The dark side of alliances...

[Ed Sparks]

I think we made the ultimate stupid mistake on our very first match of our first regional (Peachtree) .......

The drive team never turned on the main breaker. They saw the blinking leds on the controller and assummed everything was good to go.

The good news is that I don't think we'll ever have that problem again.

[steven114]

Whoops. That's a good one. I guess that shows how important it is not to get TOO specialized...

[Ryan F.]

Everyone makes mistakes...I myself was the arm operator for our robot, and forgot to pay attention to the gigantic markings that indicate when our hook is being overextended (ends up making a mess of our winch mechanism). To make a long story short..we had to hang to win the match, were in position with ample time, and I blew it. But in the end...winning isn't everything.

[Joshua May]

Originally Posted by Joe Johnson

I want to say thanks to Teams #114 and #1097 for playing with us at the San Jose Regional. You guys did a great job.

As one of the main programmers, I feel personally responsible for the software bug that had our robot sitting frozen in its starting position for the first 90 seconds of our final match.

I cannot apologize enough.

I like the alliance concept, but there is a dark side to it as well. Specifically, when your team fails to deliver, you feel 3 times as bad because you let down not only your own team, but 2 additional teams that were counting on you.

Both teams #114 and #1097 were very gracious about the defeat, but I can imagine that they were very let down by the experience.

I hope that the Cosmic Karma will eventually balance all accounts.

Until then, please accept my thanks for picking us and my regrets for not coming through for you.

Joe J.

Don't hold yourself to feeling bad about this. I accounted for many mistakes with my team, including just about the exact same error you made here, I also hooked up the wrong radio so our robot malfunctioned, and I have held myself responsible for these mistakes. However, every team makes mistakes and everyone on every team makes a mistake. And even though you made one error, I am sure that you have given much more to your team to counterbalance what happened in this one match.