pic: The Rock Paper Scissors Challenge

[Amanda Morrison]

I hope everyone can capture the true essence of the contrast between Steve's hair and Steve's shirt. Yikes.

[Brandon Martus]

It's memorizing, right Amanda?

[Steve W]

Colour coordinated. That's how all good fashion experts do it. Now back to the main issue.

[J Flex 188]

the main issue being of how scripted the whole thing sounded?

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by J Flex 188

the main issue being of how scripted the whole thing sounded?

Sorry Jeff,

Nothing was scripted at Wonderland. Steve and I were flying by the seat of our pants for the whole thing. Maybe you would've realized that if you hadn't showed up 6 hours late.

As for the main issue, sure Steve predicted the skills competition nearly perfectly, but we all know that's nothing compared to skill required to dominate a rock, paper, scissors game...

If we're looking for a tiebreaker, maybe we should talk about how our robots did. I'd look up the results, but I'm busy clearing space on the 1114 trophy shelf.

Zing...

On that note, Happy Birthday Steve.

[Steve W]

I was proud of how our robot did. The students did a great job repairing, maintaining, designing and building Blizzard V. They may not have won as many awards as your engineers did but they had the best showing at Championship in the Qualifying rounds than any other Canadian team.

This however has nothing to do with "evening up" between you and I. Let the games continue.

[Karthik]

Well Birthday boy, I guess we'll have to come up with some other sort of competition. Since you aren't coming to IRI, we may have to wait till kickoff. For some reason I don't think this will die down by then...

P.S. I was very proud of what 188 did this year as well. You guys run a nice ship over there, even without me.

Oh yeah, when it comes to coordination, how many people match their t-shirt to their CD avatar. Now that was stylin'. Good job me.

[jonathan lall]

Originally Posted by Karthik

Oh yeah, when it comes to coordination, how many people match their t-shirt to their CD avatar. Now that was stylin'. Good job me.

I did. But I guess that doesn't count. All the 188 people have the blue or red avatars I brought in (but I'm a trendsetter like that).

Anyway, Karthik and Steve did an awesome job bickering and keeping everyone entertained. It was a thing of beauty to watch. While Karthik destroyed Steve in Rock Paper Scissors (who's the good-looking guy in the back of that picture?), Steve reciprocated with robot picks, even though his own team got killed in Hot Laps.

Speaking of which, I'm still annoyed that a chain derailed and ceased up our left side in Hot Laps. It sent us barreling into the island in Turn 2 and I couldn't even drive the robot out of that position, much less finish the race. Gah! I haven't seen a robot faster or more powerful than our own (The closest I've seen is the speed of team 60), ever. And we got owned.

With that in mind, we also managed to break the same device four matches in a row and as a result, never hung. Talk about bad luck. That being said, 1241 and 1114 murdered everyone at that competition. The two best Canadian teams have three years of existence between them. Think about that.

And that's what I have to say about Wonderland.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by jonathan lall

With that in mind, we also managed to break the same device four matches in a row and as a result, never hung. Talk about bad luck. That being said, 1241 and 1114 murdered everyone at that competition. The two best Canadian teams have three years of existence between them. Think about that.

And that's what I have to say about Wonderland.

Don't sell your team or yourself short, Jonathan. From top to bottom, Team 188 is an outstanding organization, with a great balance of mentor and student involvement in every aspect of your program. Many of your mentors and alumni are respected and known throughout the FIRST community, and you've all done so much to spread FIRST throughout Canada and beyond. It's a safe bet to say that 1114 and 1241 wouldn't even be in existence without all the hard work your team members have contributed to the FIRST cause over the years.

As far as your robot goes, I was really impressed with the way you kept battling at Canada's Wonderland despite those pesky mechanical failures. You didn't have much time to correct those issues, yet you brought her back out onto the field time and time again. You are correct - your robot is blazingly fast and also very powerful once you shift - it's amazing it held together as well as it did considering how aggressive you were in guiding it around the field (we here at 48 applaud aggressive driving!). It is a credit to your design staff and pit crew - mainly populated with Woburn students, I believe - that you were able to build a rugged, competitive robot and keep it maintained throughout such a long, grueling competition season.

I know many of the people on 48 have struck up a great friendship with the kids and mentors on 1114 this year (driving over another robot and breaking their arm is a great way to make new friends), but we partnered in the past with you guys (at the inaugural Canadian Regional), and I'd personally love to see our teams form a stronger relationship - if we're going to keep coming up to Canada and supporting the wonderfully strong FIRST spirit you gave birth to, I think we'd like to add ALL the members of 188 to our growing list of friends up north.

[J Flex 188]

Judging by everyone's reactions, it seems that this off-season event has had a bit of an unexpected twist. With some big names from the CD and FIRST community coming up to Canada to witness how we do things, I think we may have gone and stirred up the pot on our border relations, and made everyone much more aware of the friendliness and commonality our two countries share. Extending outwards from Robotics, the unique relationship that FIRST provides is probably exuded by the friendship that 1114 and 48 now enjoy, which would be an ideal political model for our two countries.

