Lansing District 2009
 

So, who's excited for the Lansing District 2009!? Looking at the team list, should be one heck of a field! 1, 27, 67, 68, 70, 245, 494... this list just keeps going! Should be a great time!

Quick note for attendees though; last time I went downtown Lansing, parking was massively expensive. I don't know if FiM has worked something out for teams to get free parking, but I'm definitely bringing a few extra bucks just in case!

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

This is what we have for the Lansing District:

Teams 3rd Event 1
Teams 2nd Event 23
Teams 1st Event 16

District Champs 4
District Finalist 1
District Semi-Finalist 3

Alliance Captains 6

Some questions to ask ... what will 123 do if they make it into the finals as a selection will they bow-out or play (since this is their 3rd event)?

Expect to see 67, 245, and 70 in the finals, will 2 of the 3 be on the same alliance?

Can't wait.

-Oris-

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Additional warning:

I have just been informed by our team teacher that there will be no way to get food at the Lansing district unless you pre-order the lunches (aka no concession stands). So, you may want to look up places online before going down if you are unhappy with the pre-order food choices (I know I personally don't eat most of what's on the list!).

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Team 1918 (a Traverse City finalist, by the way) is pumped up and ready to go. OTIS has been working out and is ready to pump out the moon rocks faster than ever.

As for the 3-event teams and what happens to their points - they are allowed to go as far as their talents take them. Any points they get at their third event just won't count toward their total qualifying points for State.

I believe that all 3rd-event teams (whether strong or struggling) owe it to their alliance mates to always do their best - not ease back to save their machines for State, or intentionally lose a match in an attempt to help a favored opponent qualify for State. Next weekend's WMR will be our third event, and we pledge to play hard.

See you all in Lansing!!

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

The District will be Webcast at

www.coderedrobotics.com


I will be there as well, refereeing and running the webcast for Lansing and Detroit!

I look forward to seeing you all!!!


Corey

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Thanks once again. We've included this information in several of our team newsletters for parents to watch and I will also be including a link on our website.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

sweet corey, tell you team i say thanks, my parents wanted to see the competition but wont be able to come due to my great grandmas feuneral.

But representing the two Robodawg teams, I can say we are very excited to go to Lancing, and cant wait to see you all there! [If you want to see me, I am the girl carrying around the stuffed dog]

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

despite about a thousand set-backs and everything else that could go wrong that did, including a complete re-design, with the help of some other teams, we have made it to lansing with a almost done robot. final things have been set to go and we should be running and competitively scoring. 1188 has pulled themselfs back up, and are ready to begin the long (slow) journey back into First. Thanks to all that have contributed and we hope to see you out there!

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Looks like Dean Kamen and others are going to be in Michigan this weekend. Lansing Friday- Detroit Saturday. I believe this was in a email from FiM.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Seating is limited. Be sure to apply deoderant and brush your teeth. You are going to get to know your bleacher mates better than you ever wanted.

Last evening they had all the teams do at least one practice round on the field to make sure all their communications worked. Great idea! Should keep things moving smoothly today.

See you there.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

i got as far as detroit/lansing. How can i choose which one to watch?

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Correction to this for team 1502 - one event (Buckeye) - Quarter Finals - Captain 4


I'm sitting here at this regional after someone had just falsely pulled the fire alarm - WOOPS! haha.

We also got to see Dean Kamen in person! It was AWESOME!

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Events out of state do not earn points toward your MI ranking.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Oh woops, I didn't see that that was MI rating - assumed it was overall. My bad.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

oh so that was a false alarm? we wouldn't have even noticed the alarms going off if the announcer hadn't yelled at us to get out...

the venue is quite nice (other than the food prices) that's why our team brown bagged it out in our big truck.

It was amazing to get to meet Dean but i personally felt sorry for him. we mobbed him every five seconds and interrupted his conversations with frantic "WILL YOU SIGN MY SHIRT?!?!?!?" (not going to lie but i got my jumpsuit signed but i didn't (to the best of my knowledge) interrupt anything and if i had, i would like to apologize), i understand how starstruck we can get but it was getting a little crazy out there. So, sorry Dean for messing with your viewing the competition.

