2005 St. Louis Regional

[Andrew]

I searched and could not find a 2005 St. Louis Regional Thread. With slightly more than one week before we actually start competing, I thought I would put this out there.

I look forward to seeing all the new and returning teams. Good luck to you all.

We plan to bring the following parts, which we will gladly donate to teams in need. After qualifications, we will be glad to trade these parts, especially to teams needing spares for future competitions.

1. 2005 Fisher Price Motors (2)
2. 2005 Mabuchi Motor (1)
3. 2005 (and earlier) Jideco Window Motor (2)
4. 2005 (and earlier) Nippon Denso Window Motor (2)
5. 2005 KIT wheels (4)
6. 2005 KIT wheel sprockets (2)
6. 5 mm key stock
7. 2 mm key stock
8. 2005 compressor (1)
9. Fisher Price gears and gearbox parts (alas, the gearboxes have all been taken apart)
10. 2004 Blinky Lights (6)

If you need something not on this list, PM me and I'll try to bring it (if it's not already in use on the robot).

[sirbleedsalot]

I would also like to say that my team did not use the FP motors. We also have a lot of old pneumatics sitting around so if any team is looking for anything pm me and we will see what we can do. On a side note our team is using 4 wheel drive with the kit wheels and I think we will not have enough traction on the carpet, but the rest of the team does not think so we did not change tires. So if anyone has any grippy stuff to put on our back tires if it turns out that we do not have traction that would be great.

[Richard Wallace]

Just a few impressions, now that the 2005 St. Louis Regional is in the books:

Match play: Triple Play appears to be very rough on the robots. Lots of blocking, pinning, pushing, ramming, checking, etc. Referees took a "let 'em play" attitude, calling penalties only when aggressive driving was clearly aimed at damaging or tipping another 'bot. High blocking was deemed OK, if the intent was clearly to dislodge a tetra in the other robot's possession. This was a severe test of solid robot construction, and of course the top robots were up to the challenge. There was only one substitution during the tournament, 1272 (1st standby) for 537.

Inspection: the most common inspection issue was failure to use SLU-70 terminals on 6AWG wire ends as required by <R48>. Many veteran teams had neglected to replace older crimp-style terminals on their batteries from previous years. I had to send a volunteer to a local electrical supply store for a bag of SLU-70s so the pit parts table would have enough to enable all teams to comply with <R48>. Other common inspection issues were entanglement risk <R25>, and of course the usual problems with sharp edges and maximum weight. More than 35 robots (out of 44 participating) were within one pound of the 120# limit.

Gracious professionalism: is definitely on the rise in St. Louis. While the action on the field was rough, the cooperation in the pits was wonderful to see.

Rookies: 1706 got a late start on the build season but still came in with a respectable robot and a competitive team, and conducted themselves with a degree of professionalism that impressed all of the volunteers. They impressed the judges, too: Rookie Inspiration Award. And 1625 was the highlight of the event, taking home the Xerox Creativity Award, Rookie All-Star, Highest Rookie Seed (#3) and of course being leader of the winning alliance. They will be a force to reckon with in Atlanta.

And then there's my team: 931 Perpetual Chaos. It is hard to express how proud I am of this team. Starting 4 years ago as the only FIRST team based in St. Louis, they have become an inspiration to this Regional and a driving force for the growth of FIRST. And they look good in green. Special congratulations to Frank Dressel, founding coach of 931, who was recognized with a special award by the Regional committee for tireless effort to promote FIRST in our area.

[David Kelly]

Originally Posted by Richard

Just a few impressions, now that the 2005 St. Louis Regional is in the books:

Match play: Triple Play appears to be very rough on the robots. Lots of blocking, pinning, pushing, ramming, checking, etc. Referees took a "let 'em play" attitude, calling penalties only when aggressive driving was clearly aimed at damaging or tipping another 'bot. High blocking was deemed OK, if the intent was clearly to dislodge a tetra in the other robot's possession. This was a severe test of solid robot construction, and of course the top robots were up to the challenge. There was only one substitution during the tournament, 1272 (1st standby) for 537.

Inspection: the most common inspection issue was failure to use SLU-70 terminals on 6AWG wire ends as required by <R48>. Many veteran teams had neglected to replace older crimp-style terminals on their batteries from previous years. I had to send a volunteer to a local electrical supply store for a bag of SLU-70s so the pit parts table would have enough to enable all teams to comply with <R48>. Other common inspection issues were entanglement risk <R25>, and of course the usual problems with sharp edges and maximum weight. More than 35 robots (out of 44 participating) were within one pound of the 120# limit.

Gracious professionalism: is definitely on the rise in St. Louis. While the action on the field was rough, the cooperation in the pits was wonderful to see.

Rookies: 1706 got a late start on the build season but still came in with a respectable robot and a competitive team, and conducted themselves with a degree of professionalism that impressed all of the volunteers. They impressed the judges, too: Rookie Inspiration Award. And 1625 was the highlight of the event, taking home the Xerox Creativity Award, Rookie All-Star, Highest Rookie Seed (#3) and of course being leader of the winning alliance. They will be a force to reckon with in Atlanta.

And then there's my team: 931 Perpetual Chaos. It is hard to express how proud I am of this team. Starting 4 years ago as the only FIRST team based in St. Louis, they have become an inspiration to this Regional and a driving force for the growth of FIRST. And they look good in green. Special congratulations to Frank Dressel, founding coach of 931, who was recognized with a special award by the Regional committee for tireless effort to promote FIRST in our area.

Do you know who won the Chairmans Award, Engineering Inspiration or Woodie Flowers Award?

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by David Kelly

Do you know who won the Chairmans Award, Engineering Inspiration or Woodie Flowers Award?

Those are posted on the FIRST site already:

2005 St. Louis Regional Chairman's Award went to 931.

2005 St. Louis Regional Engineering Inspiration went to 537.

2005 St. Louis Regional Woody Flowers Award Finalist went to a mentor of 1208.

[Chris27]

Originally Posted by Richard

And 1625 was the highlight of the event, taking home the Xerox Creativity Award, Rookie All-Star, Highest Rookie Seed (#3) and of course being leader of the winning alliance. They will be a force to reckon with in Atlanta.

Thank you .

Although I was dissapointed that team 933, Christian Life, did not receive the Chairmans Award. I feel that the spirit of FIRST was shown greatest through them. They started up interest in FIRST in our small little town of Winnebago, They mentored us, gave classes to us, and were always there to help us. During the regional, I have never seen such true sportsmanship, as team 933 showed. They were constanly there to help us and support us throughout the regional. Even though they were behind schedule on thier robot and were having trouble holding a tetra, they were always checking on us and making sure everything was ok. They would congratulate our victories, even if it was a loss for their team. Whenever we won an award, they would come down to the playfield with us, shaking our hands and congratulating us. Team 1625, Winnovation, would not be here if it was not for them

[Michael Long]

We had a great time at the competition this weekend. I think all the teams learned from the previous week and the penalties were not as big of an issue aas I thought they would be.

Teams got a lot better as they got some driving experience and the tournament on Sat. was a blast to be in and watch.

I was impressed with some of the designs including team 935, 1625, and 650.
Autonomous wasnt very impressive

Looking foreward to Purdue this weekend.