pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

I love the way this bot picks up the ball and throws it to the other side of the field!

The design is amazing.. congrats on the win in St. Louis!

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

looks pretty sick. Congrats on your win. :]

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

Wait until you see them hurdle, one of the most unique ways you'll ever see.

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

completely agree. Its soo cool!

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

Any videos yet?

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

Congratulations to the Thunderchickens on:

1) Being a #1 pick and part of the winning alliance, :)

2) Avoiding the the "dot" that is placed on the inspection stickers of robots that are capable of violating the 80" rule <R16>, :D and

3) Convincing our Lead Robot Inspector that their flag holder mounting is rigid and vertical. :confused:

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

Richard,

... approximately vertical is the rule and we did stiffen it up on Saturday.

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

Paul, you're right.

Many teams, my own included, had to get creative with their flag holder designs this year. Good engineering solutions meet requirements without incurring unnecessary costs. From an engineering economy perspective, 217's flag holder design is one of the best I've seen, complying with the rules while staying clear of their scoring path and using very little weight.

I just felt compelled to throw in that comment in my last post, because the picture makes it appear that our inspector took a liberal view of how far the flag holder can deviate from 90 degrees and still be "approximately" vertical.

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

When I first saw Thunder Chickens on Thursday in practice I though it would be a down year for them, they had a hard time picking up and hurdling the ball.

On Friday morning I no longer felt sorry for them I felt sorry for the rest of us.

They are lightning fast. Every time you see them slam their arms into the overpass you expect parts to go flying but instead the ball goes flying and they continue under the bars and get the next ball.

Great job guys.

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

That is by far one of the most elegant scoring machines I have seen in my 3 years of first. You guys grab and retain the ball as efficiently as anyone could hope to do in this year's game. My prediction is that I will be cheering you on from the stands on Einstein...

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

Yeah I am pretty sure they will be going pretty far. Seems as though everyone loves the bot. And IMO we will be on Einstein with them, no lie. But Yeah I am gonnna have to watch some of your matches at Nats.

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

217 has produced another great bot here, probably the second best i've seen so far. Its the best arm bot that doesn't shoot i've seen, love the pickup!

on another note check out the song that is played at the beginning of this match: http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv...p?matchid=5329
I doubt that was on the 'approved' song list...

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional
 

The 'chickens have a heck of a bot this year.

There were many, many times I thought to myself, "They are never going to get the ball and get around again to get another hurdle before time runs out." Almost every time, I was proven wrong. They have excellent handling of the ball, and their arm is quick to grab it and flip it behind their bot for scoring. It's obvious they've trained well and had several just-before-the-buzzer hurdles that were just phenomenal.

You've simply got to see it for yourself in Atlanta. They get into the groove and they just keep on going.