2009 Waterloo Regional
 

So a few of the Big Guns are not registered?!?

68 Is not attending and I don't see 1114 on the list

So who's top pick this time around?
2056 is still coming, but how will they do without 1114 by their side?

Lets hear your predictions!

- Bochek

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Waterloo has already started to be discussed here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=69717

But I guess the conversation should move over to a regional thread.
i won't repeat what I said in the other thread, but it will be interesting to see how some of the good lesser known Canadian teams battle it out for Waterloo this year.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Only 1 week to go and I`m so excited (as usual).

So who are the forces to look out for this year :confused:

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

2702 will be there!
The guillotine is ready to play..

EDIT: figured I should add that guillotine is our robot name.. not anything mean/crude...

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Heh, I am looking forward to/dreading next Thursday.... let's just say if all goes well the audience will be wondering why the heck our robot is named "King Helix," and if it doesn't my team will probably be chasing me through the pits with a reciprocating saw.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

I'll be there!... but I'll likely be working out in the gym between matches =)

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Team 2609 is looking forward to the Waterloo regional!

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

team 1141 is really excited to be there, waterloo is a nice regional to attend to gear up for GTR the weekend following a little more relaxed atmosphere in waterloo then at GTR. GTR, is usually the highlight for me every year. We attended waterloo for the first time last year and we all just really enjoyed oursleves. See you all there!

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Is anyone else staying at the Walper Hotel :confused:

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

um i cant remember the name of the place we are staying at, it is right across the road from the mall in waterloo thats all i know

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

I'm the pit announcer and proud supporter of 1305! :D

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

296 is going to be there, its our first time. NK-11 is itching to get back on the field. :)

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Look out for Team 2185....Etobicoke CI......

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

I saw a crate being loaded into the gym today :D

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

a team crate, or a field crate :confused:

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Saw the field being assembled :D

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

nice im looking forward to it. See you all in two days!

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

only 12 ish hours to go!!!

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

I'll be there running a webcast on Friday and Saturday should be a good time. Here is the link to the webcast: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/2009-waterloo-regional

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Just got into Waterloo, sounds like tomorrow is going to be a fun time, everyone tune into the Karthik and Paul Show... anyone remember how much fun last year was??

Getcha Popcorn Ready!

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

So, today was definitely interesting. This regional is going to be very different than any regional we've seen before. You're going to want to tune in to see Team 2056. Their robot is absolutely phenomenal, scoring 7 balls in autonomous multiple times.

Make sure you have a lot popcorn, it's going to be an eventful weekend.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

If anyone needs any C++ programming, debugging or "what the hell is this compiler error here for?" help, come to 2702's pit and we'll give you a programmer (me). We can also loan out a laptop with serial port so you can do some printf-debugging.

I can also perform things like:
-Switch your robot from LabView to C++, and get through the nitty-gritty of setting up WindRiver (a popular choice)
-Troubleshoot things like "why is this jaguar not lighting up" and "why is this jaguar blinking?"
-Suggest things to do in labview, though I'm hopeless at doing labview myself
-Write or help in writing C++ auto modes

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Tristan: congrats on the WFFA, you definitely deserved it!

Can't wait for tomorrow!!

P.S. 2056 really is a slick looking machine.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Congratulations Tristan! Your support and dedication to FIRST reaches far beyond just your involvement with 2505.

Great work, and good luck during elims!

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Congrats Tristan, a well deserved award!

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

i was really impressed with how well the playing of the game progressed throughout the day. With this being the first regional of the season for many of these teams, it was a rocky start for some as there were still minor tweaks and modifications to be made. Glad all team were certified and able to play! looking forward to elims tomorow! Congrats again Tristan!!

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Ya i definitely agree. If you look at the winning scores, they start around a maximum of 60 points, and by the second last match the scores finally hit 100 points, for the win.

I really also have to shout out to 2702, I know were not the only ones but they seriously helped us with programming. We shipped our robot with "working code", unfortunately that code wasn't working by the time we got here. Thats what ya get with first year programming.

Reason is we lost our main programmer this year, Spencer Elliott, to Carleton U, and we basically we've just been winging it.

Thanks to 2702 though; our programmer is aware or some useful programming techniques like a.....PID, lol. I stayed up with him on Friday + Sat redoing parts that require a PID to make it easy. And hopefully we pull ourselves our of the hole were in and make it to elims.

SEE YALL AT 8:00 !!GO CANADIAN REGIONALS!!

