St Louis Notes

[PhatalEphekt]

525, this is Scott from team 935. We were the team that put the boxes in front and on the side of your robot and disrupted your autonomous mode. We ended up losing in the final round, but it was very, very fun. I have now realized the error in our ways and would like to say that we are sorry. I will talk to the rest of my team on Monday and tell them that we cannot do that at nationals. On another note, you're guys' robot was really good. Are you going to nat's? If so, I'll stop by and say hi. Thanks for pointing this out.


Scott

[tiskippy]

Hey Scott, glad you had fun at St. Louis, and we will definetly see you at Nationals. Don't worry so much about the autonomous mode thing, it happens, we knew we had a bit of a weakness in that, we just didn't expect the judges to let them get put in the grey zone. To be honest, our team was surprised people didn't think of trying that on Friday. Anyway, you guys did well too, and I'll be sure to stop by your pit down in Houston.

[Hendrix]

i didnt think anyone would be able to get a box in a position to disrupt auton mode, but when i was it, i tipped my hat. I was in que for my last qualifieing round the first time it happened, or either the first time i saw it...

[Manoel]

Originally posted by D.J. Fluck
Little more

Anyway to clarify Clark's post:


We had problems all day today. We would make it up the ramp anda then we would get a solid low battery light and a Basic Error on the OI. Around the time this happened, our pump came on right above the HDPE like normal. After much discussion on the way back from St Louis, we believe that the pump somehow contributed and the static electricity from the HDPE, which zapped our robot controller and pin 4 (The reset pin on the programming port) was zapped and reset the robot.

Were you guys using the programming port for anything? I mean, was it connected? Also, in which material is your robot controller sitting on? Policarbonate, aluminum... ?

[tiskippy]

We actually had the Innovation FIRST guy come and mention the low battery light to us before one match, even though it was a fresh battery. Our controller was mounted on plywood, and we weren't doing anything strange to it...2 analog inputs, 5 PWM outputs, 2 digital outputs, power and radio. I don't really know why, but he told us about problems with the processors if the battery drops too low. Strange... I wonder if it was related at all to all the other equipment problems they were having at the beginning of the practice rounds.

[Amanda Morrison]

I think the static was a large problem for most teams, and I wonder what FIRST will do about it during nats...

I wanted to send a HUGE THANKS not only to the teams that helped us out in the pits (probably all fifty-some of you...) but to Baxter Bomb Squad, #16. I think I need to bring something to your attention.

One student of mine, a rookie named Matt Musial, was enthusiastic about FIRST, but a little unsure as to his role on the team. At first, he regarded it as a geek competition, and decided right off the bat that technical work on the team was just not his thing. After arriving in the pits on Thursday, Matt proceded to hand out give aways and cheer for other teams. All weekend, he walked around, just looking at other robots and talking and trading with team members.

On Friday, Matt went to BBS's pit and asked a question about the robot. They ended up giving him a full demonstration of the robot, answering all his questions, and taking an hour or so out of their busy day to help him understand a little more about FIRST. He was ecstatic! For the entire competition, all I heard about was how great BBS was and how incredibly generous and gracious they had been to him. He loved competition and is thinking about attending the Chicago regional with me to cheer other teams on.

This is one mentor thanking you for inspiring a student that I couldn't reach. Baxter's outreach just planted a seed which will blossom quickly to a lifelong FIRST member. Thank you.

[Mythikal]

while designing our robot, we made it a stacker because we thought that would be what won the matches... turns out only one or two people tried stacking. i was really happy with our bot though, especially being a rookie team (1104). not a single robot there could push us, we could go under the bar, and we could stack if we needed to. i was the teams programmer, and there were quite of few people that sounded impressed that i'd written over 15 different programs for our robot. i ended up writing programs for 3-4 other robots, allies and opponents alike, and looking over a couple other teams programming. we ended up tying for 17th place, and two other kansas teams ranked under 40th (washington and newton) went to finals. i was disappointed, but there's always next year. i'm curious as to our design flaws, though. what do you think was bad about it that we could've done better? i'll end up printing off the replies and using it as a team discussion. thanks for a great time in St. Louis, and good luck to whoever's going to Houston.

Matt Torrey
Programmer, Axtell TechnoEagles #1104
Friday's Rookie All-Star Winner

[Matt Brinza]

Thank you Amanda, the Baxter Bomb Squad appreciates the recognition. Our main goal is to spread the spirit of FIRST, and we are always joyed to hear how we have impacted the lives of others. We are always willing to do whatever we can to enhance the experience FIRST provides to anyone.

On another note, we will also be attending the Chicago regional. Hopefully we will once again have the chance to meet Matt.

[rufu5]

Yes the CIA (central Indiana alliance) did face a tough first round against Baxter but we did have a lot of fun. The real fun though will be at Chicago!!11 Can't wait to see you there!

Originally posted by Manoel
Were you guys using the programming port for anything? I mean, was it connected? Also, in which material is your robot controller sitting on? Policarbonate, aluminum... ?

No, programming port is empty, besides the fix we tried with grounding the reset pin by bridging pins 4 and 5 of a DB9 Male connector. The RC is sitting on a square piece of lexan that is larger in length and width then the controller

[T967]

A couple things on St. Louis Regionals.
#1 Who would have thought that the #15 seed would end up picking and alliance and win the whole shabang!
#2 Those who own the ramp own the match!
#3 Does any one have any good pictures of our robot? (967).
#4 Rookies this year Rule!!!!!! Holy cow, I mean the rookies were woopin' it up and down the field! #5 This year's compitition is the roughest, Example: The practice field after thursdays practice was littered with aluminum shavings, tub shards, and had holes and tape fixing those holes all over it.
#6 Autonomous mode is good but box score manipulation after that is better to be good at.
#7 Don't expect your 1/8" aluminum bars to hold up to a 130 lbs. robot coming down the ramp to block you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
#8 This years St. louis competition was AWESOME!!! Good luck to the Dragon slayers in Houston!
#9 Ubergeeks, Nyack, BBS, Adidrons, Hellas angels, etc. That was fun, was it not?

[Archon]

#10 A box of krispy-kremes is worth the chicken dance and public humiliation.

[Amanda Morrison]

Originally posted by Archon
#11 A box of krispy-kremes is worth the chicken dance and public humiliation.

I can just see it now....
Meeting Dean Kamen later in life, and hearing him say, "Weren't you the one doing the chicken dance?"

Am I ever going to live this down?!

[Archon]

Originally posted by amandabean
Am I ever going to live this down?!

Your famous now, can't turn back!

[Caleb Fulton]

Amanda...You should have given us more of a warning...we would have had our robot do the chicken dance with you!