Other than that, things have gone off with ought a hitch. things have been boring in pits because nothing is breaking mechanically(knock on wood), we are just tweaking programing (not my problem:D ).

if anyone needs any help, please ask anyone from our team, if we can help you we will do our best to do so.:cool:

see you tomorrow! good luck in the elims

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

The only prices that I've found to be a little silly are the vending machines - $2 for a 20oz bottle? Eh, a little high. At the concession you can get a 32ish cup for $2.75 which I thought was decently reasonable considering how much you got. Its a lot cheaper to some of the other venues we've been to.
Overall it is pretty nice though, seems slightly more organized too.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

yeah over priced pop kinda killed the action, i think moutain dew would have really helped with the cheering it seemed kinda weak.

Either way congratz to team 66, 68 and 858

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

You mean 67.

IMO 67 is the best team I have seen so far this year. Congratulations!!

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Yea I agree... The pop machines wouldn't even take a $5 bill! grr Pop was expensive, but overall, I feel that it was a great match. Great Job to EVERYONE. congrats to the winner. Just a tip, 67 not 66. haha

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

woot i want to thank team 67 the hot team and team 68 truck town thunder for picking us for their team this is our first win in 8 years:) :) :D :D they were like we ask team 85......8 to join us and we all where going crazy

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

On behalf of everyone from team 858 we would like to say thank you to team 67 and 68. Without them we could not have achieved this great honor.

To all the teams there. Everyone was great, we had a blast, and even with all the drawbacks of being in the state capital, it was amazing. If ever there was a group like FIRST in the business world so much good would come.

Every team was graciously professional (?) and everybody made us feel like number one even when we were in last.

I want to end on


I STILL LOVE THE DESPERATE PENGUINS!!!

You guys were awesome.

also team 1 thank you, you were very polite, and frankly entertaining, we loved the competition, and our victory showed the true spirit of FIRST, the underdog came and, with some amazing friends, became as good as we were.

we learned things from competing at this caliber and intensity that will help us end our season well at west michigan next week.


Once again


THANK YOU TEAM 67
THANK YOU TEAM 68
YOURE THE BEST

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

No, You guys are the best!

on Behalf of team 68, i want to thank team 67 for picking us and being such a crazy good scorer and team 858 for being a great defensive bot!

We could not have done it without you guys (and girls)!:cool:

good job to everyone else, you made this competition one crazy interesting (and fun) event!

and congrats to team RUSH for winning chairmans, good luck at states!

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Someone pinch me! 36 matches and no losses -- I must be dreaming!

Thank you to alliance partners Team 68 and Team 858 -- we work together well! ...and it was great fun cheering with you in the stands.

Congratulations to the Finalists Teams 1, 245, 216 and 3098! I can't get over what Team 245 has been able to accomplish in designing and building their robot "in a closet in the school" after having their sponsorship cut back. The design is simple and extremely effective. I love the modular control system board that completely drops out the bottom of the robot after releasing a few fasteners.

Congrats to Team 70 for the Innovation in Control Award. Both the Martians have my admiration for their scoring ability in autonomous mode.

Congratulations to Rush for the Chairman's award. I learned a few new cheers from you yesterday.

Team 3114, I highly enjoyed getting to know you and helping to get you up and running.

On to Troy...!

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

The competition was quite a fun one to watch, and it seems like the whole stadium learned some new cheers, both from RUSH and from HOT.

I will also say vending was expensive, but the concessions they sold weren't as bad in price. The stadium was very upbeat and peppy for the competitions and matches everyone played. There were some new rookie teams that look like there doing well for a first season, and it felt like the pits were a little larger then at Kettering. Overall it was a great competition to attend.

And off to Troy for the EngiNERDs too!

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Did anyone happen to catch 2627's amazing super-cell throw at the end of their second elimination match on camera? That was probably the most amazing thing I'd seen all year, 67's win streak a close second.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

What team are you referring to? 2627 didn't go to Lansing.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Did anyone notice which entire team stayed to tear down the field and clean up?

It was the same team that continuously cheered for the rest of the field at Lansing, and celebrated the success of others.

It was HOT, Team 67. You guys truly are champions.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

67,1504,2474 were there helping along with some others.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Hmm, off to Troy for us too!
are you guys stalking us?

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

It was in QF4-2, and it was the PS from 2767.

The craziest part was that he picked up a moon rock next to the empty cell first, went to hang it on the rack, realized he had the wrong one,dropped it and grabbed the empty cell instead at the last second, made the exchange and heaved the super cell about 2/3 of the field for the win.

