2005 IRI Thank you's and Congrats

Competition Thanks and/or Congrats
21

Well, I can’t say much more thanks than everyone else has already expressed… but…

Thanks Andy for allowing me to Ref my first event… I’ve done my fair share of complaining about ref calls, but I actually went out there and put myself in their shoes to see what it’s like. It can be tough at times, but it was a lot of fun if you’re prepared. You might see me reffing in the future… :smiley:

Thanks to everyone at the scoring table - you made it look like there were no problems!! Cuz… there… were none… yeah… .

Thanks to Amanda and Lavery for the entertainment - with a little more focus, will, and practice, Amanda might be able to hang.

Thanks to everyone who provided scholarships, and congratulations to those who received them…

Thanks to the volunteers of course, for their continuous hard work on and off the field.

Thanks to the coordinating teams for putting on such an awesome event year after year. It’s amazing that teams travel so far just to be included in this off-season event.

Thanks to the announcer’s and MC’s - it wouldn’t be quite as fun without you… Paul - next time review and practice those names. :slight_smile:

Thanks to the judges who gave their time to be involved.
Thanks for the VEX tournament… I only saw bits and pieces, but what an amazing group of robots - some built in a day or less.
Thanks to all the teams who traveled from near and far to create such a great environment.
Thanks to 217 for the breakfast…
Thanks to all those involved in the talent show - some very cool acts, some very talented kids, and some very wacky judges.
Oh, and by the way, congratulations to the winners and all those who made it into the final rounds… With the caliber of teams at IRI, you definitely deserved to be there…
Hope to see you all in 2006!

22

Hey I just wanted to say congrats to 33, 233, 868 for winning IRI! You guys were an awesome alliance and we were honored to be even playing on the same field as you guys. Best of luck in the future!! :slight_smile:

980 and 56: We had sooooooo much fun with you guys! Thanks for being part of our alliance!

Team 503: Thanks for coming out and supporting us through our matches!!! I know my team and I had a great time with you guys and we really appreciate and love your team! See at the LA Regional next year right? :wink:

Thank you also to all the wonderful volunteers and event coordinators who made IRI possible. IRI was an amazing event and I really appreciate all the hard work you do!!!

-Courtney Roberts
330 Captain

23

Obviously I want to give a big thanks to the organizers of the event - as always it was the best competition of the year.

A big congratulaions goes out to the winning alliance of 33, 233, and 868.

Another big congratulations should go out to the runner-up alliance of 330, 980, and 56 - what an amazing competition - the finals were a great show.

Here are some more personal “thank-you’s”:

David Kelly - a VERY BIG THANKS for the rides to/from the airport

Amanda Morrison - Thanks for organizing and running the talent show. I think it’s safe to say that everyone had a great time. It’s also safe to say that I always have a great time hanging out with you.

Jeff Maberto - thanks for the help with the DSK show. We (the roadies, that is) couldn’t have done it without you.

Tony N. and Andy B. - dinner. very nice.

Ken Patton - for letting me be on his great team. I REALLY appreciate the opportunity. I also really appreciate him giving me the opportunity to drive in the mentors’ round - that was great fun.

IHOP - for bringing us good luck. We’re going to ask for sponsorship money next year.

Dave Flowerday - Thanks for the mic’s and stands. We would have had trouble setting up the DSK show without your help.

Mark Koors - for getting the PA equipment for the DSK show.

Ernie Pacsai, Andy Baker, Brandon Martus, and Dave Scheck - the show was great and I had a blast (being a roadie, that is). What was up with them introducing judges while we were checking if everything was on? :slight_smile:

Teams 16, 25, 56, 116, 222, 233, 330, 364, 378, 716, 888, 980, 1108, 1114, 1305, and 1507 - for making the long trek to the IRI. It’s teams like you that make the IRI so special

I would also like to give a big thanks to all of the people for hanging out and making it such a great time.

Thanks to everyone that participated for making this the best competition ever!!

