!

Thank you Team 176, Aces High for picking us. And both 176 and 1053, Glebe Gryphons, for being an awesome alliance!

Congrats to Team 1114, Simbotics, 2056, Patriotics, and 2166, Appleby, for your Regional Win! Definitely a field dominator!

Congratulations to Team 2624, the BotCatz, for the Rookie All Star Award! I personally spoke to your members, answering questions about how our team functions. The questions you guys thought to ask were impressive, you truly do "get it".

Finally, thank you to everyone for being so kind! Being strangers in new territory is difficult pretty much anywhere but FIRST!
Personally, my first experience in Canada was a great one and I hope to visit Canada and the GTR again in future years!

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Agreed, we model our scouting after theirs, and in three years of doing it their way, I can absolutely say "it works". Presently we use six people with wireless laptops to record everything each team does, 100%. We set up a wireless network and put all the recorded data onto a server, which is always available for every team to see, download and use. We'll be in Atlanta, hopefully with some partners, recording (and sharing) everything on all four fields.
Yeah, some limb. Like "The sun will rise". 1114 will be awesome on Einstein. Best bot I have ever seen. Ever.
As well he should. If you want it changed, volunteer to join the referee staff next year, and eventually you can work your way up to head ref. Maybe by then you'll understand why it is the way it is.

On average, it all evens out.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Congratulations to teams 1114, 2056 and 2166 on the win, and thank you to 1507 and 247 for being great alliance partners. It was nice to be on the opposite side of the elimination bracket from 1114 for once, after being on the same side three times last year. :)

Here are some photos taken at GTR.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Hey, does anyone know what happened to the gameday.soap108 site? I was told there would be video archives on that site, but it seems to be down. :confused:

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

"Never a dull moment at the GTR..."

That line definitely sums up the entire weekend. This event was filled with excitement and intrigue. The arena was electric all weekend long with 66 amazingly spirited teams.

Special thanks go out to our alliance partners 2056 and 2166. It was a pleasure to work with two teams who we're so close with. We had high hopes for 2166 ever since you visited our shop in Week 2. We'd been hoping to pick you all season long, and glad the opportunity presented itself. As for 2056, I'm still in awe at the parallel paths our two teams have taken. It really is something else.

Congratulations to the finalist alliance of 1507, 1503 and 247. As soon as alliance selection ended, I looked at this alliance and said "These are the teams to beat". For those who didn't attend or watch, Team 1507 was one of the highest scoring robots at the regional, while 1503 had made huge improvements since FLR. I'm not entirely sure how Team 247 was available as the 22nd team in the eliminations, considering they had a 4 line hybrid mode.

A special thanks to Team 703, who made one of the classiest moves that I have ever seen in FIRST. On Saturday morning, they realized their despite the fact their drivetrain was still working, they were on the verge of a possible catastrophic failure. They gave a letter to the other 65 teams, letting them know the situation, and recommending that they not pick them. I have seen too many teams hide technical difficulties, and only reveal them after being picked. Team 703 handled this situation both graciously and professionally, and for this I commend them. Hopefully in the future more teams will learn from this wonderful example.

Congratulations to Team 1547 on their Regional Chairman's Award win. Back in your rookie season, 2005, I predicted that your team would soon become a perennial RCA winner in Canada. Your program has a huge impact on everyone that encounters it. I'm glad that I've been able to witness the journey. I know you will do Canada proud with your presentation in Atlanta.

I'm still trying to gather my emotions after such an amazing weekend. I don't think the magnitude of it all has sunk in yet. It's suffice to say, this really had been a magical regional season.

Thanks to everyone who made this event possible. You all rock.

Finally, I'd like to know what people though of the Discovery Channel coverage of the event. The crew spent a lot of time on this coverage and I thought the host, Shannon Bentley did a fantastic job. Of course, I only saw the coverage through the other side of the lens, so I want to hear the input of the home viewers.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Congratulations teams! Toronto was DEFINITELY my favorite regional to watch... even brought the ol' sprint cellular modem along to listen to it on the road. :o Great job on playing a fantastic regional!

[EDIT]
Amazing, huh... the FIRST comminity's FIRST two-time 3-regionals-in-one-season winners! Congratulations 1114!
[/EDIT]

After the GREAT coverage the discovery channel provided in Toronto, I was left wishing they'd covered more regionals! Having a reporter there 'on the scene' made it so much more exciting... just like watching a big game on ESPN or the like. I think FIRST should seriously consider arranging for some form of floor reporter at as many events as possible.

Kudos to the Discovery channel! I sure hope they cover Atlanta!

-q

p.s. Does anyone involved in getting the Discovery channel to Toronto know anybody I could poke to improve the chances of them covering the Championship? If so, please let me know!

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Aces High had a great time once again.

First I wanted to thank everyone at the event. I've found that GTR has something that the other regionals I've attended are missing. The event seems to have a different kind of competitiveness to it. Every team exemplified Gracious Professionalism. Everyone was helpful and friendly. The volunteers and event coordinators should be proud of their event.

Next I want to thank specifically the MC, Karthik and the announcer, Steve. We all noticed how you guys understand what FIRST is really about. I appreciated what Kartik said during alliance pickings about the crowd's reaction about teams declined an alliance.

Also, team 703, I wanted to mention my sympathy for your team. Your robot was certainly one of the best robots on the field this weekend. It is unfortunate your competition was cut short. Karthik is right. You should be commended for the way you handled the unfortunate circumstances.

Thanks to teams 1676 and 1053. We gave the 2nd seeded alliance a run for their money. 1676, it was great working with you. Your team appeared to be mostly student lead and your students were very professional. It was great that you offered your scouting data to all of the teams during the regional. 1053, thanks for working so well with us. It was great to have a team who could play a little defense but also hurdle when we were in a pinch.