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Waterloo Regional consisted of just 26 teams.
However, these 26 teams truly proved to be just amazing. They made it feel like it was a regional with many more teams.

Congratulations Team 1305 on the Chairman's, you all truly deserved it!
Team 1334 RED DEVILS! Congrats on the Engineering Inspiration Award!
Big Congrats to Tristan Lall on the WFA! You're really deserved it!
Finally, congratulations to Team 2056 Patriotics on their 5TH CONSECUTIVE REGIONAL WIN! This means they've tied the record with 254, the Cheesy Poofs and 1114, Simbotics!

Congratulations To All Waterloo Regional Award Winners!

Special Thanks to the Regional Announcers: Paul Copioli and Karthik who kept an electric atmosphere all weekend! (It was fun to make you both say things through the webcast :p "KABOOSE")

Speaking of the Webcast, HUGE THANKS TO JONATHAN NORRIS & the REST OF KBOTICS Team 2809 for running the webcast on Friday & Saturday!
We got over 150 viewers watching the regional through the webcast!

Can't wait to see 20 out of the 26 teams that attended Waterloo, @ the Greater Toronto Regional! Its going to be an awesome regional just like always!:cool:

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Thanks to our Alliance partners - 2056 and 2185. A pleasure doing business with you guys!

Had a great time with everyone.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

this regional was the smallest this week, but yet it was the most fun to watch.

maybe it was because 1305 won the regional chairmans award, they truly deserve it. my hats of to them

maybe it was because of 2056, who had an amazing robot, they decided to come to Waterloo to give us people at home a preview of what to expect at the Greater Toronto Regional, not to mention everytime this team was up, the chatroom in SOAP Game day would be like "2056 up at waterloo" then silence for about two minutes while the match was going on and then nothing but wow's and praise for the team

They have come a long way from being a rookie sensation, their now a sensation in FIRST, year in and year out. Congrats to them on their fifth consecutive regional victory. and good luck to them next week at the Greater Toronto Regional.

maybe i watched Waterloo because of a second year team called Beverworx (2609), who, when i saw their robot Wednesday night on the blue alliance, i absolutely fell in love with, This team was great to watch and i honestly enjoyed watching all the matches i could with ths team in it.

I could have also watched because the sickest MC/Announcer combo was in control of the microphone at Waterloo: Karthik and paul did an amazing job over the weekend, They made the regional a must see for the weekend.

I've watched this regional for three years now via the webcast and i've enjoyed every single minute of all three of them. Here's hoping to seeing the same thing.... no.... something bigger and better next year

Congrats to all the teams and participants at this years Waterloo Regional

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Can't believe Tristan didn't have a WFFA already... he's earned it several times over.

Small regionals can be some of the best. After years of GTR and Portland, and never seeing less than 50 teams... sometimes 70+ at a regional, it was a really nice change to play in Seattle last year with just over 30 teams. Sounds like Waterloo was one of those "small in numbers, big in spirit and talent" type events.

You eastern folks have a good time at GTR next weekend, Canada's most westerly FRC contingent will be down at the now no longer quite so small 64 team event in Seattle.

Jason

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

well, from what i read, it sounds like it was a crazy time at watterloo! we where bummed that we couldent go...

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Wow, Waterloo was definitely a great weekend. Congratulations go out to:

Team 2056 for completely dominating the field. Their robot is their best ever, which is saying a lot for this team. They have now won 5 straight regionals, and continue their streak of having never lost a regional event. The successes of their team is only matched by Team 254 back in the late 90's. That's some fine company to be in. Also, a special thanks to the team for the 3' foot high, 300 Liter bag of popcorn they gave us on Saturday.

Teams 2609 & 2815. Patriotics will get most of the attention for this win, but you guys deserve a lot of recognition as well. 2185 did a great job of freeing 2056 up from defenders, while 2609 played a strong empty cell game with some tactical support. I can't wait to see how you do in Atlanta.

Paul Copioli. Thanks for coming back to Waterloo for the 3rd straight year. You've become a huge part of the show we put on up here and I know all the local teams appreciate having you up here. Thanks for helping us get our popcorn ready.

