Waterloo 2008,
 

Hey guyz,

Waterloo regional is falling under Easter weekend, but sadely team 1219 wont be able to attend couz of this reason, we have only 4 teachers and 3 of them celebrating easter and 4th is busy on that day. Who else who was gonna go, not noing now.

just curious to know

Bilal Shahid.
Team 1219

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

I'm sorry to say that 2008 will be the first year that Team 1503 won't be attending the Waterloo Regional. After going to three regionals plus the Championship for the past two years, we've come to realize that it's too taxing on our schedules to do four events in one season, so for 2008 we're only doing Finger Lakes, Toronto and the Championship.

I'll be there volunteering, though, since it's at my school and it's a long weekend.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

we'll be there yet again!! w00 1565

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

1075 Will be there for the first time ever! Yay for new sponsors ponying up the cash.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

As will 1006. w00t

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

I'm basically in the same boat as Pat here, my team wanted to go down to Atlanta this year so sadly Waterloo got cut (my favorite regional...), but i'll be down volunteering this year. Should be another fun event!

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

I'll be down in Waterloo that weekend - but as Pat said, sadly Team 1503 cannot make it but i'll attend for sure :)

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

i wish i could go, but due to money restrictions 830 will not be attending this year :(

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

team 854 is coming again... you better watch out! :yikes:

but just wondering... does anyone that is going to the waterloo regional have any extra bumper material that we could buy off of you? we had some trouble finding it this year. or else do you know of an alternate source we could find similar material? we need enough to cover three sides of our robot, about 8 feet of like 1 foot wide material or something equivalent.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Best of luck to all the teams that will be attending. 1535 for Chairmans. Lets hope so.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

omg!! WOOTTTTT

can't wait until WATERLOO!!

/sorry to hear that some of you can't make it :(

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

it's going to be awesome yet again this year!

PS
can't wait to see you, 854, i was cheering for ya last year, but this year we're gonna have to beat you :p

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

I can't wait till Waterloo!
Its going to be an exciting competition this year too!
Best of luck to all teams!

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

The Waterloo Regional will be webcasted on Friday and Saturday using Ustream.tv, http://ustream.tv/channel/2008-waterloo-regional

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

woohoo can't wait, 1 more day of work

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

w00 one day of school left!!! :D:D:D

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

I went to the PAC today and saw the cardboard on the floor. How exciting!

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Speaking of the PAC, I've noticed that I always see teams lost in cars trying to find it on thursday morning. I will try to help them here:

I'm assuming you've already found columbia or university streets and are heading west:

Along Columbia (I'm less familiar with Columbia)
-You'll go through a long stretch of detached homes, then enter a more built-up region
-You'll pass a gas station on your left just before some lights
-Then RIM on your left (notable by the RIM logos on brown buildings)
-Then the university campus starts, notable by a large smokestack on your left
-You want to turn left at the lights. If you see big playing fields on your right followed by a dry lakebed, you've gone too far. Turn left on westmount and follow it south to university, turn left on that, and come in through the main entrance of the university at Seagram, then follow the instructions below
-Once on ring road, make a right, then an almost-immediate left to get into the parking lot.

Along University
-You'll pass Wilfred Laurier on your left, then a bunch of houses/apartments
-On your right, you'll pass a large plaza containing a McGinnis sports bar, subway, harveys, and mongolian grill.
-Shortly after the plaza, you cross a set of railroad tracks and the road becomes divided
-Turn right at the lights to get onto the entrance to ring road
-Turn left onto ring road. There will be large parking lots on your left (but these are not the parking lots you're looking for)
-Ring road will make a fairly sharp corner to the right, and now open land will be on your left
-Continue, and soon you'll see this ugly bugger on your right
-Then on your right you'll see the PAC (this is where the competition is)
-You'll go uphill and make a gradual right, then on your right will be a parking lot. This is the one they've used in past years (I think).
-If you get to a T-intersection (base of the T going to your left) with a stop sign, you've gone too far. Do a U-turn or just continue around ring road again.

