2011 Florida Regional

[Sayrah]

Congratulations to DeAnn Sperber, Florida's 2011 Volunteer of the Year!

[Tytus Gerrish]

Originally Posted by tim-tim

Any pictures of that certain color team? I amreally anticipating their robot andseeing what has changed.

Hows that?

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Tytus Gerrish

Hows that?

YAY!

[tim-tim]

@ Tytus - thank you! I was able to watch a lot of the webcast today. They seemed a little jittery at times, but eventually found their groove. I was told they did not have a lot of practice time this year.

I just hope they fixed the motor issue they had today. Also, any word on the statu of their deployment mechanism?

[wendymom]

Everyone bring some change tomorrow to help Bacon fill piggy banks for the Red Cross and Earthquake/Tsunami Relief

[R1ffSurf3r]

Originally Posted by tim-tim

@ Tytus - thank you! I was able to watch a lot of the webcast today. They seemed a little jittery at times, but eventually found their groove. I was told they did not have a lot of practice time this year.

I just hope they fixed the motor issue they had today. Also, any word on the statu of their deployment mechanism?

what you saw was the result of running a robot that had not ever been tested. the matches were our first real testbed. practice was not too much an issue. our preset positions had not been calibrated, and some sensors had not been set up right, which resulted in the jittering you saw. by tomorrow morning it should be running perfect with a only a few tweaks left to complete.

tower rotate was fixed by switching out the fischer price for a 775 and modifying software. we expected it to burn out that match, we just didn't know how long it would last.

and deployment is working well, except for the one time we forgot to reset the minibot

[tim-tim]

@R1ffSurf3r - thanks for the info. Good luck tomorrow

[sportzkrazzy]

Just wanted to congratulate the winning alliance.

179- You guys where tough competitors all the way through. Scoring tubes like crazy + a mini bot that can race with the best. Not to mention undefeated throughout the whole Florida regional....

233- All I can say is wow... Great bot. I was a little worried for you at the start but as I saw it come together piece by piece (like always XD) I knew for sure you guys would be in it till the end especially once I saw the mini bot go flying up the pole for the first time...

108- Where did you come from lol. a def solid middle tube score that played awesome defense. What a great third pick.

Over all a great alliance with tons of power.

Good luck at the championship. =) By our next regional(Smoky Mountain) we will have a mini bot that will try to keep up with yours and hopefully we can make it there with you guys.

[Barry Bonzack]

The Florida Regional is my favorite event of the year. It's really great seeing so many friends I've made over the years, including some from out of state like all the cool cats on 103. I would like to thank all of the teams that brought their spirit to the competition, which really makes a competition fun for me. The teams I could hear and see the most were Voltage, the Ninjaneers, Pink, and very special shout out to team 79 who will be in the background of my next Who Am I picture.

[OZ_341]

On behalf of Team 341, Miss Daisy, I just wanted to say what a great time we had at the Florida regional. Our kids had a blast and it would not have been possible without all of the hard work put in by so many volunteers.

Congratulations to teams 179, 233, and 108. You guys made an unstoppable alliance. We also wanted to congratulate our good friend Jack Tusman of Team 103 for winning Woodie Flowers and congratulate his team for winning EI.

And finally a big Thank You to Arefin Bari and Team 108 for giving us a bus ride from the Hotel to the Arena each morning. Not only was it a tremendous help but it was great getting to know your team. A blue banner could not have gone to a nicer and more deserving group.

We made so many friends in just a few days at the Florida Regional that we are already considering a trip next year. Congrats to all of the teams for a great regional and maybe we'll see you next year.

[techtiger1]

I want to commend the Regional planning committee and all the regional volunteers this year for their hard work. Many of them are close friends of mine I have come to know throughout the years and Florida would not be the same without all of you year in and year out. 179,233, and 108 you guys rocked out there and 1251 has a special appreciation for each and every one of you. 179 has taken 1251 under their wing ever since 2005 making sure that we are sustaining and doing well. 233 you guys will always be a benchmark and inspiration for us as far as design goes, we have learned, and continue to learn from you guys the "little things" in robot design. 108 you guys are a South Florida neighbor of ours that continues to be active in the FIRST community despite some trials and tribulations along the way you've managed to keep a great program going. 103 and 341 what a pleasure to have two chairmans championship teams visiting, you both show us the standard for a great team model. Thanks to 1523 for choosing 1251 to be a member of your alliance sorry we couldn't be more help this year because of our field communication issues, we thought it was completely fixed our last qualification match but it wasn't. Keep building robots like you guys did this year though and you'll be around on Saturday afternoons pretty frequently though . Finally, I want to publicly congratulate the 1251 students this year for doing an outstanding job at the regional and keeping their heads up even though we seemingly had a problem that was beyond our control with the robot. Remember it's always easy to be proud when your winning, but it takes something special to keep going when things aren't so good.

[torihoelscher]

Originally Posted by Barry Bonzack

The Florida Regional is my favorite event of the year. It's really great seeing so many friends I've made over the years, including some from out of state like all the cool cats on 103. I would like to thank all of the teams that brought their spirit to the competition, which really makes a competition fun for me. The teams I could hear and see the most were Voltage, the Ninjaneers, Pink, and very special shout out to team 79 who will be in the background of my next Who Am I picture.

Thanks Barry. You are awesome!!!! I cant wait to see you again soon. I had a blast seeing you!

[sportzkrazzy]

Also thank you to our alliance partners.

801- You where scary all weekend and definitely one of the top performers from the start. I was completely happy when you picked us to go with you to the elimination rounds. You ability to score tubes was on par with the best plus your mini bot was pretty good to. Also would like to thank you for the use of your mini bot. Its a shame we never sent it up the pole though. =/

744- You guys where definitely our secret weapon. When our scouters saw you put up your mini-bot late Saturday we knew your had figured things out and we had to have you. Thank you for saying yes =)

Over all if a few more thing had swung our way I think we would have been in it till the end

Thank you,
Zac

[Arefin Bari]

Team 108, SigmaC@t had a great time at the Florida regional making new friends and giving our new students a new experience.

To all our neighbor teams in the pit... 79, 86, 103, 341, 180, 744; thank you very much for everything that you have done to ensure that our robot would work in a proper manner.

All the volunteers and the Florida Regional Committee, thank you for all you have done to put together a great regional again.

Team 179 and 233 - I have always wanted to coach alongside with Dan Quiggle and Andy Bradly. It was a privilege to be able to partner up with you guys and go all the way. Thank you for picking us. Given the fact we get the funding, we will see you guys at the Championship.

[EricS-Team180]

I didn't know that Pandas liked Bacon and SPAM, but I'm sure glad they do! Thank you, 3149, for giving us the chance to join your alliance. And, thanks to all the volunteers that made this another great Florida regional.