I was one of the refs and on the blue side of the field so I got a good look at the whole thing!

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

he means 2767

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

I am with 216 and would like to thank team 1, 245, and (sorry I forgot your number) the Captains! We had an amazing time!

Lol and I got my stuffed dog with all the pins signed by Dean!!!!!
AHHH!!!!!!!!!
then I got annoyed with the Governer and her gaurds for not having safety glasses on in the pits or the crater (!?!?!?!) So I gave them all a pair and they shoved them in the bag or pockets!!! whats wrong with that? Im sorry but the guns WONT save you from a shard of metal flying through the air! government officials are just as human as everyone else!!!
was I the only one who noticed this? I got yelled at for doing my job as the safety captian! lol

Anyways, we are thrilled with how the competition went, and cant wait for GVSU!!! way to go Hot team and allies for the amazing win[s]!



EDIT
oh yeah, fun story for the 858 delphi deamons: at the end when we dropped in the finals is from when we went against you and had repeted hits to the front. You bent our bot so out of square that evrything had shifted nearly an inch, screwing our chains up! we could hardly drive! lol. Needless to say, we are ganna fix that... ^^

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

So I bugged enough people at Lansing to get a media pass, and took about 300 pictures. I can't promise I got everyone/every team, but there's a whole bunch of them posted on our picture site: http://good-times.webshots.com/album/570612339OelZUY

Some of them are blurry (1918, you have some pretty interesting half blurry half not pictures from your elevator going up and down!) but the color on them is pretty good cuz I was close to the field. And yes, there are a bunch of 1504 and 2617 (our little brother team). But lots total, so lots of everyone.

Thanks to the Mussers, Dave Nolff, and all of the volunteers who worked to make this thing a success. I know a lot of the volunteers had to make things up as they went along, but you all rocked and coped incredibly well. (I think 4 EMS trips and a fire alarm is a new record!)

[Edit] I just realized that you apparently have to be a Webshots friend to save the photos. You can either friend us, or PM me with links to the pictures you want from Webshots, and I'll send you the photo. Sorry!
[Edit 2] I have also posted them in my personal Picasa if you want to download them that way. http://picasaweb.google.com/bethswee...ingDistrict09#

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

haha yeah I noticed that too. I was thinking at the time... yeah if she gets hurt from a shard of metal... not good.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Hahaha, I did hear about the EMS trips, and I loved how the fire alarm had gone off for 2 minuets before the match ended and people finally heard the alarm. Luckily there was no fire.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

DUDE!!! we meant to be defensive and get some pinning....but not hits...hopefully we didnt mess the rest of the year up for you...oops.

Good luck rest of the year guys, you were great.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Our alliance was on the receiving end of that last second super-cell from 2767. He let go of it just before time ran out and it seemed to hang in the air for 5 minutes before landing in the trailer - ARGH!! What a shot to win the match!

It was cool that the Governor came to see the event and walk the pits. I didn't notice her lack of safety glasses. After we posed for pictures and she signed our robot, everything went south for us. About 15 minutes later, a camera tripod fell and hit our driver's mother in the head, sending her to the emergency room for a batch of staples (special thanks to the first aid crew!). She was back asap to see her son in action. In our next match, our robot sat motionless thanks to a faulty battery cell. Shortly thereafter, the fire alarm went off and the grandmother of one of our payload specialists wrenched her knee climbing down the bleachers (she was able to make it back to catch the rest of the action, too). Fortunately, things settled down after that.

Speaking of the bad battery cell (a 2009 battery), has anybody else had problems with batteries? I haven't heard anything from other teams, but I was discussing this with a motorcycle mechanic, and he mentioned that they have had a lot of problems with Vietnamese batteries. Unfortunately for us, we originally thought the problem was a bad connection. We tightened them down, "charged" it (or so we thought - according to the light on the charger) and used the same battery in a semi-finals match, where we sat motionless once again - a fatal error. Before going to the West Michigan District, we will have all our batteries load tested.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Yeah, I saw that happen right in front of me (I was one of the refs). When I asked someone they said, "Yeah, they had low voltage on the battery, they said they must have grabbed a partially charged battery".

I immediately thought, "Hmm, could be a bad cell". I've heard/seen it happen with the robot batteries but usually on an older battery. Just think about some of the impacts these batteries see. I'm not sure they were designed for such things...