Once you get into the parking lot I'm thinking of (if it is indeed the parking lot for FIRSTers), the PAC is down a steep hill (there are stairs on the left). You'll be entering the BLUE NORTH entrance (there should be a blue thingy above the doors, but I'm unsure if it is labelled BLUE NORTH. The competition is down the stairs.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Good Luck to all teams coming!! Be sure to stop by our pits and say HI and look at our, hopefully, award winning drive train!!

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Good luck to all teams. May the best team win. And remember to have a good time no matter what happens.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

whoa whoa whoa, not cool to insult the math building. For us math students, its our home for most of undergraduate (eat, sleep, and study there).

See all you volunteers tonight!

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

If people can update this thread with what happens at the half day marks of each day for those of us not lucky enough to be there, I would really appreciate it!

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

I'll keep everyone updated when I get there tomorrow and get the webcast set up.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

some of the cylinders got rejected due to them being reconstructable, but they solved that

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

so, who's standing out besides 1114 so far?

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Someone please get in touch with Karthik and ask him to check his email. Thanks.

Good luck to all teams that are attending the regional. =)

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Day 1...

1114, 2056, 1241, 68, 1310 impressed

in no particular order...

Didn't get a chance to see too many of the other robots during practice day, but from what I saw from behind the lexan, there was a lot more hurdling than I expected. Every practice match we were in, there were multiple, multiple hurdle robots.

Also, the forkapult IS forkapulting!

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

webcast is up: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/2008-waterloo-regional

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Thanks. I'll be watching :D

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Waterloo had been great so far, we've had Karthik doing pushups, 2056 play a tough first match with 1241 on them hard with D, 1114 do 6 hurdles in their first match with a diagonal (cross quadrant hurdle) at the end. Every time a team breaks the plane Karthik has to do 5 pushups.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

I feel pretty bad for Karthik.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

meh, we had one match without any penalties and got the head ref to do 20 pushups, besides he could use the exercise

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

It was actually the announcer Paul Copioli.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

WHat are you guys talking about?I'm almost in the best shape I have ever been. I did 20 push-ups in the same amount of time Karthik did 10.

Use the excercise .... pfffft

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Keep it up Paul. I wanna see you do some more pushups. Gave me a good laugh.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Paul and karthik are doing a great job.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Alright for everyone who wasn't watching SOAP gameday and the waterloo webcast today, Paul Copioli and Karthik were playing the announcer game all day. Basically people posted words on the SOAP gameday message thread thing for Paul and Karthik to say while they were announcing, It got a little rediculous... But we will contine the game tomorrow morning, stoping once elims start. Post some words in this thread or in SOAP gameday tomorrow morning. I must say today was the most fun I've had at a competition, Waterloo is Amazing!!

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Yeah I saw some pretty good matches today. It was even better because of the annoucner game. Best of luck to everyone tommorow in the quals and in elims. Now to think of more words to say tommorow.

Words
Canoodle\ Caddywampus
Flabergasted\ Kerfuffle
Lollygag\ Hoity-Toity
Defenestration\ Optimus Prime
Blunderbuss\Transform and roll out

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Waterloo 2008 is the best MC'ed regional I have ever seen. The random words were great and Paul is my hero for saying Magic Generator for me!

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Wow 4 of the previous canadian woodie flower finalists were from 1114.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

good job guys That MC/Announcer combo is pretty awesome and the soap words is priceless. I laughed so hard when Karthik did a John Madden impression lol.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

I'll post this in both threads, just to be safe. Since I started the game today, here's my list of words so far. More may come.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

w00000!!! Waterloo is sooo fun! We am having a blast so far! So far we are ranked 9th!! and we won our creativity award :D

I hope everybody else is having as much fun was we are!! Waterloo is the best!!!

From Team 1565

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

yeah, it's awesome. it's also a lot diffrerent from last year. last year there were a lot of powerhouses, but this year it seems like there were not as many, not to say that all the robots are bad. it's a lot of fun. by far the best regional in FIRST so far :D

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

For Paul: "The Cleveland Indians are the best team ever. The Tigers are, by comparison, a bunch of overpaid schlock."

