Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Thanks, but not entirely true. 2911 already had a functioning drive train and a manipulator 70% done. Which is ahead of the curve for many rookies, especially considering this team did not have the full six week build. We never touched the drive train and 2911 finished off the manipulator by themselves. Minor problems they had were software upgrades, the fact that their DS and controls weren't mounted, a few sharp edges, some wiring gauge issues, and the need for a BOM. Their major problem was that they had misinterpreted the rules and while the robot was well within sizing restrictions their manipulator extended well into and beyond their bumper zone. So, what we did with a few of their team members was help them modify their chassis to get them close to maximum footprint and find space to allow for front ball collection, while the rest of 2911 worked on finishing the manipulator. This led to two additional needs - two additional free spinning kit wheels and redesigned bumpers. Lots of teams came to the rescue with parts and tool use (Especially MOE) to get things done and just when our crew was running out of steam 234 came on in (congrats on the CA guys!) and took care of the bumper mounts.

Although 2911 never saw one practice match, they were fully inspected on Thursday prior to departure and were able to win a few matches, contribute to alliance play, and take home the Highest Rookie Seed (out of 12 there). Working with the students and mentors from the team was an experience that will stick with our team members for a long time. It would have been really easy for these guys to throw in the towel on Thursday and decide they didn't belong. That never happened though, and with a little guidance, instruction, and help they showed an incredible amount of perseverance time after time as the inspectors kept politely pointing out the "next" thing they needed to do. I don't think I ever saw brighter faces hold a trophy nor have I met a team more deserving of an award in my entire life.

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

On behalf of every member of Cold Fusion Team 1279, we would like to thank 118 and 538 for the uphill battle that we fought so well. It isn't often that the number 7 seed makes it all the way to the finals. Our team was a perfect tandem of ball collecting/scoring, empty cell transport, and defense.

Congratulations to teams 45, 234, and 620. A well deserved regional victory.

Good luck to all the teams we played with and against. 1279 always enjoys making new friends.

See you at Philly.

Cold Fusion
1279

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Great job to all the teams this weekend!

Loved the new regional and made a lot of friends at the competition. Got to see a lot of new teams getting up and operational. Tons of competition with that many teams made it difficult sometimes.

Also, thanks to teams 45 and 620. Great Alliance partners!

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

A big thanks to all, who worked hard over the past number of years to get this regional on the schedule. Thanks for all your hard work. I can see this event being a critical one for FIRST over the years.

Also, thanks go out to 339 Kilroy for selecting us for eliminations and 116 Epsilon Delta for sharing some close quarter-finals matches. We gave them a run and were close in both matches. Congrats to all competition and award winners, especially 234 for taking the Regional Chairman's Award back to Indiana with them. Best of luck in Atlanta! You guys are a class act!

Enjoy the rest of the season. It's just getting started!

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Not only see but talk to. :)
John Abele stood quietly in the pits, near the safety glasses and welcome discussion with anyone who approached him. There were many who recognized him and took advantage of the time to chat, as noisy as it was. I've been fortunate to have a few conversations with him over the past few years, sometimes about difficult topics. He is a great listener and welcomes feedback and is one of my heroes.

And the moment I realized it was Andy inside the habit ranks up there in all time bursting out laughing moments.

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Thanks first the organizers of the DC regional. Everything ran like you had been doing this for years. The field officials were especially gracious, patiently explaining things to our drivers :) Great job!

Big thanks to 2068 for picking us after our slow start! You and 1712 were great to work with.

Also special thanks to 1699 and 181 for all their support on and off the field. See you in Hartford!

Finally: Congrats to the winners, especially 234 for the Chairmans. See you in Atlanta!

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

It was indeed a great experience working with 2068 and 176. Having the opportunity to play two close QF matches against 116, 365, and 339 and come out on top was a great experience, especially since we are such good friends with MOE and the fact that Sean had an opportunity to develop strategy against his old team and "beat" his father's crew. It's just a very cool thing when you get to go up against friends that you have respect for and connections with. And speaking of friends and respect, it was indeed an honor to play against the 45/234/620 alliance in the semis.

In all 1712 had a great time meeting new friends and old, the event staff and volunteers were awesome to work with (DC functioned way above what you would consider to be a "rookie" regional), and our students certainly grew a lot from their experiences over the weekend.

namaste, all. :)

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

The students, mentors and parents from Cyber Blue want to thank everyone for such a fantastic event. Well organized, well run, great space and facility, and the most pit space ever allowed for a FIRST competition!

We were especially impressed by the overall mood of the event - it was great fun to be a part of. The Judges and guests, and the speakers were awesome!

It was great to see so many teams helping get some of the newer teams up and running so that they could compete. There was help everywhere. It was also very cool when teams had the pit announcer say "thank you" to other teams that had helped them out. Our new school lead was impressed when a rookie team requested a cordless drill and 5 appeared within minutes!

We were able to visit our Senator Lugar's office on Thursday and take in an evening tour of the monuments on Saturday night after the competition. What an awesome place to have a competition! We will certainly plan to return.

It was great to be part of an alliance with our old friends on Team 45 (how could we say "no" to a nun?), and to make some new ones on Team 620. Also very cool to be there with so many teams we have admired but never really been around, like 365, 1712, 116 and 118, just to name a few.

And, Congratulations to Rich on the Woodie Flowers Award! Well Deserved!

:)

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

I have to say that this was probably my favorite regional event yet. It definitely didn't seem like a first time regional. Everything was run so well and efficiently.