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

I was only there for Saturday but that was one great day. I GOT TO MEET PAUL GUDONIS! WOOT!

And to 1918, that really sucks about the battery. I had heard it was a battery issue, but having the battery FAIL is horrible. Hopefully your next event will be calmer. Or at least as calm as these events can get.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Oh, well. The battery failure was only the 2nd match. In the third match we just plain got beat by 1, 245, and 216. Great job guys!

Congratulations to 67, 68, & 858. We were hoping to be your next fodder. To be perfectly honest, we were hoping for a chance to break 67's streak. You guys are formiddable and it is always educational to play with or against you.

Thanks again to 494 & 470.

Hope to see you all at State.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

2075 Had a load tester that they offered anyone a chance to use, since you guys (NC Gears) are going to West Michigan it will also be there. we will try and advertise it better.

The #1 one alliance was incredible, i was surprised that 858 slipped that far to get picked by HOT. Congrats To 67, 68, 858 On the victory. Also Congratulations to RUSH for the chairmans award.

A huge thanks to 27 and 70 for inviting us to your alliance, we had an incredible time, good luck with the rest of the season, and hopefully we can work together another time.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Take a look at this thread: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=69259

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Thanks for the link on the battery info. We will keep an eye on this in the future.

This is another benefit (??) of the FiM program and a new experience for Team 1918 -- we actually get to play enough matches that battery life matters!! YESSSS!!!

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

So...standings are in...

http://www.firstinmichigan.org/stati...esults_Overall

Congrats to HOT for wrapping up 1st place in Michigan going into Ypsi... I believe that nobody can pass them (if I'm correct, they were one point from a 100% most points possible perfect season?)...

Absolutely incredible job! I don't think people really understand how amazing of an accomplishment this is...

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

ThunderChickens could catch HOT in total points, with another Alliance #1 win and 11 or 12 of qualifying wins. Depends on if they get any award points.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Don, do you know if 3098 will be awarded points for being the 4th member of the Finalist alliance? It is not addressed in the documentation

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

It's not listed on the Lansing results. They don't get listed as an alliance selection, and aren't mentioned as a member of the finalist alliance. And in the rules there are elimination round performance points denoted only for captain, first pick and second pick. I think they're stuck with their 12 points for W-L record plus 2 points for the highest rookie seed.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

YAY!!!! 858 is number 40.....LOVE U 67 n 68......LOVE U GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

NP, We LOVE HOT!!!
you guys picking us catapulted us into 8th place!!!


we where worried about not qualifying for states(needless to say, not worried anymore):cool:

States is going to be insane...

so it Troy Athens...

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

We hauled our supply of batteries down to the friendly, local Tractor Supply Co. (The "NC" in NC GEARS stands for Newaygo County after all) and had them load tested:

Battery Year Result (CCA)
A 2007 149
B 2008 175
C 2009 ZILCH (11 volts still)
D 2008 182
E 2009 186
F 2007 149
Exide 2004 171

Good reason to buy extra new batteries instead of just keeping the old ones forever (unless they are the Exides). Of course it was the infamous "Battery C" that let us down.

Gotta like those FiM rankings. Too bad we won't be that high after next weeks' events. We're looking forward to State. I wonder if we couldought to get a few new MK batteries between now and then...

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

The Juggernauts would like to thank our alliance partners; 245, 216 and 3098 for a great run through elim's in Lansing, it was great partnering with you guys.

To 1918, 494 and 470. We knew we were in for a tough match against you in the semi's, and you exceeded our expectations.

Congrats to 67, 68 and 858 on winning the Lansing District, and 67, you certainly deserve the Gracious Professionalism award.

Last, but not least, congratulations to Team Rush on winning the Lansing Chairman's award.

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Pictures that I took at the Lansing event can be found here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/mussie1/...ctCompetition#

Enjoy!

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

Na, we redid the problem posts.. But shifting our whole frame over an inch... That's insanity! No! Its LUNACY!!!!!!!!

Re: Lansing District 2009
 

after we looked at our bot from the comp. we had our frame bent aswell ^^ we had to add extra supports to it to bent it back in to shape and as for our bar for the roller we use to consume the balls it was bent also lol maby we have to wrap our bots in bubble wrap ^^