For Karthik: "Tony Romo wishes he was half the quarterback Brady Quinn is."

"T.J. Ford is my hero."

"Scouting is for losers."


:rolleyes:

prestidigitation
onomatopoeia
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious
antidisestablishmentarianism

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

This should never be the case. ;)

As far as Paul being in great shape by comparing himself to Karthik, well, um... yeah :D

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

hey guys did you see that amazing score at waterloo, thats insane in the membraine it was 168. With an alliance of 1114, 2200 and 1006 that pretty sick.

Peace out

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

check it out: http://www.soap.circuitrunners.com/2...at/wat_050.mov

edit: whoops... thats the 2056 vs. 1114 match

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Congrats the 1114, 2056, and 1680 on winning the event!!!

We tried to put up a fight in semis, yet we got destroyed (so to say) by the skills you guys have for this competition!!

2056, you guys have, by far my favourite claw design!! I like it very much

Thanks to everyone that came out to make this the most watched webcast of week 4!!!


See most of you at the GTR!



PS. anyone know when videos come up??? soap has a list for it but no matches in it... so I assume shortly

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Great Job to 2056, 1114, and 1680 on winning the event. You guys were a great alliance. 68,188,2013,1535 you put forth a great effort and should be just as proud of what you have done. Every match was exciting and had very close scores.
By far one of the best regionals so far, with over 370 people watching it over the webcast at one point, mainly due to announcers and the word games that they were playing with the viewers.
Most of the Quarter final matches were exciting and every match that 1114 was in during the eliminations scored over 100 points. a truly remarkable team great job.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

simbots look real hot- wonder how they'll do nest weekend?

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Wow, props to 1114. Sweet robot. Congratulations to you all, 1114, 2056y, and 1680. Great alliance, at least a hundred points every match.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

what a boring game, looks like the announcing is the exciting part of the regionals this year.

jonathan you might as well save bandwidth and just stream the audio...

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

WHAT?!:ahh:

This is much more exciting then last year, and in my opinion very close to 2006. You must be watching the wrong matches (you're definitely not watching elims), but when I watch 1114, 2337, 27, 71, etc. play I'm pumped, even when it's via webcast (my parents actually come into my room to see why I'm being so ridiculously loud).

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Agreed!!! This is one of the most exciting FIRST events ever. Sure its slow to start, but Elims are the most exciting I have ever been too.

I was on an aderaline high for the majority of the day, after alliance selections... and now I have crashed and am going to sleep! Congrats to everyone once again!!!

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

To agree with the 2 posts above me, this game is freaking awesome... I don't know what matches you were watching but when 4 giant bouncing balls are flying through the air it can't get much more intense. nuff said :cool:

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Waterloo was amazing, i can't wait to go over all the video's so we can improve for next week.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Agreed again! You guys were really good. Same claw design as us (it seems to pop up ever for some reason:rolleyes: )

Hope to see you guys in Toronto!

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Wow... that was a blast! By far the most fun I've had at a regional (and i've been to a few), congrats to 1114, 2056, and 1680 again. Thanks to Paul, Karthik, Kate, Michelle, Jay, Pat, JVN, 1114 crew, ect. If you don't know I ran the webcast this weekend, and well I think the webcast by friday afternoon turned into a spectacle to see.

All weekend I was situated next to Paul Copioli who was doing the announcing, and Thanks to SOAP gameday and Ustream.tv chat we were able to communicate directly with the folks at home watching the webcast. It started off with Paul talking over the mic to people on the webcast, and turned into the announcer game where people in the chat would suggest words for paul to fit in while he was announcing the game, and suggest themes for Karthik to use in his intros. And let me say it kinda got ridiculous... I think Paul did close to 20 words in one match.

