pic: Team IFI

[Arefin Bari]

Scared? Pffffffffttttttt... I would take on Karthik, Derek, Tyler, John, Cory, and Paul anyday...

... in my dreams.

[hayleybayley217]

Originally Posted by santosh

Do you guys each build 2 bots by chance to practice during the time between build and competition.

Yeah we have a practice bot as well so our drivers can stay up with strategy and get ready for the next competition. I believe 148 and 1114 do as well.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by Karthik

IFI has been a great sponsor of Team 1114 for the past two years. The Simbots have many great sponsors, but IFI is by far the "coolest". All of our successes over the past two years were made possible by the support from IFI. One of the neatest things about Team IFI is the support shown for each other by all the teams. When 217 was on Einstein, the other Team IFI members rallied together to provide strategy and scouting advice for the Thunderchickens. It was definitely a cool dynamic.

Yeah! WE certainly could see that from the halfway point of the Einstein field on the upper deck.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by EdwardP

I know 254 does, and I'm sure the others do as well.
If you have the resources to build a second robot, you really should. This is the first year 971 did it and it helped us immensely. I don't know that we would have won our regional without it.

You mean 4 robots in all. Two red and Two blue ones.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by hayleybayley217

Yeah we have a practice bot as well so our drivers can stay up with strategy and get ready for the next competition. I believe 148 and 1114 do as well.

I had heard that you folks practice on the Las Guerillas practice field from their team.

[EdwardP]

Originally Posted by waialua359

You mean 4 robots in all. Two red and Two blue ones.

Of course (I've never seen the red ones though) 254 was really great to practice against on their practice field at NASA. We couldn't have done it without them.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by EdwardP

Of course (I've never seen the red ones though) 254 was really great to practice against on their practice field at NASA. We couldn't have done it without them.

Just playing around. EJ had corrected me also at SVR.
By the way, congrats on winning. You must be STILL floating around in the clouds somewhere.

-Glenn

[Akash Rastogi]

Forget about the robots for a second, if I could meet all the mentors standing there at that moment, I think it'd make my entire FIRST experience so far so worth it.

I look forward to learning more from you all in the future, until then, have fun in the offseason.

[EdwardP]

Originally Posted by waialua359

Just playing around. EJ had corrected me also at SVR.
By the way, congrats on winning. You must be STILL floating around in the clouds somewhere.

-Glenn

No i know what yo are talking about 968 from San Diego's identical robots, that are red.

About the mentors, I have only met 254's, but I can say you are definitely right.

[ChuckDickerson]

Team IFI is impressive by any measure. What sort of support does IFI provide to the sponsored teams? I spent a few minutes in Team 2056 pit in Atlanta on Saturday morning looking closely at their machine in awe of the beautiful orange polycord conveyor system. I noticed some very nice gusset brackets and asked if the team made them themselves and was told they got them from their sponsor IFI. I asked if they were a standard part or if they were custom designed for them. The students thought they were standard IFI parts and said they thought they were available on the IFI website. I have looked at IFIRobotics.com but don’t see them.

Here are pictures of the gussets I’m talking about:






Does anyone know if these are standard IFI parts or if IFI will or plans to sell them?

I ask because they look like they would work perfectly with the ever popular 80/20 10 Series T-Slot but may be a lighter and less costly solution than similar 80/20 brand parts. 80/20 10-Series T-Slot extrusion itself isn’t terribly expensive but 80/20 is very proud of their connector plates or so it seems to me. Teams can make their own but without the proper equipment homemade brackets aren’t always as precisely made. I think it would be pretty awesome if IFI would come out with some standard stamped/punched angle brackets and gussets similar to these that would be compatible with the 80/20 10 Series T-Slot at a reasonable price for teams that don’t have the equipment to manufacture them as nicely in house.

IFI, are these beautiful brackets on the 2056 machine a hint of great new thing to come from IFI?

[2056Durfey]

This year our entire frame was designed by Tyler Holtzman and was sent to IFI to be punched out. So to my knowledge they are custom parts that we had made for us this year.

We also build two robots each year so we can practice after ship. We didn't do this our first year do to lack of resources, but it has helped us immensely during the last two seasons to develop new strategies and get a feel for the robot and that years game.

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by DeepWater

Does anyone know if these are standard IFI parts or if IFI will or plans to sell them?

Sponsors are considered to be part of your team, and can make custom parts for you, although you have to report the cost of raw matierals in your BOM.

Apparently IFI has some nice sheet metal equipment! The robot parts that come from them are beautiful.

[Raul]

Originally Posted by Adam Freeman

...
All of these teams and robots are incredible. I know friends on most of the teams (1114, 217, 2056, and 217). I need to meet with the 254 guys, b/c I love their designs. Their 2006 robot was the inspiration for our 2009 robot.

Anyways, to the quote above....before we formed our Championship alliance I would have agreed with you, but after working with 111 and 971...I'd have to disagree.

It would be one crazy match though.....

I am lucky to say that I do have good friends from all 5 teams. And it was a little scary to see them all on Paul's side helping with strategy. Why do you think we had our strategy huddle for so long trying to figure out every possible move the 217 alliance would make. But I do want to say thank you to EJ for the scouting info from his division.

[roboticWanderor]

Originally Posted by Karthik

IFI has been a great sponsor of Team 1114 for the past two years. The Simbots have many great sponsors, but IFI is by far the "coolest". All of our successes over the past two years were made possible by the support from IFI. One of the neatest things about Team IFI is the support shown for each other by all the teams. When 217 was on Einstein, the other Team IFI members rallied together to provide strategy and scouting advice for the Thunderchickens. It was definitely a cool dynamic.

Yea, I could see JVN's white hat bobbing around behind the thunderchikens on Einstien and knew it was gonna be a great set of finals matches. having a great set of sponsors, mentors, and students supporting each other from around the nation is a wonderful dynamic of these "teams" of friends and competitors, bringing some of the most innovative minds of FIRST together. (if that makes any sense)

[JVN]

The real powerful story here doesn't involve sponsorship or robots. Over the past few years, 148 has been fortunate enough to form a strong bond with several teams; 1114, 2056, 254, & 217 just being some of them. These incredible friendships with other teams represent to me the coolest part of this program.

Also "magical" are the relationships that develop between mentors and students from different teams. I'm thrilled that our students have the opportunity to work with role models from other teams; these outside mentors have as much of an impact on the Robowrangler students as I do. This impact is the real benefit we get from our close collaboration and friendship, and I'm extremely thankful for it.

-John