A Day on Einstein

[RoboChair]

I really can't say enough just how much I enjoyed working with you guys in the pits and field side. Some years I work with a lot of teams at events, others I do not. At this year's championship I didn't end up working with more than a few teams at the event which in retrospect I should have worked harder on. But then I got assigned to work with you guys and was glad I had all that saved up energy to pour into your team.

The number of teams that I would trust with handling a drive train overhaul to modify and upgrade wheels in a couple of hours is very short and my worries were swiftly vanquished as I watched your students tackle all the tasks required to get it done. Installing the cheesecake blocker with you went very smoothly and I got all the help I could ask for. I'm not even on your team and your students made me proud.

I really enjoyed the chance to tell them how our program has evolved so rapidly these last few years. One of your students asked me how we stayed so calm for all of these elimination matches. I don't remember exactly what I said, but the gist of it was we check everything we can and leave nothing on the robot to chance, winning Einstein is just 6 wins away from us. By the end of our run on Einstein anything I asked about their robot had already been done. When we lost in the Semis they didn't seem sad, they seemed happy to have had the experience of seeing what it takes.

Probably my favorite moment was after we lost I wanted to trade shirts with someone from your team, one of your students had a shirt they were willing to swap. I offered up one of my oldest shirts to trade, a super faded 2011 green shirt with our old logo and [wipe grease here] spot on the front stained from years of use. I told her that it was from the year we first won any event and her face just lit up with joy at hearing that. I know that shirt has gone to a good home and I hope it gets more grease stains over the years.

I know I will be keeping in touch and keeping an eye on 2990, good things are sure to come.

[Chris Fultz]

This is a great summary and list of "continuous improvement" opportunities.

You learned from some of the best.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Congratulations on making it to the big stage and we are very happy for your alliance. You are simply stating that the "I" in FIRST really does exist and is a two way street. Congratulations to your alliance partners for the Inspiration. I know that all teams keep that in mind but is nice to hear when teams give and receive Inspiration.