Even though some people in the stands probably didn't know what was going on half the time when Paul was using words like "Purpleicious", it really showed me the power of having an 'interactive' regional. It got to the point on Saturday where in many matches there were probably far more people watching the webcast then people in the stands! (i think our record was 380-390 people). The interactivity of Paul and Karthik talking directly to the people in the chat and using their suggestions made the repetitive task of announcing and introducing teams for 70 matches far more interesting and a lot more fun. I think the situation at Waterloo was very unique to let this happen, hopefully other MC/announcer combinations can take something from this and we can see more 'interactive' regionals in the future.

p.s. the 'meow' match was by far one of the funniest things I have seen at a FIRST event

p.s.s. Ustream was a great platform for this type of interactive regional, I personally was surprised that the stream was still working when we had 390 people on it (thats a boat load of bandwidth for a free website). and I know when we do this again next year the service will be even better.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

OMG, I just watched that match. You guys are amazing.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Can we get the meow match? That was the only one I missed by some bad stroke of luck.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

And 168 whenever you have the time? Thanks.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Definitely the best regional I've been to so far; I had a great time volunteering. I'm sad 1503 missed out on Waterloo this year, but we'll certainly be back for 2009.

Here are some photos from my camera. Special thanks to Jonathan Norris for taking many of these while I was busy at the scoring computer.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Those pictures are sweet!!:D

Thanks!!!



PS. anyone have any videos to upload yet?? I really want to see us from a webcast point of view, instead of behind the glass of the driver station! :D

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Waterloo was a blast. We placed in the top eight, mainly on speed.

It was great to have wireless so we could watch Soap Game Day in the pits (at least when the programmer didn't need the laptop). Congrats to 2056, 1114 and 1680.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

What an amazing event. I've never had more fun emceeing an event. The atmosphere was electric all weekend long.

Special thanks go out to:

Team 2056: You guys found a way to top last year's amazing design. Thanks for picking us and being great alliance captains.

Team 1680: Congratulations on the first regional win. Your team has certainly come a long way since 2005

Team 188 : One of these days we'll be on the same alliance. Your strategy in the finals definitely opened our eyes to some interesting possibilities.

Team 68: See above. You made such huge strides from FLR, and were one of the top robots all weekend long.

The Webcast Team: Thanks to Jonathan Norris for setting up a great webcast, and getting Paul and I hooked into the interactive part of it. Also thanks to Kate and Michelle for keeping track of words and helping me fill in the blanks for my themes.

Ian Mackenzie: Congratulations on a well deserved Woodie Flowers Finalist Award. You're not only a role model to all the students on our team, but I know that every mentor on our team looks up to you for your amazing character and integrity.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Congratulations to team 2056, 1114 and 1680 for the regional win, it was fun playing against you in the quarter finals, we tried the ball keep away strategy in the first match, that 188 tried in the finals but 1114's arm just sucked the ball up.
1114- Congratulations on the chairmans award, good luck in Atlanta
To our alliance partners 2361 and 1305 we tried our best, thanks for being great partners

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Ya 1305 gives thank to all the teams again for a great Waterloo regional. Unfortunately we didn't preform as well as we were hoping, but theres still GTR next weekend. And good luck to 1114 in Atlanta with Chairmans, keep striving to be the first Canadian Chairmans winners.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

I was wondering what people thought of how lopsided the finals went- I felt that by the time the finals came around it was how much the top alliance was going to win by. 100 point margin?- . cuddos to the top alliance -you deserve it - but in all reality there was no competition there for simbots & co. I have no team this year so not really favouring anyone. I felt the driver for 1114 has improved very much since there first regional. - But I did see 217 in Detroit and they are alot more aggresive than anyone at Waterloo was. But Simbot is still the better bot- if it does not break.
Keep up thegood work good luck in atlanta.- to all going!!!

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

I wasn't there, but thanks to Paul and Karthik for complying with the chat's requests- most especially, mine and Michelle's :P .

Waterloo was really fun to watch. Great job, everyone!

P.S. WATER WATER WATER--
(please, somebody respond to that so I don't feel like a total dork...)

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

The "Idk my bff Karthik" really took the cake :) I loved how Karthik followed it up with "O-M-G" and "L-M-A-O LMAO!" etc.

