2010 Sacramento Regional

[Given To Fly]

Originally Posted by bhsrobotics1671

Congrats to our brother (why does it always have to be sister?) team, 2761 and the rest of the red alliance. It's nice to see a young team that 1671 and 1323 worked together to start make it to the top and qualify for nationals their first two years as a part of FIRST. I was hoping to see a Central Valley Robotics showdown with 1323 and 2761 in the finals, but glad to see one of them be on an alliance that made it through the end. It's too bad we couldn't make it up there to join you guys in SAC this week.

Hey Thanks Andrew!

A heartfelt thank you to team 604 & 3256, you took a gamble on us and we thank you. From the bottom ranking it would appear that our bot was garbage, but your scouts saw something in us that we as a team felt, and that we did have a good defensive robot, you looked beyond our ranking.
It takes tremendous courage for a top seeded team to go all the way down to the bottom of the rankings and skip over higher ranking teams and choose us. This has been a life lesson for our team, when the chips are down, keep your head up, stay positive, stick together as a team, if given a chance rise to the occasion. You gave us a chance, and like great people in this world...when opportunity knocks, you got to take advantage of it.

Team 604, your team has inspired us. We are so lucky to have been surrounded by great teams in this state. We thank you all. Congratulations on winning the awards! Flowers award, Chairman's award and the regional championship! Thank you so much for allowing us to be a part of something so special. We will NEVER forget you and the fantastic experience. I look forward to see you soon!

Team 3256, your energy and spirit caught us. As a rookie it sure reminds us of last year when we won rookie all star award last year at Davis, only you certainly surpassed us! You have what it takes to be a top class team like 604. We certainly look forward to seeing you again soon. Thanks for giving us a shot and allowing us to be on your alliance.

Wish you could have been at this event 1671. As our sister ahh...yeah why a sister team, brother team, we certainly would have liked you to have had the opportunity to share the experience with us. Thanks for all of the help and assistance this season, we certainly appreciate your kinship. Next season...we'll attend the same event alright? lol!

To the rest of the teams at the Sacramento event, we also would like to leave you with this...remember, when you feel or know that your robot is not doing so well, keep your positive spirits up. Stick closer together with your team, don't break apart (easy to do, we've seen this before) good things can happen. Believe in your abilities as a team, remember the FIRST values that Dean speaks about. It's really not about the "game" it's about the road you choose to get to the game, the journey is more important and the destination. Sure...some might say this is coming from a team who won, but in all honesty, we were prepared to pack up of bot and go home, after all we were ranked 37 out of 38 teams
We had a good time, we wished more people would have stopped by and said hello, but hey...we were at the VERY bottom of the ranking, we knew we're not that important to other teams. To those who stopped by to say hello and to give us words of encouragement, Thank you, it meant a lot. You remembered your FIRST values. Again, it's about FIRST values not the game so much. To those who wanted to either win at all cost or to those who may have wanted to loose just to earn those ranking slots...there's more to it, perhaps your teams have gotten lost along the way. My words to you, remember the FIRST values.

Closing...thank you volunteers who worked tirelessly at this event and the rest of the mentors on all of the teams...again thanks! Thanks Jim Beck!
Thanks Mark and Crazy Nick!
Thanks again to our fantastic alliance 604 & 3256!

[VML3256]

Hey 2761 and 604 and everyone else!

First of all, I'll reply to 2761. Thanks a lot! I saw you guys today in the qualifying matches and you guys were playing well. We continued to watch you guys and you continued to impress us, making it to our list of top defense robots. You did great in the elimination matches and did a great job helping us block the hanging bots. I'm so glad we picked you guys! You're such a kind and graciously professional team. Hope to see you at Atlanta!

604...what can I say! You guys are amazing. You encouraged us to start a team and then have continued to help us throughout the season. We couldn't have asked for a better mentor team. You guys made us feel like family. We're glad you picked us. By the way, that was the most EPIC alliance selection ever:
Beeta: Team 604 would love to invite our friends from San Jose
(Pauses, turns around, unzips jacket, takes it off)
On the back of her shirt (one of our jersey's) it said 3256!
Me: Team 3256 (alliance captain #2) loves to accept!

