2009 IRI THANK YOU

[SushaK]

I would like to Thank everyone who worked so hard to make IRI 2009 happen. I definitely think this year was the best IRI year so far (well, out of the ones I attended). Also, the matches were very intense and really interesting to watch. I even enjoyed them more at IRI than at the Championships. Also thanks to all the teams who competed and made this event so awesome.

Also, I would like to thank Andy Baker and Chris Fultz for letting VizSeek and 80/20, Inc display their kiosks/gurney as well as for letting us promote the Contest INCITE. This Contest is really a great opportunity for teams to win great prizes that total up to $1500 with $500 of that being cash or a check to go toward the teams' robots for the 2010 season.

P.S. the contest is free for everyone to join, more info coming on CD soon

[David Brinza]

IRI becomes a better event each year. Chris, Andy and the rest of the IRI organizing team have created the "gem" of FIRST robotics competitions.

Team 980 had an unimaginably successful event. Of course, much of our success was due to our fantastic alliance partners throughout the competition. The experience of working with WildStang, Penn Robotics and the Tigertrons in the elimination rounds was amazing and educational.

Thanks to everyone who made this IRI very special to Team 980. We look forward to seeing you all next season!

[Meredith Novak]

Hats off, kudos, and THANKS to Chris, Sister Andy, 45, 234, and 1024. There are simply no teams in FIRST that make me say, "I wanna be that team" any more than Teams 45, 234, and 1024. I have never seen anyone from any of these groups act in a way that was not lovely and professional. It is no wonder that IRI is the stupendous, premier event that it is.

Thanks to 1625, 68, and 469 for allowing us to watch your back. Our youngsters had a thrilling time, but now we will have a real job convincing them that it usually takes a little more to win a Championship trophy than providing a human player and a couple of batteries.

[Travis Hoffman]

In addition to all the usual thank you's given to those who work so hard to make IRI such a great time, I'd like to add a few specific thanks:

• Thank you for bringing back the adult drive team matches in such an awesome manner. In one hour +, the old geezers on our alliance got to play seven matches (should have been only six, but my next bullet point covers that), 4 more than I had played in 3 IRI mentor rounds from 2004-2006. The opportunity to help out local charities in the process was just icing on the cake. Thanks to our alliance partners 217 and 47 for picking us and putting on a good show together.

• Thank you to the Copiolis for their patience and understanding after I pressured Paul's poor wife into committing a penalty by illegally shooting a 2nd supercell at the end of our first match , resulting in a tie. A perfect storm of bad timing, adrenaline, and oversight combined together such that I did not realize she had already shot and scored a supercell (sno-coning it on top of the vision target, no less!).

• Thank you to all those who helped out the pre-rookies in attendance at the IRI. I know our sponsored team, Innovators Robotics out of Dayton, spent hours working with the Team 379 mentors who came with us on the trip and learned a lot driving 379's (and eventually, 234's) robot. I do have one suggestion though - next year, if there aren't enough pre-rookies to fill out a full match card, I do hope the IRI folks can add more structure to the event, inviting veteran teams to participate in matches during the times the practice field is reserved for the challenge, helping give the pre-rooks a more complete match experience. I believe volunteers started doing this on Saturday, which is great.

[Chris Fultz]

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

I do have one suggestion though - next year, if there aren't enough pre-rookies to fill out a full match card, I do hope the IRI folks can add more structure to the event, inviting veteran teams to participate in matches during the times the practice field is reserved for the challenge, helping give the pre-rooks a more complete match experience. I believe volunteers started doing this on Saturday, which is great.[/list]

Thanks for this. We actually planned to do this, and then (in a mr. obvious moment) learned that once you download the encription required to play on the main field, that you can no longer driver via remote control and your wireless router. Any IRI Teams on the practice field needed tethered...

We learned, and next time will have more "spare" robots on the field to make full matches.

It's always something, ain't it!

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Chris Fultz

Thanks for this. We actually planned to do this, and then (in a mr. obvious moment) learned that once you download the encription required to play on the main field, that you can no longer driver via remote control and your wireless router. Any IRI Teams on the practice field needed tethered...

We learned, and next time will have more "spare" robots on the field to make full matches.

It's always something, ain't it!

If you use James Kiefer's radio programming utility next year, get a list of the security keys from him (it's easy - he keeps them in a text file sorted by team number) and have teams program their key into their routers. We went wireless on the practice field all weekend.

[Lowfategg]

I would just like to say thank you on the behalf of our team to everyone that made this great event possible. Only the greatest volunteers and organizers could have possibly made this event run so well. It was tons of fun and I am sure we will be seeing everyone next year.

I had a completely awesome time making new friends and playing with amazing teams.

Also, thank you to 832, 1771, and 179 for being great alliance partners and for making it such a cooperative alliance.

[OZ_341]

On behalf of Team 341, I wanted to say what a great time we had at IRI.

We really enjoyed the incredible afternoon of playoff matches, the dinner on Friday, the talent show, and getting to meet the awesome teams that attend. All of the IRI volunteers were very friendly and ready to help.

You certainly don't need me to tell you that you run a great event, but as the organizer of an off-season competition myself, I recognize the tremendous work that goes into such an event. I salute everyone involved.

So we just wanted to thank you to Chris, Andy, Team 234, Team 45, and Team 1024 for inviting us. Our kids had a blast and hopefully we will see you again next year!

Al Ostrow
Team 341