IRI - A HUGE THANK YOU!

[Patriot]

WOW what a year!

First we must thank the IRI committee - what an event. Well organized, well run, and an incredible group of teams. We were very honoured to be included in the event and thought we would have a good showing and continue to get our name out there in the "FIRST world" but never in a million years did we think we would come home with the championship trophy.

Thanks to 494 for all your support during the elimination rounds.
Thanks to 111 and 1114 for believing in us and giving us a chance to play with the best of the best.

WildStang, it was a privilege to play with you and watch your magic on and off the field. Those spoilers simply appeared on the rack.

Thanks to Greg and the entire Simbotics team for your continued support and help from the first phone call in September 2005 until now. It was amazing to see each time how our two teams worked together to realize gold.

Patriotics - Drive team and pit crew - You performed perfectly, not letting lack of experience or age come in your way. Well done!

Tyler - A HUGE THANKS, without you we would still be building wooden prototypes.

Congratulations to each of the teams at IRI - it was a pleasure playing with you - "where the egos come to play"

See you next year!

[234smidget]

Will I.R.I. expand next year. This year we had 72 teams. Will we allow more teams to come?!? This is something that ponders me.


-15 point bonus for autonomous was a great idea. It kind of awarded the programmers of autonomous mode and actually made it worth having an autonomous mode.

-I am the kind of person that loves spirit and the first day you can tell everyone was a little tired but Saturday it all changed. The spirit was amazing and very loud and unique. Oink Oink boom, p...i...n...k...pink pink pink. great job on spirit

[2056isaac]

Originally Posted by Patriot

Patriotics - Drive team and pit crew - You performed perfectly, not letting lack of experience or age come in your way. Well done!

Tyler - A HUGE THANKS, without you we would still be building wooden prototypes.

Congratulations to each of the teams at IRI - it was a pleasure playing with you - "where the egos come to play"

See you next year!

On behalf of the Patriotics, I would like to thank our teacher, Mr. Stan Hunter for all the effort he put into making not only IRI possible, but for making our whole season possible. Without you, Mr. Hunter, we would have no idea of FIRST and would not know all the things we know now about science and Techonolgy.

Also, I would just like to thank the whole Patriotics team for the great fun we had not only in the pits and in the stands, but also in the hotel and the long evenings of working on our Robot.

Thank you Dean Kamen, Thank you First, and especially, thank you every team out there for making this what it is!!

THANKS!!!

[Schnabel]

Thanks to everyone for such a fun and succesfull time.

Big thanks to 1902 for going Oink Oink while our air cannon tried to go BOOM!

[Amanda Morrison]

Jeez, where to begin now that I'm finally back from the great state of Indiana?

Chris Fultz and Andy Baker - I know how much planning the two of you put in to make this event happen. I maintain that it is one of the best events that I attend, and the two of you are the reason why.

Team 234 - Your parent group makes the back end of the event run like clockwork. Nobody forces you to put in the time and effort to keep the volunteers and judges constantly fed, not to mention another few thousand team folks. A huge pat on the back.

The entire volunteer crew, esp. Molly Menges, Jerry Budd, and Mark Koors - A smoother run FIRST event does not exist.

BAX Global - This event would not be the international monster that it is without your contributions.

Team 1024 and Lawrence North High School - What an awesome facility to make this epic event come to life. Your school is truly awesome and a perfect venue.

2007 IRI Judges and Mike Fitzgerald - Thank you for your patience. Being a Head Judge isn't supposed to be easy, but it was a piece of cake. Having Mike help us out from Workforce Development was a treat and I enjoyed meeting all of you... let's do it again next year?

Teams 1114 and 2056 - Hey Canadians, congratulations on winning the America's Cup. Tyler coming up for the award while wrapped in a Canadian flag was also pretty freakin' entertaining. You guys are great.

