2009 Southern California Regional

[EricH]

For those that are wondering, I did in fact find rccola in 1323's pit this morning. I also found some other CDers at various times throughout the day. (Sidenote: I had no idea how many Penguineers browse CD regularly...)

The field left at a decent time, so now I have to do homework.

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by squirrel

big congrats to 1138 on winning Chairmans!

It was a very competitive regional, lots of close matches. 973 definitely ate their Wheaties (literally) and it did the trick! Congrats to them, 207, and 2659 for pulling off the underdog win, it was very impressive. Thanks to our alliance partners 330 and 980,it was great playing with you, and we almost did it....

The regional went very smoothly, aside from some field reset delays the first two mornings. The music sound level was just right (no hearing protection required), the elimination rounds went very quickly, and the volunteers all did a great job, thanks!

We're off to Phoenix next weekend, hope our robot gets there

Cool, we will get to see you in Phoenix as well since that is where we are headed next. You guys had a very impressive lift and shooting mechanism. Congratulations on your Driving Tomorrow's Technology Award.

[Ricki E.]

Congrats to all the winning teams especially to 1138, a win most definitely deserved. For my last Southern California/Los Angeles Regional, it is something that I will definitely miss. Thanks to everyone who made it a memorable one! Good Luck with the rest of the competition season!

[Brad Voracek]

Not the results we were hoping for.. But its all good! Huge congrats to the winners, 973 I especially loved your robot.

(in match 13 when we took both sides of the trailer and filled it, that was my favorite play of the day)

Congrats to 1138 on a well deserved Chairman's award.. We'll have to step it up to compete with you guys next year.. On a worldwide level it seems.

I hope we perform well in Denver so I can go to champs and see some of you guys. If my senior year is the only year we don't get to go.. =( oh well.
Oh, and if any of you saw me storming around (kind of) after our loss, I'm sorry. Not what I was hoping for, after 3 years of not having the best robot to being one of the best.. I was hoping for a little more. But, we always have another regional and I shoulda been cooler about it.


Awesome last LA regional for me. (as a student)

Thank you all for the compliments on my driving... and yes, we really don't have any traction control. (lol and it was pretty funny some people came over and asked how we modified our wheels)

[AdamHeard]

My team loves to tell me, "I told you so" when I'm wrong. Not wanting to get their hopes too high, i told them Saturday morning before matches if 1388 retained their first seed status (rather than 587 bumping them out) they would pick the best scorer, and the rest of the top 8 would be scattered good teams. In otherwords, since we weren't the best scorer, we weren't winning. Well, they sure showed me. A LOT of solid teams got bumped into the top 8 after that.

thanks to 207 and 2659. 207 is a team that definitely doesn't get enough credit; they sometimes have too odd or unique of a design to get their peers attention, but they always, always are beautifully designed and manufactured. Durabot is a great name for it, and a well deserved quality award.

Overall, a great time. Even with missing two qualifying matches, we had a great time. The first match to just passing inspection a moment too late, the second to not getting bumpers on in time. Rookie mistake, we've got about 90% rookie students, and 100% of the mechanical students/pit crew are rookie. Probably my fault for not hounding them sooner

I can't decide which qualifying match we loved the most. In match 13 we were with 399 and even with a slow drive (Doh, locked out 2 speed gearboxes in LOW not HIGH) 399 and us hit a trailer from opposite sides and completely filled it, it was a great sight. Match 57 with 1726 vs 1717 was also great, if 1726 and us had not eat the Wheaties I brought to our hotel, we might not have made that (and I suppose a good heaping of teamwork). And we can't forget match 64... watching 1717 strafe sideways following a goal while unloading to reinforce our win was an impressive site, 1717 has got to be one of my all time favorite teams to work with. You guys better win something at Davis and make your way to champs, that is way too nice of a machine to stop at the regional level. For that matter, 399, 1388, 1726, 330 (that "crab" is AWESOME) and 294 (greater robot to sneak in under the radar for the first round draft, and get a solid 2nd pick) all better find a way too.

Thanks to the volunteers who were so patient, especially the nice ladies in queuing who had to hassle us so much . And I guess to all the inspectors who had to hassle us so much. Sorry to all who had to investigate the field issues we caused (NOTE TO ALL: a normal DriverStation power supply not plugged into the wall but still plugged into the DriverStation can apparently damage the field).

In the end I had a great time, my team had a great time, and we've got a big group of enthusiastic rookies who are PUMPED for Vegas, champs, and of course the rest of their long tenure on the team. Some of this younger students make me feel $@#$@#$@#$@# stupid for not being so bright at their age.

We obviously can't decide for a while, but LA is certainly high on our list for regionals in 2010.

P.S: we'll post some good pics of the robot in a day or two when I get them from the photographers.

[Akash Rastogi]

So what exactly happened to 1323 during qualifiers? I heard from a few that when they actually worked on the field they were a decent shooter.


Anyone have pics or vids of the robots at LA? def want to see 1717

[kwojcik]

Here is a pic of PenguinBot IV in the pits on thursday

[Drwurm]

Well, CD's image uploader is being finnicky, so until I can upload, here's a link to my flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/drwurm/

Main teams showcased are 294, 973, 1717, 330, and 399. Enjoy.

[seg9585]

I was spectating at the LA regional. A lot of really impressive bots out there!
I especially liked team 1717's drive system and pivoting launcher.
Very exciting final match, too! Those two alliances were pretty much evenly matched and played well.

I was surprised, though, that little effort went into going for empty cells to convert to super cells -- was this intentional? In other words, did alot of the teams here decide going for the super cells weren't worth it/too risky?

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Anyone have pics or vids of the robots at LA? def want to see 1717

Friday morning pics of the robots...not very good pictures, but good enough for out scouts

http://selectric.org/nerds/2009la/

Some pics of 1717, I hope Amir doesn't mind me showing the world how beautiful their machine is!

[bhsrobotics1671]

On behalf of team 1671, i would like to thank teams 1388 and 399 for choosing us to be a part of their alliance. It was one of the best experiences I have had on the team. We were definitely under the radar, ranked 57/60, winning only one match in qualifications.

I just wish we could have scored an extra ball that first round in the semis, and an extra two in the second round. Losing with a score that close just kills you. It's one thing if you lose by 20 points, but when it's so close, it just kills.

As a senior on the team, I was really hoping to make it to nationals this year since i have never been before. I guess we will see what we can do in Davis!

Once again I want to thank everyone on 399 and 1388, heck you guys even took us out to where your team was eating lunch and fed our drivers and strategy personnel so we could plan.

For those of you attending Davis, we will see you there!

[Drwurm]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

Anyone have pics or vids of the robots at LA? def want to see 1717

I just uploaded a few 1717 pics. They've got a great bot as usual.

[Brad Voracek]

Originally Posted by Drwurm

I just uploaded a few 1717 pics. They've got a great bot as usual.

Could you upload any pictures of our hideous orange and purple robot?

[Quijas]

Great regional over all very good matches

thanks to Team 1717 and 294 for being in our alliance

very good Final matches great job

see you guys soon

[Drwurm]

Originally Posted by Brad Voracek

Could you upload any pictures of our hideous orange and purple robot?

You got it. I just uploaded 3, they should be up soon. You guys had an excellent robot this year.