Sacramento 2015

[Eugene Fang]

Originally Posted by themccannman

I got a little sneak peek before sac, not gonna lie I was excited, one of the craziest and coolest designs I've ever seen, leave it to 971 to innovate crazy elevators on moving arms.

Elevator? Four bar*? Por que no los dos?

RC would be happy.

*Actually chain

[steelerborn]

Honestly this is probably the most excited I have been for Sacramento in a while.

Usually it is 1678 on top with 971 close by and once these two teams combine it is pretty much expected to see them in the final rounds. 1678 put on a great show at CVR I am wondering what improvements they have made for Sacramento. And usually 1671 (who also had a decent show at CVR, probably third best there IMHO) is a finalist by the end and loses to the 1678, 971 alliance. But this year with 118 going you are going to have 4 really amazing robots there that will probably partner up with each other to form two very strong alliances, the only question is which ones will partner up (I am guessing 1678 and 118, while 971 and 1671)?

And 3250 had a very strong performance at Inland. They will be a team to watch too. Their drive team, students, and coaches are all top notch and a great team to talk to. They are what FIRST is all about.

[MrTechCenter]

If there's one observation I made at this regional, it's that 118's drive coach had magnificent facial hair.

[Doug G]

Congratulations to everyone at the SAC/Davis Regional. So many to thank and praise. Hats off to the organizing committee, referees, judges, inspectors, and all the fantastic volunteers. You know you've been doing this for a while when you start recognizing so many FIRSTers that now are either coaching teams with or as inspectors, FTAA's, judges, or as volunteers.

Great job to the awards winners:

Chairman's Award: 1671 - Buchannon Bird Brains, well deserved and excited for you to punch that ticket to worlds!

Engineering Inspiration: 701 - The RoboVikes

Rookie All Star & Highest Rookie Seed: 5458, See you at Worlds!!

Woodie Flowers Finalist Award: Steve Harvey (1678), Super exciting and am super happy for him. His is so humble in his teams' success and really cares about doing it right and shows no sign of slowing down. You are an inspiration to many us mentors and coaches.

Volunteer of the Year - Mark Crusoe (701). He dedicates so much of his time to FIRST at all levels, FLL, FTC, and FRC. Congrats.

Dean's List Finalists - Alex Chin (4904) and Megan Yamoah (1678). These kids are class acts just like their coaches/mentors Michelle and Steve.

Regional Winners: 118, 1678, and 5458 - a unstoppable alliance scoring over 200 in all but one match. 118 and 1678 now have two wins each... should be able to see one or both of them heading to einstein next month.

Finalists: 2085, 701, 568: I was so happy that we got to play with our counterpart, 2085, they consistenly scored several capped six stacks each match. 568 was a perfect alliance partner as well clearing and stacking out of the landfill so we could get to an extra can.

Creativity Award: 692, the Fembots. Amazing design and it was great to see it work to its full potential. Tenacity is strong on that team.

Entrepreneurship: 100, Wildhats. A team that embodies so many FIRST ideals.

Excellence in Engineering: 118, Robonauts. An incredible landfill stacking monster of a machine. See you in a few weeks at Lone Star!!

Gracious Professionalism: 668, Apes of Wrath.

Imagery: 5496, RoboKnights. Way to go Rookies!! You have a bright future ahead of you.

Industrial Design: 2085, RoboDogs: Simple, effective, and efficient 6-stacking/capping robot. See you at Worlds!

Safety Award & Quality Award: 3250, Kennedy Robotics. They just keep blowing my mind with what those kids are manufacturing at that school.

Innovation in Control: 2073, EagleForce. They went all out this year to build an amazing machine, it was good to see it come together and be recognized for all their hard work.

Judge's Award: 4543, the Illuminators. Talking with them was truly inspirational... a new set of students each year and have them still perform at the level they did was fantastic to see.

Rookie Inspiration: 5430, Pirate Robolution. Way to go Jack!! Your team is poised for future success!!

Team Spirit: 4135, Iron Patriots. We had a chance to be pit neighbors at CVR and I was pleasantly surprised to learn they had earned a Golden Bell award for their program's engineering pathway success. Congrats to them and for being recognized for a lot of hard work and SPIRIT of course.

Finally, I'd like to thank Jeff Workman who took over as Committee Chair this year. You did a fantastic job and really made it a memorable event for all of us.

