Microsoft Regional Update: 3/22/08
Apologies about the lateness of this update!
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The final day of the Microsoft Regional was a very exciting
one. Our team did very well in our remaining qualifying
matches, and by the end of those rounds was seeded second,
with a record of 8 wins, 2 losses, and 1 tie and an average
score of 25.5 points per round we competed in. As one of the
top eight teams, we led a three-team alliance in the
elimination rounds. We invited teams 488 and 1696 to join us
on our alliance. After strategizing during the lunch break,
our alliance won our first two quarterfinal matches to
progress to the semifinals. There, we were defeated by the
3rd seeded alliance that went on the win the competition.
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The final matches, between the 1st and 3rd seeded alliances
were intense, and it was a lot of fun to watch the robots
compete even from the stands. We’re quite pleased with our
performance at this competition. By the latter half of the
matches, we were consistently making about eight laps around
the track each match (16 points) and had the capability to
cross four lines in the hybrid period, reliably crossing at
least two (8-20 points).
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After all the matches had ended, we packed up our robot and
tools in our crate for shipping to Atlanta, GA, where we
will attend the national championship April 17-19. We’ll
be sending updates from there as well.
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P.S. Congratulations to Team 488 (Team XBot) on winning the
Microsoft Seattle Regional Chairman’s Award!
Microsoft Regional Update: 3/21/08
Today was our second day of the Microsoft Regional. The day
got off to a slow start as we were disabled in our first
match. After a frantic hour in the pits repairing
connections to the motors as matches progressed without us,
we rushed back to the playing field with the robot and some
more drive code modifications. The remainder of our matches
were very successful, as we refined the robot and developed
strategies. One match in particular was exceptionally good,
as we scored an incredible thirty-four points out of our
team’s total thirty-six. Things only got better as the day
went on, and by the end of matches for today, we were fifth
out of thirty-one teams, and are in a good position going
into the final qualifying matches to be one of the alliance
leaders for the finals—an accomplishment unmatched in the
last four years of our team. At the Friday awards ceremony,
we received another piece of exciting news, as our team was
the recipient of the Judges’ Award, for the “Three
S’s” of our team strategy—small, speedy, and simple.
MIcrosoft Regional Update: 3/20/08
Today was the first day of the Microsoft Seattle Regional.
Our team woke up bright and early in order to arrive at the
Greater Tacoma Convention and Trade Center early to unpack.
Dressed in our full Issaquah robotics society regalia of
purple shirts and yellow ties, we socialized with other
teams as we anxiously awaited the opening of the pits. When
the doors opened at 8:30, we entered the pit area and set up
our workspace. For our pit station, we erected some cubical
walls to decorate and organize our space. We mounted our
sponsor signs on the robot and in our pit area, and hung our
team flag up in the stands where our team watched the
matches. All day from 9 until 4, we got a taste of what the
competition tomorrow will be like as we took our turns in
practice matches on the playing field set up inside the
convention center. Having made some improvements to our
driving code since our last competition in Portland, our
early matches went quite well. In our first match, we made
13 laps around the track in five minutes, then 8 laps in
two. This is a vast improvement over our record in Portland,
where we averaged about five laps a game. Throughout the
day, we continued to refine our programming and were able to
participate in many practice matches, as there were few
mechanical problems. With all of this practice, and the
modifications we've made to the robot, we're more confident
and feel more ready for the competition than we've ever
been.
Olympia Update
Today, the Washington State budget was signed in, including $150,000 for FIRST teams across the state. :D All of the work preparing for the Olympia presentation and talking with the representatives has paid off. Representatives Hunter and Jarrett will be attending the Tacoma Regional, as will (maybe!) Governor Christine Gregoire, which is amazing! Yay FIRST!
Post-Portland Update!
WE WON THE CHAIRMAN'S AWARD!
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Congratulations Team! Thanks everyone for all of their work
this year with outreach, fundraising and presentations.
Without you, the Chairman's committee wouldn't have had
anything to write or talk about. For those of you who have
been working on other things, here's what the Chairman's
committee was doing. We had one Saturday meeting when we
wrote up all of the things we've been doing this year in
short answer form, then over 2nd winter break composed and
edited the 10,000 character (1800 word) essay. We collected
pictures, and then submitted four of them and the rest of
the written portion on the 21st. Carrie put together a
lovely binder for presentation to the judges, including our
promotional dvd from Olympia. The presentation was a little
last-minute, due to the conflicting scheduling, but I think
it came together well. Thanks especially to Kyle for
stepping in to present on an hour's notice! Thanks also to
everyone who gave feedback on the presentation along the
way--we really appreciate it!
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Now someone else write about the regional, because I want
to know what happened!
Portland Regional update
Warning, long update. The first three paragraphs are useful
if you have no idea what has happened. The following
paragraphs then will be more commentary about the regional.