Michigan State Championship 2009

[IKE]

What a cool event. I was not able to attend in person, but watched from afar, and it was extremely entertaining to watch. I really liked the way the elims played out (wait didn't 33 loose in the first round???). Yep, I liked it because almost every single match was close. At this size of an event, the serpentine works well for evening up the field without the number 1 alliance getting a dud. In my book there were a ton of great teams still sitting on the sidelines. The only thing that could have been better would have been a couple more qualifying rounds.
Oh and a more accurate way to do real time scoring. I understand how tough it is, and I am not knocking the crew doing it, it was just tough as a spectator to have to wait several minutes (for almost every match) to know who won.

All in all very cool event and congratulations to all who participated in it.

[pathew100]

Originally Posted by IKE

Oh and a more accurate way to do real time scoring. I understand how tough it is, and I am not knocking the crew doing it, it was just tough as a spectator to have to wait several minutes (for almost every match) to know who won.

This gets back to some of the field 'issues'. We had static problems with the scoring controllers all weekend. Mostly the ones for Blue trailers (which score for the Red alliance). When they get knocked out, they reset when they reboot. This usually takes about 15-20 seconds.

That's why you would sometimes see big jumps in the final scores. The scorer is usually watching the play, so they may not notice that it resets during the match. So if they've counted 10 balls, then it resets, and they count 7 more, at the match end they'd have a count of 7 before doing the manual trailer count. Then they would count the trailer, enter the correct total and commit.

One of our FTAA's would usually go over to make sure the controller came back up at the end of the match if it hadn't rebooted yet. Rest assured, we would watch the counts on the FMS to make sure they were correct and committed before committing the final score.

[Huskie65]

Congratulations to the two Michigan Rookie All Stars! You both really deserved the award.
2771- Good Robot, one of the loudest teams there cheering not just for yourselves either, and not enough can be said about the web-cast you did for every Michigan event. Thanks!
2834- One of the best Empty Cell deliverers I’ve seen, very maneuverable, and as the 8th seed at championships made two great picks (33 68) and had one of the strongest alliances there.
Also Good luck to 27, 33, and 217 in ATL with Chairmans.

State Champs! Thanks Again 217 and 67!

[thefro526]

I'd have to say that the MSC was the most competitive event I've ever watched. It definitely was an excellent prequel to The Championship Event. Thanks a lot to Code Red Robotics for the Webcast!

[IKE]

Originally Posted by pathew100

This gets back to some of the field 'issues'. We had static problems with the scoring controllers all weekend. Mostly the ones for Blue trailers (which score for the Red alliance). When they get knocked out, they reset when they reboot. This usually takes about 15-20 seconds.

That's why you would sometimes see big jumps in the final scores. The scorer is usually watching the play, so they may not notice that it resets during the match. So if they've counted 10 balls, then it resets, and they count 7 more, at the match end they'd have a count of 7 before doing the manual trailer count. Then they would count the trailer, enter the correct total and commit.

One of our FTAA's would usually go over to make sure the controller came back up at the end of the match if it hadn't rebooted yet. Rest assured, we would watch the counts on the FMS to make sure they were correct and committed before committing the final score.

Thanks for the explanation. That actually makes a lot of sense. It must be very difficult to devise new scoring every year. This is still much better than 2006 where you had to wait on a guy with a stick that may or may not accidentally poke one of your balls out!

[LWakefield]

Team 1504, Who won the jelly bean count and how many were there?

[JackN]

Originally Posted by LWakefield

Team 1504, Who won the jelly bean count and how many were there?

Unfortunately, we were not able to continue our jelly bean competition because of some people having problems with the beans being out of their original packaging. I don't know how many there were actually in there, but apparently it was a lot.

[MishraArtificer]

I'm saddened about this competetion for only 2 reasons...

One: The stands still had room left in them. This worries me.

And, Two: They wouldn't announce my gag parts request. I'm still looking for that box of self-sealing stembolts.

EDIT: Who won the best button contest?

[Chris Hibner]

In my 13 years in FIRST, I have never seen a competition as good as this one. That includes all of the nationals, Championships, and even IRIs. The quality of robots and teams in this event was absolutely amazing. I swear that you could have taken three teams that didn't even make it to the eliminations and they could have won a number of regionals this year.

A HUGE thanks to 217 and 67 for picking us. We had some unusual robot problems during quals, so we thank you for watching closely and believing in us.

Another big congratulations to all of the teams, because everyone made this the BEST competition in the HISTORY of FIRST.

[Herodotus]

Originally Posted by Chris Hibner

In my 13 years in FIRST, I have never seen a competition as good as this one. That includes all of the nationals, Championships, and even IRIs. The quality of robots and teams in this event was absolutely amazing. I swear that you could have taken three teams that didn't even make it to the eliminations and they could have won a number of regionals this year.

A HUGE thanks to 217 and 67 for picking us. We had some unusual robot problems during quals, so we thank you for watching closely and believing in us.

Another big congratulations to all of the teams, because everyone made this the BEST competition in the HISTORY of FIRST.

I said the same thing to my team. I know it might be hard to believe that this event was better than past Atlantas or IRIs, but it is true. However, I have a feeling that means IRI and Atlanta are going to be even more intense this year as all of the awesome teams from around the country will be there too.

Big congrats to 217, 67, and 65. That was the scariest alliance I think I've ever seen, and you definitely deserve the win. Congrats to 217, 33, and 27 as well. Before the Chairman's Award was announced a couple of us on 910 predicted you three would be the winners, as you all have such fantastic programs.

