[Richard Wallace]

I got a copy of the full script for award announcements from our regional committee. Posting it here in its entirety (sorry about the length):

(Friday – 1st award)

Volunteer of the Year
St. Louis Regional 2006


Our 2006 Volunteer of the Year is one who contributes to FIRST in St. Louis all year-round, a model volunteer. This person generously supports every function of the St. Louis Regional Planning Committee undertakes during the year, then adds a few extras over the summer.

A strong advocate for FIRST programs, this volunteer brings a rare level of commitment to children and youth – and their education. As the greatest enthusiast for starting FLL in St. Louis, this volunteer has nurtured its growth through school presentations, mentoring of teachers and parents, and tireless advocacy.

Besides her efforts with FLL, our volunteer of the year is always available to help with FRC activities. She serves on the St. Louis Regional planning committee. Every year, she contributes a steady hand to the registration and check-in process at our remote Kickoff, FRC, FRC Training Camps, and FLL events. She sets up, tears down, and usually has extra pens, markers, paper, and paper clips in her portable supply cabinet. She is a “Jill of All Trades” who moves comfortably between advocating for the education of children, catering a judges’ orientation event, organizing the Thursday night Judges’ dinner, and herding LEGO League teams.

The one thing we don’t know about our volunteer is whether she does windows….

Every one of you in this Arena knows our volunteer of the year. She has waved you over to her table, greeted you and signed you in. In honor of her year round contributions to FIRST in St. Louis, this year’s Volunteer of the Year award goes to Kathie Reuter.

(Friday – 2nd award)

(Imagery)

The Imagery award celebrates attractiveness in engineering and outstanding visual aesthetic integration from the machine to the team appearance.

The judges to their time for this award, dropping and line and spending some time with the members of this team. From their well-themed pit area to the clothes they wear this group hooked us from the start. Their robot swam through the competition in this category and as a result….

The Imagery Award is presented to team number #1094 – RiverCity Robots

(Friday – 3rd award)

The RadioShack Innovation in Control Award celebrates an innovative control system or application of control components to provide unique machine functions.

This year’s winner is one mean shooting machine! A computer-controlled aiming system using optics and a variable speed shooting wheel for distance control delivers accuracy. The control was tested extensively and showed better than 99% accuracy. This machine delivers a shooting percentage from the floor that Michael Jordan would die for – better than 75%.

The RadioShack Innovation in Control Award is present to Team #1609 – Siemens-West Alliance for Robotic Machines.


(Friday – 4th award)

The Xerox Creativity Award celebrates creative design, use of a component, or a creative or unique strategy of play.

This team’s approach to loading and shooting balls led to a creative component that allows for an effective transition between game functions. Manual switches and gears work with the robot’s photo eye to prevent jams and get a high score. But would you expect less from a robot named Bert?!?

Congratulations team #1315 Robo-Knights.


(Friday -5th award)

The Delphi “Driving Tomorrow’s Technology” Award celebrates an elegant and advantageous machine feature and recognizes any aspect of engineering elegance including, but not limited to: design, wiring methods, material selection, programming techniques, and unique machine attributes. The team that wins this award must be able to describe in concise terms verbally, as well as demonstrate the chosen machine feature.

With an effective autonomous strategy and a unique grid and hopper system, the engineering on this machine stands out from the crowd. Scoring is achieved through a spiral shooting system that reflects the extraordinary creativity in design.

Congratulations in their second year of competition to Team #1623 – Winnovation.


(Friday – 6th award)

The Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award

The Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship Award celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit. This award recognizes a team which, since its inception, has developed the framework for a comprehensive business plan in order to scope, manage, and obtain team objectives and also displays the entrepreneurial enthusiasm and the vital business skills for a self sustaining program.

The winners of this award this year are creative and resourceful and they have the drive to survive. They have thoroughly sold their community on the value of FIRST. They talk the talk and walk the walk as they raise funds, mentor FIRST Lego League, VEX and FIRST teams. They have even created their own mini-regional! To whip up enthusiasm for FIRST in the non-geek citizenry they staged a murder mystery dinner. It is no mystery why this team won the KPCB Entrepreneurship Award.

Congratulations to Team #537 – Charger Robotics.