A few general things I am thankful for:
- About a thousand hugs from my favorite FIRST folks.
- Being able to walk past a crowd and get a response to 'oink oink'.
- Head Judge... Matt Fultz, what were you thinking? (but thanks!)
- Dean Simmons and the Kamens: I was super excited to watch you guys perform. Lars is soooooo awesome, I want his autograph!
- Greg stepping up to the plate to help out the abbreviated 126 crew.
- RhodeWarriors being amazing friends and always fun to hang out with. They make even Indiana a blast.
- White Castle and Steak 'N Shake. That's all, just thanks for existing.
- 1720 folks... you guys always make me proud.
- You know it's an awesome competition (and well run) when my crazy grandma who is in her late 70's can go, have a good time, and keep track of what is going on.
- I am lucky enough to have this group of people - say, oh, about a whole 71 team - that are always encouraging, always happy to see me, and always making sure I am well-fed. They are the best support group any person could ever ask for, and some of the nicest in FIRST.

And most of all, thank you to Chris Fultz and the appropriate folks for allowing me to present and be involved with the Marcia Beatty Scholarship. It meant the world to me and was a very emotional moment. (Although I know Marcy would have laughed at me if she knew I really lost the script...)

Best. IRI. Ever. Offseasons come and go, but anyone who's anyone knows that IRI is it.
It truly is 'Where The Egos Come To Play'.

[Chris Hibner]

As always, the IRI was the best competition of the year. Always so much fun.

I want to thank a few people:

- Amanda Morrison for coming to pick me up at the airport. I really appreciate that, especially with my constantly changing arrival time.

- Ernie Pacsai for giving me a ride home and rides around Indy.

- The IRI talent show organizers for doing such a great job as always.

- DSK for a fun time at the show, and Demanda Kamen for the great performance

- Wildstang for letting me play with the band, and also the fun night with Guitar Hero.

[Sagar Vyas]

I'd like to thank everyone that made my IRI experience possible, this was the first time I made it down for IRI and I was really impressed and yes, it deserves a spot on my best competition list. I had the opportunity to sit and watch with my sister team, Team 1114 alongside 2056, I was more than impressed. I was very pleased with their hospitality and friendliness; they truly represented "Team Canada" well. Team 1114's robot is one wonder, but the team members themselves are another wonder. Thanks for making a memorable weekend Simbots.

Congrats to Team 1114, 2056, 111, and 494

I would like to also extend my thanks out to:

Ed Patterson from the X-CATS, Team 191 from Rochester who drove me to my hotel on Friday night, it was very helpful... Thanks and see you at the Ruckus

Jeff Beckett from 1114, who drove me back to Downtown Indianapolis on Saturday evening.

Jonathan Norris from 610, who gave me inspiration to come to IRI despite my busy schedule.

Karthik for making me feel right at home with the Simbots.

Brandon Martus, great selection of music at the event, I was more than pleased.

Last, but not least, the IRI planning committee, by making keepers worth 15 points; you really changed the outlook for most teams. I was waiting to see six keepers the whole season... And I finally saw it.


I hope to see ya'll next year.

[David55]

Okay I finally found some time to write a few messages...

First of all I would like to say that my team (1577) had a blast at IRI. It was totally worth the money and effort that was put into it. Although we weren't as successful as we expected to be (something always has to go wrong), it really was a fun event and a unique experience.

A huge thanks goes to Chris Fultz and Andy Baker the amazing organizers for helping us with everything we needed (I had sent Chris a few million messages during the months before IRI).

Another gigantic thankyou (I really couldn't find the words to describe the greatness of our gratitude) to BAX global (and especially Scott and Nathan). Without BAX we wouldn't be able to come with our robot all the way from Israel. I believe this is the same for the California teams. Our original idea of disassembling the robot was crazy and would never work

Also, thanks to these teams for helping us out with batteries and chargers:
1114 968 461 1018

And to our pit neighbors 45 and 234 for helping us out with tools, advice and everything else we needed.

Thanks to all the nice people that stopped by our pit to talk to us about our robot and team.

And a final thanks to Libby Ritchie and Jane Patterson from 393 (and of course Chris) who helped me come to the IRI last year. My great experience last summer (and of course my desire to play with the greatest teams around) led to the decision to bring my team and robot along this year.

Hope to make it to my 3rd IRI next year...