2009 Microsoft Seattle Regional

[Madison]

I want, foremost, to not only thank, but recognize teams 1425 and 1569 for the tremendous performance they gave in MSR elimination rounds this weekend. While our robot may be big and blue and flashy, 1425 and 1569 were the driving force in making our victory possible. They did everything right -- from developing a strategy that relied on converting empty cells into super cells and executing it flawlessly to playing some of the smartest, most effective defense I've seen in eleven years. I am extraordinarily impressed by them both and can't wait to see what they'll do in Atlanta.

Even after eleven years, this weekend was my first regional win and I'm tremendously thankful for all the well wishes and congratulations that my team and I have received in the last few days, but just as our team didn't win the regional alone (or even do a majority of the work in winning the regional, for that matter), my success is only possible because I work with a fantastic bunch of mentors and students that are more passionate and excited about this stuff than any others I've ever seen.

I'd be lying if I sometimes didn't wonder if I'm too heavily involved in our team and in our robot -- I feel compelled to make sure the kids have the best robot we can muster on that field for each and every match and that means that I micromanage everything. I'm getting better, though; I promise. After a tense moment when they announced that our alliance had been penalized and then learning we won the final match anyhow, more kids than I knew were on the field rushed me and our drivers and lifted me up into the air. I was thrilled and so appreciate their excitement, but I didn't do anything but scream (graciously and professionally, of course )at the real stars of our team -- both at the competition and all throughout build.

Phounsouk, Andrew and Vy are our driver, operator and human player, respectively. Phounsouk, though he's operated our manipulators in the past, is driving a robot in competition for the first time while juggling his responsibilities as a class officer, member of the school's tennis team and as a high school intern at Microsoft. Phounsouk's patience and nerves of steel are not a benefit for operating "IX," but a requirement and he brings them in spades. He's managed to get himself out of some sticky situations and has shown amazing prowess and decision-making on the fly. He's picked up more balls in a single run down the field than most teams can hold in total.

Andrew is a senior and has been a member of the team since beating me in a Halo 2 tournament when he was in the eighth grade. He shadowed me as coach after acting as our team's robocoach in 2008 and stepped it up as operator in 2009. While our machine may seem simple, some of y'all might have noted that you cannot see into our hopper at all. That means that Andrew must keep count of every ball we've collected while paying attention to everything else happening on the field and that he must be certain not to overfill the robot and jam up the works. It's not an easy job.

Vy joined the team late in the build season and demonstrated fantastic ability to score moon rocks anywhere on the field. Despite being naturally talented, she's strived to improve at every opportunity, even practicing on the practice field during our down time. My experience has always been that it takes new students a year or two to really get into what we're doing in FIRST and develop the drive to improve, but Vy caught on in an instant. Her perseverance made me want to do and be better.

Our mentors are almost too numerous to name -- Donna and Ed Lew, Ryan Lew, Justin Lew, Mike Sinclair, Pat O'Dowd, Chris O'Dowd, Don Senior, Fred Sayre, Bryan Munro, John Gilbert, Thomas Wise, Rebecca Lee, Cassandra Lee, Amit Bhardwaj, Keynan Bailey, Ben Leclerc, Tim Johnson, Jeff and Nancy Wells, Dave and Elise Mattson, Robin Yim, Jan Habowski, Michelle Graf... the list goes on and on. I draw pictures on a computer, but these are the folks that work tirelessly with our students, sometimes over and over again until they meet my demanding standards, and really show them what they can do. Thank you all for really turning our team into a family and for sharing your expertise, your homes and your food with all of us.

I'd be remiss if I did not also congratulate our opponents all throughout the elimination rounds -- I had not realized we'd been undefeated until Blair mentioned it and it was surprising to think about. Particularly, congratulations to the finalist alliance, teams 2660, 1280 and 1294. You all played Lunacy fantastically well and, to be perfectly honest, I thought you'd destroyed our alliance in both of the finals match. I agree with Rick and think that either of our alliances could have conceivably taken the victory and both deserve the recognition. Also, like Fred said, for as much as we tried to achieved simplicity in design, 1280's machine really shows how it's done. Your robot is gorgeous and deadly.

Congratulations to team 360 on your well-deserved Regional Chairman's Award! I was shocked to learn that you'd never been honored with it before, so I have to say that it's about time! You all have done so much for FIRST in the northwest and as a result of your efforts, it's no wonder we're developing teams that are set on dominating the world.

Thank you, too, to the volunteer and field crew. Y'all did what I thought would've been impossible this season in getting the field running reliably and on time. Way to go!

Oh! Finally, I want to give a special bit of recognition to team 2925. They showed up with a beautifully airbrushed, amazingly overweight robot that needed to lose 63 lbs. in a matter of hours. FIRST teams did what FIRST teams do best and, after literally cutting their robot in half, students and mentors from 360 and 1983 were able to get them underweight with room to spare and help them through inspection. All throughout what might've been a trying ordeal, the students from 2925 were helpful and in high spirits. I laughed quite a bit when, while navigating through the crowded pit lanes sometime Friday afternoon, I heard one of their students yelling, "Half a robot coming through!"

