2007 Greater Toronto Regional

[Steve W]

To the best of my knowledge there will be 60 - 65 teams and 1 field.

[AcesPease]

Originally Posted by Steve W

To the best of my knowledge there will be 60 - 65 teams and 1 field.

Will we still get at least 8 qualification rounds? We are really looking forward to the trip.

[Steve W]

It depends on the game but that is our goal even if we have to stay late on Friday.

[astephen68]

Who Won Toronto Regionals last year? Was it Simbotics team 1114. If so, DO you think team 1114 simbotics will Do great again thi year. In first vex inToronto their robot could pick up 6 balls at a time and they won that. We 1281 had a fair match against ismbotics which was awesome!!! Simbotics is a good team to face!

[neilsonster]

Originally Posted by astephen68

Who Won Toronto Regionals last year? Was it Simbotics team 1114. If so, DO you think team 1114 simbotics will Do great again thi year. In first vex inToronto their robot could pick up 6 balls at a time and they won that. We 1281 had a fair match against ismbotics which was awesome!!! Simbotics is a good team to face!

Last year 1114, 1503, and 865 won the Greater Toronto Regional. 1114 has won it the past two years, so yes, they will probably do fairly well again this year! It's great to have competitive teams like theirs coming from Canada. It just makes our team (and others) try harder to do the best we can.

[astephen68]

Allright why is 114 simbotics are so good?? WHat do they tdo?

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by astephen68

Allright why is 114 simbotics are so good?? WHat do they tdo?

You could try searching CD for 1114 or NiagaraFIRST.

Or you could go to the Waterloo or Greater Toronto regional, walk up to anyone in their pit, and ask. You may end up feeling like you asked for a sip of water and ended up soaked by a fire hose, but you won't walk away disappointed.

1114 is one of the great FRC teams, an odds-on bet to make the Hall of Fame some year.

[astephen68]

LOL. Yeah i was just wondering what they do and who they get to sponsor them!

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by astephen68

LOL. Yeah i was just wondering what they do and who they get to sponsor them!

http://simbotics.homedns.org/?p=spon...&skin=redstuff

[astephen68]

Thanks

[Sgraff_SRHS06]

I don't think it has that much to do with sponsors. Sponsors help, especially on the money side, but most of Simbotics sponsors appear local with the exception of GM. They are also a regular public school, not unlike 173, 47, 49, and others to note. I think their big advantage is that they knew the right people and asked the right questions and did the right stuff.

Sometimes the difference between an awesome bot and an average bot is just in one or two small details that they were able to manipulate (and that detail soon goes into everyone's KOP).

They happened to have one really successful year last year and have been successful for a number of years (maintained success).

Why I think they succeed time and time again? Mentors with good machining/wiring/coding abilities (not necessarily engineers) that teach the students on the team so they really know how to do it (and optimize upon that), and good engineering decision making. (In other words, comprimising between elements and optimizing everything so things work well and are laid out/set up in a way that's easy to repair and set up while still being safe.)

But most of all, they went out into the community and really helped from the start. It helps the community get involved in the program and help make it better.

[Jonathan Norris]

Coming from the perspective of someone who saw too much of 1114 in competition last year this is why I believe 1114 is so successful. No one one 1114 posses any mystical powers, nor are they doing anything that any other team could not. But its a combination of collecting the smartest and most motivated mentors and students to challenge the limits of the FIRST Robotics competition. One thing that I believe has separates 1114 is their teams competitive spirit. Very few teams spend the time constantly tweaking and discovering how their robot truly works, tweaking and changing things to make their robot perform even better. Thats not to say they are perfect, or build unbeatable robots. If you talk to them they know exactly what the faults of their robots are, and I believe they learned many hard lessons that most FIRST teams have. But the scary thing about 1114 is that they learn their lessons quickly, and their robots have been getting better and better every year.

Anyone who says "It's because they are GM sponsored!" are plainly ignorant of how their team works. As I discovered this year the mentors and students who run 1114 love robotics, these guys know their stuff. They truly understand robot design, game strategy, and FIRST history.

I have heard too many Canadian teams complain about 1114 and the triplets far too many times, its time for us to learn from what 1114 and the triplets do right and work to be as or more competitive then them. Thats not to say there aren't Canadian teams who are not doing this take 296, 1305, and 188 as prime examples. But there are far to many teams that take the stance that "its 1114 we can't beat them...", thats the attitude that need to be changed.

Now getting back on topic: I hope to see more Canadian teams out there challenging 1114 and the triples next year to take the GTR crown away from them. You better know 610 will be coming for ya