2010 Battle O' Baltimore

[RoboMom]

A terrific judges line-up this year and new awards.

2010 Battle O’ Baltimore Awards

Battle Champions (3)

Battle Finalists (3)

Mike Wade Engineering Excellence Award (1)
This award is dedicated to the memory of Mike Wade, a champion for the growth and expansion of FIRST Robotics in Maryland. His enthusiasm and commitment set the stage for this competition and many other off-season events on the East coast. His considerable efforts resulted in the NASA field, the Alliance trailer and truck, and critical support and funding for local teams. The Judges are pleased to recognize a team with an excellent robot design achieving this year's game challenge. It is an engineering award rewarding the design and construction of an effective and efficient robot that outperforms the competition on the playing field.

We Really Like You Award (1)
The Judges are pleased to recognize a team who stood out for their gracious professionalism, effective teamwork, and/or a spirit that exemplifies the qualities of a great team. This award is judged based on team ballots, input from the event staff and interviews by the judges.

The TIME Center is a National Science Foundation funded Advanced Technological Education Center focused on improving the numbers of and skills of manufacturing and engineering technicians. The Center is pleased to be able to offer the following awards:

TIME Center Judges Award for Bytes and Volts (1)
The Judges are pleased to recognize innovation in the design and execution of an effective control system (including autonomous, wiring methods and/or human interfaces) to meet the game challenges.

TIME Center Judges Award—“WOW” for Technical Design (1)
The Judges are pleased to recognize a team for having a creative “WOW” factor in the design and operation of a component of their robot

[Jane n Mike]

Calling All BoB Teams: The Book Drive for Reach Out and Read is happening again this year!

This is a great organization that provides books for pediatricians to give to their young patients to encourage early reading. In Maryland alone, 81,000 books were distributed last year!

Please donate:
• Books that are gently used, with covers and pages intact
• Books that do not deal with sensitive issues (divorce, abuse, death, religion)
• Activity books only if they have never been used
• No textbooks, encyclopedias, etc.

Be the Winning Team: start NOW to collect the most books for the BoB Tournament on August 7nd

Thanks much,
Jane Crosson, book drive coordinator

[rcflyer620]

Calling all teams!
There are still plenty of spots open for the Battle O' Baltimore!
If you'd like to attend please get your application to me ASAP!
I can only accept applications until July 31st but I will accept payment at the event if you can't enclose a check right now.

For teams that are attending: several teams have asked if they need to bring their router. We will be using FMS Lite so you probably won't need it but it doesn't take up much space so it's a great backup in the unlikely event of a total system crash. We had really good luck with FMS Lite last year and expect the same this year. We'll be running a multiple robot test this Saturday.
See you at the Battle!

Mark Eastman

[RoboMom]

Registration closes this Sat. July 31.
Information about lunch pre-orders and parking just posted.

Rule changes here: http://battleobaltimore.com/info.php

[RoboMom]

Parking and load in map posted.
http://www.battleobaltimore.com/directions.php

[RoboMom]

Tuesday August 3 - Battle O' Baltimore will be featured on early morning news show for WBAL Channel 11 in Baltimore, with live shots from Boys' Latin starting at 5:45am and continuing until 6:55 am. Two local teams participating so far.

[rcflyer620]

Lunch pre-order

If you are planning to attend the Battle O' Baltimore this year please be sure to get your lunch pre-order form in ASAP!

This is a super convenient way to make sure your team gets a delicious lunch at a resonable price without having to leave the grounds.

Forms are available on the web site: http://battleobaltimore.com

Don't forget to bring your new and gently used childrens books for the Reach Out and Read program!

[RoboMom]

Field is up, robots are running, the music was blasting out of the big NASA speakers and the venue has a really spacious pit area.

Tomorrow will be fun!

[RoboMom]

Congratulations to all the teams! It was a really fun day. Terrific teams & hardworking volunteers and judges. Thanks to the sponsors - NASA, CCBC and the TIME Center, and the host - Boys' Latin.

I just realized we forgot to get the annual photo of all the volunteers...

Each team got to take home a participation trophy (thanks to the Needels for designing these). They are difficult to photograph, but are really pretty-all glass!

And the awards went to:

Battle Champions (3) Teams 357 1885 2849

Battle Finalists (3) Teams 1629 1727 2537

Mike Wade Engineering Excellence Award (1) Team 2377 "C-Company"
This award is dedicated to the memory of Mike Wade, a champion for the growth and expansion of FIRST Robotics in Maryland. His enthusiasm and commitment set the stage for this competition and many other off-season events on the East coast. His considerable efforts resulted in the NASA field, the Alliance trailer and truck, and critical support and funding for local teams. The Judges are pleased to recognize a team with an excellent robot design achieving this year's game challenge. It is an engineering award rewarding the design and construction of an effective and efficient robot that outperforms the competition on the playing field.

We Really Like You Award (1) Team 888 "Robotiators"
The Judges are pleased to recognize a team who stood out for their gracious professionalism, effective teamwork, and/or a spirit that exemplifies the qualities of a great team. This award is judged based on team ballots, input from the event staff and interviews by the judges.

The TIME Center is a National Science Foundation funded Advanced Technological Education Center focused on improving the numbers of and skills of manufacturing and engineering technicians. The Center is pleased to be able to offer the following awards:

TIME Center Judges Award for Bytes and Volts (1) Team 1629 "GaCo"
The Judges are pleased to recognize innovation in the design and execution of an effective control system (including autonomous, wiring methods and/or human interfaces) to meet the game challenges.

TIME Center Judges Award—“WOW” for Technical Design (1) Team 449 "Blair Robot Project"
The Judges are pleased to recognize a team for having a creative “WOW” factor in the design and operation of a component of their robot

Special Recognition:

Livinda Dunham, Volunteer Coordinator, for her efforts supporting the BoB and the Chesapeake Regional.

Paul Harris, facilitator for the Baltimore Area Alliance, for his leadership. We will all miss him.

Rob Thate, NASA-GSFC, for his continuing support of the BoB.

And I was very touched by the kind words.

See you all next year!

[Joe Troy]

Team 357 would like to thank our alliance partners 1885 and 2849 for great teamwork and spirited play.

Team 1885, Battlefield HS, ILITE Robotics played an incredible defense throughout the eliminations, showcasing their speed and agility.

Team 2849, Hammond HS & Wilde Lake HS, Ursa Major controlled the midfield and added match winning points with their reliable hanging feature.

The Battle 'O Baltimore continues to be a welcoming and fun off season event, the Baltimore Area Alliance should be proud of their efforts!!

[Chris is me]

I feel compelled to point out that the "We Really Like You Award" is probably my favorite name for any award in FRC.

[RoboMom]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I feel compelled to point out that the "We Really Like You Award" is probably my favorite name for any award in FRC.

We borrowed and tweaked it. There is a thread that I started asking for examples of awards given out at off-seasons.

It was taken from: We Really Like You (As determined by our Farmingbury Woman's Club volunteers) which we really liked!