900's Championship Cheesecaking Chronicles

[Karthik]

What Team 900 accomplished this weekend was nothing short of amazing. Their determination and tenacity in integrating our "Frog and Lily" setup into their newly built kitbot was at levels I've never seen before. They were constantly in our pit early in the event to ask us questions about what we were working on and how they could get it on their robot. I've never seen a team so focused on in event modifications. It was honour to be on the same alliance as a team with a culture that matches ours so closely.

[PayneTrain]

I just want to say that 900 is a dope team and we wish we could have pants that are half as magical. This is the kind of work 422 wishes we could have the chance to do; we have mad respect to your whole team and we'll see you around.

[Munchskull]

I think that this is the craziest, most insane, wild, and awe inspiring act of in competitions build I have ever seen and I dare say will see in a while. Wish I could have been at championships to see it in person.

[Justin Montois]

Very cool. Just sad we didn't get to see it on the field.

[Libby K]

I'm going to pause for a second and put on my United Therapeutics voice.

United Therapeutics is proud to sponsor Team 900. Your story is the one I've been telling all morning as I see everyone in the office. The one I'm going to tell in my meetings at new employee orientations to teach them what FIRST is all about. The one I've already told to our CEO (and she LOVED it.)

Zebracorns are the team that did everything in their power to be the best alliance partner for the teams that believed in them. You guys worked your tails off, and it totally paid off.

I've been saying all along how defining and inspiring it was to work on 1923's cheesecake with the Robowranglers - but dang. Ours was easy compared to you. You put in the long haul, and I'm so happy not only to see it work, but to see how gracefully your team is handling the backlash from the uninformed.

So proud to represent a sponsor of both the Zebracorns and The MidKnight Inventors. #teamUnither forever.

[lbarger]

Marshal, Austin and the rest of the Zebracorns,

Thanks so much for the post and explaining to the community the effort your team put into your original robot as well as the insanity you went through at Championships to build a second legal competition robot. My team competed with you in Palmetto and North Carolina and we know the struggles you went through with your robot and have a good idea of how many design iterations you went through at those events to get that awesome grabber working that way you wanted. Though we certainly would have preferred to come out on top in the NC Finals, we have no complaints to coming in second to three teams with such class and respect for FIRST's core values.

My team was disappointed to not be selected to play on the Newton stage at Championships this year. After a quick check we saw that the Zebracorns were the only one of eight NC teams continuing to play. We made sure that each of those teams knew that you were one the #1 Curie alliance and were collaborating on an awesome 'secret' project. ALL the NC teams were ready to cheer on the Zebracorns when you got to the field. We just wish you had the chance to put all your hard work into action on Einstein.

Great job. Thanks for sharing the behind the scenes story. (You know I was going to ask the next time we met!)

[Tom Line]

Marshal, this was a great read. I enjoyed it as much as I do any of the build blogs. After watching you guys get this working in the pits, I was very disappointed they didn't get a chance to run it on field.

[lbarger]

I have known 900/Zebracorns since they were founded when I mentored a different rookie team 'across town'. From the very beginning, they have understood FIRST's core values and have always been willing to work with other teams and help out any way they can.

As Lead Robot Inspector for the NC Regional, I see their team members throughout the pits during our event helping other teams resolve problems and helping them become as competitive as possible. They do this whether their own robot is doing well or having issues. 900 is a team you want at your event.

It is GREAT to see them have the chance to work with some of the best teams in FIRST. The experience will only make them stronger and I am sure they in turn will make North Carolina stronger in the FIRST competitions.

[Jon Stratis]

As one of the inspectors responsible for the final inspection of this contraption, I can say with certainty that all teams were fully involved with the inspection portion - there was no indication at all that any team was getting pushed around or told to stand in the corner while the big boys worked - it looked like a true, collaborative effort.

As far as the inspection went... It was a long inspection. There were a few things to fix - a couple of lbs of weight, some pneumatic plumbing issues, and a software version issue come to mind - but the teams eagerly complied and got to work getting everything fixed. The bill of materials did look hastily put together, but the entire thing was! In ordinary circumstances (ie initial inspection at an event), I would have made the team go back and spend a little time beefing it up to be more like what everyone expects. In this situation though, while they did need to have a BOM it wouldn't be fair to delay them and keep them off Einstein because it wasn't professional looking enough.

I attached a pic of the inspection process, sent to me by Jake Fischer, who I happened to run into Saturday evening after ceremonies were over. You can see, we didn't take inspection of this lightly - not with 4 LRI's participating and looking at it!

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

You can see, we didn't take inspection of this lightly - not with 4 LRI's participating and looking at it!