Tristan Lall. You've been a cornerstone of the FIRST community in Canada for years. After speaking with your students this week, the impact you've made on them could not be any clearer. It was great to see you win the WFFA and to see you speechless for the first time in your life. ;)

The Willick's. For those of you who don't know, Team 1114 has an entire family of 6 amazing individuals on our team (Two parents, two mentors, two students). They've been integral in all our successes over the past few years. In addition to this, they travel all across the province volunteering at every FIRST event they can find. On the event side they've helped found FLL competitions, been Pit Admin, Queuers, Referees, Lead Inspector, Inspectors, FTAA, Website Evaluators. The entire family (Jean, Ray, Todd, Kyle, Ryan and Stacey) were awarded the Waterloo Regional Volunteer of the Year Award on Saturday. It was a well deserved honour for a group of people that both 1114 and FIRST in Canada are extremely lucky to have. On a personal note, I know that I'm constantly inspired by the intellect, dedication, drive and high character of all six of them.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Waterloo was a whole lot of fun.

Thanks to Karthik and Paul - you make it what it is.

Beaver Worx 2609 and ECI Robotics 2185 you guys were great. Together we made an unstoppable alliance. Thanks for helping us win our 5th Regional.

Rob Gorbet and the entire Waterloo organizing team - Thanks for such a great event.

See you at GTR

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Thank you 2056 and 2185!
We certainly displayed a degree of professionalism on and off the field!
Best luck to both of you, and see you in Atlanta!

In the mean time, to find out more about 2609 Beaverworx, check out our Chairman Award video:
http://www.facebook.com/v/115010990083

and website:
http://www.lourdeschs.com/crusader/index.html

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Congrats to Beaverworx! It was great to compete against you guys! :)

It was a great weekend, it is the highlight of my march break :D

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Congrats to 2056, 2609 and 2185 you guys really put on a show in the elims. 2056 5 regional wins in a row... simply outstanding... I expect another show next weekend at GTR.

Paul and Karthik you two are always a bag of fun, and this year that popcorn bag was massive (300L worth)! I was fun working with you both this weekend running the webcast and helping you with your crazy ideas for announcing and MCing.

Tristan Congrats again on WFFA, very well deserved, I could tell how grateful you were winning this award with how little you could say after winning.

There were a lot of teams at Waterloo that personally impressed me; 2056, 2505, 2200, 781, 2609, 1334, 1141, 854. You all were class acts I look forward to playing with you all at GTR next weekend.

Getch'a Popcorn Ready GTR is going to be a blast! :ahh:


ohh and Mr. B and Todd, I won the game.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Devanand,

Watching Team 2200 was probably the highlight of my weekend. It's great to see a team who focused on a simple design and elegant strategy. You guys are proof that simplicity does pay off. Congratulations on a great regional.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Indeed! By the end of Friday's matches, i started calling them Supercell Specialists! :cool:
They definitely rocked the field. The were very focused and were almost hard to stop from getting those empty cells in the corners.
They got all 3 Supercells in a match in Quarters, i believe. Correct me if i'm wrong.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Thanks again Karthik for the support! We all love your Team Intro's and you and Paul always make waterloo my favourite regional.

- Bochek

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Semi's 2 Match 3 to be exact.

Again, thanks for all the kind words!

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Team 781 would like to share some of the videos they took during the tournament. We would also like to thank 1334 and 2200 for being our alliance partners. (:

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=...ts&view=videos

Includes: Quarters, Semis, and the first Finals.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

wow they got 3 super cells in? never got to watch the finals my team needed to pack up our stuff.

i never excepted our bot to make it to the quarter finals lol we lost both matches and congrats to the winners

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

As always, Waterloo was a blast. For the third straight year all of you at the event made this American feel welcome. I blew off two Michigan district events to come to Waterloo, because it is that special to me.

Karthik - You and I have a unique MC / announcer combination that I really enjoy being a part of. I hope the Waterloo people in charge let us continue for years to come. Thanks for being our chaperone this weekend.

Jonathon Norris - I am really glad you decided to come to Waterloo to do the webcast. It was awesome as always.

2056 - Thanks for inviting me to your super secret strategy session. You have a great robot and a great team. I also want the GTR scouting sheets from Victoria if you can gather them up. The sheets from Waterloo were hilarious.

2200 - You guys were really the highlight of my weekend. If someone told me at the beginning of this season that the #1 alliance at a regional would play defense on a robot that could not score any balls in a trailer, then I would have called them crazy. However, that is what happened during the eliminations at Waterloo. You guys were great. A nice, simple, effective machine that focused on a particular part of the game challenge.

All of the folks responsible for Waterloo: it is a great event and I hope to be invited back next year.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Seconded! I'm hoping Victoria will be willing to be our special guest sideline reporter once again in Toronto.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Paul et. al,

Waterloo has many highlights for me, but the announcing and the fact that you take the time to travel to our small event are certainly one of them. We are glad that we are special to you. ;) You have an open invitation for as long as I'm involved, at least!

