QotW [04-20-03]: Post-season competitions.

[srawls]

Last year was the first year team 122 went to any off-season competitions, and that was entirely because of my requests (and one other person on the team). We kept on reading about them on Chief Delphi, and thought it would be really cool if our team could do it. We ended up going to the Maryland State Fair competition and the Duel On the Deleware.

Both of those were very fun and exciting. Based on the small number of teams, everyone made it to elimination rounds. The competitions were not so much for judging another team based on their robot, but for having fun, and (more importantly) forming friendships with other teams. There were numerous occasions at competitions where a person would come up to me and say "oh, you're from 122, I remember you from Duel on the Deleware." Also, I even met the MC for the Curie field on our plane ride to Houston, and after talking for a bit, he said "did you by chance go to the Maryland State Fair?"

So, to answer your question, our team went to have fun and form lasting friendships with other teams.
Stephen