I'm having a great time, volunteering very close to the field. Since robots aren't inspected at IRI, I think queueing is the best volunteer opportunity to see the 'bots up close.
Echoing a preceding post: scouting will be critical. There are 26 teams with two or fewer losses now, and many of them have three qualifying matches tomorrow -- any of them could become an AC. That's a lot of variations to analyze.
Repeating what I said in an earlier post -- I would like to see Michigan vs. Canada for all the marbles. However, there are quite a few teams from neither of the above that are playing strong and smart now, so my fantasy final is a long-shot.
During his opening speech this morning, Paul predicted 30 triple balances during qualifying matches. By my count the total after Q73 is 11 triples, two of them coming in the same match (Q61) and another by the losing side (Q25). (Condolences to the Digital Goats who came out on the short end of both matches.) I expect the rate of triple balances to increase in the Saturday morning qualifying matches, so perhaps Paul's prediction can still come true. However, the top offensive teams here might just reckon they are better off shooting it out in the final seconds.
Dean Simmons and the Kamen Brothers put on a great show after dinner. "The day the robots died..." IMHO their best performance ever.
As always, IRI has been worth the trip.
And it is not over yet. Tomorrow will be exciting.
__________________
Richard Wallace
Mentor since 2011 for FRC 3620 Average Joes (St. Joseph, Michigan)
Mentor 2002-10 for FRC 931 Perpetual Chaos (St. Louis, Missouri)
since 2003
I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.
(Cosmic Religion : With Other Opinions and Aphorisms (1931) by Albert Einstein, p. 97)