I haven’t seen a thread for it yet so I thought I’d start one.
I’m personally super excited for Midwest this year! Looks like we’ve got a fantastic lineup of teams - Congrats to 1732 for winning Wisconsin and 1625 for ranking 3rd. 71 and 2451 both performed spectacularly at crossroads and central IL - I can’t wait to see what improvements they’ve made to their machines since then.
Can’t wait until Thursday rolls around!
Arpan, team 3061
Reports show that 1625, 2338, and 2451 were practicing at the bot shop in Winnebago, while 1675, 1732, and 2062 were up in Oshkosh getting some practice in as well (thanks Wave!).
Should shape up to be a pretty competitive regional (both in robot and non-robot aspects)!
HUGE thanks again to 2826 Wave Robotics!
After a two year absence, 1732 is excited be back at Midwest. While it may not have the depth that Wisconsin had, I think it will be competitive at the top with five teams battling to be the best robot at the event. Should be exciting.
I guarantee 1781 is coming back with a vengeance 
Quite a few modifications were made with both our Crossbow shooter and our intake. We’ll be a force to reckon with.
Five teams?
I count at least 8 who I’d consider top tier just based on excellent performance at previous regionals, with 111 as a wild card (I’m sure I’m missing great robots here too).
71 -Fantastic shooting on the run, double sided collection.
1625 -Incredibly long distance shooting. Can inbound from offensive human player and shoot without moving.
1675 - Nice short shots, effective drivetrain
1732 - Mecanum collector, 2 ball autonomous, HAS THE THUNDER BELLOWS
2338 - Fast and pushy with an accurate shot
2451 -Reminds me of 2056’s killer robot, but on a swerve drive.
3061 - Fast and pushy, accurate shot
If you don’t agree with him, then prove him wrong. I for one am kinda curious of what 5 teams he’s referring to though…
Midwest will be tough enough without giving 49 teams additional motivation 
My main point is that although Midwest is a week 6 event, there isn’t much clarity (especially at the top). While I feel there are five teams who will be in the coversation for sure, there is a handful of other teams looking to take the next step and join that group and over 50% of the teams haven’t even played yet. Should make for an exciting and unpredictable event.
Darn, now I’m curious too! :ahh:
Totally agreed on the unpredictable part. Very flat at the top - should make for some exciting eliminations matches. If 111 is still experiencing problems, it’ll be interesting to see who rises up to challenge the perennial 2451-1625 alliance.
I echo our thanks to WAVE for opening their facilities and giving us valuable practice time on their full field.
There will be lots of good teams ready for Midwest, should be exciting.
We finished our new improvement while packing today 
See everyone Thursday!
Outside of seeing robots in week 0 events or through other means, there are 24 bots attending Midwest that have a regional this year for us to look to. Out of those 24 teams, 10 have made it to eliminations, and 7 of those had a winning record: 71, 1625, 1732, 2338, 2451, 2506, and 3061.
I’m looking forward to an exciting elims, hopefully the alliances balance out.
Totally agreed on the unpredictable part. Very flat at the top - should make for some exciting eliminations matches. If 111 is still experiencing problems, it’ll be interesting to see who rises up to challenge the perennial 2451-1625 alliance.
I don’t quite know about perennial. Only the last two years haha. Nothing like the streak 1114 and 2056 have had in the past.
Who knows how alliance selection will shake out this year. Midwest always has something crazy happen.
-Nick
Maybe I spoke too soon in my previous post :rolleyes:
https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/1897872_10203799382208358_1092853994_n.jpg
Good luck to all teams participating.
-Nick
We had a lot of fun at Midwest (as we always do)
Congrats to 2451, 1625, and 5125. Your alliance was incredible to watch all elims. We thought 5125 was an absolute steal getting all the way back to you at number 1, definitely among the best defenders at the regional. We later learned that the team was basically only 4-5 members, and all of the students were 7th graders. (This is all second hand, so feel free to correct me if this is incorrect). Still very impressive performance by the rookie which was probably heavily overlooked. Also wanted to give a shout out to our pit neighbors and friends from 1625 who had hosted 5 of the top 8 teams in the regional at their shop for practice in the weeks leading up to the regional.
Also wanted to give a big Congratulations to our friends from 1732 for their Chairman’s award win. We had a blast having our pit next to you all weekend, and the award is well deserved. Your incredible season is a fitting tribute to Andrew’s memory.