24

thank you to 33 and 868 for there great allaince
and thanks 330 and there alliance cause that was the hardest final matches i ever played and i liked the competition between us

and thank you to all who helped with the IRI

Also i would like to thank 234 for letting our team stay with them it made our trip alot more fun and less stressful

and this was a really great event and we will try to come back next year probably

25

I just want to think the IRI planning committee for letting us run the first ever open to the public VEX tournament at the IRI this year. Thanks Andy
Baker, Libby Ritchie, Chris Fultz, and everyone else who made IRI possible.

Thanks David Kelly and Josh Hambright for all your help with the IndianaFirst website and the press releases.

I also want to thank ALL the teams who participated, esp the ones who came from out of state, and the ones who built their robots the day of the tournament. Thanks a ton to John Wanniger from team 22 “bots 4 life” from WI for getting us all the match scheduling software we needed.

I want to give a GIANT thanks to Tony Norman from IFI for making the VEX tournament possible, and being our celebrity field starter. I also want to give a BIG thanks to Dave Lavery for hanging out with us and starting our finals matches.

And of course, I want to think the RoboEducators, because without them none of this would have been possible. Thanks Dan Ward, Marci Cochran, Luke Ward, Ken Berry, Steve Bardonner, and everyone else working with the RoboEducators.

I also want to thank everyone else who worked behind the scenes, built robots, came and watched the matches, cheered on our central Indiana vex champions, and made this a GREAT success.

26

<forgot to thank some people earlier>

Thanks to Rufus Cochran, Marci Cochran, Dan Ward, Luke Ward, Steve Bardonner and Tony Norman for putting on a great VEX tourney at IRI. I hope theres one next year!

27

I was not able to make it to IRI. And was very sad.

First and foremost I want to thank Bharat for answering the phone at 2am thursday night and talking to me until 5am. I was having a bad day… and then my parens told me I couldnt go, so from Indiana he helped cheer me up!

I want to thank Bharat and Corey for calling me the night they got there, to see how I was doing and find out if I was going. Sorry I couldnt make it guys! I missed you.

I want to thank – Bharat, Jess Jank, Corey, Mike(303), Meyers, Arefin, Barry, Vishal, Anthony and whoever else stayed with Bharat/Corey-- for talking to me everynight till the late hours of the morning on speakerphone about anything and everything. It made it like I was there only not. You guys are the absolute greatest!

I want to say sorry for killing Bharats cellphone battery. lol. I AM SORRY BHARAT! I think I killed Coreys too… sorry. lol

Thats okay tho, because my cordless phones died multiple times. So we are all even.

I want to thank Koko Ed for offering to bring me. Its a shame we couldnt make plans sooner, but its okay that things did not work out. Thank you for the thought though, and maybe we can do Wonderland! =) lol.

I also want to thank Wildstangs for the webcast… I slept in too late and missed most the matches… and was busy on friday… but, it made my weekend that much better to at least see quarters, semi’s and finals. =) [25 should have won! =P]

So thanks again Corey and Bharat for letting everyone use your cellular devices to keep in contact with me! I hope I didnt use too much of my own long distance to call you guys!

Love yah all!!

28

This is a great event, and many people deserve much credit. Personally, I enjoy IRI more than all other events of the season. My only regrets are that I get so busy to spend time with friends who attend.

My thanks go out to:

Chris Fultz, for your overall leadership of IRI, coolness, wisdom, and ability to deal with my pickiness.

Libby Ritchie, Scott Ritchie, for your grace under pressure, your friendship, and the attention to detail to make IRI what it is.

Mark Koors, for giving power to all of the pits, for getting equipment for the talent show, and for leading the field packing on Saturday. Also, thank you for the wonderful friendship and partnership.

Amanda Morrison, for taking on a leadership role and paying attention to many IRI details, especially in managing the talent show, silent auction, indianafirst.org website, and college fair tables.

Josh Hambright, for managing the indianafirst.org website, working through scoring system issues, and serving as a referee.

