2008 GM/Technion/Microsoft Israel Regional

[Leav]

(Not sure if I should have added the Microsoft but they were one of the major sponsors this year, just not sure if they were added to the official name)

So just thought I'd keep the world updated on what is going on in our little part of the FIRST world

First I'll start with again sending my condolences to the family of Daniel Blankenstein, and to the Omnitech/Autodesk family.
The regional continued the next day since, as the CEO of Omnitech and Mr Blankenstein's friends said: "it was what Daniel would have wanted".



36 teams from around Israel competed in the Nokia arena in Tel-Aviv Israel, and had a really great time.

I think I can safely say that this year's game has proven to be a big challenge for the teams but all have worked hard and most importantly enjoyed themselves.

I think that all in all this year has been much less competitive, in the sense that it was a friendly regional and at least for me there was real sense that people were getting along and having fun, not just interested in winning (not that they were not trying to win, though )

on a side note, this year was the first where I really understood why the chairman's is more important than winning the regional. (Good Job 1577!)

Awards:
2669 - Rookie Inspiration Award
2669 - Rookie Entrepreneurship Award
1577 - Best Animation Award
1943 - Rosh Hayyin - Woodie Flowers Award (awarded to Mazal Neger)
1579 - Shevach Mofet - Imagery Award
2630 - Highest Seated Rookie Award

Teams can expect to meet the following teams in the championship:

1577 - Steampunk - Chairman's Award Winners
2214 - Yamin Orde - Engineering Inspiration Award Winners

The Regional Winners:
1574 - MIscar
1690 - Binyamina
1576 - Eironi Het

I am also very proud to say that my own team, 2630 (The Emek Hefer Thunderbolts), has won the Rookie All Star award.

2230, Zacharia's Angels, Have the entire regional recorded. they did an awesome job and they are working with the blue alliance to get it uploaded and archived (watch out for the match where a robot catches fire! )
Thanks Z'A!

So good luck to everyone, I hope everyone enjoyed themselves and I'm looking forward to meeting some ChiefDelphites in Atlanta!

-Leav

[Tottanka]

I am afraid the robot on fire is not recorded, as it was on practice day.

[Leav]

Liron, Nir said he *might* have it on tape.... another example of the great atmosphere at the competition - the team whose robot caught fire were all joking about it after they replaced all the wires (they overloaded the wires and even the breakers disengaging the current didn't save them apparently...)

All the awards are listed here:

http://www2.usfirst.org/2008comp/events/IS/awards.html

Sorry for the people I missed in the first post...

-Leav

[Tottanka]

Actually, their whole board went on fire because instead of screwing it they GLUED it, and the maxi 40A fuse block touched the aluminum and shortened the whole thing. The first thing they did when that started was run from the driver station to the borders of the field forgetting about any penalties. I thought they were gonna get in the field and try to do something and stopped them physically, they only wanted to take pictures of the fire

[Leav]

Originally Posted by Tottanka

Actually, their whole board went on fire because instead of screwing it they GLUED it, and the maxi 40A fuse block touched the aluminum and shortened the whole thing. The first thing they did when that started was run from the driver station to the borders of the field forgetting about any penalties. I thought they were gonna get in the field and try to do something and stopped them physically, they only wanted to take pictures of the fire

LOL that's wicked funny....

(this was a practice day, right?)

-Leav

[Tottanka]

Yes, it was a practice day.
The next day they had to pass inspection all over again, and they came glued once again, the inspectors demanded them to screw the whole thing.

Another interesting story is that team 1576 came with 2 tigene motors on their robot. I have noticed that and told both them and the Inspectors that this should be fixed. (the team refused to believe me that they are only allowed one on the robot, so i had to bring the inpsectors as a more official proof). This team could not believe that, and they had to remove the motor and replace it with a window motor. That caused their whole arm mechanism not to work, and they were really pissed off. Eventually they started complaining and said that if that's the case they have no reason to play and will just go home. Of course, they stayed and played. The interesting part is this: this very team ended up as event champions.

[Leav]

Originally Posted by Tottanka

Yes, it was a practice day.
The next day they had to pass inspection all over again, and they came glued once again, the inspectors demanded them to screw the whole thing.

Another interesting story is that team 1576 came with 2 tigene motors on their robot. I have noticed that and told both them and the Inspectors that this should be fixed. (the team refused to believe me that they are only allowed one on the robot, so i had to bring the inpsectors as a more official proof). This team could not believe that, and they had to remove the motor and replace it with a window motor. That caused their whole arm mechanism not to work, and they were really pissed off. Eventually they started complaining and said that if that's the case they have no reason to play and will just go home. Of course, they stayed and played. The interesting part is this: this very team ended up as event champions.

Yeah I gave them a bit of advice, cut off the 2nd taigene (removing the screw part and the motor and leaving the big plastic gear and housing) and tried to convince them to stay and play.

I like how they learned their lesson, but in a good way

-Leav

[David55]

That is surprising since they were warned by Guy on the First-aid forums. It would have been a good idea to listen to him

[zivo123]

1690 would like to thank you all for a wonderful regional!
we all had a great time!
cant wait for the videos to come...

[Tottanka]

The videos are now up on The Blue Alliance.
Enjoy, but turn your volume down, recomendation