I didn't really have any response to really match that invite, lol. You caught me off guard. I wish I knew so I could have worn a Leland t-shirt. I thought you were just going to say (Team 604 graciously invites team 3256.) I wasn't expecting that at all! That was brilliant!
We were hoping to get with you guys since SVR, and when we didn't, we were really hoping at Davis. This was a dream come true. I can't believe our teams got #1 and #2 seed at Davis. That was amazing! You guys have such a great robot and our robots work together so well. But it wasn't just our robots, our teams have formed a partnership that I hope will last for years to come. 604, your an awesome mentor team!
You guys are such a role model and inspiration to us and an excellent example of gracious professionalism. There were tears in my eyes when you guys won Chairman's. Chairman's + Woodie Flower's + Regional Winners= Triple Play (or hat trick..not to mention SVR awards). WOW!
I'm gonna miss all you seniors next year: Eugene, Rohan, James, Jenny, Beeta. What an amazing senior year for you guys. We appreciate everything 604 has done for us. 3256 ♥ 604. 3256+604= Dream Team. We did it guys! We did it! You guys have amazing mentors, especially Mrs. Arrington (Woodie Flower's Award recipient), she totally deserved that award. You're blessed to have her. See you at Atlanta! (Hope we get in the same hotel again!)

Team 3256:
Marcus and Chad, I know your reading this thread. You guys are amazing. You're so dedicated, intelligent, and hard working. Great driving, designing, building, and outreach and everything that you guys did. Chad, that was a great CAD, especially for a rookie. Vanessa, great job with business, you did amazing with the business plan, rookie write-up, Woodie Flower's submission, scrapbook, and outreach. I am so glad you joined the team! Jon and Liz, great job with the programming, you guys have done so well and learned so much. Tae, your an awesome safety captain. (Industrial Safety Award at SVR & Davis wow!) Andrew, Jason, Amy, Ning, you did a great job scouting and you guys worked so hard. Kevin, Iryna, Nikhil: I wish you could have been there with us the whole time. All of our hard work paid off: Industrial Safety Award (at SVR & Davis), Quality Award (SVR), Rookie All-Star Award (Davis), Regional Winners (Davis), Highest Seeded Rookie (seeded #2 overall at Davis, selected by #1- 604). Let's have a blast at Atlanta! It's going to be so much fun! I love you guys!

1323, 1280, 2122: You guys had great robots, good job!

Thanks to all our mentor's: Ryan (Machining, Mechanics, Driver Coach), Mark (Machining) and Deborah Epperson (Operations); Gary Koerzendorfer (C++); Bruce Thompson (SolidWorks); Lilibeth Kelsall (Business); Jim Oliphant (Electronics) and of course Annette Lane (Lead Mentor and my mom ♥)!

Thanks to our sponsors, of course!

604 and 668, thanks for helping us! We appreciate you guys so much!

Finally, thanks to all the volunteers, FIRST officials, and judges. We really appreciate all of your hard work.

Our alliance is what? (Jenny & me)
RED HOT! (3256+604+2761)

[VML3256]

about the penalty thing..apparently there was a new human player because their usual one couldn't make the match. She wasn't familiar with the rules and thought she was supposed to throw the ball into the field, not to our trident person...I feel bad for her..we were her alliance partners..stinks to be under pressure like that...Well, the opposing alliance scored 10, so it didn't affect our ranking much, we stayed where we were..

[VML3256]

Originally Posted by =Martin=Taylor=

Interesting that 604 picked 3256 over 1280. Ah well, I'm sure they'll meet in the finals.

Thanks 604. ♥

[MWB]

That was definitely one of the best yellow cards I've ever gotten... The funny thing is I was right about to back up and ram taters but they fell on their own so I just cleared out of the way... And btw you can tell that I didn't flip them because they fell toward us, which would be impossible if we had pushed them. Besides that great match taters, Carmel, and evolution, it was fun... We will see you (2122) at nationals.

[fordchrist675]

It was definitely an intense regional. quarters 4 took 6 tries which was nerve racking. haha 604,3256,and 2761 played amazing during the finals.

What made my day was the light saber duel between Mark Leon and myself. But Great job everyone!

[JYang]

Hey Everyone.

I know some people were asking for photos of SAC after SVR... so here they are =]

http://picasaweb.google.com/zhen.ni....oRegional2010#

Enjoy.
-JYang
Switched Google accounts because I ran out of room on my other account =(

[R.C.]

The Sacramento Regional was phenomenal.

Like to Thank Jenny (604) for taking pics of our robot and team throughout the comps .

Congrats to my friends on 604/3256 for building amazing robots. Can't wait to play with you guys next year.

Thank you 1280 and 675 for being amazing partners.

-RC

[Sam N.]

To Chad + Marcus on 3256:

Fantastic job, you built a great robot and learned a lot during the journey. I'm sure your whole team was there to help and support you in all the decision/design/fab processes.

Chad, excellent job bro (and I do mean bro). You've done in one year what I couldn't figure out how to do after four. There's something to be said about how well you can visualize designs and constructs in your head. Hopefully VC gives you some sort of tuition aid, else you might find yourself on 604 or 1351next year.

