Seattle Washington Recap/Thanks

[Navid Shafa]

*Disclaimer: My opinions do not necessarily reflect the views held by Skunkworks Robotics Team 1983 and it is certainly not my intent to leave anyone out, offend or otherwise harm anyone in the process. Also, I have alumn friends and coworkers from many of the teams mentioned below and it was fun to share this regional experience with them

Seattle felt weird, a good weird, but undoubtedly different. It was strange not having 360, 488, 1318, 2046, 2557, etc... i.e. (a lot of teams who’ve been going to their home court from year to year.)

Washington continues to grow fast. We had and astounding 15(+?) rookie teams at the event and certainly a few who well, “Just get it”:

I’d like to recognize 4579 for not only being the highest rookie seed, but for seeding 5th overall. I watched this robot play and didn’t get a chance to see it in person until much later. I was shocked to hear that this was their first year and that nobody on their team had previous FRC experience. I’m ecstatic that they were wildcarded, because they will give teams in Saint Louis a run for their money!

4450 received Rookie All Star and I certainly hope we see them at champs. Our team was blown away talking with them and we hope that other teams will join us in supporting them on their way to Saint Louis in whatever capacity they can.

In the competitive arena we saw plenty of great teams and we were thankful that we got to play with and against some of the best. I would first like to say that the Robo-Eagles (4579), CPR (3663) and the Tater-botz (2930) made an amazing alliance and it was apparent throughout their eliminations matches. 4579 will make Washington and Rookies all around proud at champs, I have no doubt!

At the end of the season when 2522 released their robot video, I was impressed to say the least. 2522 was a totally revamped team this year. They had a great looking robot, nice new shirts, clean design and execution and much more. It makes complete sense to me that they received the Quality award.

Another team with beauty in execution as always was 1899. I’m perpetually envious of the clean wooden frames they build and the manner in which they approach a design challenge. I was disappointed to see that they didn’t have their climber functioning and I hope to see their 1023/1114 style climb ready for Spokane!

2910 won Gracious Professionalism this week on top of their EI at Ellensburg last week. I’m excited that they will be going to Champs and I admire this team’s passion for not only robotics, but for what they do at the events and in their community.

To our Canadian friends 4334, we were glad to have you and hope to see you again in the future. Ever since 1346 left us in 2010, we’ve been in need of a little more of the “Eh” class robots 4334 continued to improve the entire weekend. I have no doubt that their full-court shooter will be dialed in for the Western Canadian regional and that they will be a driving force next weekend! *Nice meeting you Joel!

3574 got their ticket to St. Louis in Oregon with their EI win. It didn’t stop there for them this season. This weekend they picked up a Judges award, a Safety award and added a name to the WFFA pool. Congratulations to Fred Leuke. His kids clearly look up to him not only physically , but metaphorically.

And of course I’d like to thank our alliance partners 948 and 492 for making the regional win possible. I have yet to see a better full court shooter than NRG globally and would be surprised if anyone else could match their accuracy. After some scary CG problems in Ellensburg, they knew what to do here in Seattle. They can shoot every disc available and had no need for their climber. They took this opportunity to replace it with some weight low on their chassis to make defense and stability improve. They went undefeated at this event and won every match they played be a large margin. We were glad to be able to add to their score and had a great time playing with them. When it comes to Titan, I’m shocked that they were still around for us to pick them. They may have ranked low, but apparently other alliances looked past their consistent autonomous and shooting capabilities. We knew this would make them a great partner, but what really made our win possible was their driving. They played interference for NRG with their dual CIM per side 6-wheel drive. They kept people off NRG and left them free to pound in the discs. What an amazing Elimination experience!

And lastly, I want to thank everyone who made Chairman’s possible. We are blessed to have some amazing students who truly go above and beyond. Students who “Inspiral” and understand what it means to give back. I am proud of all the kids who organized outreach events and all the parents and mentors who supported them along the way. It was an honor to work beside them over the past year and I was definitely left a mess as we walked onto the field.

Thanks again to all the teams, sponsors and volunteers for yet another successful FIRST event in Seattle, home of the robotics motto:
“World Domination”!

I am again looking forward to seeing old and new friends at our next regional. See you all at the Spokane regional next weekend!