And lastly, Congratulations to team 1114, 2056, and 2166. 1114, again your team had an excellent robot. We enjoyed playing with you in the qual rounds (sorry about that penalty in hybrid mode). 2056, what a record, nice work. 2166, you had a nice robot, and i was surprised to see that you were still around to be picked by the first seeded alliance.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Actually, it only went from three to four. 1114 already accomplished the feat back in 2006, so you guys are the only addition to that very select group this year. Of course, two teams winning three regionals is huge when you consider that it took eight years for a team to do again after 47 originally did it way back in 1998. Also, this makes 1114 the first team to win three regionals in a year, twice.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

I want to second that. Watching 1114 play is like watching...I don't even know! It's like magic is happening right in front of you. An absolute joy to watch. It's not even as if someone is driving the robot; it's as if there is just an invisible person pushing the robot around. If I have anything to say about it...1114 will give every other team on Einstein a run for their money. (not to jinx anyone)

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

I agree completely. I spoke to some of the team out in the parking lot later that day, and basically said what Karthik said above, emphasizing the class act they are. That bears repeating: Team 703 is a Class Act.
I partially agree. The first time, when someone actually Boo'd, absolutely 100% agree, Karthik did the right thing. But the second time, when a team respectfully declined an invitation, I didn't hear it as Booing, I heard it as a lot of people saying "Ooooh" - which is what I was saying. Ooooh as in "how dramatic", and not expressing any negative thoughts or feelings at all.

No disrespect to Karthik - from the field, sounds are different, he may have heard something that I (way up top) couldn't, and I don't have any problem with what he said or did.

(For those of you not there: during alliance selection, one team was Boo'd when they were announced, and Karthik laid into the Boo-ers, and rightly so, for their lack of GP. The second time, just a few seconds later, when a seeded team declined to join an alliance, the whole stadium went "ooooh"*, which probably sounded like a big "Boooo" on the field, and he repeated his message.)
*My interpretation only

Big Props to our Game MC, extremely professional and enthusiastic, right there with the best I have seen. Not to diminish Steve's efforts, either, which were also world-class. How these guys keep their voices after 3 days of this stuff baffles me.

Don

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Just to clarify what I heard down on the field, when Team 1114 selected 2056 there were clear "boos" from what I would guess to be a small group people around the arena. It disappointing to say the least. The second time, when 1507 declined 188's offer, the majority of the sound was "ooohs" from the crowd, but there was a smattering of "boos" mixed in. At least this is how it sounded on the field. Hopefully I was wrong and it was just 100% "oohs", but I definitely recall hearing "boos".

Thanks for all the kind words Don, hopefully we'll be seeing Team 1676 back in Canada next year!

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

So then it was a good call both times. And, THANK YOU for having the guts and presence of mind to say what you did - it was absolutely the right thing to do and hopefully made some impact on those boors (and the Boo-ers).

Don

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Thanks so much for the scouting. Our team was short on members at GTR so I used your data to look at our team stats vs. others. I wonder how many teams realized this resource was available. Although you gave out cards on how to access, it's so easy to misplace it. Also, I needed to come up to the stands to get in range of your wireless.

I was pleased to have wireless access in the pits this year so we could watch the Discovery Channel webcast and see current ranking information. Maybe next year you can connect to the GTR hub. I think all you'd need is to agree on IP range and one DHCP server. May I suggest using the 10.x.x.x range which gives you lots of nodes.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

I too can report hearing definitive boos from my location in the stands (on the south face of the building) when 1114 picked 2056 (presumably because some of the less GP members of some teams were a little irked to see the regional basically decided then and there, and irked to see the dream team together once again), and I only heard oohs when 1507 declined 188, however, I could be wrong.

EDIT: Frankly, I don't fault 1114/2056 for picking each other so often. They've consistently made the best robots the last two years, and I'd much rather lose to them because they were better, than to beat them because they went easy on the rest of us.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

This year in the pits we had 2 access points and 2 DSL lines to try and improve coverage and bandwidth in the pits. Unfortunately they were on different networks so adding another would be a bit tougher. We try to improve every year and I am glad that the wireless worked well for you in the pits.

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

here are some links to some of the B-roll from the news video I shot at GTR regional....these links will expire in 7 days. I have two more to upload and post and I'll get to it. Keep in mind the visuals are totally random as for the news we don't shoot whole matches of anything like that, it's just whatever looks interesting or good visuals and good sound......and these are en-edited .avi broadcast grade files so you'll need you're T-3 lines for this :-)

GTR COMP DAY 1
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.ph...dENkMnMwTVE9PQ

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.ph...cGszeUkwTVE9PQ

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.ph...b0JubHcwTVE9PQ

GTR COMP DAY 2

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.ph...UzhsamMwTVE9PQ


http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.ph...cTJveE0wTVE9PQ

FANS
http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.ph...dkdlcEkwTVE9PQ

http://www.yousendit.com/transfer.ph...NmNwcFUwTVE9PQ

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

What team is Olwen Sigsworth with?

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

1547 -Where's Waldo.

Her name is cool because my grandma's last name is Sigworth. :p

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Hey Travis why were you in Toronto anyways??? You stopped by our pit to see our linkage.. and I never asked why you were there lol..

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Old habits are hard to break? :)

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

lol. Well I'm glad that I finally got to meet a CD'er in person! lol (besides my own team, and annoucers)

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

i was in the pit right next to you guys, don't know if i talked to you but i talked to a lot of people on your team. that big screw driver you guys have is useful.

i was the one with the hex bug

Re: 2008 Greater Toronto Regional!
 

Yeah I think I saw you, not sure if I talked to you haha, and yes the big screw driver saved our butts in elims when the linkage broke again lol!

Glad it was useful to your team as well :D