To 1351:

The bot looks great this year, the kicker worked fantastically well from what I gather, ball control was a little iffy - but there's always something, eh? As always, the chassis + electronics + software were robust and reliable.

MICHAEL CHANG, MICHAEL CHANG, MICHAEL CHANG! <--- be sure your apprentices reach your level of mastery. Glad to get the website award under our belt. We can put it next to all the Entrepreneurship ones now!

To the rest of the team (including mods): don't stop believing. (yeah, you've got journey stuck in your head now).

Best Regards to all,
Sam N.

[Andy L]

Originally Posted by Sam N.

don't stop believing. (yeah, you've got journey stuck in your head now).

Thanks.

Anyone else have pictures?

[billbo911]

Originally Posted by Andy L

Thanks.

Anyone else have pictures?

Here's the link to my Gallery, I will be adding to it for a day or so.
http://billbo911.smugmug.com/Hobbies...26252493_LiaZL

Here are a couple teasers.






Sacramento's first "Dean's List Award" winner.

[mwibbels]

Originally Posted by MWB

That was definitely one of the best yellow cards I've ever gotten... The funny thing is I was right about to back up and ram taters but they fell on their own so I just cleared out of the way... And btw you can tell that I didn't flip them because they fell toward us, which would be impossible if we had pushed them. Besides that great match taters, Carmel, and evolution, it was fun... We will see you (2122) at nationals.

Marcus - you may want to think about it as the best red card you didn't get. With the hanging hook of the Tator bot in contact with the tower when you were pushing on the robot, your action was worthy of a red card. Might not be good to count on the referree's inability to see the simultaneous contact too many times - I suspect that they will be watching fairly closely for actions that have the potential for robot destruction in the future.

Congratulations on a phenomenal rookie run!

[eugenebrooks]

The head ref explained after the match that they were watching closely and did not see contact with the tower. Marcus' expressed plan, backing up to ram 2122 while they were on the bump would certainly have been worthy of a red card. Our robot got hit while crossing the bump in the semi finals, causing damage when we hit the floor hard on the other side. We also turned over a robot right after that in an attempt to clear a suitable path to approach the tower to hang, the driver was somewhat frustrated and such behavior seemed to be fair game, judging by the fact that it was allowed by the refs. When you re-read the rules in hindsight, these interactions are allowed/predicted by the rules. This is an unfortunate feature of the game this year. Attempting to push a robot from the bump while it is attempting to gather two points would seem to be fair game. Carefully parking a robot on its side bumper, not causing any damage, is also fair game. Hitting, leading to damage, is perhaps a different matter. Let the team who has not hit a robot on the bump throw the first stone...

The rules are what they are, and looking at the requirements of the game I don't see how they could be better. I would like to suggest that you install a servo or two on your robot, with attached high visibility flags that the servo can drop into contact with the tower when you are perched. This will make your contact with the tower clear to the referees, and draw the desired red card (specified in the rules) when a robot attempts to defend your climb onto the bump to lift. This solution probably also works for robots that hang from the floor, but would clearly be of very high value to a robot perched on the bump.

Eugene

Originally Posted by mwibbels

Marcus - you may want to think about it as the best red card you didn't get. With the hanging hook of the Tator bot in contact with the tower when you were pushing on the robot, your action was worthy of a red card. Might not be good to count on the referree's inability to see the simultaneous contact too many times - I suspect that they will be watching fairly closely for actions that have the potential for robot destruction in the future.

Congratulations on a phenomenal rookie run!

[mwibbels]

Eugene, your proposed solution aligns very well with the one we decided on during drive back to Boise - it should be on the practice bot Monday night. Part of the solution to these situations is likely referee awareness. The aggressive bumping during the hang process was only present during the finals and we have speculated that the critical referees may not have been appropriately tuned in to what to look for - seems a very human thing to learn as the game develops - we are.

The contact was very visible from the drivers station, but from midfield position and some of the other locations it was likely not as visible. You can be certain that we will talk with the referee on the baseline behind the driver station about all parts of our robot that could be contacting the tower structure in the future.

[Andy L]

Originally Posted by mwibbels

Marcus - you may want to think about it as the best red card you didn't get. With the hanging hook of the Tator bot in contact with the tower when you were pushing on the robot, your action was worthy of a red card. Might not be good to count on the referree's inability to see the simultaneous contact too many times - I suspect that they will be watching fairly closely for actions that have the potential for robot destruction in the future.

Congratulations on a phenomenal rookie run!

If the hanging hook was on the tower wouldn't that have stopped the whole falling over thing?