The 2008 Beantown Blitz (Hosted by team #125)

[Elgin Clock]

Any specific volunteer positions still open?
I'm still trying to decide between BTB & Monty this year.

[andrew348]

Will 1519's 2nd Config fill the open spot if it is still open?

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

Any specific volunteer positions still open?
I'm still trying to decide between BTB & Monty this year.

Elgin, I'm sure we can put you somewhere if you want to make the trip (and cmon man, represent the new england)

Originally Posted by andrew348

Will 1519's 2nd Config fill the open spot if it is still open?

1519s 2nd bot may fill the open slot, however we would prefer to give it to another team if they are willing to come. Stay tuned for what happens. We have had 8 teams cancel on us so we are trying to fill in as many different teams as we can.`

[andrew348]

Team 348 would like to thank Team 121 The Rhode Warriors and Team 69 Hyper Robotics for being on our winning alliance.

We would like to congratulate Team 88 TJ^2, Team 176 Aces High, & Team 1991 The Dragons

We would like to thank Koko Ed for the flags.

We would like to thank our mentors Herm, Kwol, Mr. Nestor & Nobles.

We would like the MC for knowing the Shaniqua Shuffle and introducing our alliance as "The Blue Alliance"

[MWTrek]

I'd like to congratulate teams 348, 121, and 69. And thanks for the time out.

I'd like to thank our alliance partners 88 and 1991.

Who ever said this wasn't a defensive game should have seen this event.

[andrew348]

Originally Posted by MWTrek

I'd like to congratulate teams 348, 121, and 69. And thanks for the time out.

I'd like to thank our alliance partners 88 and 1991.

Who ever said this wasn't a defensive game should have seen this event.

Yeah. We got a verbal warning for overaggressive driving and a 10 point plenty for high speed ramming.

[AmoryG]

All I can say is that I enjoyed myself and the competition went pretty smoothly. It was nice to see that all though winning this didn't qualify you for anything in particular the competition was competitive just as it was in the Boston Regional and in Atlanta. I have to admit though I would have enjoyed competing in the elimination rounds partially because our team didn't make it past the qualifying matches in the two other events we went to.

Something I'd like to ask you other teams that went. Between the time when your robot was shipped home from the last official competition you went to and the Beantown Blitz, what kind of changes had you made to your robot? One thing we changed was our poker. Originally we had to stop under the rack and position ourselves. We then launched the poker which was simply a metal bar with a head attached to it which launched the ball up and off. After the Boston Regional we went to Atlanta with the nutrons and with their help we changed the poker around a bit and it became a slapper. This was similar to the slapper from the nutron's own bot.

Also, after Atlanta we tried to change the hybrid mode around a bit so that it didn't need us to continuously press the button to keep on going. We always lost a signal beyond the first line so we just made it automatically go to the end and then curve to the left for two lines.

[andrew348]

Originally Posted by AmoryG

what kind of changes had you made to your robot?

Zip Ties Galore

[Ken Streeter]

I'd like to say a big THANKS to all those that worked at the 2008 Beantown Blitz! The organizers did a great job with the pre-event preparations; the "drive-in/drive-out" pit unloading/loading was awesome; the drink and pizza lunch in the pit areas was convenient and not horribly overpriced; the field reset crews, announcers, and scorers all did their jobs quickly and effectively, being a help to teams, rather than an impediment; the judges were very encouraging to all the teams they interviewed, taking a genuine interest in the designs of the teams, and the referees did a great job of not only making the right calls, but also explaining their reasons and rationale to teams that were penalized. In all, I thought that everyone I encountered who was involved with running the tournament sought to make the event an enjoyable one for the participants.

We were very thankful for the opportunity to run both of our robot configurations as two separate teams and were honored to receive a robot design award for each of the two robots.

We'd also like to thank our alliance partners: #1-seeded Team 181 for choosing Speed Racer as the first pick and Team 2593 for giving us a well-rounded alliance -- we enjoyed the run to the semifinals and are sorry that we had to e-stop Speed Racer just over half-way through the deciding match. We're also grateful to Team 1350 for choosing our "big bot" as their first choice and 1027 for their contribution, too. Having our #7 seeded alliance go out in the quarterfinals to the BTB Champion Alliance of 348, 121, 69 was a very respectable showing!

I'd also like to thank some of our opposition: Team 88 for their gracious professionalism in calling their timeout on Speed Racer's behalf in the semifinals; Teams 121, 177, 195, and 2079 for their gracious words regarding our robots, and Team 663 for politely shedding Speed Racer from their robot after we spent what seemed like half of one match (including completion of a half-lap of the field) while being "high-sided" sideways on the un-bumpered side of their robot. There are probably many other teams that deserve our thanks that I didn't witness personally.

We're looking forward to Beantown Blitz again in 2009!

PS: Video of Speed Racer's round with 7-lines in autonomous and 13-lap teleop is now on our team web pages at http://www.mechanicalmayhem.org/teamvideos.asp

[IKE]

What did the teams think of the Bonus ball? Again just curious if it was well received or not.

[TD78]

Originally Posted by IKE

What did the teams think of the Bonus ball? Again just curious if it was well received or not.

The Bonus ball was used on and off, at least it seemed to me. I know that when we had the option, my team chose to not put it into play. Four balls on the field was enough to make a mess and since it could be used by the other alliance, letting it on the field could backfire. One strategy I did see was towards the end of the match: with 5 or so seconds left, the controlling alliance would knock the ball off the pedestal and have it roll across the finish line for an extra 4 points. In another variation, in the Finals, my team attempted to hurdle the Bonus ball with time expiring: it was given a good poke, took once bounce halfway down the home stretch and JUST hit the front of the Overpass. Would've been pretty cool if it went for a hurdle. Overall though, it was an interesting game addition. Kudos to the BTB committee for adding it in!

[acdcfan259]

Is anyone going to put scores and video on TBA?

[kborer22]

Originally Posted by acdcfan259

Is anyone going to put scores and video on TBA?

i am not sure what people that attened have, but we are working go getting the tapes from the company that did the video, and have to convert them to a digital format. Possibly into a DVD of the event. Would there be interest in a DVD of the event? We do not have the capability to convert the tapes our self, so we would need to pay for it to be done, if there is interest we will consider doing it.

so anyone?

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by kborer22

i am not sure what people that attened have, but we are working go getting the tapes from the company that did the video, and have to convert them to a digital format. Possibly into a DVD of the event. Would there be interest in a DVD of the event? We do not have the capability to convert the tapes our self, so we would need to pay for it to be done, if there is interest we will consider doing it.

so anyone?

If you can get digital copies I'd be more than happy to put them on the TBA servers.

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

If you can get digital copies I'd be more than happy to put them on the TBA servers.

We are working on it tombot