Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Hey.. we'll have nun of that now...

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

My DC Random Walk:

1. The inaugural DC event was an awesome time to bump into VIPs and all around cool people associated with FIRST. Senator John Kerry took time to address us during Friday’s opening ceremony. And while I never did manage to catch up to Dean Kamen to thank him personally for creating an awesome opportunity to share my love of engineering with the students, our team did get him to sign our OI!! I’m sure we’ll treasure it long after we’ve reduced this years’ robot to scrap.

2. We worked with lots of great teams through qualifications and got two really great alliance partners for the elimination rounds: 1712 and 176! We had some nail-biter matches with three other great teams in the elimination quarterfinals (339, 365, 116) and were fortunate to squeak by. It is never much fun to lose, but if we had to pick an alliance to lose to 45/234/620 is a good one. These teams are class acts. I really enjoyed chatting with Andy Baker over the last couple days. As I’m sure so many across FIRST have realized he is truly a gem!

3. I believe in miracles! At one point on Thursday, I think I noted a MOE representative in nearly every rookie pit. Loads of other teams also chipped in and teams were literally racing each other to fill part requests from other teams. Several members of our team adopted 2961 and we were so proud of our adopted team when they finally we able to get out there and show their stuff. Unfortunately we added one to their loss column. Hopefully we can continue a lasting relationship with 2961 and many of the other teams we met at DC!

4. Little things can potentially make a big difference… Match 58 – our head to head with 45 in the qualifications (both were 5-0 at the time). We figured we had to win this one since we suspected 45/234 would pair up if possible (both are excellent independently but together… ouch!). Unfortunately this turned out to be the one match where a silly little mistake caused us major headaches. Root cause? Our software has (very soon to be “had”) two different ways to toggle between arcade and tank mode (a residual from our driver selection qualifications); this leads to an odd exclusive-OR logic. For some reason, karma maybe, one of the toggles was accidentally enabled without the driver being aware and so when he thought he was toggling on tank mode he was actually toggling it off. Not realizing the problem, he was unable to turn effectively (ie. not at all or unpredictably) and so we had the double whammy of not being able to score and being a sitting duck. Attention to the smallest detail is so fundamental to winning reliably in FIRST…

I could go on and on with observations I’ve seen over the last few days but I think it is time to catch up on a little sleep. Thanks for the awesome memories at DC and best wishes to all the teams at their upcoming regionals/championship!

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Rich - Congratulations!

I always look for your words of wisdom in these forums when the CD community wants to tackle a controversial topic (you folks know what I'm talking about). You inspire us to seek a higher ground on these tough issues. I see how your team reacts to your leadership - well deserved.

Hope to see you in Atlanta.

Raul

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Thank you to all the teams, including but not limited to 45 and 620, for playing with us. Having a good robot means nothing if you don't have parteners to play with. All the teams should be proud of their level of preformance. I know it sounds a little cliche, but no one walked out of that building a loser.

To all you rookie teams, keep at it. Every year gets easier. Hopefully you had a lot of fun and learned a few things.

Thank you everyone in the pits and on CD for your support. It means the world to hear from you.

Good luck to all the teams who have more regionals and see everyone else in the future.

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

It was a great first regional. Unfortunatly our team 122 was on the 8th alliance, which meant we had to play the 1st alliance :(. that first game was insane, 100 to 128. I thought i had you with those two supercells, but it was well won.

BTW, i missed most of the finals, if someone could put up video that'd be amazing.

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Mr. Kressly congrats! Can't wait to meet you and Dawgma in Philly. :D

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Congratulations Rich! You truly earned this WFA through many years of service to area teams. See you in Philly!

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Congrats to the TechnoKats and Cyber Blue, two of three Indiana teams to capture regional victories on Saturday. Way to do it in thrilling fashion.

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

The inaugural DC regional was a very memorable experience.

THE TEAMS
While 65 teams meant only having seven qualifying rounds, it was great to be at an event with teams like 45, 234, 176, and 118. It was also terrific to see some old friends and make many new ones.

