pic: The Rock Paper Scissors Challenge

[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.