(Friday – 7th Award)

During the course of the competition, the judging panel may encounter a team whose unique efforts, performance, or dynamics merit recognition, yet it doesn’t fit into any of the existing categories. They judges want to give a special award today to one such team.

Every member of this rookie team clearly and articulately communicated its engineering and marketing strategies. To a member, they exhibited enthusiasm and pride in their work – the same qualities they bring to their after-school tutoring program for area youth. Diverse in nationality and gender, this team’s entry also marks a St. Louis regional first – a team comprised of students from an academy of fine and performing arts. For their enthusiastic first time, the Judges Award for Taking Art to a New Level is presented to Team #1763 – the RoboPirates.


Website Award

Each year teams work diligently on a website that tells the story of not only their team and its activities but also the meaning of FIRST. The website that judges felt displayed the best design, ease of navigation and depth of content entered for the St. Louis Regional is Team #1288, Raven Robotics from Francis Howell District High Schools in St. Charles, Missouri.

2006 St. Louis Regional Woodie Flowers Finalist Award

The Woodie Flowers Award celebrates effective communication in the art of science and engineering design. Dr. William Murphy and Small Parts, Incorporated founded this award in 1996 to spotlight the communication skills displayed by Woodie. Following Dr. Murphy’s lead, FIRST wishes to bring more attention to FIRST mentions.

In 2006 FIRST will recognize one adult team member at each of the 33 Regional Competitions as a Woodie Flowers Finalist Award winner. At the FIRST Championship Event, the essays of this year’s finalists will be combined with the 2004 & 2005 finalists and one mentor will receive the Championship Woodie Flowers Award.

Here in St. Louis, we had a very good group of well-written essays submitted. Students, you are doing a great job of recognizing your mentors, and we encourage more of this recognition from all teams!

One nominated mentor has been successful at two very important aspects of great communication: providing information TO students, and taking information FROM students. This mentor’s focus on two-way communication has resulted in a higher level of participation by and contribution from students on the team. The results are evident, and they are recognized within the team and elsewhere in the FIRST community.

Students described for use someone who is creative, dedicated, and truly caring when it comes to the well-being of the team. This leader has inspired students throughout the region to work through the occasional frustrations of robotics competition to generate new ideas, and then to implement those ideas. This mentor is instrumental in not only FRC activities, but also Vex and Lego efforts. The whole region benefits from a Fall Training Camp because of this mentor’s efforts.

Let’s all celebrate the caring contributions of this teacher by presenting him with a Woodie Flowers Finalist Award. Mr. Frank Dressel, from team 931, please accept our congratulations!



Here is a copy of the Woodie Flowers essay submission from Team 931--

“He organizes things, keeps us on track, and actually cares what happens to us. He is here for us all the way, through rain or shine,” Serafino Bland, team member.
Mr. Frank Dressel is the fuel that drives the engine of Team 931. As Head Coach, Mr. Dressel leads, inspires, and empowers us to do our best. He is an effective communicator; he listens and is very resourceful. Because of how he listens to us and his ability to solve problems, Mr. Dressel encourages each of us to maximize our potential.
As students, we often meet teachers who only want to talk; however, Mr. Dressel gives us the chance to speak first. He makes it so that we’re the ones who lead discussions. This year he split us into three groups – Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie. After Kick-off, each group developed a game strategy, designed a robot and began building prototypes. This got more students involved in the design process than ever before. Each group presented its plan and the entire team discussed its pros and cons. With this sort of openness to student ideas, Mr. Dressel creates an environment where every member can contribute.
Team member Samuel Harrington describes a personal experience with Mr. Dressel. “He taught me how to cut metal. I was really intimidated by the machinery and the noise, but then Mr. Dressel started to break down the procedure. The first time I began cutting I was really nervous and was going way too slow. He just smiled and encouraged me to go faster. That was the first time that I felt like I learned something useful, it was the first time that I felt like a teacher really cared about my learning."
Mr. Dressel is also incredibly resourceful. He isn’t afraid to make personal sacrifices and the answers he finds to our problems always move the team forward. When we earned the opportunity to attend Championship last year our budget was running low. With the registration deadline approaching and our sponsors lagging behind, Mr. Dressel charged $5,000 to his personal credit card. However, his investments extend beyond his willingness to open his wallet. For the second consecutive year, we hosted the St. Louis Regional Fall Training Camp, the brainchild of Mr. Dressel. Our camp helped bring teams together from across the region. Although we intended this camp to help struggling teams, our team benefited just as much from the exchange of ideas and the relationships that were formed.
The greatest asset that Mr. Dressel has is his ability to get students involved. This strength manifests in two ways - with students on our team and those of other teams. Because of the approachable way that he teaches, our team is able to express ideas, experiment, and learn. He encourages us to never give up and learn from our mistakes, even if it’s frustrating. This attitude ripples out to other teams. Mr. Dressel has helped to generate seventeen local teams that represent over twenty-four high schools. Additionally he has started three FVC Teams and supported numerous FLL Teams. His gift to enthuse and motivate is helping to change the way students see learning about science and technology.
One of our team members Kirsten Jones said it best, “He’s the man who brings us together. Start to finish Mr. Dressel exemplifies the work ethic, dedication, and spirit that makes Team 931 successful.” 2005 St. Louis Regional judges were in agreement. They named Mr. Dressel “Volunteer of the Year,” saying that “because of his leadership and mentoring Team 931 has become the master teacher for our regional teams.”