Thanks to our partners in the Flaming Bear Squad alliance, 2358 and 3352. We had a blast playing with both of you, wouldn’t have changed a thing despite the results. Hope to run in to you both again in the future.
Now I’m going to go to take about a week long nap.
Yeah, that’s right. They brought enough kids to fill out a drive team, and they had one mentor who had been with 4096 before. Because they needed a lot of help to get running, there were people from other teams that were helping out throughout the competition that I guess became unofficial members. Off the top of my head, there was someone from 3061, 2022, and myself, along with a volunteer who did a great job filling in the mentor role, but I’m probably missing someone (sorry!). Various teams helped out with parts and tools too. I think that this team became the posterboard example of what first is all about: helping everyone get the most out of the experience, learning as much as they can while still having fun.
Thanks to UPS and Bearbotics for a fun eliminations! Despite the replay and outcome, I still had a blast driving in my first elimination match. I look forward to many more, and hope to see you guys next year, or maybe sooner.
Go Flaming Bear Squad!
CORE team 2062 would like to thank our alliance partners for helping us make it to the semi finals. A big shout out to team 695 for picking us on their alliance. Congrats to teams 5125, 1625, 2451 on your championship and dominance. You were inspiring and humbling to watch.
I’m thankful for meeting so many great people at this event and hope friendships are developed in the future.
Another big shout out to big Al. Watching you work and get everyone up and running is incredible to see. Very nice facilities and location, great MC and announcers. Now if we could only get FIRST to update the music… Lol
Thanks to all who mentioned our team and congradulated us on our win. I also would like to thank our alliance partners #2451, Pwnage and #1625, Winnovation. Thanks to all who helped out to get our robot running on the field.
Overall the midwest regional was a blast. All teams did a great job competing.
It is always a pleasure being at a competition with UPS, I hope to see you in the off season!
I want to thank 2338 for returning the favor and picking us this year, you guys have an excellent robot and team. I want to apologize to 2338 and 3936 for our bumper issue. After a weekend of wanting to blame things on someone else, we ended up shooting ourselves in our own foot.
The alliance of 2451, 1625, and 5125 was going to be very difficult to beat even if we kept our bumpers on. All of you certainly deserved the win and I look forward to seeing you at CMP. I loved that we got a chance to play with 1625 during quals for I believe the first time in team history. 2451 that swerve drive is incredible, we talked about experimenting with a similar design this summer the whole ride back to Milwaukee.
I want to give our safety captains a lot of credit for getting the 1 for Pit Safety Award and runner up in the overall safety award. This is the most effort our team has ever put in to safety so it is great to see their work rewarded.
The alliance of 2451, 1625, and 5125 was going to be very difficult to beat even if we kept our bumpers on. All of you certainly deserved the win and I look forward to seeing you at CMP. I loved that we got a chance to play with 1625 during quals for I believe the first time in team history. 2451 that swerve drive is incredible, we talked about experimenting with a similar design this summer the whole ride back to Milwaukee.
Feel free to message me with any questions! I believe you guys have already seen the pictures and CAD file we posted to CD a few days ago.
While I was not at the regional, I would first like to thank all of the referees and field management personnel who did a fantastic job this weekend. I think this might have been the first event I watched where there weren’t absurd calls being made and there weren’t a ton of matches decided by a technical foul. I think the game actually played out how FIRST envisioned it before the season started and it made eliminations fantastic to watch.
I would also like to thank our alliance partners 1625 and 5125 for helping make an amazing alliance. 5125, as rookies you guys performed so well; there’s very few teams whether veteran or rookie that can drive as well especially playing defense as you did. I can’t wait to see how your team improves before STL and for next year.
1625, I am so glad that we were able to win this event together. After 3 straight partnerships in 2012-2013, it was great to finally see the magic happen. Fantastic bot and I look forward to seeing you guys compete at STL.
A big shout out to 2338 as well. You guys had an amazing robot and I am very glad that we were able to practice with you a few times leading up to the regional. I wish you guys had qualified for STL because the World Championships will be missing a high caliber robot. Any chance you guys are on the waiting list?
Overall, a great regional and congrats to all the teams. Can’t wait for another Midwest regional (or will it be a district event?).
-Nick