Most memorable moment at a first competition

[Andy Baker]

Man... it's tough to pick one. Here is one of my most proudest moments, along being very memorable.

It was 1999 at the Great Lakes Regional. One thing good about going to the Great Lakes Regional is that our corporate executives often show up to show support.

Well, we just finished one of our last qualification matches and our robot's elbow broke (on the TKO arm). We brought the robot back to the pit and it got crowded quickly. Before we know it, people were starting fixing the arm very quickly. It turns out that two of our lead mechanical students are the ones who are fixing the robot.

So, I'm standing there, simply holding parts (a couple of washers, a master link, and some chain) while these two students are doing the dirty work of fixing the elbow.

While these guys are working on the 'bot, I get tapped on the shoulder by our division president (a Delphi executive) and he says... "that match was pretty exciting, but this is even better!" So I say "what do you mean?" He replies... "you're the engineer, and it's your students who are doing the repair... that's pretty cool!"

Needless to say, I was very proud of our guys. This brief scene was much better than winning a match.

Andy B.