Team 48 always bring their 'A' game to the table, and we are always on the lookout on CD for those first few teaser pictures, and are blown away with what we see usually. Friendly members, a competitive but gracious atmosphere and a genuine tenacity for the game brings respect for 48 from everyone, including 188 =).

Humble thanks to everyone who came from everywhere to help volunteer at this event, honestly saying that 188 thoroughly enjoyed their time there and is looking forward to another great season, after a bit of a break from Karthik's singing =P.

Suffice it to say, we Canadians are a friendly lot, poking fun at each other whenever and wherever we find ourselves, in the US or Canada =D

and, i think all the 188 members would like to take up that invitation

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by Jonathan Lall

That being said, 1241 and 1114 murdered everyone at that competition. The two best Canadian teams have three years of existence between them. Think about that.

Well, yes and no. 1114 may only be in their second year, but when they added myself and Ian this year, they gained a combined 12 years of experience. That being said, it's exciting that there are so many young up and coming Canadian teams. The young crop of 1006, 1114, 1241 and 1305 along with veterans like 188 and 610 should help Canada move into these regional battles in years to come. (Lookout all you trash talking midwesterners and noreasters, we're coming to get ya)

Originally Posted by J Flex 188

Extending outwards from Robotics, the unique relationship that FIRST provides is probably exuded by the friendship that 1114 and 48 now enjoy, which would be an ideal political model for our two countries.

I'd like to elaborate on this. The relationship between 1114 and 48 is something that could probably only happen in FIRST. Here's the story. During the Pittsburgh regional, we went up aganst 48 in a hard fought match. 48's arm wasn't working, so they knew their best shot at victory was to keep us from capping or hanging. We realized this was their strategy, so we decided to go straight for the bar. Once autonomous mode ended, 48 came straight after us. Despite us strafing away from them once, 48 ended up catching us. In this process the accidently drove up on top of our control system, and bent our arm very badly.

At this point we thought our competition was over, especially since we left the second arm in St. Catharines. (We almost had it couriered to Pittsburgh, but then realized we wouldn't have the time to completely disassemble it, then rebuild it again) Normally after a match like this you would expect our team to be irate. But most members realized that 48 had employed a perfectly legitimate strategy, and any damage was unintentional. There was a large outcry from other teams at the event, who came to me saying "I can't believe what they did to you, are you going to complain?" One person even went to the refs and filed an official complaint about 48's rough play.

But here's the thing, when we got back to the pit, what were we greeted by? 8 members of team 48 who came over and offered to fix our arm. Despite the fact that their robot needed considerable work as well, they were willing to give up their time to help us. I was flabbergasted.

With 48's help we were able to get our arm back in working order. By Saturday we were in top form, and ended up as regional finalists. But the highlight of the weekend wasn't the trophy or the medals, rather it was the friendships created by the chaos in that match.

Where else can you find something like this. Normally an incident like this would cause bad blood and heated rivalries that would last for years. Not in FIRST, here it created a beautiful relationship.

This special relationship we made with team 48 was definitely the highlight of mine and my team's season. Just telling this story puts a huge grin on my face. This is why I love FIRST. I mean really, where else do you hear about stuff like this. Hollywood couldn't come up with a script this good.

[J Flex 188]

yep, being 6 hours late meant i only had to listen to like 6-7 hours of pointless banter instead of 12-13. but all kidding aside, the length and scope of the event give you an idea of just how much effort went into this competition. Karthik and Steve did their best to keep the crowd, and the team members entertained, especially when equipment or radio problems came up, and they had to be a bit inventive.. *points to rock/paper/scissors*

188 thanks 190 for the pick, as well as 1309 for putting forth their best effort against the number 2 alliance in the semis, and while it was more dissapointment and bad luck for us, wonderland was a fantastic event, with the flexibility of watching a match or two, going on a ride and coming back again. *not that i did that of course*

props to the team (1053?) that stopped us from going for the hang in SF2.1, won that match for you guys.

as for jon . well. we just have to see how next season compares dont we? hehe

[shyra1353]

Originally Posted by Karthik

Oh yeah, when it comes to coordination, how many people match their t-shirt to their CD avatar. Now that was stylin'. Good job me.

I dont know, but I think the picture of you falling when jumping over the side barriers of the field would have made a better picture to post on CD ... did anyone get a shot of that ?? Because I sure wish I had ...

Originally Posted by J Flex 188

the main issue being of how scripted the whole thing sounded?

thinking about it .. some parts did sound scripted .. scripted like on Gilmore Girls (compliment or not ?? )... I guess thats what happens when you get two awesome people like Steve and Karthik working together .. Good job both of you .. it was definitely entertaining ...