[rfolea]

\*********************************************
\************** NEWS FLASH *******************
\*********************************************

OTTO SUFFERS "CRUSHING" DEFEAT

SCORE: FedEx: 1 OTTO: 0

Sorry I haven't been around guys .. we found out Thursday evening
that FedEx dropped a 1/4 ton skid of 2ft diameter, 4"thick steel
sprockets on Otto.

The skid was on top of a taller crate behind ours in the truck.
While in transit the skid came loose, crashed through the top
of our crate and smashed our robot.

The impact actually pressed the robot through the bottom of the crate.

Destroyed the right side of the robot, smashed the cRio, destroyed
the drive train, etc ...

FedEx, Show Ready Events and FIRST have been marvelous in helping
us try to recover. They have given us a few days to do CPR and apply
as many bandages as possible ....

You can see the large sprockets in the attached pictures ...