Stu Bloom, Kevin K, Ben Lauer, Amy Przybylinski, Sean Schuff, Jeff Schunn, Dan Swando, for rounding out the best referee crew ever. Thank you for your hard work, your attention to detail, your class, your patience with me, and your ability to listen to the teams.

Steve Wherry, for your “above and beyond the call of duty” actions of registering teams and accounting for the event, all during the same time that you and your wife were having your first baby.

David Kelly, for managing the indianafirst.org website and working through scoring system issues.

Rufus Cochran & Scotty from team 447, for leading the effort to make Vex a great event. You did an outstanding job of developing the game & field, and providing a fair tournament for the competing teams.

Dan Ward & Marci Cochran, for instigating the Vex movement in Indiana and empowering Rufus and Scotty to do great things for the IRI Vex competition.

Dean, Eddie, Lars, Slash & Ozzy… you guys rock!

Dan Green & Paul Copioli, the best announcing duo in FIRST, for keeping the crowd pumped, well-informed, and creating an electric atmosphere.

Jeff Maberto & Jeff Smith, for helping with every facility issue imaginable at Lawrence North

Joe Turckes & Team Ford FIRST, for keeping a FIRST field in the Midwest and allowing our competition to use it.

Scott LaBundy & BAX Global, for shipping the FIRST field from Michigan to Indiana and back, along with other shipping help you gave to our event.

Tony Norman, for taking the time out of a busy schedule to attend IRI.

JVN, for bringing Tony, for listening to me, for helping to keep Amanda sane, for buying the quilt, and for continuing to be a friend.

Jerry Budd, for being the best field manager I’ve ever worked with. Not one match needed a re-start or a replay.

Molly Menges, for your dedication in keeping the scoring system working throughout the tournament, and for your patience with my mistakes.

Steve Florence, for coordinating the effort of 461 and 1646 to help IRI with tarps and volunteers.

Brandon Martus, for helping with the indianafirst.org issues, and for scoring help during the IRI, and for being B.Slash’s roadie.

Ken Patton, for being the best “sounding board” for my questions, and for bringing sense to a touchy situation.

Dave Flowerday, for the equipment on Friday night and for the ability to provide a webcast of IRI.

Collin Fultz, for helping to coordinate the awards, for doing an good job as field announcer, and for doing an even better job as the talent show m/c.

Clark Gilbert, for rocking the house as the IRI DJ.

Attending teams, for making the effort to attend, for having patience with the match schedules and picky referees, and for helping IRI contribute to our Indianapolis community through your generosity.

TechnoKats, for helping with field setup & teardown, pit electrical setup & teardown, building the awards, and representing our team well at the event

Team 234 students, for doing field setup & teardown, pit setup & teardown, resetting the field, video recording the event, tetra repair, and countless other tasks.

Team 234 parents, for providing Friday night food, caring for the Crew and Judges, for helping with field setup & teardown, for managing the silent auction, and for many other tasks

Team 393 parents & students, for helping setup and teardown the field and pits, for assembling the awards, for helping to sell t-shirts and provide dinner on Friday.

Mike Trapp & Waterjet Cutting of Indiana, for providing award tetra clovers, for working with Stu Bloom and providing an outstanding sign for the Hague Road entrance… waterjetted for free… and congrats on winning the Vex challenge. (pssst… if anyone wants waterjet work done in Indianapolis, Mike provides great service and pricing)

Judges for taking the time to listen to every team at IRI, for making great choices as award winners, and for taking time out of busy schedules to serve as judges.

Dave, Nancy & Kristen Kelso for spending a summer “vacation” at IRI, serving as judges (Dave and Kristen) and field queing (Nancy).

Talent show acts, for having the guts to get up in front of your peers and perform. Good job to all. Start working on your acts for next year.

Aaron Lussier, Tytus Gerrish, Arefin Bari, Gary Dillard, April Dillard, & Ed Patterson, for travelling from far, far away to attend IRI and help as field resetters.

