I was wondering (when talking to other team members) on why we got as far as we did and why we did do better i get intresting responces so i thought I’d ask other teams and such.
also thanks to everyone for making the season so fun and to the royal oak team for not having our heads when our drive train broke two matchs in a-row and lost it for them
I think our team did really well this season, for many reasons.
As co-captain, I was able to get a better view of what was happening with the whole team. We had different groups which suited each students different talents (chassis, appendage, PR, website, etc.) and although we separated into groups, we were still very much one whole team because we had that sense of communication. I felt that we definitely improved from previous years.
Also this year, we had so much enthusiasm. I didn’t have to tell people what to do; rather, they came up to me and asked me what needed to be done. Every teammate was always supporting us in the stands, the spirit was so intense overall 
We tried to keep everything simple in our design and made different strategies.
When something broke down, we tried to keep ourselves level-headed. Even though plenty of things messed us up at times (battery or circuitbreaker issues), we kept reminding ourselves to keep a good attitude.
We didn’t place in the top 6, but I felt that the season was so awesome because the team had so much fun in the process. Plenty of not only new knowledge, but new friends!
we did good cuz we were reliable. our spikes were the ONLY thing broken and they were meant to be replacable. we had 3 spares just in case. only used one .
NEVER burned a motor, burned a victor but that was due to a fuse jumping out of afuseblock and shorting it. but that was at the end of the match so it didnt really matter. chains never popped. and we were able to do whatever we wanted. sometimes we were just unlucky which is why we werent the BEST… lol
i think reliability of the robot is the most important after safety in making a robot, and we were pretty good about that 
Well, we did okay for a robot that we had, but the steering and the drivetrain itself was highly unreliable. When it did work, however, it lead to great results. Me and a member from 802 did a thorough inspection of the electrical system, and there was nothing wrong electrically, not to mention the motors ran perfectly while tethered or elevated. Our drivetrain team also worked countless hours fixing and rearranging chains on the drivetrain… But the problem with the robot is still unknown to us… sad, isn’t it?
I think our team as a whole, however, did a fabulous job with the spirit! Not only did the team won the Spirit Award in Lamphere, but they were also recognized as the loud team during the Championships. We were also very (and I mean very) determined to win that Beautiful Bot award, and bam! Our determination paid off during Champs. Overall, we did a great job during the season.
Another team I like to point out that did a fabulous job was team 802, the Robo-Knights. They had countless mascots, including two people wearing heavy chain mail, and they also made noisemakers from coconuts! Their sportsmanship was also astounding, making it hard to believe that this is their first year participating in robotics! We are looking forward to seeing what you guys (and girls) will accomplish during FIRST season!
-Cyborg
I can’t pinpoint why our team did so well this year. I think we were more focused and were finally able to use everything we had learned from the last 3 years. we went for super super super simplicity (KISS) and i think we really did build a simple robot: no pneumatics, and only 4 motors (including the 2 drill motors). and before our last competition, we threw on a arrow pusher that was simply a piece of angle aluminum and a spring. and that worked beautifully during some of our last matches.
another thing we did this year was plan ahead. we had a new teacher in charge, and he made us design everything way ahead of time, which is something we had not done in the past. he kept us focused and on track, and also kept us from killing each other. i think a lot of our success is cuz of him. Go Mr. Sharma!
all in all, it was an amazing season. a great end to a great 4 years.
David Stiebel
Jewish Academy Jag-wires
Team 180
ps. Simplicity rocks!!!
haha such a differnet concept from us. we were all pneumatics except for drive until berkley, where we added a simple pulley system witha seat motor. pneumatics do not burn out. and its so reliable. the seat mottors too. they have a thermal shutoff. so yeah, ZERO problems for us! 
i think we did ok since we were a rookie team this year. We had problems with chains falling off (or snapping, as happened at Kimball) and a few connection problems, but we figured out how to fix them.
I think 94 did so bad because we waited about 4-6weeks to start building… We like video games…
ummm yea. and i thought we were close on time
We did pretty good, minus the six-week-no-sleep period… No engineers or machine shop open to us… and we’re a voc. school! figures… NEWay, Over all, if you made it to the competition witha robot, functioning or not…, I think the season was a sucess. Having the robot work and winning matches, or placing in comp. are all added bonuses! :] PS: Amen to the VIDEO GAMES!!!
oh by the way this is the OCCRA forums sorry. i dont think you came all the way from MA to do OCCRA.