Yep, and the target on 1114/2056’s back just got a bunch bigger for next year… Nobody wants to see them go 3 years in a row taking GTR AND Waterloo together. (Never mind that 1114 are now 4time defending champions of GTR)
Agreed! We will be trying to top them again…next year. and now that we failed at it this year, I hope they win in Atlanta, not only because they deserve it but, also because then our team can say we lost twice in semis to world champions lol 
And I think the reason they are so darn good, is mainly because the bot is very well contained (it doesn’t break out of the 28x38x5ft box much) so the driver can drive the course without much thought of damaging the bot, not having to worry about arms and stuff getting hung up with other robots or feild elements, greatly increases you driving abilities. That and they have had a billion years of driving that thing (they ALWAYS do a two speed 6 wheel drive)
I love the bot, and how simple it is. I hope it goes all the way this year!
Good luck in Atlanta 1114!
I have a question for you karthik.
What is 1114s set up for driver practice/drive training/driver choosing. Obviously you guys have built an incredible machine. However, as many others have said, sometimes a good driver can take a team to the next level. How do you guys handle this part of the team?
Well, I can’t say how their driver training etc goes, but I know that Niagara region’s school board has given 1114 (and 1503/1680/2056/2166) the keys to a closed elementary school in the area, and they set up a complete field in the gymnasium of the school.
(I think thats all the NiagaraFIRST teams, anyway)
oh man…for coffee, it’s dunkies (dunkin donuts) all the way!
(i love the holy trinity of New England…you can’t go far in any city without being in viewing range of a Dunkin Donuts (or coffee shop), ATM, or convenience store)
but 1114’s shooter is amazing to watch…i’ll sit around and pull up video of it when i’m having a slow afternoon
…in hindsight they were one match from making it 5 in a row(2004)
Great machine guys!
they also have done tank tread in 05 and 06 i think
'06 was there only year with treads. check it out on their website
Kinda inquisitive as to how they broke so many treads that year, but still a great robot.
Only 06.
03 was some kind of 4WD, 04 was a two wheel swerve, 05 was a 6WD, 06 was treads, and 07+08 were both 6WD. Personally, I’m hoping that SimSwerve v2.0 is made sometime soon.
I doubt it will happen… 6wd is just too versatile… Although I’d love to watch any of their 6wd bots outpush our treaded monsters. I have yet to see any robot or human be able to stop our continually perfecting drivetrain in lowgear. Of course, for this year, thats mostly useless.
In terms of driver selection, most of it is outlined here:
http://simbotics.org/files/first-robotics-canada/workshop-presentations/runteam.pdf starting on slide 25.
We look for three main qualities in our drivers, in the following order: Maturity, Communication, Skill/Talent. Having a mature driver who you know you can always depend on and who can handle the immense pressure is critical to a team’s success. In addition good communication with the rest of the drive team, especially the field coach is an absolute must. Our approach on driver selection is very different than most teams, but we’ve found that it works very well for us.
In regards to practice and training, our driveteam practices for at least two hours a day, often more. Early on in the season they focus on the basics of gameplay, and 2:00 runs. As the season progresses, the sessions shift towards drills involving specific situations.
This year the field was only used by 1114, 1503 and 2056. 2166 tried to make it down to practice with us, but the scheduling just didn’t work out. We make our field open to any team who wishes to use it.
Ah, well, I knew the NiagaraFIRST alliance was sharing that field, my mistake.
Say Karthik, do you guys have like a machine shop set up in that school, or do you do all the work at Gov.Simcoe, and drag the robot to the field to practice?
Hmm, I have to try some of that next year. The link you have doesn’t work with me right now and I am using firefox. Could it just be the school’s network I am on that doesn’t allow me to open it?
I just read through it… it was fairly slow to load… its an adobe acrobat file. I too am using firefox.
I get a few pop up errors.
How have I never seen these workshops!?!?
Great resource!
During the build season, all work is done at Governor Simcoe, and the robots are dragged back and forth. Once build season is over, the practice robot lives at the practice facility (dubbed LB2 by 1114), and we bring everything that we would bring to compeition, along with some other tools to LB2. At times it’s a bit of logistical hassle, with LB2 being 20 minutes from Governor Simcoe. Prior to this year, our practice facility (LB1) was within walking distance of Simcoe.
Eh, I’d still take a 20 minute away proper facility over the pathetic mockups we make every year.
ditto, thanks again karthik.
did you ever find those videos of your '04 bot in action ??? 
I love that bot