THE ROOKIES
MOE has not been to a regional over the past few years, where there were this many rookie teams (12?). It was a pleasure to experience your first FIRST regional with you all. I applaud all your mentors and teachers for committing to make this experience happen for you. I look forward to seeing you all evolve over time.

THE VOLUNTEERS
Thursday was a tough day, with a new control system, playing field, venue, etc. However, by Friday and Saturday, things were humming. Thanks to all organizers and volunteers for making such a large event like this go so well.

THE PEOPLE
Where else can you walk around a regional and see Andy Baker dressed as a nun, newly-minted Woodie Flowers regional award winner Rich Kressly (way to go Rich - well deserved and long overdue!), Dean Kamen, head of the patent office, Dave Lavery, many congress people and staffers, and Paul Gudonis and John Abele. Wow.

THE MATCHES
We all learned how to play Lunacy better this weeked. The game play is more interesting than I thought it would be. Stategy is important to have but difficult to execute. The little things make a big difference. There is more scoring from more locations this season than from any FIRST game in the past 10 years, which makes this game difficult to play and follow. The playing field is constantly changing.

THE GRACIOUS PROFESSIONALISM
Thanks to everyone who helped other teams this weekend. It was awesome to see a rainbow of colored team shirts at pits of other teams helping them this past weekend. Teams were rushing to help each other. I also heard more "Thank You's" go out to teams over the Pit Admin announcements at this regional than any other I have attended.

Well, done to all participants! Best of luck during the rest of your season.

Re: 2009 Washington D.C. Regional
 

Heh, I thought we were in for another tormenting weekend when we got stuck on the floor again first thing Thursday -- but it turns out that the way we packed our crated caused some fiberglass to warp. Good thing we had some weight to put in a bar to fix it.

Friday was somewhat frustrating as far as matches go -- luck of who you're allied with/against plays a large part in it. Then there's alot of times where the Outpost player simply does not cooperate with you and tosses the Empty Cell over the wall or defys your pleading by dumping it onto the floor instead of on the ramp...

As a general warning, the second qual. match had a team not show up, which meant we were on the wrong end of 2 vs 3 against team 45. It was MOE and us vs 3 other bots and we had a great strategy for an upset. We could have pulled it off with better execution, but every strategy changes when there's a sitting trailer on the field, heh. When we learned there were rookies who'd barely built a bot Thursday afternoon, we went to help. Then Friday morning, we could put more people out to help because we had more mentors to help. Still kinda stings that we were helping the rookie who would've filled the empty trailer finish inspection as Match #2 started, but that's just how it goes.

End of qualifications, THE very last match of Saturday, we learned how to play defense, and play it well. We finally perfected our side-hybrid modes for the linkage drive train, so you guys in Florida better watch out :cool: We all but shut down the second undefeated team, and though we got pinned once we also made sure they had nearly a full trailer by the end. Let the record 2-5 fool you, if you dare :p

The venue for the most part was great! 12x12' pits with gigantically wide aisles that prevented traffic jams and loud "ROBOT COMING THROUGH"'s. It was alot more safer for all of the VIP's, CTO's, VP's, CEO's, etc, that happened to pass by. If only we didn't have that silly trailer, we'd impress the other teams on the field as much as we impressed all of VIPs as the robot danced around in our pit... The burgers left something to be desired, but the smoothies were fantastic. By Saturday we needed more seating for the audience, haha. Loading stuff into the event from a trailer was pretty easy too -- a large bay door led from the loading docks straight into the pits, with no bumps or door dams to get over.

Finally, there are many thank you's -- MOE (365) definitely did us some favors, and I know they did all of the rookies a ton of favors. Then there was Dawgma (1712), who helped build a rookie's bot completely from scratch on Thursday. Then there's Epsilon Delta (116), who seemed to have mentors and team members volunteer in many aspects of the event.

Thanks to the many who helped pull DC off; we look forward to coming again next year!

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.