(Saturday 1st –Award)

Autodesk Visualization Award 2006

The team champion of this winning team taught himself Autodesk 3ds Max and then set up classes to teach his fellow students. He was determined to make a submission this year and he succeeded. This team even recruited their school band to create original music for their animation.

Congratulations to “Winnovation,” Peter Casey and the rest of team 1625!


(Saturday, 2nd Award)

The General Motors Industrial Design award celebrates form and function in an efficiently designed machine that effectively achieves the game challenge.

This robot was slick, demonstrating a versatility that epitomizes strengths in both offense and defense. The collection system operated smoothly, scooping up balls and placing them in well-crafted collection tubes. It could propel balls at break-neck speed into lower foals. The team was also a great competitor, supporting its own alliance, but also helping the opposing alliance out of jams. It individually had a 20 plus point per round contribution. With rock solid, efficient design, this is no “CHEESE-Y” robot.

Congratulations Team #171 – the Hardcore Engineers all the way from Wisconsin.

(Saturday – 3rd Award)


The Motorola Quality Award celebrates machine robustness in concept and fabrication.

The winning team has been a consistently good performer with an elegant design. The shooter is effective from multiple positions and the wooden frame is simple in concept yet impressive in execution.

The workmanship and overall appearance was first-rate and the rather large team was definitely engaged. The judging panel even learner a lesson in binary code that will carry them far!

The Motorola Quality Award is presented to Team #1182 – the Patriots from Parkway South!


(Saturday – 4th Award)

This award celebrates outstanding sportsmanship and continuous gracious professionalism in the heat of competition, both on and off the playing field. Among other things, being a gracious professional means that your actions on and off the playing field would make your grandmother proud. Thanks to this team we have a lot of proud grandmothers out there!

There is an abundance of great sportsmanship in the arena this weekend. Any I can tell you it was hard for the judges to choose just one winner.

This team is looking for a good match – meaning they aren’t looking to disable other robots, but to have a clean match. This team has helped many other teams by loaning tools, helping build parts and by giving out spare parts. They stepped up to help others with code problems. In fact, at one point, helping out another team, cost this team their own autonomous mode in one match.

This teams wears black and yellow. They show their respect for other teams through cheering and encouragement.

The Johnson & Johnson Sportsmanship Award is presented to Team #1444 – The Lightning Lancers.


(Saturday – 5th Award)

The Daimler-Chrysler Team Spirit Award recognizes the extraordinary enthusiasm and spirit through an exceptional partnership and teamwork. It is so hard to pick a single team from this large group of spirited competitors! However, the judges finally selected one particularly spirited team.

This team was loud and spirited from the moment they walked in the door. Their bright costumes and comedic antics have entertained and motivated us all.

Inspiration for team spirit can come from many places, sports, a favorite game, in this case a classic movie.

With their period costumes and clip clop sound effects, Monty Python would be proud.

For their outstanding spirit and gracious professionalism this award goes to the killer rabbit and “ku-nig-its” – Team #1939.

(Saturday – 6th Award)

During the course of the competition, the judging panel may encounter a team whose unique efforts, performance, or dynamic merit recognition. The judges want to give a special award to one such team….

