PNW 2006 -- The Pacific Northwest Regional in Portland

[Joe Johnson]

Originally Posted by Karthik

That means the Poofs have won 11 of the 14 regionals that they've attended. This is probably the second most amazing FIRST competition feat, next to Beatty's 4 championships. Also, 11/14 is a pretty neat set of numbers.

I would argue that 11/14 regional wins is equal to that of Team Hammond's incredible 4 Championships.

If you add in the 6 Championship Events they competed in, they've won 11/20 tournaments they've entered.

If you take the reasonable idea of counting their divisional championships as wins, they are batting well over 600! -- even Detroit's Ty Cobb only bat 366!

Nobody has a record to match these guys, nobody.

Awesome Robots... ...and a Chairman's Award winner too.

Joe J.

[Dennis Jenks]

I went to high school with a friend who played for the San Francisco 49ers in the late 80’s. One year at a Christmas party we asked him what it was like to play for one of the “greatest teams in pro sports history” (I’m a lifetime Rams fan so that still pains me to say it!) and he simply said “everyone in the NFL should get the chance to play for a franchise like the niners!” - That is exactly how I feel about having been a part of the Cheesy Poofs – every one in FIRST should get that kind of opportunity, and I am extremely thankful to have had it.

However, I think simply listing the winning percentage doesn't even come close to telling the story. The thing I think very few realize is that none of the original mentors are still with the team on anything other than an advisory basis. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, team 254 is primarily run by college and high school students at this point. To be honest, I think that the biggest accomplishment of the Poofs is really overlooked by everyone except those that have been a part of it. That is the fact that Steve Kyramarios and Jason Morella (the true architects of 254) were able to build the foundation for a team that has been able to sustain this level of excellence despite a huge turnover in personnel. So to Steve and Jason hats of to you for a job well done! Also to those presently involved with 254 (to many names to mention), congrats on your accomplishments and keep up the good work there are a lot of us out here who are very proud of you!

Take care all,

[Rick TYler]

I don't want to let the Chairman's Award winner pass. Titan Robotics Club (#492) was the CA winner at PNW, and no team is more deserving. They are a major leader in FIRST in Western Washington, and have, in one way or another, been largely responsible for several teams in the area. They teach robot planning classes which are open to all of us, they sponsor the Bellevue practice event, and have been a true inspiration. I wouldn't be happier if we had won.

Thank you, Titans, and I look forward to seeing your '07 entry.

[Sila741]

Originally Posted by Dennis Jenks

I went to high school with a friend who played for the San Francisco 49ers in the late 80’s. One year at a Christmas party we asked him what it was like to play for one of the “greatest teams in pro sports history” (I’m a lifetime Rams fan so that still pains me to say it!) and he simply said “everyone in the NFL should get the chance to play for a franchise like the niners!” - That is exactly how I feel about having been a part of the Cheesy Poofs – every one in FIRST should get that kind of opportunity, and I am extremely thankful to have had it.

However, I think simply listing the winning percentage doesn't even come close to telling the story. The thing I think very few realize is that none of the original mentors are still with the team on anything other than an advisory basis. In fact, to the best of my knowledge, team 254 is primarily run by college and high school students at this point. To be honest, I think that the biggest accomplishment of the Poofs is really overlooked by everyone except those that have been a part of it. That is the fact that Steve Kyramarios and Jason Morella (the true architects of 254) were able to build the foundation for a team that has been able to sustain this level of excellence despite a huge turnover in personnel. So to Steve and Jason hats of to you for a job well done! Also to those presently involved with 254 (to many names to mention), congrats on your accomplishments and keep up the good work there are a lot of us out here who are very proud of you!

Take care all,

Woah. I had no idea the guys were so good, or so well known. I had no idea they had won so many events either. It comes as kind of a wake up call for me to stop goofing around and get serious.

The thing is, it is pretty personal for me. My team(1868) was formed only this year, in collaboration with NASA and girl scouts. We are lucky enough to have an old hanger area in Moffet Field Air Base to work in,with full funding, a machine shop, and a full size practice field. What is special is that team 254 are our partner team. We share the same work space, and they have helped and taught us throughout this season. Besides that, we're friends. I knew that they were a good team, but i didn't know how much before now. I just hope we can live up to their legend, and get some pennets of our own.

[Rick TYler]

Did I mention that the person who awarded the regional Woody Flowers Award at PNW was Woody Flowers? He stood about 20 feet from our pit letting students sign his jacket fora LONG time. I didn't talk to him myself -- there were plenty of students who wanted to say hi to him.

The PNW Woody Flowers award went to Williane Tenca (Team 1510). I don't know her personally, but the crowd was appreciative when her name was announced.

(Hopefully Madison will now delete her post which demonstrated that I don't know how to read a Website...)

[Madison]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

Did I mention that the person who awarded the regional Woody Flowers Award at PNW was Woody Flowers? He stood about 20 feet from our pit letting students sign his jacket fora LONG time. I didn't talk to him myself -- there were plenty of students who wanted to say hi to him.

The PNW Woody Flowers award went to Miki Fluckigers of Phred (team 847). I don't know her personally, but the large and vocal Phred team went nuts when her name was announced.

Miki was actually awarded the Volunteer of the Year award. The Woodie Flowers Award winner was Williane Tenca from, I believe, team 1510.

[114Klutz]

I'm wondering when the scores will be fixed - I think some of the alliances or scores might have been swapped around.

[JohnC]

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

Did I mention that the person who awarded the regional Woody Flowers Award at PNW was Woody Flowers? He stood about 20 feet from our pit letting students sign his jacket fora LONG time. I didn't talk to him myself -- there were plenty of students who wanted to say hi to him.

