Robot Rodeo - What a Blast!

[Gary Dillard]

Thanks to Team 186 for sponsoring a Great season opening event this weekend, the Robot Rodeo in Kissimmee, FL. We're thrilled to walk away with the champion trophy alongside ComBat, but we were excited just to be there. Our rookies got a little taste of what FIRST is about, and we got to try out some new drivers since our A-team graduated. We even had some guys get some stick time who had never had their hands on the controls at all, even at our home pit.
Side note - the white nubby brekoflex belts will never darken our robot again. The have a higher friction coefficient than the green ones ( we measured 250# on the robot traction test stand with a 130# robot) but we ripped both of them in half in one day (we just put them on the week before). At $250 a pop can't afford to do that. OUCH! We're getting pretty good at changing them out though - got the time down to about 6 minutes.
To all the teams that were there - Thanks for making us feel welcome. We're proud of every team that puts in the time and effort, regardless of where you finish. We've been in last place alot more times than we've been on top.
Andy, Barbara, Don, Lori, Jon (whoever you are, why did people keep calling your name?), I wish I could remember everyone's name - We had a blast and you can be sure we'll be there again next year.