Galileo Division

[freds]

Ok, I just got a phone call from our Robot Godfather, Randy.

The only way to assure youself a spot in the division final is to be in the top 8, maybe top 9.

You will see all these top teams pick their buddies, not necessarily the ones, like us, to win.

You need to be talking to the top 5-7 teams, at least let them know who and what you are.

Play your game, not some adult coach's game

R.Havner

[freds]

Home at last.....I am very pleased with our Teams performance this year. As I think back to January....................we really had so many ideas, we built two chassis only to find out that an 80/20 chassis can fly, perhaps something for Myth Busters. Logan made an unheard of decision to take his chassis out and to support the T-chassis. We had vacuum and now we don't. This is thanks to extreme efforts of Sunny, Kapp, and Logan. We traveled to Clemson and owned the Palmetto Regional, partly thanks to Stephen Mihalko. The World Championship, is just a plateau above the regionals.

Who would have ever thought we would be ranked 15 of like 87 teams with a record of 6-3-1, pretty impressive. This is the BEST and highest team 1261 has EVER done since the beginning. Each and every team member should be proud as I am very proud!

I learned a lot, a lot that I had taken for granted over the past 4 years. We lost a match due to a bad ring terminal crimp on the roller. I can take blame for this as we never had an official 'how to crimp to win class', but we will next year. I think the best solution is to get more of a compression crimper that does a much better jot. We lost a match due to the battery strap 'ripping in half' and the battery dislodging. I can also take blame for this. This was the same strap we used last year. I never really inspected the strap closely for wear. Another item I can make better for next year. What we missed was the 'negotiator/politician' that we had at Palmettor at the Championship. We had 'recon' data, but not the Negotiator. This is an area that I can not perform. I refuse to be some gray haired mentor with a bright green shirt, shorts, circled socks, and a clipboard talking to teams promoting our robot, much less a Pirate......doing the same. This is your Team!

It takes a COMPLETE 'Package' to win the Championship.

I am already thinking of 'summer plans' and a winning strategy for next year. A loss so close really gets you 'blood pumping'!

Way to Go! Fred

[Sunny]

I am not someone who does not dwell a lot in the past. I tend to go with the bad, and look forward to what's coming up. Needless to say, that we would've complimented *any* alliance with our robot, but I'm sorry to say that the other teams didn't really think so. Whether it was the constant feeding, the aesthetic value of the robot, or politics, we know that this year, we had what it took to get into finals, and I'm sorry to say that other teams really didn't think so.

So with that in mind, we can move forward. And for moving forward, there will be another thread.

- Sunny

[Tanner]

Needless to say, that we would've complimented *any* alliance with our robot, but I'm sorry to say that the other teams didn't really think so. Whether it was the constant feeding, the aesthetic value of the robot, or politics, we know that this year, we had what it took to get into finals, and I'm sorry to say that other teams really didn't think so.

Yeah, it kind stinks to know that. It'd be interesting to know what other teams thought of our robot.

It's interesting a bit because on Chief Delphi, one of the Circuit Runner guys asked the community what was good/bad about the Championships at the Dome and one thing that came up was the spread of very good vs "bad" teams (i.e. teams that qualified vs teams that payed). I know we qualified, but like still interesting.

-Tanner

[MattNewcomb]

Some of you (or rather most, with the exception of Tanner) probably don't know me but I graduated class of 2006 and I've been following this team from afar for quite a while. First off, I gotta give my props to this team this year. I had a lot of fun watching webcasts when I got a chance and wanted to get down in person to see some competition but schedules didn't align. Things were certainly fun.

I also feel its my job to keep team history straight We went 9-1 in 2006, were the #1 seed in the finals and went on to win the peachtree regional, and went 5-2 in newton at the championships...i did enjoy looking this up. I bring this up because a) we can't forget about the wonderful history of the team...when a team manages to do some damage at the championships they'll be the unequivocal best run for the robolions, until then i'm putting this year's 2010 season and the 2006 season as tied for best season and b) to draw some comparisons.

We weren't successful at making the alliance pairings in 2006 either. To me, i do blame part of that on the fact that we didn't do a great job of marketing ourselves that year either. As a team I don't think we got the word out. But as I've looked at the process from afar though, I believe reliability concerns played a bigger role that year as they did this year than you might believe. All the major teams have scouts watching the matches and the #1 concern of teams (and it was my #1 concern when we picked first at peachtree as well that year) was what do teams do consistently, especially after the first couple rounds when bugs were being worked out. I believe that the couple of mechanical issues in two of the losses lead to scouts knocking you for consistency (at least from my pov, i wasn't there so i can't fully comment on perception and the timeline of things). At the championships there are so many teams to choose from that there is no need to choose one that you have reservations about...(now you might also argue that explaining those losses w/ the marketing team would alleviate a lot of the negative perspective from scouting but i'll leave those arguments alone)

In the couple of runs we've had at the championships I think we've had a few bad breaks here and there that have hurt. The only other thing of note (and I never saw this year's robot in person) is that I still wonder if our drivetrain is at the level of power and maneuverability that we would need to be successful at that level. To me, that is where the HOT team, the Huskie brigade, team hammond and others have shined...if you can move around and spin out of some of these uber-defensive robots then you have a better shot to be successful...

anyways, I thought i would delurk and post some of my closing thoughts on this great season. here's to a great off season and a better 2011!

[Sunny]

In the couple of runs we've had at the championships I think we've had a few bad breaks here and there that have hurt. The only other thing of note (and I never saw this year's robot in person) is that I still wonder if our drivetrain is at the level of power and maneuverability that we would need to be successful at that level. To me, that is where the HOT team, the Huskie brigade, team hammond and others have shined...if you can move around and spin out of some of these uber-defensive robots then you have a better shot to be successful...

First off, it's great to have you following the team. It's always nice to hear words of encouragement and concrete points that the team can improve on.

I think that Paragraph stood out the most to me. In the past four years, we have not had a good drivetrain. One can argue that in '08, the drive train was setup like that, and I drove the robot, and it wasn't all horrible, but it wasn't good either.

I think that having prototyped a dropped middle wheel DT this year, we can easily say that thing drove like a dream. FIRST has finally realized that simple games can be infinitely more interesting if you just take the floor out from under the teams, and that's where they're hitting us.

I think that next year, if we can collaborate with NG(who have built stellar DTs) and the game doesn't involve flying, then we can definitely put a powerful DT on the field.

[freds]

A 6WD would not have worked good for us this year, for this game......the LoganBot. We need to have more 'tricks in our bag' to use as needed depending on the game. omni, mecanum..............magic carpet, whatever..

[Sunny]

You are correct, a 6WD would not have worked as well, but many 8 wheel drives proved immensely successful. In fact, 67 and 1114 (alliance captains of Einstein final alliances) both were utilizing a 8WD. I'm not saying that their drive train was the reason that they won, but if they were any less than stellar, then they never would've made it to that level.

As many games have proven, the "tricks in the bag" have almost been significant offensive developments.

- Sunny