Congratulations to 1114 on Website...Industrial Design...Chairmans....and winning the Regional. Also congratulations to Ian Mackenzie from 1114 for winning Woodie Flowers.

LOO LOO LOO

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Congratulations Ian, this was well deserved! Ian's WFFA Essay can be found on our website here.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Waterloo has definitely established itself as one of the most entertaining and best run events in FIRST. As competitors, I can't name a regional I more enjoy competing in than Waterloo. With a massive number of plays, a volunteer support crew that makes the event hum like no other, and arguably some of the best reffing in all of FIRST, Waterloo has perfected the process of the "small regional." If you are a team looking for the best bang for your buck, Waterloo IS the place to be.

This quality has come to be expected, which is a shame because few will mention what an amazing event Waterloo has evolved into.

Shout outs:

Congratulations to 1114 on more counts than should be legally allowable: Website, Industrial Design, Woodie Flowers, Champs, and most importantly Chairman's. You guys are like family to 188, but make no mistake... one of these years we will beat you :D. Another chapter has been written to "the great Canadian rivalry..."

2056, you didn't surprise anyone with your offering this year. It is just as clean, efficient and effective as your robot last year. Finals 1, we tried twice to pull a fast one on you while hurdling... twice you slipped right by and probably didn't even notice. Very slick, we were sure we could at least slow you down, but not even close.

68, you guys carried our alliance. Thanks for trusting in us. I know the finals probably weren't the prettiest matches, but we needed you guys to carry the offensive load, and you did with exceptional skill. We'll forever be left wondering if we'd been able to use our original finals strategy with 2013, or even if 188 had done our "job" more than twice in Finals 2. It took a lot of trust to try something strategically VERY different, and that sounded plain stupid. But I'm forever grateful to you for buying in. It looks like Simbotics noticed it, even though the scores were still lopsided.

2013, our alliance's still-secret weapon. You guys put up with us insisting on a brand new hybrid routine. In 10 minutes of testing and programming on the practice field right before elims, you pulled it off. We were ALL sure you could successfully change the tide of the finals, but we couldn't quite get you there. Your drive team was a pleasure to work with. Don't forget a word of what we talked about in our strategy sessions. You guys have an ace up your sleeve with your robot, and hopefully we'll get to see some of that at the GTR.

1535, you guys stepped up and filled right in when we needed you. We are eternally grateful! It was a pleasure having such a well-run team, with all their ducks in a row, be able to step in seamlessly and perform. It was an honour to have you guys a part of our finalist alliance, regardless of the circumstances.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Congratulations 1114 from the Kil-a-bytes Team 1024.

Seems like yesterday we played the Finals together in Chicago Midwest.

We got lucky with great Alliance partners in Purdue and Ohio and
made an addition to the THREE REGIONAL WINS IN A YEAR LIST!

Glad we are sharing the list with you guys. I know they wouldn't
allow it but we hope we can team up again with you in Atlanta.

Maybe we can break the scoreboard with both of us back on the
track and another great Alliance member.

Please stop by our Pit in Atlanta and we will do the same. Once again
Congratulations to you and your Alliance partners.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

I just read the essay and while reading I came across this: "Ian was working with the team on the design of a differential swerve which uses the same pair of motors for steering as well as for drive" Like are you freaking kidding me?!?!?! :ahh: :ahh: :ahh: that sounds absolutely ridiculous... :eek:

Ian I can't think of anyone more deserving of the WFA, congrats again keep up the amazing work!

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

I wanted to leave a note here and say that it was a pleasure head reffing this Regional again this year.

Also, congrats to a well-deserved Woodie Flowers Award going to Ian. I can't think of anyone more deserving.

Re: Waterloo 2008,
 

Congrats to Ian on the award and the event. I'm amazed how people can organise events and still be involved with a team's build season (and have any other kind of normal life). Waterloo was a smooth running, well-organised event. The kind of thorough attention to detail you'd expect from Ian.

I'll miss having a wireless connection at GTR.

BTW I posted our matches 33, 44 and QF4-2 on our website from our media person. I wish I had got our match with Simbotics on video.