2007 West Michigan Regional

[Wigginsgame]

Alright, so this doesn't have to do with the webcast or anything, and I suppose my opinion may be slightly biased, but does anyone else find it kind of unfair that after 1327 rammed us(67) (full speed) bending our end-effector, that they didn't receive a yellow card? I just want to see what other people's opinions are on the subject.

[Astronouth7303]

Anyone on here should stop by 904's pit and say hi. I've met so few of you. (What? Andy Baker's there? And (insert big-name person here?) I'll probably be there with little to do. Look for the blue lab coats.

Anyway, it's been looking good so far. We've unfortunately had a bug dealing with autonomous and driving that we think is fixed. (Ask me about it in person.) We managed to beat our previous alliance captain, WildStang, in one match. (good round!) We probably would have won with ChiefDelphi if it wasn't for that driving/autonomous bug.

Good luck to all of you tomorrow! Even if you're not selected for the elimination matches, keep your batteries out -- another team may need them.

[Rich Ross]

This competition has been amazingly shocking. Many teams who did well previously are seeded low, and some teams have really bounced back.

Some that stick out to me:
111 has a losing record, and isnt ranked very high
71 has a losing record and isn't ranked very high
67 is ranked checkingly low (partly due to their claw getting bent in one match.

68, after a somewhat disappointing GLR performance, has bounced back into 4th place.
33 has played really well and has only one loss, putting them up in 2nd place.

Other notes:
85 has had the most success with their ramps. Other teams are doing ok, but they are doing the best.
27 is improving, doing well with their shallow ramp and lift.

Many teams who are classified as "elite" or "legendary" have been playing well, but one robot isnt enough to win matches in WMR.

Spoilers are being used a lot more now.

[Jim Schaddelee]

Does someone have the match List for tomorrow i would really like to know at least what team 107s matches are, any more of the list would be great as well.

[rogerlsmith]

I want to thank all involved in providing the webcast at the Midwest and West Michigan regionals. I was not able to be in Chicago and watched the entire webcast. It was awesome! Now, I am able to be at the West Michigan regional and all my friends and family can see why I've been so geeked for the last 3 months. Thanks again!!!

Go team 904!!!!

[Luckyfish05]

Wow, I was so exhausted from todays events that I came home, crashed, and just woke up. How awesome was it to watch! Congradulations to all the teams that competed. I wasn't able to even form a guess as to who would walk away winners after the qualification rounds ended. It was pound for pound the best over all regional, I can't wait to see how these teams show up at the Championships. I want to send a big congradulations out to 703, 469, and 494.

So I guess that's all I wanted to say was big congradulations to everyone that competed today and thanks for the memories, I just worked my first regional and it was awesome!

[Mark Pierce]

Originally Posted by Luckyfish05

How awesome was it to watch! ... It was pound for pound the best over all regional

If it was amazing on the field, it was doubly so elsewhere. I saw very few matches, but met many new people and talked with many I've known for years.

Here's a couple of observations:

• Our team hoped to give out a "Dirty Hands" award for the most involved students in the pits. It was very hard to pick one. Once we made a pick, printer and other issues prevented us from presenting it. Team 2197, we were impressed with how your team worked on the robot and supported each other during repairs and maintainence.
• The only way to tell rookies was by their team number. There was very little rookie panic or rookie shyness.
• I was extremely impressed again at the Judges that Terry Stevens recruited. Their titles are impressive but observing them interact with the teams was amazing.
• It was awesome to see four National Woodie Flowers Award winners presenting the WFA.
• I'm still trying to figure out how a 54 team regional felt so comfortable.

I'll probably write a congrats and thank you in that section of the forum so I'll just finish by saying I had a blast.

[freestylemotox]

I just want to give a congrats out to 703, 469, and 494 it was tough and you guys pulled through the victory AMAZING JOB GUYS. Also want to throw out a thanks to 1504, and 111 we tried out best and gave it everything we had, we were so close......see you all in ATLANTA!!!!!

[Vogel648]

Congrats to the winners. I'd also like to congratulate Wild Stang for getting an autonomous working between competitions, I know how hard it is to test and finish an autonomous mode with limited time. I was just wondering why you did not attempt to score in autonomous in your first final match. We're glad to have your competition in autonomous mode, also nice job getting to the finals, it looked like those could have easily gone either way.

[freestylemotox]

Originally Posted by Vogel648

Congrats to the winners. I'd also like to congratulate Wild Stang for getting an autonomous working between competitions, I know how hard it is to test and finish an autonomous mode with limited time. I was just wondering why you did not attempt to score in autonomous in your first final match. We're glad to have your competition in autonomous mode, also nice job getting to the finals, it looked like those could have easily gone either way.

