MIcrosoft Regional Update: 3/20/08

Posted by Rachel on 20 March 2008 | 0 Comments

Tags: microsoft regional, tacoma

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.

Afterwards, team members not working in the pits went to the Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. Those who stayed later went to The Rock for pizza.

Tomorrow, we begin qualification matches to determine team seeding. We encourage all of our supporters to come visit us tomorrow and watch a few matches. The qualifying matches will be held from around 9:30 to 4:00 on the 5th level of the Tacoma Trade and Convention Center. Admission is free to the public!