2056/2609/2185: congrats to the winning alliance! I consider 2609 as one of our local teams, so it's great to see them continuing to build great 'bots and succeed with them. 2056, what can I say? I look forward to record-making this weekend in Toronto! Is it true that the only other team in history to win their first five regionals is 254? Wow. 2185, well done! Jigar told me to watch you, and he was right!

2702: a special congratulations to our newest local rookie. Team to watch: excellent mentor group and dedicated students. Congratulations on winning Innovation and RAS, and see you in Atlanta! Very proud.

1305, 1334, 781, ... the list goes on. Some of my favourite teams were there winning awards and I love that.

I should thank Maud, my wife and volunteer coordinator. I know she doesn't read CD and probably won't know I did this (and would be embarrassed if she did), but she deserves my thanks, so "thanks!" :)

Giving VOY to the Willicks was a no-brainer. They drive several hours every weekend of the season to mentor and participate in FRC and FLL, and we know that we can always count on them at our event and in Toronto to be there to fill key volunteer positions. We couldn't do it without them.

And again a very sincere thank you to the teams who came despite the holiday. When open registration started we had only 9 teams and we were getting real worried. The FIRST community came out, though, and the regional kept its reputation for being intimate and fun. Thank you.

Finally, on a more sober note. Some of you may know that a student from 1605 fell and hit his head in the pits during elimination rounds, sending him to the hospital on a stretcher. They were the first backup bot and instead of packing it in, he was hard at work fixing a bug in their software. I don't know the full story, but it seems he solved the problem, stood up too quickly, and fell over backwards, hitting his head a couple of times before hitting the ground. Latest news says he is going to be okay, though he'll be in hospital for several days for observation. My thoughts are with his family, and the students and mentors of team 1605.

Thank you everyone again for a great regional! I will see many of you at Toronto this weekend, and some of you in Atlanta where I hope to see at least 2056 on Einstein...

Rob.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

I've added a thread for planning committee feedback on WR2009, including a poll on whether we should consider moving to week 3 (if possible...I think it interferes with basketball season). Please contribute.

Rob.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

I just want to make an apology here. On my behalf as well as my teams I'm sorry for the response i gave during the alliance selections on Saturday. When 1558 requested our assistance for the finals, the response i gave was not in the manor in which FIRST strives to promote. My team only had 6 members there all weekend so our scouting database was on the weaker side, so i was still reviewing our sheets during the first part of the alliance selection process. When we were asked by 1558 i had many things on my mind including my next steps, the adrenaline of the competition, the nervousness of me and my team never being in this position before etc. The way the decline was announced was a bad reflection of my team as well as me. Gracious professionalism is something FIRST lives and breathes and although it may have seem myself or my team would not have shown gracious professionalism at that specific point, we always strive to show acts of GP in all areas. So I apologize to especially team 1558, but to everyone who was there and or heard it.

Riley Found

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Wow, what a weekend.

2609, 2056, and 2185: Congrats on the win, you had a truly dominating alliance and it was a treat playing against you in the finals. Best of luck in Atlanta. Also to 2056, good work on your 5th straight regional win, your team is an inspiration to me.
2200: Your team has reiterated for me the concept that there is beauty in simplicity. Early Thursday your robot was a mystery to me, but by the end of that same day you were already a favourite. In my opinion you had the second best robot there this weekend. It was a shock to us that you had not been picked by any other team. Thank you for your many contributions in the eliminations, without your team we would have been hard pressed to get past the quarter finals. See you at GTR.
1334: Congratulations on Engineering Inspiration, your team deserves that award! Also thank you for being a fantastic alliance partner, you brought your everything to the eliminations and our alliance being finalists is due in part to your efforts on the field. See you at GTR and best of luck at Atlanta!
Karthik and Paul: You guys are a ridiculous duo (and I mean that in the most positive sense). You brought a level of excitement you would expect from a regional twice the size to this event, thank you.
Volunteers, Referees, and FTA: This regional was run seamlessly and without your combined effort it wouldn’t have been near the event it was. Thank you for all your hard work.
Tristan: Congratulations on WFFA. Almost every FIRST event I attend you are there supporting in a big way, you are one of the significant reasons FIRST is so successful in Canada and to be recognized for that is great!

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Unfortunately I was unable to make this event for the first time in several years, but I would like to add another voice to those congratulating Tristan Lall on his WFFA.

I had the enormous privilege of working alongside Tristan at several events, and he never ceases to be an incredible fountain of knowledge, as well as a genuinely kind person.

