[archiver]

Posted by Janna.

Student on team #349, The RoBahamas, from International Academy and Ford Motor Company.

Posted on 6/7/2000 5:18 PM MST


In Reply to: Re: Best Robots( can you really say that though?) posted by Patrick Seeney on 6/7/2000 8:42 AM MST:



Hey everyone,

I will vouch for Pat and the rest of Las Guerrillas in saying that their robot definitely would have made a good alliance partner in nationals and also at the regionals. It's really too bad that a lot of the teams got overlooked this year due to the size of FIRST, especially the rookies (even those who won rookie all-star). I think one of the best suggestions I've heard was splitting the teams at nationals up into 4 divisions...it's much easier for scouting that way. Or, with new scouting systems maybe people will find out that there are robots they'd never even heard of before that will be good complements. I think this would definitely make sure that good teams like Las Guerrillas and Juggernaut get opportunities to do well at Nationals.

And...getting picked is only half the battle. Luckily in Ypsilanti and Chicago we had really good alliance partners who had done their scouting and who understood that our team, which doesn't have a long-standing reputation like many others, really could perform in the elimination rounds. However, in Florida, we were picked really early but never got a chance to play, like Pat said. So to all the teams who didn't get picked, just beware that the elimination rounds are not always what you think they'll be. They can be really wonderful and exciting or they can be a let-down to your team. But anyway, hopefully FIRST will fix these picking problems next year so all teams can have a fair chance.

Janna