The reason they didnt on the first match was because they knew that 703 was targeting them and they did not want to have and broken parts at the begining of the match

[Josh Fox]

this was an amazing regional. there were tons of unexpected outcomes that kept everyone excited and on edge. i want to give a shout out to more martians and foley freeze. we gave it one heck of a run. congrats to 469, 494, and 703. there was never a dull moment. see you guys at NATIONALS! WOO-WOO!

[Dave Scheck]

Originally Posted by Vogel648

I'd also like to congratulate Wild Stang for getting an autonomous working between competitions, I know how hard it is to test and finish an autonomous mode with limited time. I was just wondering why you did not attempt to score in autonomous in your first final match. We're glad to have your competition in autonomous mode, also nice job getting to the finals, it looked like those could have easily gone either way.

Thanks for the kind words. To answer your questions, when we began this season, we made a conscious decision that we weren't going to dedicate as much time to autonomous (the last 4 years have been grueling). With the new clarified software rules, and the minimal impact on the game, we focused on making a machine that was easily controlled that could play the game well. We did play with some sensors to see what could be done, but we didn't have too much success. We knew up front that this decision would turn a lot of heads, but it just wasn't worth it.

There were two things that changed our minds
1. We overestimated the way that the refs were going to move the rack. When we saw how this was being done in reality, the wheels started spinning a little bit.

2. At Midwest, we saw 71 perform a maneuver that hadn't crossed our minds. They faced the rack and drove in an arc around the rack while facing the center of the rack. This got the wheels spinning faster.

After Midwest we began to see some of the benefits of scoring the keepers and put a little effort into autonomous (less than a fix-it window). We combined a single sonar sensor with the newly found arc maneuver and nailed it.

At West Michgan, we tuned some parameters for the real robot. It worked perfectly on the practice field, but would not work on the real field. The sonar didn't pick up the real spiders on Friday. At the end of the day, we made a realization that we weren't taking into account the difference between the wood spider feet and the diamond plate ones. FIRST graciously allowed us to use one of the feet for about 10 minutes at the practice field. With a few tweaks, we got it locked in.

The reason that we didn't run it the first match of finals was because we knew that 703 was going to come after us. We knew that they had the capability, but we didn't know the route(s) that they were capable of running. Once we saw what they did, Raul made the decision to try to run it.

You not only gained our competition in autonomous this weekend,. There were many teams that were impressive on the field. 33, 67, 397, 469, 1718 come to mind.

That said, thanks to 1504 for picking us, and to 302 for helping round out a great alliance. To all the teams that we faced during elims...thanks for the awesome competition. It was by far the most exciting tournament that I have experienced. Any of those alliance could have won at any time.

[Dave Flowerday]

Originally Posted by Dave Scheck

At the end of the day, we made a realization that we weren't taking into account the difference between the wood spider feet and the diamond plate ones.

Actually, while the diamond plate/wood issue was one of the potential problems we looked into, it ended up being a red herring. We never made any changes for that. The actual root cause ended up being the way the rack was assembled on the real field: the center piece of the bottom spider was hanging lower than the ends of the feet by a significant amount. This made the spider feet point upwards a little bit. We had to point our sensor down somewhat to account for this discrepancy.

Anyway, I too would like to thank 1504 and 302 for letting us take part in that great alliance. Looking at the amazing list of teams that we were able to get past in the quarter's and semi's and knowing that we had actually won the last match if it hadn't been for a penalty tells me that it was really an awesome partnership! Hope to see you all again in Atlanta.

Additionally, I would like to really thank all the staff and volunteers at West Michigan as well. Our whole team really noticed how nice everyone was at the regional and what a positive impact that had on our experience. This regional along with Boilermaker in 2005 are by far my top two favorite regional events that I have attended. I hope we get the chance to return next year!

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Hey Dave how did you manage to clock your post at 1:11? I have to agree, the folks in Western Michigan made this one of the nicest regionals I have ever attended. Thanks to all the great teams who attended, it turned out to be as hard as everyone expected. Thanks for exhibiting all the spectacular talent and helping everyone get ready for Atlanta. As Dave V said, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see a Championship winner among the WMR attendees.
Good luck to the Chairman's Team, Rush (27) who have had a spectacular team for many years.

[Gene Williams]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Good luck to the Chairman's Team, Rush (27) who have had a spectacular team for many years.

I second that! A job well done!

Thanks 27 for picking us to join your alliance. We had a blast. Your team shows great organizational skills and sportsmanship.

Our apologies for an unexpected arm failure on our robot. Who knows how things may of turned out.

Congratulations to the Winning Alliance of 703, 469, and 494. A most awesome fight to the finish.

Hats off to the finalist 1504, 111, and 302. Some amazing plays.

See everyone in Atlanta.