I was so glad to see Woody there. Just before Mark Leon introduced our team, Woody came over to take a picture of me our drive coach (we had mohawks) and he shook our hands. We were so awe-struck.

Also, congrats to 492. Team 360 attended their kickoff and pre-ship, and we're glad to call ourselves their friends. Even after their elimination, they came down to the arena to offer us advice about the opposing alliances and to wish us good luck. Nobody was more deserving.

[sciencenerd]

A few of my thoughts, after the regional ended.

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

1. The state of the robots on Thursday is not as good as it was last year. This was a tough technical challenge year.

Yes, it seemed like there was much more noise in the pits this year on Thursday from machinery operating (of course, it could have been that the team right before us was running their jigsaw the entire day straight!)

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

4. The Cheesy Poofs looked human! They were struggling to get their robot ready just like the rest of us!

Yeah, after all I heard about them I was expecting everything perfect. When I looked at their pit, they had the hopper off and were still making modifications. However, once they got that puppy working it sure was something to see!

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

8. Huge props to three students from Issaquah Robotics Society (1318) who took time out to help me install our bumpers. I stayed late in the pits to do this (the team was at dinner) and Eric, Kyle and Elise helped me with holding, drilling, and bolting. Finest FIRST tradition!

No problem! We had finished up the work we could do on our robot a little earlier, and the programmers wanted us out of their way. We were just looking for something useful to do. It was good to meet you in person.

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

9. It is hard to tell which period is which from the stands. The instant scoring is cool, even if one alliance did have a reported score of about 425 in one round. I think Thursday is practice day for the Regional team, too.

Yeah, that was a challenge. As a driver, it was really hard to figure out when the periods switched, and when it was coming up, while still staying aware of the situation on the field. I was lucky enough to have a coach that was able to keep track of that, letting me know when periods 2 and 3 were about to end (to get ready for the next) and when there was about twenty seconds left in the final period (to go for the ramp). Without that, it would have been impossible to keep track of everything.

And about the score, there was that one elimination round where blue got a reported score of around 3100, the "high score of the universe" according to the announcer. I couldn't stop laughing as I saw that number just keep going up...

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

10. Quite a number of balls hit the chains in the center goals and bounce back out.

Yes, I think there were more of those than FIRST anticipated. I hope they do something about that in later regionals.

Originally Posted by Rick TYler

13. This early, the best robots scored in the corner goals.

Yes. From what I could see, the most effective robots were the ones that could either score well and consistently in the corner goals, or were so incredibly amazing/had such a great strategy of scoring in the center that they could negate any defense. This was best illustrated by the match between alliances 1 and 8. Although 1 had some great shooters, 360's defense was enough to totally shut them down. Alliance 8 could easily have won the regional, if it wasn't for 254's amazing strategy in that final round.

Sciencenerd's final analysis of Aim High: Shooters that can't shoot faster than 1 ball/second are next to useless. They will never be given an opportunity to sit still long enough to score significantly. Defense will be high, with many effective robots dumping at most one load of balls in the corner goal, then spending their time stopping the shooters from ever getting lined up. Robots that can't ramp had better be pretty durn amazing to make up for it. Team 254 is awsome.

[steven114]

One thing that consistently disappoints me about the FIRST games is that there's often a 'reach' goal that is very difficult to achieve - such as using the camera to aim and fire at the top goal this year - that is easily shut down by simply having a box on wheels hit the robot repeatedly. It's too bad that a robot which is able to hit the target repeatedly (no small task!) can be shut down by such a robot.

Not bashing anyone or anything, just an observation.

[Firestorm]

The Poofs were amazing. Hands-down the most interesting team to watch during the competition. Just couldn't help but jump up and cheer like mad when they started their mad barrage of balls into the center goal. Great job Poofs!

[Sila741]

I wish I could have been there. Our two teams worked together during build.

[Nuttyman54]

does anyone have video of the matches, specifically the finals? I'm really curious to see the Poofs and Eagle Strike (114) in action! Sounds like it was an amazing regional

[Li Jianliang]

Originally Posted by sciencenerd

Yes. From what I could see, the most effective robots were the ones that could either score well and consistently in the corner goals, or were so incredibly amazing/had such a great strategy of scoring in the center that they could negate any defense. This was best illustrated by the match between alliances 1 and 8. Although 1 had some great shooters, 360's defense was enough to totally shut them down. Alliance 8 could easily have won the regional, if it wasn't for 254's amazing strategy in that final round.

Sciencenerd's final analysis of Aim High: Shooters that can't shoot faster than 1 ball/second are next to useless. They will never be given an opportunity to sit still long enough to score significantly. Defense will be high, with many effective robots dumping at most one load of balls in the corner goal, then spending their time stopping the shooters from ever getting lined up. Robots that can't ramp had better be pretty durn amazing to make up for it. Team 254 is awsome.

Definitely. Team 254's quick shooting in the last round of the Finals just clinched their alliance's victory. It was amazing and very innovative that they thought up shooting from the platform- A tough spot for some robots to even get up to to play defense; my team's robot could ram but had difficulty getting up there to shove 254's off. Getting up the ramp also had its high probability of robot tipping over, which did plague a lot of the matches.

I think the alliance that my team was in performed great and we had great fun going up against the 254-753-1887 alliance- We were the 44th out of 46th ranked teams on Saturday morning! Wow. Congratulations to the PNW winners! As for us, now we have the finalist spirit to carry over to our next Regional in Davis.

[steven114]

We'll have some videos of the finals up as soon as we get them off tape - could take a few days though, our video editors aren't the most motivated people

EDIT: And I must agree with the previous post - we had a great time. We too were ranked in the bottom of the thirties right before picking started, and I'm very glad to have a chance to play with 360 and 955. We made a great alliance. Thanks guys!