As everyone else has already said, Congratulations to 1114, 217, and 148 you guys deserve it.
1114 - I think I told this to every 1114 team member that I talked too, in the 4 years that I have been in
FIRST, Simbot SS is the most dominant robot that I have seen
. The amazing thing about it is that any of the other teams in
FIRST probably could built that machine, but none of us had the vision to come up with that design. When Jim and I saw your machine on the Midwest videos we were amazed and confused why we didn't think of that design. Whats even more incredible is that your driver has two more years left to compete. He was awesome at fighting thru traffic and lining up the machine for trackball collection.
217 - Thanks for bringing another championship back to Michigan. 2 out of 3 years is incredible. We really wanted to be the first team to break the Beatty Curse, but we are proud that another local team has done it. Your machine is great. I love the way you collect the ball and hurdle, its very unique. We may have thought of 1114's machine eventually, but we never would have thought of the way you guys solved the problem.
148 - You guys did it! I think you guys were the most effective team we have played against all year at defending our robot. Your machine is so fast and manuverable, it was giving our drivers fits trying to get past you. Seeing your serve module was very inspiring. You guys deserved to be out there and you definately earned your Gold medals.
We tried our best to keep our drivers focused on the fact that anything could happen, even what most considered the impossible - beating the ultimate alliance, 2 out of 3 matches. To their credit both the drivers and coaches stayed extremely focused and the pit crew did a awesome job trying to get the machine 100% functional after our semi-finals tip over.
We will wear our Silver Medals with our heads high, knowing we tried our hardest but got beat by a well deserving better alliance.
Congratulations again!