I know for some, winning a regional is sort of run of the mill, but for my team it's a big deal and we're so thrilled and so tremendously grateful for the outpouring of support. Personally, to "coach" the team to a win after eleven years and to be recognized with GM Industrial Design award is enormously gratifying and is a little bit affirming that, maybe, I'm not wasting everyone's time while trying to be a mentor and role model.

[Bob Steele]

Well,
All I can say is ITS ABOUT TIME!!!

I cannot think of a more deserving Chairman's Award winner than Team 360!!
One only has to look at the number of 360 alums giving back to FIRST to see the effect that this team has had on the region. EVERY TIME we attend an event ANYWHERE in the PNW we see 360 members. You simply CAN'T get away from them!! You guys are terrific and its a pleasure being in a region with teams like you.

And, well 488.... 9 years? I can't believe it... In our short 3 years we have always wanted to be on the field with you guys... usually it doesn't work out.
It didn't this year either but you guys were terrific in both Portland and I am so happy that the quality of your team could finally get the reward it has deserved for a long time!! Skunkworks will NEVER forget coming home from Las Vegas 2 years ago and having you guys waiting there to congratulate us on our first regional win. It was an example of gracious professionalism that I will always remember.

Congratulations to you... well deserved...well fought...well done..
(And to 1425 and 1569 !!!)

We would also like to congratulate rookie team 3070 for being the Number 1 seed during the quals. We and especially want to thank you for choosing us to play with you on the Number 1 Alliance. Thanks too to team 2557 for being on the alliance. We all played hard and got beat by a good alliance.

Congrats to EVERYONE at the regional. The field crews and volunteers were terrific..things were ahead of schedule... (I had to actually look it up but I thought that was against the rules.....) lol

Thank you everyone for making it a terrific competition for everyone!

[ericand]

Thanks team 488 and 1569 for being such awesome partners at MSR. It was a long and hard fought competition, and everyone filled their roles flawlessly.

Team 1425 would also like to give a special thanks to Skunk Works for their help in repairing our robot prior to the last match.

It may not be well known, but we sustained damage in to our trailer hitch area just prior to our final set of matches. The Skunk Works graciously provided the raw aluminum that we cut, bent, and riveted onto our robot to reinforce the damaged area, so we were able to operate to the best of our ability.

[Adam I. - 945]

Thanks Sal, the same for team Banana, a lot of our team had connected with you guys early on and I just knew we'd have the pleasure of working with you guys in eliminations. We had a great run and came soo close to the finals

Congrats to 488, 1425, and 1569 for the win and for also posting the high score

On behalf of Team 945, we'd like to a HUGE thanks to 2865 for picking us and 1318 for being one hell of an alliance partner. I kinda felt that 1318 wanted to put the loss on their shoulders, but since we win as a team, we also lose as a team. IR.banana.teknix!

Shoutout to 2411 and 1570 for being such a cool team.

Thanks to Nawaid Ladak for always repping team 945 and for all his support.

Thanks for 1346 for naming us The Friendliest and thanks to 1983 for naming us Most Spirited.

And thanks to everyone else I missed for making Team Banana feel welcomed in Seattle!

[Adam I. - 945]

Originally Posted by ericand

It may not be well known, but we sustained damage in to our trailer hitch area just prior to our final set of matches. The Skunk Works graciously provided the raw aluminum that we cut, bent, and riveted onto our robot to reinforce the damaged area, so we were able to operate to the best of our ability.

Interesting, I definitely did not notice that. It must of been real intense rushing against the clock to get it fixed. I don't know if many people know this either but our alliance partners 1318 malfunctioned in both our semi-final losses (drive train in third match and conveyor in fourth). It was hectic watching them fix the drive train after the third match but sadly we never got a chance to fix the conveyor. Maybe we could of had our chance at your alliance?
No big deal though because despite this we put up a great fight and I could not ask for better alliance partners (1318 and 2865)


AND, The Seattle Regional thread seems dead compared to some of the other regionals, so let's spread the word about Chief Delphi and get some more posts

[germanystudent]

i must say in the final matches. that huge tiebreaker ball freaked out our drive team. their jaws were practically on the floor! great matches overall. everyone played well and there weren't any setbacks due to static. i know portland was horrible about the static issue.

[JamesByrne]

Thanks to all the teams that made the event so great. I was working with the field computer system, and trying to make that work. We seemed to get it working to our advantage as we ran ahead of schedule. But I have to say thank you to the field reset crew, and the teams. You guys were great getting the field flipped in hardly no time so that we could run close to our schedule.

I will see you all next year. Have a great off season.

James

[MCahoon]

Have just watched the Atlanta divisional matches.

A HUGE congratulations to 488 for their strong showing - Finalist on Archimedes, and to 1318 for their run on Galileo - Semi-finalist.

The Skunks made a strong showing on Curie, going 5-2; 492 was 4-3 on Archimedes. 360 went 3-4 on Newton against tough competition as did 1569; 1425 played well, though the won-lost doesn't reflect the quality of their team and how they played.

You have represented us well, demonstrating that we play robots in the NW as well as anyone.

Sorry if I've neglected some - no slight intended