Joe Lambie, Jeff Mathis and Katie Reynolds, for keeping up the tradition of having team 93 members helping make IRI a great event, in serving as volunteers.

Entire team 93, for helping clean and pack the field after the awards ceremony was over (they’ve done this for many years).

Bharat Nain for trying to figure out our CMUcam calibration issues.

Greg Needel and Jeremy Roberts, for coming in and helping team 25 do so well.

Teams 1114 and 1305, for crossing the Canadian border and venture into our Hoosier state to compete at IRI… this gave us the great opportunity in having Dominic & Kristen sing both anthems at opening ceremonies.

Wildstang crew, for providing an exciting Human Player competition.

… and everyone else who helped make this event spectacular.

Sincerely,
Andy Baker

29

Even though I was MIA at IRI this year, I have a few people to thank, well only 2, Greg and Jermey for helping out my team, when it should have been me being there, because i ended up bailing out relativly last minute, and screwed everyone up, so thanks to them for comming to 25’s aid

30

Well, I’m sure if I tried to make a list of individuals I’d miss quite a few, so I’ll just keep it simple:

Thanks so much to everyone who helped out in making IRI the success that it is. Some of the people involved are very visible and well-known, and others are discreet and behind-the-scenes. Regardless of which group you may fall into, please know that we appreciate your effort. You all put on one amazing event, and I think even FIRST could learn a thing or two from you. The fact that IRI rivals some of the best regionals in the country and manages to do it on what I imagine is a small fraction of their budget is truly amazing.

31

On behalf of Team 1114, I’d like to thank the IRI planning committee and all the teams who attended for providing such a warm reception for your friends from the north. Not for a single moment did we ever feel like outsiders.

To Team 71, we’ve wanted to work with you guys since Atlanta. I’m glad we finally had the opportunity. I can’t wait until we try it again.

Team 25 & Honourary members – Considering the small group that you brought, it was amazing how many obstacles you were able to overcome.

Team 1305 – To me, your team is the epitome of class. That’s for taking the plunge into the states with us. Let’s do it again sometime. See you in Wonderland.

To everyone involved in the Radio Test – Thanks for turning what should have been a monotonous task into an hour of pure hilarity.

Overall, IRI was just a fantastic time. To those who’ve never attended, you have to try it. There’s just something about the atmosphere that is unparalleled. I can’t really explain it, I think it needs to be experienced.

See all of you next year, eh? :slight_smile:

32

I had some serious fun in Indy (though I haven’t gotten lost so much since I’ve been in Boston. A much easier city to get lost in).
It was great seeing all those FIRSTers and catching up with them particularly Arefin, Tytus and Jane. You guys were great. Also the guys on 25 and 56 (I hope the shaving cream incident blew over. Just remember in FIRST it’s always fun til somebody gets billed :wink: ).
Thanks to the vent organizers for the event and putting up with me I promise to be more attentive next year (if I don’t end up driving all the way to Louisville :rolleyes: ).

33

I would like to echo everything that’s already been said about the IRI and the people who help make it one of the best experiences of my robotics year. This event is absolutely wonderful, and it is by far the best bang for your buck you can possibly obtain at a FIRST-related competition. In my experience, your organization, preparation, and execution of every minute detail is rivaled only by the Canadians at the Greater Toronto Regional. The level of volunteer support at these two competitions is just phenomenal, and it is no coincidence that these two events are my favorites.

A few specific thank you’s:

FIRST of all, thank you so much to Paul, Scott, and Dan - the three Team 48 students who worked so hard before the trip to upgrade our robot and serve with me as the Delphi E.L.I.T.E. contingent at the event. This was really a “rogue” event for our group - we financed, prepared for, and traveled to the event on our own. Competing as part of a four-person crew instead of the usual 30 or so really was an eye-opening experience. These three kids did an outstanding job getting the robot ready and performing roles they weren’t used to performing. Facing much stiffer competition, we eliminated many of our bot’s most glaring design problems and greatly improved on our Atlanta performance. We played the game hard with a good mix of defense and improved offense - the Team 48 way, we had a lot of fun, and I can think of no better way for four old Team 48 vets to end the 2005 season together.

