2005 Canada's Wonderland FIRST Robotics Off-Season Event

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by Amanda Morrison

I'd like to say, I came to watch the Wonderland event last year, and had a blast. What a creative way to make sure the kids have a great time, by having the event in a theme park! I thought it was well planned, and I certainly enjoyed myself. Kudos to all those who plan this event. I hope the participants this year have just as great of a time as I had last year!

And hey, Karthik sang to me! Which was... interesting. Oh, and I got Brandon Martus to ride the Merry Go Round with me. Thanks for a fond memory, too.

So is that interesting in a kind of way or in a kind of way?

[Steve W]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

So is that interesting in a kind of way or in a kind of way?

Definately the second and that is being generous

[Beth Sweet]

The event sounds like a lot of fun, however I just wanted to share something that I read this morning in the newspaper to those US teams considering attending. (Someone correct me if this is wrong) According to the State News, as of this past Tuesday, "the US departments of State and Homeland Security introcued... which will require citizens from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Bermuda to have passports or certain other documents to enter or re-enter the United States." So just as a forewarning to US teams interested in going, make sure your students get passports early!

[tckma]

Originally Posted by Beth Sweet

So just as a forewarning to US teams interested in going, make sure your students get passports early!

Definitely. My girlfriend lives in Canada (more specifically, Niagara Falls), and having a passport definitely makes border-crossing much easier!

[Mr. Lim]

One more day to Canada's Wonderland!

I still can't get over it... a FIRST competition in a theme park!

Best Idea EVER

[Arefin Bari]

I know Canada FIRST committee has put a lot of time into planning this offseason. Good luck to every single committee member and the volunteers who worked day and night to get this thing together.

[Kate00]

We (SWAT) were wondering if there will be an area to practice driving, as we just got our 2005 robot functional and have not had any time for our new drivers to practice.

And we will have an extra kilt handy.

Thanks!

[Laura 1547]

yay for wonderland!!!!!!! i'm so excited for it...except the waking up early part...at least we live close by-ish so i don't have to get up as early as some teams!!!!

Originally Posted by Kate771

And we will have an extra kilt handy.

hmm i wonder what that would be for hehe

[Steve W]

Originally Posted by Kate771

We (SWAT) were wondering if there will be an area to practice driving, as we just got our 2005 robot functional and have not had any time for our new drivers to practice.

And we will have an extra kilt handy.

Thanks!

There is no space for practice driving,sorry. There are a lot of new drivers at this event and even a team that borrowed a robot and this will be their first time at a FIRST event.

[Kate00]

That's okay... it's good to know that we're not alone.

I'm really excited... it should be awesome!

[Kyle Love]

Good luck to all teams there...hopefully its a great comp!

[SugaRaXie]

Originally Posted by Kyle45

Good luck to all teams there...hopefully its a great comp!

thanks -- yeah, was a great competition!

haha, they should have like FIRST events everyday -- haha, I would rather do that then go to school -- everyone was so psyched out for the competition and we even had our drivers from last year [2005 season -- they're at uni now] drop by and yeah...super fun and a great competition.

[Karthik]

Here are the results from yesterday's amazing competition.

Champions: 1114, 1503, 1310
Finalists: 1305, 854, 1397

Awards:
Creativity -- 188, for their gripper and easy to repair drive train.
Quality -- 854, for their holonomic drive train, and use of vision.
Best Defense -- 1241, for their hard defensive play throughout the day.
Spirit -- 1547, the Waldo girls were the loudest team at the event.
Best Autonomous Mode -- 1114, for their whacking of the hanging tetra, capping the back middle goal, and picking up a tetra from the auto loader, routine.
Play of the Day -- 1680 & Sir John A. MacDonald CI -- Team 1680 could not attend the competition, so Team 1114 brought their robot to the competition for a pre-rookie team to use. The kids from MacDonald CI had never seen a competition before, and had 5 minutes of practice time with the 1680 robot. Coached by 1114 mentor Tyler Holtzman, the team ended captaining the #5 seeded alliance! Not only this, but they also capped the 5th most goals during the event. It was a great display.


Skills Competion:

The Need For Speed -- Team 1305 dominated the competition, blazing across the field to beat all competitors.

How High -- 188 placed the 14 tetra on a stack on one of the side goals, to show that their robot could go higher than anyone else. 1006 set the bar earlier with a mark of 13, which it seemed that 188 could not match. Ingenuity prevailed, as 188 removed their gripper to gain a few extra inches of height and capped using the mount for the gripper. Their t-bar actually consisted of a pile of serial cables.

The Sponsor Challenge -- Team 1006's robot, driven by the Director of Engineering for GM Canada, was able to cap a goal across the field faster than any of the other sponsor/mentor driven robots.

The Tetra Test -- Team 1114 won this event by capping 8 tetras in 2:00 (15 seconds autonomous, 1:45 driver control). What made this feat even more impressive was the fact that they did while dropping 4 tetras during the 2:00.

-----

Overall the day was a great success. A big congratulation to all teams how came out to play. Thanks to all the wonderful volunteers, especially those who came from so far away. This includes Andy Baker, Mark Koors, Bob and Linda Hammond, Walt Porter, Paul Morrison and Travis Hoffman.

Also, a special thank you to girls from Team 771 for presenting with me one of their kilts. I've definitely never received anything quite like it.

We'll see you all next year!