04-03-2008 14:52

T3_1565

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

I love the way this bot picks up the ball and throws it to the other side of the field!

The design is amazing.. congrats on the win in St. Louis!

04-03-2008 15:40

Akash Rastogi

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

looks pretty sick. Congrats on your win.

04-03-2008 16:19

Jherbie53

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

Wait until you see them hurdle, one of the most unique ways you'll ever see.

04-03-2008 16:28

T3_1565

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

completely agree. Its soo cool!

04-03-2008 16:37

Techno-Turkey

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

Any videos yet?

04-03-2008 16:39

Lil' Lavery

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv...m=217&sbutt=Go

04-03-2008 17:10

Richard Wallace

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

Congratulations to the Thunderchickens on:

1) Being a #1 pick and part of the winning alliance,

2) Avoiding the the "dot" that is placed on the inspection stickers of robots that are capable of violating the 80" rule <R16>, and

3) Convincing our Lead Robot Inspector that their flag holder mounting is rigid and vertical.

04-03-2008 18:16

Paul Copioli

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

Richard,

... approximately vertical is the rule and we did stiffen it up on Saturday.

04-03-2008 18:31

Richard Wallace

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

Paul, you're right.

Many teams, my own included, had to get creative with their flag holder designs this year. Good engineering solutions meet requirements without incurring unnecessary costs. From an engineering economy perspective, 217's flag holder design is one of the best I've seen, complying with the rules while staying clear of their scoring path and using very little weight.

I just felt compelled to throw in that comment in my last post, because the picture makes it appear that our inspector took a liberal view of how far the flag holder can deviate from 90 degrees and still be "approximately" vertical.

04-03-2008 19:11

IndySam

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

When I first saw Thunder Chickens on Thursday in practice I though it would be a down year for them, they had a hard time picking up and hurdling the ball.

On Friday morning I no longer felt sorry for them I felt sorry for the rest of us.

They are lightning fast. Every time you see them slam their arms into the overpass you expect parts to go flying but instead the ball goes flying and they continue under the bars and get the next ball.

Great job guys.

04-03-2008 19:57

thefro526

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

That is by far one of the most elegant scoring machines I have seen in my 3 years of first. You guys grab and retain the ball as efficiently as anyone could hope to do in this year's game. My prediction is that I will be cheering you on from the stands on Einstein...

04-03-2008 20:00

Danny McC

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

Yeah I am pretty sure they will be going pretty far. Seems as though everyone loves the bot. And IMO we will be on Einstein with them, no lie. But Yeah I am gonnna have to watch some of your matches at Nats.

04-03-2008 20:14

Jonathan Norris

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

217 has produced another great bot here, probably the second best i've seen so far. Its the best arm bot that doesn't shoot i've seen, love the pickup!

on another note check out the song that is played at the beginning of this match: http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv...p?matchid=5329
I doubt that was on the 'approved' song list...

04-03-2008 20:38

Amanda Morrison

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

The 'chickens have a heck of a bot this year.

There were many, many times I thought to myself, "They are never going to get the ball and get around again to get another hurdle before time runs out." Almost every time, I was proven wrong. They have excellent handling of the ball, and their arm is quick to grab it and flip it behind their bot for scoring. It's obvious they've trained well and had several just-before-the-buzzer hurdles that were just phenomenal.

You've simply got to see it for yourself in Atlanta. They get into the groove and they just keep on going.

04-03-2008 20:54

703Trombley703

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

That's a nice looking robot you guys got this year.
Congrats on winning in St. Louis and hope to see you at detroit

04-03-2008 21:41

Éowyn

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

Holy cow.

Pardon me while I sit here and drool over the pure elegance that is your bot.

04-03-2008 22:40

rangersteve

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

Absolutely the best robot ive seen. From the first match that i saw them play i knew they would win. Everybody loves that robot. Many times i will start to talk about it but nobody knows what the thunderchickens bot is. So i simply say "Whats your favorite robot? ... thats the thunderchickens." I dont even have to wait for them to explain the robot. It is seriously everybodies favorite. Absolutely beautiful robot guys. Great driving too. Definately capable of winning at Championships.

07-03-2008 16:49

Mrtrom

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

This team has an AMAZING hurdling technique, i wish the thunderchickens well at all their competitions

07-03-2008 22:43

Mike Harrison

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

As soon as we heard that song we knew... we totally knew we were going to take that trophy home. Legend has it that the first round the ThunderChickens played in Einstein in 2006 Thunderstruck was also played. But that's just a legend right?

Edit: wow, i am totally mistaken what song you were referring to, I thought you were talking about how they played Thunderstruck by ACDC the first match in elims.

07-03-2008 22:59

Josh Fox

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

great stuff you guys it's good to see michigan represented well

can't wait to see you in detroit

07-03-2008 23:01

65_Xero_Huskie

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

I knew you would come out strong. You guys always seem to have the ball game be easy
Cant wait to see ya in GLR

07-03-2008 23:55

AndyH

Re: pic: Thunder Chickens at St. Louis Regional

Team 1098 got to sit by the Thunderchickens and the RoboWranglers in St. Louis. In addition to having great robots, they've got great team members. Everyone was very nice, and they clearly have lots of fans rooting for them. You guys did a fantastic job, and left everyone around you feeling really excited and proud for you!

Your team names are awesome. Maybe we should have a team naming contest so that we can come up with something cool. (We're not The GI's anymore. We wanted to use Rockwood Robotics to show our schools and community that we are representing them. We could use a little style, though.)

Thanks for the great experience in St. Louis. Sometime I'd like to contact someone with those two teams to see how they organize the groups and structure the season. They're certainly doing a lot of things right with a fantastic group of kids and mentors!!

Good luck as your season continues! We're going to OK City, and we'd love to do well enough to meet up with you again in Atlanta.