A huge thank you to Amanda Morrison and Karthik Kanagasabapathy for serving as 2/3’s of Team 48’s drive team during the mentors’ only round. Amanda, you did an outstanding job - going above and beyond the call of duty to resupply those tetras at the human player station as co-pilot Karthik methodically dropped them over and over (and over and over and over and over) again. But hey, K-man gets an A+ for persistence - we finally did cap that right center goal, bud, and it secured the center row for the alliance. Huzzah! I only wish I could have envisioned this scenario sooner - it would have made for a great comedy act for the Talent Show!

Thank you to Andy Baker and the refs for once again setting the performance standard to which all other refereeing crews should be held. You constant efforts to keep teams in the loop and communicate to everyone in attendance was truly appreciated. You LISTENED to us just as much as you informed.

Thank you to Teams 1114 and 1305 for once again coming down to U.S. turf and showing everyone what Canadian FIRST teams are made of. If only more American teams would return the favor by coming up and competing at Greater Toronto and Waterloo. Ask Karthik or anyone on my team - it’s really not that difficult to cross the border to go to these competitions. I think we need to try and balance the flow of teams to competitions in both our nations, because right now, the Canadians are whooping our butts in their efforts to attend events on “unfamiliar” turf.

Finally, my apologies to all of those people I recognized but failed to introduce myself to at the event - I get so caught up in the competition that I often neglect to socialize with people on other teams. In the future, please do not let my team-centric ways get in the way of our introduction - feel free to butt right in and say hi.

34

Tytus and Arefin were very helpful with drying off our robot and WD-40ing the rusty parts, and it is team 116 that should be thanking them, not the other way around! But I don’t know why Arefin is so afraid of the photos I took.

And I say ditto on the thanks going out to all of the people who made IRI possible! It was rather a nightmare trip for our team, what with everything that broke down (including Dave’s mini-van on the way home which gave us an unwanted night in Ohio) but it’s kind of hard to call it a nightmare when it was so much fun!

Heidi

Heidi

35

That should be a smiley!

36

Thanks to everyone for a fantastic event! The IRI is consistently the best event of the year for me and it looks like I’m not alone.

Thanks to all the teams for making life easy for the refs and playing good, clean, Triple Play!

Thanks to Andy Baker and the rest of the refs for making this IRI the most memorable for me yet!

Thanks to all the participants in the talent show for sharing your awesome abilities. I am so jealous!

Thanks to all the talent show judges for providing non-stop hilarity.

Thanks to Amanda for organizing the talent show! Can I book you for my next event??

Thanks to the planning committee for everything, from the competition, to VEX, to the talent show, to the auction, to the food, to the dinner, etc.!

Thanks to everyone involved with the field reset/repair, especially Jerry and Arron - you guys rock!

Thanks to Team 233, The Pink Team, for coming so that I could finally see your beautiful machine in action!

It was great to meet Jerry, Arron, and Ben (amongst many others) in person!

It was great to see countless old friends, especially Jtosh, Katie, and John W.

Thanks to Arron, DJ, and Katie for one of the best dinners on Thursday ever.

Thanks to Paul and Dan for great announcing, as always. Paul, I’m glad you have terrible aim when it comes to small candy!

Finally, congratulations to all scholarship winners, auction winners, and award winners on a job well done!

Kev

P.S. no more exclamation points, I promise!

37

-yea i definately have to thank Greg Needel and Jeremy Roberts for helping our team of only 3 people. we learned some very valuable strategies and scoring methods. without these guys we wouldnt have gotten as far as we did. to think from one nite you guys stayed at our hotel and became awsome coaches for us the next day. so thanks again guys!