I want to take this opportunity to thank all the inspectors we worked with over the weekend. On Wednesday we approached Ed Sparks, the Curie LRI, to show him what we had been working on. We wanted to get the inspectors involved in this process as early as possible, so we could get feedback on them to make sure this "Frog and Lily" setup met all robot and safety rules. Later Ed got Al involved, and both were extremely professional and helpful. On Saturday, Frank Merrick came by our pit to give us the final approval on the concept, especially in regards to safety. Once we picked 900 and started integrating into their robot, we had an army of division LRIs who worked with us on the inspection process. Overall I blown away by their level of excellence and focus on the job. I want to thank all of them for creating a "team first" atmosphere. This is what FRC is all about. In the past I've been very vocal about my frustration with processes that are not team friendly, but these folks were the exact opposite of that.

[marshall]

Originally Posted by Karthik

I want to take this opportunity to thank all the inspectors we worked with over the weekend. On Wednesday we approached Ed Sparks, the Curie LRI, to show him what we had been working on. We wanted to get the inspectors involved in this process as early as possible, so we could get feedback on them to make sure this "Frog and Lily" setup met all robot and safety rules. Later Ed got Al involved, and both were extremely professional and helpful. On Saturday, Frank Merrick came by our pit to give us the final approval on the concept, especially in regards to safety. Once we picked 900 and started integrating into their robot, we had an army of division LRIs who worked with us on the inspection process. Overall I blown away by their level of excellence and focus on the job. I want to thank all of them for creating a "team first" atmosphere. This is what FRC is all about. In the past I've been very vocal about my frustration with processes that are not team friendly, but these folks were the exact opposite of that.

I can only reiterate exactly what Karthik has said. It was simultaneously one of the toughest and easily the best inspections that I've ever been through. You were all the epitome of gracious professionalism.

At one point, one of you pointed to "1114" written in sharpie on one of the aluminum poles and asked if it was a model number. At the time the joke went over my head but I was thinking back on that on the bus ride home and just cracked up.

And don't worry, next time the mentor who wrote up the BOM in Notepad will have Excel installed. He has been properly admonished for not having a locally installed spreadsheet app. Man cannot survive on Google Docs alone.

Seriously, thank you to all of the inspectors. You were all amazing. Also, a massive thank you to the lady from NI who happened to have the updated driver station software on a flash drive. You are amazing!

[kellyerin91]

Originally Posted by marshall

Seriously, thank you to all of the inspectors. You were all amazing. Also, a massive thank you to the lady from NI who happened to have the updated driver station software on a flash drive. You are amazing!

I'm the lady from NI! I was so glad to be able to help your team out. Pro-tip: All of the CSA's (orange hats) have flash drives with the software on them. And if they don't, spare parts sometimes has them as well!

[marshall]

Originally Posted by kellyerin91

I'm the lady from NI! I was so glad to be able to help your team out. Pro-tip: All of the CSA's (orange hats) have flash drives with the software on them. And if they don't, spare parts sometimes has them as well!

Thank you again! 900 has had a busy year with NI and everyone there has been great to work with. I hope we can keep up the collaboration and can help with future beta testing if we ever need to.

[OccamzRazor]

I personally thought this was a brilliant albeit risky strategy based on the situation. I really liked how jokingly one of the students on 1114 told me it was a T-Shirt cannon they were building in that pit despite how obvious it was that they were building a high speed can burglar with tools going at warp speed

I am happy to see North Carolina teams compete on Einstein since it is such a rare occurrence. I have never seen such a crazy tactic in 13 years of FRC. NC sent a record 9 teams to Championships this year so I am ecstatic that one of them was team 900! This is a classic example of thinking outside of the box and using real engineering tools to complete a challenge like many of us practicing engineers on this forum find every day at work. Just like 900, you come up with a solution nobody knew existed or that nobody would dare try. Crazy ideas really do make the best solutions.

Thanks to team 900, our own team 3506 YETI had an amazing season because they shared a strategy with us that worked again and again.

Congratulations to ALL of the division winners 148, 1114, 1923, and 900!

-Robbie

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Everyone,
Thank you for the nod to the inspection staff. We are happy to be of help, you really challenged us. This device/assembly/(add your own words) was a challenge to evaluate for legality under the robot rules and to believe it to be safe for the teams and any human close by. I am happy to report that everyone we were involved with, acted with the utmost GP in assisting us with the process. It was obvious that the design team had thought and planned for everything I thought might be an issue. While scary in looks and operation, it contained significant safety features and system backups should anything fail during deployment or operation. I would like to restate for the team involved that you acted with all the decorum expected of a Hall of Fame team and I am proud to have been involved in your endeavor.
Attached is a picture of the device in the transport configuration behind the Einstein fields. Yes it fit!