This year’s unique targeting controller system made them notable. Their strong mentoring of other teams made them stand out. Yet, it was this team’s efforts to recognize and celebrate the role of women in robotics that made them winners!

For furthering appreciation of science and engineering, congratulations to Team #1288 – Raven Robotics from Francis Howell.

(Saturday – 7th Award)

This award celebrates a rookie team for outstanding effort as a FIRST team in community outreach and recruiting students to engineering.

This is a rookie team that demonstrates skills normally found in teams with years of experience.

Spread across several counties this home-schooled team has come together using newsletters and web sites to spread the mission and values of FIRST.

Their efforts to recruit new members include demonstrations at high schools, being featured on the evening news, being the half-time entertainment at a basketball game, and being featured in major publications like the Olatha Daily News and DeSoto Explorer.

The Rookie Inspiration Award is presented to Team #1825 – JCH Robotics from Desoto, Kansas!

(Saturday – 8th Award)

With 14 rookie teams competing here today, the judges had a very difficult time choosing just one Rookie All Star team! Yet one team covered all the bases. This team uniting two fiercely competition high schools, forming effective public relations, outreach, fundraising, spirit, design and build teams. At the last minute, this team overcame a significant weight problem worthy of a Jenny Craig commercial and entered a competitive robot.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations could learn a few things from this winning team. The Rookie All Star Award goes to Team #1723 – FIRST Bots of the F.B.I.


(Saturday – 13th Award)

This award celebrates a team’s outstanding success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering and engineers, both within their school, as well as their community. Criteria include: the extent and inventiveness of the team’s efforts to recruit students to engineering, the extent and effectiveness of the team’s community outreach efforts, and the measurable success of those efforts. The Engineering Inspiration Award is the second highest honor FIRST bestows to a team.

This team set a mission to promote the FIRST ideals by bringing together various public schools to work harmoniously. They facilitated a training camp to assist other local teams in preparing for the regional competition.

Not only do they help their FRC peers in providing state-of-the-art practice facilities, this team also started and mentored a number of FLL and FVC teams.

This very diverse team has streamlined their team’s approach to advancing respect and appreciation for engineering by engaging the FIRST alumni from their schools, involving new schools through training camps and making presentations at elementary and middle schools.

They have also developed a well-documented five-year plan to guide their success into the future. Even though their name connotes disorganization and confusion, this team is the true representative of organization, growth and discipline.

The Engineering Inspiration Award goes to Team #931 – Perpetual Chaos from St. Louis, Missouri.


(Saturday – 14th Final Award)

The Regional Chairman’s Award was created to keep the central focus of the FIRST Robotics Competition on the ultimate goal of transforming our culture to one where youth aspire to careers in science and technology.

The Regional Chairman’s Award honors the team that, in the judge’s estimation, best represents a model for other teams to emulate, and which embodies the goals and purpose of FIRST. Among the factors judges evaluate are: concrete examples of mentorship between students and engineers; demonstrations of how a team inspires others in its school, community and beyond to share in the excitement and fun of engineering; and compelling stories about how the partnership has impacted the lives of those involved. This is FIRST’s most prestigious award.

The winner of this award will be invited to the 2006 Championship in Atlanta, where it will compete against the winners from the other 32 regionals for the Chairman’s Award.

And now, here’s what the judges have to say about this Regional Chairman’s Award team….

The Chairman’s Award is about impact; the impact a team has on the students, their school, and the partnership with their mentors, parents, sponsors and community.

This years’ St. Louis Regional Award winner has definitely made a strong impact in all these areas. Over their years of participation they have clearly shown that their graduates go on to, and succeed in, technical endeavors. They participate in volunteer work helping the disabled, participating in community charitable events, and even spreading the word of FIRST on the international front and they mentor and help other FIRST teams.

They are not only diverse in their composition but also in using a diverse approach to spreading the ideals of FIRST through their school, community, parents, mentors and sponsors. You can find evidence of this teams’ impact virtually everywhere. They are active in the local schools, the state fair, the Crossroads of America and even in Central America and on the web. Next year you may be listening and watching them on your iPod since they are Aiming High by collaborating on a hip hop music video!

Here from Indiana, the St. Louis Regional Chairman’s Award Winner is Team #71 Team Hammond with their robot THE BEAST!