-also wanted to thank our partners and teammates from team 71 and 1114 for helping us out with our arm trouble and providing us with tools when needed. Most important of all thanks for picking team 25 as an alliance partner. thanks to karthik(1114) and mr. beatty(71) for stratigizing with us.

-special thanks to team 56 for bringing our robot along and for booking the hotels for us. it was a great competition and one that we are definataly comming back to.

-Jess Jank from 103 for helping us out in the pits and during the qualifying and elimination rounds.

-thanks to corey balint and his dad for generously bringing me and bharat down to Indiana and back.
-and thanks to everyone who competed with us and made our trip a very memorable one.

38

On behalf of Innovation First, myself, and Tony Norman I’d like to congratulate everyone involved in putting on the IRI for a truly fantastic event. We had a great weekend, and really appreciate the hospitality we were shown.

Congratulations especially for the successful Vex competition. We were very impressed by the way it was run, and were excited to see it play out. Special kudos are due to Scott and Rufus from 447 for the hard work they put in on the game itself.

We’d also like to congratulate Lisa Perez, winner of the innaugural IFI-IRI Scholarship. Good Luck in the future Lisa! We were overwhelmed with the quality of the scholarship submissions, and impressed with the candidates. I only hope that next year we can continue to offer a scholarship, and hopefully receive many more applicants!

As some of you may know, Innovation First performed the first "competition conditions’ test of a new radio system at the 2005 IRI. We were VERY pleased with the results, and certainly excited to see the system perform well enough that drivers stated “We can’t even tell the difference”. (This system is being evaluated for possible implementation in 2007.) Special thanks to the IRI organizers for allowing us to perform this test, and to the following teams:

Teams who helped with the morning test:
217, 234, 980, 47, 45, 461

Teams who helped with the evening test:
71, 65, 1114, 217, 269, 469

You’ve all done us a great service, and we appreciate it.
Hopefully you had a little fun in the process.

IRI continues to be one of the most exceptional FIRST events I’ve attended. I am excited that Innovation First can play even a small role in the event, and hope we can continue to do so in future years. Again, kudos to all involved.

Take Care,
John

39

One word…WOW!

Each and every year the IRI gets better. 58 teams, a VEX tournament, a talent show, mentor matches, HP competition…what will you come up with for next year?? I can’t wait to see!

I would like to personally thank a few people from this year’s IRI…

Andy Baker - thanks for inviting me back to be a ref. Apparently I didn’t mess things up too bad last year and you found me worthy of a repeat performance. It is an honor to work with you.

Stu, Josh, Amy, Kevin, Dan, Ben, Jeff - what an awesome reffing crew! It was a privilege to work (WORK?? Okay, it was more like play!) with such a quality group. I hope I get the chance to “work” with all of you again in the future! Best seats in the house belong to us!

Joe, Jeff and Katie - you three are awesome alumni of team 93 and are the role models for others on our team. Many of our current members know you by name only since the stories I tell them about the history of our team usually involve at least one of you! Thanks for reflecting so well on our team - you will always be members of the N.E.W. Apple Corps.

Chris Fultz and Libby Ritchie - along with Andy, you two put toghet one heck of an event! Libby, I don’t know how you did it considering all you have been through - you are wonder woman to be sure! Chris, you are the answer man and always right where I could find you. Thanks to all of you and your team of volunteers for a wonderful event.

Lisa Perez - for knowing who I was solely because of these forums. How wild is it that someone knows who you are only because of CD?? Thanks for introducing yourself!

Dan Green and Paul Copioliolioliolioil with backup from Collin Fultz and Ryan Dognaux – great talent on the mics. Ease up on the ref razzing or I’ll see to it that Baker has his own microphone next year so he can defend the herd of zebras on the field.  You guys were fantastic and kept the matches moving and the mood light. I enjoy the banter between all those around the field.

Thanks to all who were there. I may not have seen you or know who you are but I know IRI would not have been the same without you. It’s all about the people!

See you all in 2006!!

Sean