2008 Minnesota Regional - Week 5

[Vikesrock]

This was a great event. It definitely did not feel like the first time a regional was held here and this can definitely be traced back to the "A-team" of volunteers that was assembled. Thanks to all those volunteers, especially Mark Lawrence, Al Skierkiewicz, Dan Green, Tyler Olds and Jim Hausch.

Congratulations to teams 525, 93 and 2518 on the regional win.
Congrats to Bruce Newendorp of team 525 on the WFA.

To team 1816, you guys are amazing! When I was putting together team 2175 during the summer/fall of 2006 I thought that we'd be going to the WI regional and seeing only a few MN teams for at least a few more years. I had no idea you guys were hard at work getting teams started left and right and even working to get MN our own regional! The Chairman's award is definitely well deserved, congratulations Green Machine.

Congrats to team 1987 on the EI award. Despite being a stone's throw away I didn't get a chance to talk to you guys this weekend or check out that awesome shooter, but from the looks and sounds of things the award was definitely well deserved.

I want to thank team 2472, The Centurions, for selecting us as an alliance partner and team 1756 for being a great partner as well. We definitely had fun working with you guys.

Good luck to all those headed to nationals. I can't wait to see everyone back here next year for another great event!!!!!

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Now that I am back home and had a good night's sleep I have to add something. This regional was successful due to a variety of people who stepped up to the plate and helped even without being asked. Field personnel, cue staff, Pit Admin, safety people and of course the event planners. However, there are a few people who help out in the pits to keep things flowing and to make sure robots teams have a robot to field. In established competitions these are usually experienced teams who help out small teams and rookie teams. At this event, thirty rookies were present with another 15 teams in only their second season. This is a daunting challenge to prepare so many teams for inspections and competition. I requested help from Caterpillar's Champlain plant and four engineers stepped up. These four gentlemen jumped in with both feet and helped where they were needed. They stayed until pits closed to insure everyone that needed help, received it. However, even they could not keep up with the demand and that is where some of the other veteran teams stepped up. In particular, the NEW Apple Corps, Team 93, took it upon themselves to help anyone who needed it. Repeatedly, teams told me stories of the guys in the red shirts helping, giving parts and hardware, tweaking software and assisting with strategy. Not only adults but students as well, were everywhere on the pit floor all weekend. It is only through the help of the Caterpillar engineers, Team 93 and other veteran teams that all robots were inspected on Thursday and ready to compete. Congratulations to Team 93 as they were recognized for their effort with the "Gracious Professionalism" Award. Thanks guys!

[schmidtz]

I wanted to thank teams 525 and 93 for having such awesome robots and especially thank team 525 because, to be quite honest, I was getting very nervous sitting in the stands when the alliances were being picked. When they were going back and got to the number 1 seeded alliance, I was thinking that there was no way they would pick us. You can only imagine how happy I was to hear 525 say 2518.

I hope both 525 and 93 do well in Atlanta, we'll see you there!!

Congrats to everyone that won awards

Congrats to all the teams that were there and the great robots that they had made

[emmahand]

Thanks to Team 1816 for this picture!
Here's our robot, the Mammoth, launching the blue ball over the overpass. The only launcher at the MN Regional!




Team 1987- The Broncobots
Lee's Summit, Missouri

Engineering Inspiration Award- MN Regional 2008
Autodesk Visualization Award- MN Regional 2008
Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology" Award- CO 2008
Autodesk Visualization Award- CO 2008

[Ricky Q.]

What a super event put on in Minnesota last week, it was a blast to be there helping out.

Congrats to 525, 93 and 2518 and the finalists 2239, 2177, and 2513. All of these teams put on a great show for the first FIRST competition in Minnesota.

Also congratulations to all the other teams that competed, it was tons of fun to watch.

This great, smooth regional would not have happened without the efforts of Mark and Susan Lawrence, Ken Rosen, and the rest of the MN Regional Planning Committee.

Also, congrats and great work to the rest of the key volunteers that came up from Wisconsin, Illinois and everywhere else. These are a lot of the same people that helped us in Wisconsin in 2006 and it really shows you what an "A-Team" of volunteers can do. This in no way felt like a first-time event.

And to echo Al's comments above, a HUGE thank you and congrats again to Team 93, NEW Apple Corps. Not only did they rock on the field, these guys and gals busted their butts off to EARN that Gracious Professionalism award. 93 had people in every pit that needed help, they explained to teams on the field how things worked, they helped us get each and every of the 54 teams inspected on Thursday. I am proud to be from the same state as these folks and to have worked closely with them throughout my 7 years in FIRST.

Good work to all in Minnesota!

[andy.cox]

Hi,

Had a great time at the Minnesota Regional and many thanks to the teams that supplied us parts going into the Elimination matches. We were in a panic mode when we got parts and received a Gyro, IR and 2 gear tooth sensor boards from a team and don't remember what team supplied us the boards. We made an announcement in the pits after the competition but unfortunately most of the teams were packed up and probably didn't hear the announcement. If it was your team let us know. We would really like to return these boards to their rightful owners. Just go to the following link and send an email to Mr. Sean Schuff:
http://www.nacteam93.com/contact.html

Thanks,
Team 93

[davidfv]

It was only one week ago and we all survived. My name is David Voracek, I was one of the two MC and Game Announcer in training...Bill Gough who's voice you heard doing most of the team introductions was the other Game announcer in training. He was so well prepared and ready for the competitions, he really went the extra mile in gathering updated team information.

We were giving the Awesome Dan Green and Tyler Olds a break when they needed it. Those two have those jobs down to an art, and it was a great learning experience for me.

I grew up in Burnsville, MN and now living out in California as an engineer for NASA. When I heard there was going to be a MN regional, I just had to be a part of the beginning of something wonderful and it was...This event ranked up very high among all the regionals that I have been attending over the past five years.

After Thursday, I was a little nervous because several robots did not make any practice matches. But, the robots that came out on Friday and Saturday were amazing. The cooperation in the pits was great, I saw many green and red shirts working in a lot of pits different from their own. Even the rookie teams were helping out each other when they could. There was a great job in pit placement mixing the vets with the rookies.

Teams were on-time making their matches as a matter a fact we were running ahead of schedule both on Friday and Saturday. Which was great credit to the cueing people, inspectors, pit management, the game referees, the field reset crew, and of course the teams.

The one thing a lot of people were nervous about was the alliance selection, but ALL teams were well prepared and it went off without a hitch. That was a great relief to all.

I would like to thank Mark for the opportunity to come home and volunteer for the regional. I had a lot of fun and was so proud of all the teams, especially the rookie teams that made the event so wonderful.

Mark Lawrence and his sister Susan did an outstanding job in organizing the event. Ken Rosen I think is the powerhouse in helping to organize and get started all those new teams. I would like to thank Dottie who helped my parents find me and was very kind to them.

Congratulations to all the award winners and special kudos to the Robettes and their great team, they were certainly a crowd favorite. Team 2169, KingTec, you guys are awesome and lucky to have such a great mentor.

I am going to keep working on Burnsville and try to get a team started. If you know any body that attends the High School, talk to them and help me out.

So I hope to get invited back next year and be able to work one of the fields. Maybe I can convince the team I mentor to join me. If you are in Atlanta, join Team 399 for the Roboprom or come around and say HI to us in our pits.

IT WAS A GREAT WEEK IN MINNESOTA!!!! THANK YOU ALL!!!!!