It was awesome to have not one, but TWO Outstanding Volunteer Awards given. A big congratulations to Cricket Moore and Charles Harris. All of your dedication and hard work has been recognized. We all thank and appreciate everything you do for your teams and FIRST.

I especially want to point out the overwhelming level of gracious professionalism that was evident here. It was so refreshing to witness all of the "coopertition" that occurred.

A big thank you to 45 for drafting us and 620 for joining in and giving it your all. Your teams are full of wonderful people. It was a pleasure to work with you.

Also I wanted to point out the great sportsmanship demonstrated by the teams that we weren't able to pick, and they understood. I loved being able to work with some teams that I haven't been around much before, such as: 118, 122, 365, and 1712, to name a few.

Finally, I was very impressed by the speakers that were there. Dave Lavery, Dean Kamen, and Paul Gudonis, in addition to the deputy mayor and John Kerry was wonderful.

Congratulations to all of the teams who brought home awards and Rich for a well-deserved Woodie Flowers. Also congratulations for all of the rookies for making it through their first regional!

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Actually, that was one of the deputy mayors, not Mayor Fenty himself.

A big thanks goes out to the Wetzel family, specifically the seven members of it who volunteered at the DC regional. Wetzels filled the roles of FTAA, Inspector, and Volunteer Coordinator down to passing out safety glasses.

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Oops. I apologize for the error. I'll fix it.

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Congrats!

To Joel, Sam and Rachel? from Team 1699 for their (82 to 58, and 60 to 52) win in the informal 5th Gear Lunacy Simulator Tournament we held Saturday at DC.

Congrats also to the Team 836 runners up, and to our team 1872 and team 2068 semi-finalists.

Look for a picture or two to show up in the photo gallery shortly.

Blake

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

I'll send out a thanks to the guys from Luminary Micro who found us and gave us a new Jaguar in exchange for our cadaver, so now we have a spare, and they can perform tests on it to make the new ones better, faster, stronger.

Great job getting to know your consumer base!

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Hey all connected to the DC regional,

I want to thank:
-all who organized and maintained the regional and getting all the bugs worked out (judges, referees, announcers, A/V, etc.)
-all teams that participated, had fun, made friends, been safe, and learned
-Team 1727 (Rex) and 836 (Robo-Bees) for being the best and most spirited alliance partners in the final matches
- All Teams in the final matches, especially 45, 234, and 620 for winning the regional
-Team 234 for winning chairman’s
-and any unsung heroes that may not have been mentioned

Thanks! See ya at the Chesapeake Regional!

Aaron

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Thanks Aaron! REX also wants to thank you for selecting us out of the other awesome teams there : ) You guys did awesome and i can't wait to see you again at Chesapeake.

It is now almost a week later and we are still celebrating how awesome DC was.

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

I agree with you, it was one of the most spirited regionals in my last 8 years. It was fantastic seeing all of the teams helping out, and I heard from many of the rookie teams that they were astounded by the help they were receiving. One special case that I saw was members of 1727 frantically helping to get 1446 inspected prior to the match in which they were competing against each other! If all things in this world worked like a first competition, we'd be in pretty good shape.

Of course, gotta thank 2199 and 1727 for a great alliance. I think our cheering in the back after the semi-finals was louder than the stands. I'm looking forward to another great regional over in Annapolis.

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

We had Bill Ingalls, the chief NASA staff photographer, cover the DC regional. Bill took nearly a thousand very high-resolution photos, which we have been sorting through since last weekend. We finally finished going through all the photos, and have posted the “best of” collection. There are pictures of every team, on the field and in the pits, as well as most of the major “events” at the competition. The photo archive has been posted on the FRC Team 116 web site at http://www.team116.org/DC2009Regional/ Thumbnails and sub-sampled versions of the 347 “favorite” images can be viewed there. If you want any of the full-resolution versions of any of the images, just let us know. All photos courtesy of NASA/Bill Ingalls.

-dave


.

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Dave -

Once again NASA has stepped up in a HUGE way. Please pass our thanks onto all involved with taking/sorting/posting these photos.

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

I don't want something to get lost in the shuffle here. The fact that Bill Ingalls found the time to cover our event is no small thing. I'm not sure if many here know about Bill's career as a photographer, but he's been the go to guy for documenting some of NASA's most historic events, ever. If you've never seen his portfolio, take a look at some of it here:
http://homepage.mac.com/bingalls/nasawork/Menu40.html

He's captured elation and joy in the Spirit and Opportunity landings and he also captured the darkest moments, including the loss of Columbia - all with great dignity and professionalism.

One of my greatest moments in DC was meeting Bill and being photographed by him. Quite an honor and hopefully more of you will have the same opportunity in the future.

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

These pictures are awesome. Every team, the action, the guest speakers.

Thanks Bill for dedicating your time and thanks Dave and others who reviewed to create this collection.

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

I agree with all the recent posters. A HUGE thanks to Bill and NASA for providing these photos of the DC Regional. They are fantastic.

Thank you!

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Very Very Nice photos. Thanks for pointing them out :)

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Team 122 NASA KNIGHTS
Would like to congratulate 45, 234 and 620 on winning the event. It was nice to see you again Andy.
Big Thank you to 768 for picking us and 1111 for being a great partner.

I would also like to thank Team 2963 for letting us work with you. The kids nor I will ever forget you.:]

The event was great with lots of space that was nice.

Rick