what an exciting regional. the poofs outcome has everyone commenting on what happened and even bringing up the past.
We sure remember the past alright!
We played in San Jose 4 times from 2000-2003 and made the finals all 4 years with the help of our fellow Hawaii teammate 368, 254, and by ourselves.
It involved the Poofs all 4 times! Twice as teammates and twice as an opponent.
:o
Yeah I can’t wait, I knew we were going to have some problems, but at some points it just felt a bit too ugly for me. Congrats to the winning alliance of 190, 1516, and 1280! Every one of you guys made this year’s SVR a really fun first ever regional for me!
So that’s how we managed to get back on the field? Amazingly I never knew that, but anyways, thank you 488! You made the team pretty darn happy when El Toro X came back on the field.
See you all in Davis!
Team 766 would like to give a big thanks to 488 and 852. The fact that both these teams were around for us to oick as the fifth alliance captain amazes me. 488 was the best ramp bot and 852 was the second or third best scorer according to our scouts. Both were amazing in the eliminations and were the two most friendly and cooperative teams I have allied with. It was a pleasure working with 488 and 852 and I just hope that us and 852 can ally again in Davis.
id like to thank the cheesy poofs and the fembots for being alliance partners with the robotrons. we gave our opponents a run for their money. also, congrats the to the regional finalists, also… good luck at nationals!!!
1070 would like to extend a special congratulations to Team 254 and Team 692. You guys were a great alliance!
Team 973 had a lot of fun at Silicon Valley. We look forwards to seeing you all at Davis.
Special Thank You to teams 100 and 114. Thank you for picking us.
We are trying to improve our ramp system if anyone is interested.
Also, my scouts took a lot of pictures of other robots, PM me if you want a picture of yours. Pictures are always good for sponsors and the like.
See you all at Davis!
As a part of the drive team from 1070, I would like to give a VERY BIG thanks to our alliances 254 and 692 for making this an awesome regional for us. We really gave them a run for their money!
Also especially hats off to 254 for encouraging our entire alliance to shake hands with the other alliance. If that wasn’t gracious professionalism, I don’t know what is! And also good luck to 254 in Nationals. Show them what you’re made of!
And congratulations to 190, 1280, and 1516 for winning SVR. You all had great bots!
On behalf of Team 675, Thanks to Team 987 (High Rollers) and Team 846 (Funky Monkeys) for choosing us into the Elimination rounds and getting to the semifinals.
Team 448, once again, congratulations on your awards.
Team 190 & your alliance, congratulations on your Regional win.
Team 100, on behalf of 675, we can’t wait to see you at Davis. Also, I like your Saftey Captain’s hat.
I think that 675 did pretty good. Our bot displayed amazing torque and traction (we pushed Team 668, the Apes of Wrath and the Rack at the same time), and the ability to score 60 bonus points with our monster of a ramp.
I’d say that the really notable bots were:
488’s bot, for their innovative ramp design (and engineering award!)
254’s bot, for their amazingly quick robot and their very effective grabber/scoring mechanism
100’s bot, for their grabber mechanism with automatic stop, plus their bot’s speed
190’s bot, for it’s ramp mechanism (you’d have to see it to get it, but it’s amazing)
675’s bot (I am a bit biased, however), for our amazing display of torque, defensive capabilities, and large ramp
Thanks to all the teams that attended for a lot of good matches, and sorry to any teams whose bots we messed up.
Hope to see at least some of you at Davis or the Nationals!
Team 692 would like to thank our alliance partners, teams 1070 and 254, for choosing us and making this regional absolutely splendid!
And I agree with RoyalRobo1070. Thanks to 254 for encouraging us to shake hands with the other alliance!
And big congrats to 190, 1516, and 1280!
I especially loved 190 and 488’s bots. Those final rounds were VERY intense.
That hat was a media magnet. The team member wearing it was interviewed by four or five newspaper reporters. It also made the front of the Chronicle. For some reason, a hammer sticking out of a hardhat strikes people as funny.
Though we were never given the chance to lift you, it was great being allianced with another all girls team. I know some people were hoping for an all girls alliance at Eliminations but we were the closest thing to it.
Silicon Valley was an extremely rewarding (fun/awesome) experience! once again 254 has amazed us all by their awesomeness. I would like to also congratulate our alliance 692, it was awesome having two all girls team in one alliance.
I think you did lift us once…second match of quarter-finals, I think? I remember driving onto your ramp with only 3/4 of our robot on your ramp and you still managed to lift us at least 4". =)
Oooh, I was meaning to ask team 488 how their ramps were able to keep lifting even after they cut the power. I never had a chance to ask, though. =
They were actuated with gas springs.
I don’t think we got the points for that. I was pretty sure that you guys acted as a counter balance to lift 254 up all the way even if they were on the blue (unsupported) side. Lol, everything was kind of a daze when we saw Raptor lifted.
Really? I think that was in the first match when we were the counter balance. And then in the second match Raptor was pinned against the rack, so we got on the ramp…
we did get the points for lifting both bots but i dont think we got the full 60 pts
Team 987 would like to congratulate the winning alliance (and all of the other great teams that made this regional such an awesome experience for us). We were especially impressed with the friendliness of the folks at the regional and look forward to a return visit! We can’t wait to see some of you again, at our regional and/or at Atlanta…
Team 8 would like to thank and congratulate:
The winning alliance, teams 190, 1280, and 1516 for their victory.
The finalists, teams 488, 766, and 852 for making it to the finals.
All teams that made eliminations, becuase it’s something.
Everyone who fielded a robot, because that’s what we were there to do.
Everyone who had fun, because what’s the point if we didn’t have fun?
Everyone who learned something, because learning is awesome.
For those of you we’ll see again at Vegas, we can’t wait. We plan to actually have an operational bot for Vegas, and hopefully put together a more impressive show. For everyone else, good luck in whatever regionals you go to, and at Championships if you go.
It was our pleasure. We didn’t use those gearboxes, but we knew they’d come in handy for other teams, so we brought them along with us to Portland and San Jose. We started with two; now we have none. 
As others have mentioned, we use two 125 lbf., closed-loop gas springs per side to lift robots. The gas springs are held closed by some steel hooks that are pulled loose by the Fisher Price motors coupled with a 256:1 Banebots transmission. We need only a fraction of a second of power to spin the FP motors and pull the hooks, then it’s up, up and away.