His precise attention to detail and incredibly thorough knowledge of the rules has not only helped his team, 2505, but all teams in Canada, anyone who reads CD, and, dare I say it, the GDC - his carefully worded Q&A questions and thinking outside the box have been instrumental in clarifying many vague sections of the rules in the past. The help he always offers to teams is always incredibly detailed and accurate, and in my opinion he is one of the most inspirational people in this program.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

What a great regional event!

Congratulations again to 2056, 2609, and 2185 for the win.

Also, a big thank you to teams 2200 and 1334 for being amazing alliance partners. As David said, without your assistance, we likely wouldn't have gotten past the quarter finals. Although we didn't make the win, it was a very exciting tournament, and we hope to see you in GTR.

Congrats to Tristan for the Woodie Flowers Award, you definately deserved it.

We hope to see everybody back in GTR on thursday and best of luck to you all.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

First off, on behalf of Team 2505, I would like to express our sincere thanks to everyone who made the 2009 Waterloo Regional possible, from the Regional Committee to the enthusiastic volunteers, you made the event one of the most well-run and accessible that I have had the privilege of attending thus far this season.
As always, Waterloo was a small but well attended event and when those bleachers get full on Saturday it gets as raucous and inspiring to see as any other big time regional.

Team 2505 has an incredible list of individuals and teams to thank, if I left out anyone, please do not feel slighted, it is only because so many different people helped us in only our second regional of existence. Congratulations must go out first to Tristan Lall, our Head Engineering Mentor for the past two seasons and someone I have personally known since his and my own days as a high school student on Team 188. He has always been one of the most patient and responsible individuals I know in terms of explaining difficult concepts to non-engineering and non-scientific people like myself.
Congratulations to Teams 2609, 2056 and 2185 for a clearly well-deserved regional win. Ty, my heart is still beating after we had that last supercell thrown in during the tail end of our third Qualification, but thank goodness it ended up helping both of our RP’s.

Congratulations and many grateful thanks go out to the gracious and extremely professional finalist alliance of Teams 781, 2200 1334. The tenacious defence and no holds barred delivery of your strategy, even when the entire arena knew it was coming was nothing short of spectacular. Additionally, the time out that you called in our semi finalist match up was one of the most gracious things that I have ever witnessed or been a part of at a FIRST event. We cannot thank you enough.

To our extended support and 2505 family, we owe you a huge debt. Getting our robot working from no movement on Thursday to the level that it was on Friday was no small task and we couldn’t have done it without the help of the Willicks, Brandon, Beckett, Team 2702, 2200 again and 188 alum that were present. All of you know who you are and I hope you know the impact that you made on our team by helping us out.
Karthik, Paul, JNo and everyone else who kept the regional going and entertaining, its always a great job.

Finally, to Teams 2166 and 3040, thank you for being great alliance partners. You were professional and a pleasure to work with the whole way. We executed well and I feel if we hadn’t had our reliability issues on the Saturday afternoon, we could have given a run for the money for the eventual winners. Hopefully we can improve on it next week, but our thanks for your contributions.

Waterloo is always a blast to go to and I hope we can be back next year. Forgive my lack of brevity, but this was truly a great event to be a part of!

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

Thanks to all of you for making the Waterloo Regional a great event as always, and for your generous comments regarding the WFFA. I couldn't have earned it without the support of you, my friends, colleagues and teammates.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

On behalf of team 2185, I'd like to say thank you to a few people.

A huge thank you goes out to our alliance partners, 2056 & 2609. If you had asked us on Thursday or Friday that our team would go on to win the regional, we would have never believed you. Your positive attitude and gracious professionalism was amazing, and really helps make FIRST Robotics a success. Good luck at Atlanta, and we'll see you there!

To our favourite volunteer at the regional, James!(sorry, I don't know your last name!) James was our inspector for this year, and it turned out that he was actually our inspector at the GTR last year. Like every team, we've had our problems throughout the competition, and James was always there to lend a helpful hand. He's an amazing guy, and we'd just like to say thanks!

Thank you to all the organizers of the Waterloo regional. In previous years, we've only been able to attend the Toronto Regional, and it was a nice change to be at such a small regional, with such amazing people! Karthik & Paul, you truly make the weekend, popcorn jokes included!

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

I just uploaded a couple hundred photos here. Some of them are even pretty decent, since they were taken up close from the scoring table.

Re: 2009 Waterloo Regional
 

i just have to ask this question was there really a kid that passed out cause that's what my teacher said one of the teams near our pit area?