This is a place for team members to post their thoughts and document the team's efforts. But reader beware: some team members have a rather odd sense of humor, so everything should be taken with a grain of salt.
And as the last teams leave the Georgia Dome, the dreaded, monstrous, abominable, atrocious, diabolical, gruesome, loathsome, heinous inevitably has finally reached us: it is finally over. The stress, the insomnia, the caffeine binges, the compelling need to check the Chief Delphi forums, the urge to carry around a pair of safety glasses, the drive to make sure that all bolts are ever so perfectly secure... over. The FIRST Robotics Competition Season is officially over.
But not so fast, FIRSTers. It is "officially" over.
Off-season, the time period embraced by some but dreaded by many, is upon us. And as compelling as a pillow, nap, and cookie may seem, it not time to completely put down the Classmate. Sure, you can remove one hand from it to maybe take a sip of milk, but be sure to keep the other perched just above the keyboard. The chaos isn't over yet.
Off the top of my head, I can think of a bunch of unofficial events hosted by teams: The Indiana Robotics Invitational, Ramp Riot, Where is Wolcott?, Monty Madness, Rochester Rally, CAGE Match, Beantown Blitz, PARC... the list goes on and on, until we get to our own favorite off-season event: The Battle O' Baltimore! This year, it will be held at Boy's Latin High School in Baltimore on August 7th. We have attended this event since its very beginning in 2007 and again look forward to competing and catching up with fellow Maryland teams!
Of course there's more to do during off-season than simply compete. That's right! It's once again time for the super happy fun-draising time! No organization can survive without money, and as unfortunate as it is, that includes nonprofits. And that means it will soon be time to break out the candy bars and pester our neighbors.
We are also planning to attend the science fairs held at Freedom, Carrolltowne, and Eldersburg elementary schools. I've heard rumblings that some teachers are interested in starting JFLL teams, and that would simply be amazing. Kids may actually be able to experience FIRST their whole educational career (to outsiders, this may sound like some sort of conspiracy, but I assure that it is not. Would I lie to you, dear reader?).
~ Posted by Alex B. on Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 @ 11:34 pm
To put it bluntly: the Philadelphia Regional was tough. It makes perfect sense, considering that teams get older and more experienced as you head up the Atlantic coastline. But to us newcomers, it was quite shocking. The arduousness of the Philly regional made it look like we were just twiddling our thumbs down at Chesapeake.
But the difficulty of the competition did nothing to inhibit our fun-tastic experience. Whether it was bonding over a pleasant showing of Mean Girls, arguing over the little Monopoly tokens, engaging in a world-defining Pokemon battle, or simply splashing around in the pool like a pod of dolphins, the team managed to keep up their spirits despite a less-than-desirable performance on the field.
Our final performance at Philly? 1 win, 6 losses, and 2 ties. But that didn't matter to us at all; we were high-fivin' in our pit courtesy of our robot's great performance. We came to Philly hoping that our newly-upgraded robot would be able to outdo our performance at Chesapeake. It certainly did, even if the final win/loss/tie statistics don't reflect it.
Did I mention that we won the Safety Award?
~ Posted by Alex B. on Thursday, April 22nd, 2010 @ 10:57 pm
The following was taken from email from team captain Nick Canada to all team members:
Every Chesapeake competition that I have been to with 2199 has had some sort of rain and/or snow and this year was definitely not the exception. Out of the four years that our team has been around and has gone to Chesapeake, this was the third time that we have been in the elimination matches. To me that's amazing; this is only our fourth season.
On Thursday we got a lot of work done. We finished up everything that we had to do to pass inspection. I was also happily able to make my official announcement to the team of my return as Senior Captain, resuming all duties. When Friday rolled around and we started playing our matches we realized that our niche in this year's game seems to be in the far zone, preventing others from scoring. This is possible because of the skilled driving of our quick and nimble robot that we worked so diligently on all build season. In an entirely unexpected twist on Saturday we were picked by the 1st seeded alliance(!!) to be their third alliance partner. In the final matches of our elimination participation, we followed the strategy of our alliance members and played offense. And, as everyone at the competition could see, we still rocked.
We proved to ourselves that we are an upcoming force in this year's game. Think about it, this was the first of two regionals that we are competing in this season. This was our warm-up regional, and we almost made it to the championship rounds by a margin of two points! Just imagine what we can do at Philadelphia in two weeks. Let us not let this unexpected achievement swell our egos, we are not invincible, but let it increase the confidence in ourselves as to how we perform as a team; on the field, in the pits, and in the stands. Let us keep out hopes high for this next competition and our enthusiasm even higher.
-- Nick Canada
~ Posted by Alex B. on Sunday, March 14th, 2010 @ 9:07 pm
It is hard to comprehend the fact that the Chesapeake Regional is less than two days away. Even if I were to discover the meaning of life at this very instant, the feeling of awe resulting from it would be nothing compared to what I'm feeling now: the realization that we made it through build season alive.
To put it using a simile, this year's build season was like living on a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Sure, initially it would be great. I mean really, who doesn't like eating tropical fruit, swimming in pristine water, watching romantic beach sunsets, and talking to a volleyball? But then, you realize that you're stuck. Alone. In the middle of nowhere. Watching the sunset with a volleyball.
And then you've got all the tropical storms (or, in our case, snowstorms) to deal with, and don't even get me started about the fact that most deserted islands lack fresh water, or the fact that it is highly unlikely you'll ever be rescued, or the fact that you're talking to a volleyball.
But all negativity aside, this Build Season was great. Despite misgivings about our robot's ability, or lack thereof, we are confident that we will perform well (because our expectations are low to start with). But even if our robot were to spontaneously combust upon exiting its crate, it will have been a great build season nevertheless.
Now, for thoughts on the regional. I've heard from fellow team members who've observed the Washington, D.C. regional that this year's game is... boring. Based on webcasts of the D.C. Regional and the Kansas City Regional, I would concur with this assessment, except for the fact simply watching a webcast is not the same as being there. And for the fact that watching flipped-over robots flail around promises to be quite entertaining.
~ Posted by Alex B. on Tuesday, March 9th, 2010 @ 6:46 pm
It is a few days after ship, and the team is waking up to find out they have other things to worry about besides this robot. Classwork, homework, college applications, and all that other stuff you put off is staring you in the face. And your mentor keeps telling you that you're not done with robotics yet. Scout other teams! Finish up loose ends! And (of course) clean up after yourselves - this place is a mess!
And one minor detail - two weeks from now we compete this robot that cost all the sweat,tears and loss of sleep. How will we do? We will find out, and much of that is luck and timing. But a good deal is due to the hard work and many hours of agonizing thought, analysis, argument, and trial and error that is engineering.
I look at the pictures of this year's robot and I see learning. It hasn't been easy, and not always as much fun as you might wish, but there are many, many lessons here. We never named this one, but I think "Almost" is self-defeating and "Lessons" a bit dry. I personally like "Abominable" (as in Snowman).
If you don't like my blog, you need to write something! Thanks Alex for keeping up the reports. What do the rest of you think?
~ Posted by Mrs. Young on Thursday, February 25th, 2010 @ 11:02 pm
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