Quote:
Originally posted by ChrisH
Now for a few corrections:
The six hour robot was The Fembots at Silicon Valley in 2001. The primary co-ordination was actually done by Gunn robotics, team 192. (maybe because they are so easy to spot in a large crowd? ) They had major help from Team 22, Chatsworth High. Various other teams including 330, the BeachBots (my team), provided assistance as needed. In our case, we were asked to make the wheels. This used our process of grinding the top flat and attaching a custom tread. We were good at it having already done several sets of four wheels.
As I recall, the Fembots seeded #10 which was higher than we did, but they were not in the finals.
I am more impressed by what they have accomplished since then. When I talked to one of their mentors last year, they were running that little guy AUTONOMOUSLY. They had a huge enthusiastic support team. Their school was behind them (unlike the first year) and I look for great things from them in the future.
The only reason this robot was possible was that the Veteran teams involved were warned ahead of time and began planning in advance.
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I'm glad to hear that we're remembered.
I wasn't quite sure if that six hour robot that was mentioned was ours or not, so I didn't want to stick my foot anywhere if it wasn't. Although, I wasn't on the team that year, I heard many things about our rookie year.
Just a little story for all those rookies out there, we were once you, in fact all the other teams were once you:
2001: I haven't the foggiest as to what the girls did that year for the six weeks, but obviously nothing got done. They were about ready to drop the competition completely because they had nothing. But they were encouraged to go anyways as they did pay $5,000. So, they traveled from Sacramento to San Jose (2 hour drive) each morning and home each night, for they didn't have any reservations for a hotel. They just brought with them their kit of parts. Our teacher last year told us that it was awesome to see the veteran teams helping out in the creation of our little six hour robot. Thank you so much to teams 22, 330, and 192 (I heard people on my team were rather fascinated by the red hair)! Oh, and I thought my team placed 26th that year. *shrugs* I'm not too sure on that though. We still have it. We have dubbed it "the-piece-of-wood-on-wheels." And it works beautifully in autonomous mode.
2002: This was our "second" rookie year. All members were new as the previous year consisted of solely seniors. It was kind of rough to begin with since all members needed to be trained in workshop etiquette. We went well beyond our piece-of-wood-on-wheels, or six hour robot as the rest of the populous had called it. Major improvement. But we didn't place quite as high as we did the year before, but the experience and satisfaction of six weeks well spent was the best part.
2003: Those who do remember the six hour robot will be shocked to see us this year. But I'm not going to give anything away.
You shall all see at SVR and/or Sac. It's simpler than last year's, but it works and I'm happy with it.
So, rookies out there, don't worry so much. This is a learning experience. Teams have to start somewhere and then learn from that for the next year. Every year is a gradual progression from the year before. Hope the story of the Fembots shines a ray of hope in people.