A huge thanks to 469, and 703. You were both so high on our pick list and we were ecstatic to be paired with such great teams. I only wish hadn't had the control problems we did, or else we could have gone a lot farther. You guys absolutely did your job perfectly, so you can lay the blame on us for those losses (and the number 5 alliance for such awesome teamwork.)

Big thanks to 27 as well, for cheering our alliance on in our matches. You guys are such an awesome team, so the cheering for the red alliance a big boost to morale. I was utterly dumbfounded that you guys didn't get picked(along with some twenty other teams that could easily have been picked as well.) I know you don't have the best offense this year but running empty cells and scoring super cells could have changed the results of a number of matches. I suppose that is just the way the wind blows though. With such a deep field of play some great teams were bound to be left out of the picking.

Huge thanks to all of the volunteers and staff who made the event possibly. I was only there Saturday but it was run pretty smoothly from what I saw, especially for a much larger event compared to the districts. A big thanks also to all of the FiM staff. This has been the best season we've had so far, and a huge part of that was the new district set up. Our team loves having so many matches and the ranking meant that the best of the best got the chance to play at States.

Unfortunately we had to decline our invitation to Atlanta due primarily to a lack of funding, but we'll definitely be cheering everyone from back home. Good luck to all of the Michigan teams attending the Championship, and we'll see you all in the off season and next year.

[Alex Dinsmoor]

Originally Posted by MishraArtificer

Who won the best button contest?

Team 548 received the majority of the votes for their button (it was very cool, I should take a picture of it), and thus won it.

Team 1504 came in second place with their button. Our team felt it was possibly the cutest button ever (including many of the guys!)

On to the competition!

We had a great run at states, even though we were eliminated in the semi-finals by 1918, 904, and 247. You guys played some extreme defense, and scored amazingly.

Even though we wanted to take revenge for our loss to 1918 and 904 in the semis at Traverse, you guys were just too good!

I would like to thank our alliance partners 245 and 70. I still can't get over the fact that no one picked 245 earlier in the draft! You were an amazing robot, and great partners. I would also like to thank team 70, More Martians. When 247 pinned 245 in our matches, you basically held our alliance point wise. Without your scoring power we would have never made it past the QFs!

Depending on if we can find the space in our budget to go to Atlanta, we may see everyone there!

[robostangs548]

Originally Posted by Alex Dinsmoor

Team 548 received the majority of the votes for their button (it was very cool, I should take a picture of it), and thus won it.

Team 1504 came in second place with their button. Our team felt it was possibly the cutest button ever (including many of the guys!)

On to the competition!

We had a great run at states, even though we were eliminated in the semi-finals by 1918, 904, and 247. You guys played some extreme defense, and scored amazingly.

Even though we wanted to take revenge for our loss to 1918 and 904 in the semis at Traverse, you guys were just too good!

I would like to thank our alliance partners 245 and 70. I still can't get over the fact that no one picked 245 earlier in the draft! You were an amazing robot, and great partners. I would also like to thank team 70, More Martians. When 247 pinned 245 in our matches, you basically held our alliance point wise. Without your scoring power we would have never made it past the QFs!

Depending on if we can find the space in our budget to go to Atlanta, we may see everyone there!

We worked very hard this year on all aspects of the team, the spirit division was no exception... We are flattered that people liked our button. Everyone feel free to visit our pit during Nationals to pick one up... We will have plenty to go around if you are interested... Good luck everyone, and see you there!

[Beth Sweet]

I just realized that I never congratulated Jennifer Harvey!!! What a phenomenal choice for WFA!

I have uploaded my photos from States to my Picasa http://picasaweb.google.com/bethsweet/States2009#

They are 1504-centric, but if you were in matches with us, you may be in some of them!

[JVN]

I want to thank Paul Copioli and all the Thunderchickens for inviting me to come up to Michigan for this incredible event.

The more time I spend with Paul and team 217 the more in awe I become of their program. These guys are doing GREAT things and continue to provide a strong positive example for the rest of us. They were gracious enough to "adopt" a lonely Texan into their team and happily urged me to dive right in. I had a lot of fun, and was VERY impressed with the Thunderchicken students; what an amazing group. With a program like that, I could even get used to wearing that awful green.

It was also a very special experience to be a fly-on-the-wall of their elimination alliance. There were many people involved who I greatly admire and many who are great friends. (When you're discussing strategy with Adam Freeman, Tom Nader, Karthik Kanagasabapathy, Paul Copioli, Mike Copioli, Ken Patton, and Chris Hibner... well, it is easy to be overwhelmed.) I feel very fortunate to have been even a small part of such a great group.

I hope 148 gets the opportunity to work with one of these three incredible teams. I will eagerly await the division announcements with my fingers crossed.

Also special thanks again to Paul for giving me the "Thunderchicken VIP Treatment". I hope I can return the favor some day.

Kudos to everyone involved. My weekend at the MSC is one I will never forget.

Thanks,
John

[JHay]

Whew! Just got back from MSC and man am I pumped for nationals. Congrats to teams 65, 67, and 217 for placing 1st. You really turned our trailer into a "snow-cone". Thank you teams 904 and 247 for being in our alliance. Most importantly, thank you team 548 for taking over for 904 while they tried to figure out what (loose plug...LOL! ) was wrong with their bot.

To any other teams that noticed, our ball collector did not work during the last half of the final match due to a certain KEY that fell out of a sprocket...Oops!

Hope to see all that qualified or registered for Atlanta.