[hionwind]

Thank You to Doug Green for summing up the Sacramento Regional so thoroughly. Despite some of the negative publicity that "Recycle Rush" has been getting, I thought that this year's event was the best ever. I was so impressed by the quality of the robots and gracious professionalism of the teams.

1678 was thrilled to be able to partner with such a class act as team 118 and also to have 5458 join our alliance.

The competition was definitely a notch up from CVR with 2085 and 701 making consistent stacks, 971 coming in with a super-fast can grabber, and 1671 putting up three stacks in almost every match they played.

I was so excited that 5458 won Rookie All Star. They have worked so hard with minimal financial support and know that they are super excited to qualify for Champs.

Thank you, Doug, for you kind words re WFFA. I was too emotional to say anything at the event but I'd like to say it here. Even though we know there is no "I" in team, there is an "I" in FIRST and it stands for "Inspiration".

I am incredibly grateful to so many people who have inspired me throughout my 11 years with FIRST. You, Doug, along with your amazing team, are the main reason that 1678 is where they are today. From that day you brought your robot to our school and showed us the excitement of FRC, your team has been an inspiration to us all.

Team 971, along with the entire Schuh family, have also been a great source of inspiration for me and our team. You consistently build some of the most beautiful machines but also work tirelessly at events to help other teams, often ours.

Many other teams have inspired me with their passion and grace. There's too many to list but some Sac regulars that have consistently impressed me with their gracious professionalism include teams 100, 692, 766, 1671, 2073, 2085, 3250 and 3256.

Most of all, I am inspired by the amazing students, mentors and parents of team 1678. You have worked so hard over the years to get our team to where it is. I am incredibly lucky to have you.

But I can't finish this post without acknowledging two very special special people who have helped me and the team reach the place where we are today. Mike Corsetto needs no introduction. There is no-one more passionate about FIRST than Mike and his leadership and guidance of our young students is exemplary. Thank you Mike for all the cheesecake you bring to our team!

And finally my wife, Kris, who has stuck by me all these years and never once complained about all the hours that I am away. She not only holds down the fort at home but also finds time to mentor our chairman's team. Thank you, Kris, for putting up with me and my passion for the craziness of FIRST.

[Tyler_Kaplan]

This regional was one of the funnest competitions I've had the honor to compete in. There was a lot of fantastic teams competing and eliminations were very exciting!

A big thank you to all of the volunteers that put countless hours of work planning and running the event that made it run so smoothly, it wouldn't happen without you guys.

Also a huge thank you to our Alliance partners 701 and 568. Competing with our close friends over at 701 was an amazing experience, and I can't wait to see them at world's. Working with 568 was also amazing, I couldn't say enough good things about this team. Their team was great to work with, and everyone from their pit crew to their drivers were fun to work with. I can't wait to see you guys in St Louis!

A big congratulations to 118, 1678, and 5458. It was an honor playing against such a high caliber of teams in the final matches, and I wish all of you the best of luck at world's! My experience with these teams is a perfect example of how teams who build some of the best robots in FRC can exhibit amazing gracious professionalism both on and off the field.

Lastly a thank you to all of the amazing teams that competed at this regional! Everyone made this event great to be a part of, can't wait for next year!

[Ubiquity]

It was great fun. I especially liked the teams that struggle through adversity.
Sometimes we forget how hard it is to field a working robot. I believe 1422 had real problems with passing inspection and the Apes of Wrath won the GP award for helping them so they were able to field a robot on Saturday. The 3250 robot with their three bin autonomous mode was very impressive. One time I saw them score 2 bins even though their ally ran into them during auto. 971 had an awesome design for placing the bins gently on the platform based on a pantograph. 1671's intake for stacking human player bins was brilliant. The Vikes (701) had trouble at first getting the first grey to land flat, but they worked on it at got better each match they played. In general experience counts. 118, 1678, 1671 all had competed before and it showed. What I liked about these teams were every match was played with intensity, as if it were an elimination, even though they were cruising.
971 was competing for the first time and I am predicting they will be pretty darn efficient come SVR. The number 6 seed, 4543, is a team from a continuation high school - these guys are blowing away stereotypes and misconceptions about the digital divide, plus they made it to the semi-finals.

A hint to teams who want to score co-opitition points, DON'T Throw litter onto the field until AFTER the yellows are stacked!