Sunday, July 22, 2007

IRI Recap


On the plane from Fort Lauderdale to Memphis








Random thoughts on IRI...

Very well run - friendly people, helpful, courteous. But what do you expect, it's held in Indiana. (disclaimer - I'm a Hoosier)

Weather was perfect - upper 60's in the morning, 80 midday. Very low humidity.

Sitting on the bleachers for any length of time was "uncomfortable".

Love those White Castle's. The boys were able to pack 'em away! (I had 7)

The IRI talent show was a hoot.

Dean Simmons and The Kamen Brothers rocked!

We're staying at the Super 8 next year.

Prices at the concession stands were very reasonable eg. bottle of water - $1.00.

This event is just as good as, if not better than, The Championship.

Indiana is one state that "get's it" as far as what this program is all about.

It's amazing how many people Drew Disbury knew at this event - and I'm talking about people from other states!

IRI had really cool trophies.

I love IRI's slogan - "Where Egos Come to Play".

Thanks goes out to Jon Catt for keeping us up to date on our return flight status. We stayed through the entire awards ceremony and were able to make it to the airport on time.

Props to Andrew Hopman for helping shuttle students. Although only with us one year, we will miss him.

Despite issues with our drive system, we managed a 4-4 recored. It was a heroic effort by the guys to keep the old girl together.

Congratulations to Melissa Smith for receiving the Rolls Royce Scholarship Award. Imagine the look on peoples faces when I walked up to accept it for her! (They forgot to announce that she wasn't there to accept it)

Exploding Bacon (Team 1902) used 3 of our batteries and 2 chargers during their run to the finals with 233 (The Pink Team) and 71 (Beatty Hammond).

Next year we'll drive and make a mini-vacation out of it. Maybe spend a day in the Smokey Mountains (ever been to Rock City?).

After a short break, we start getting ready for Mayhem...

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Ready for IRI!

Well I think we're set. Andrew Disbury and Kenny Partenan delivered the robot and support items to The Pink Team yesterday. It is currently in transit to Indianapolis.

We leave tomorrow at 4:15Pm. I sense the guys are getting a little anxious.

This is Kenny's first commercial flying experience. We've told him that as long as the plane gets in the air and lands, we should be fine.

First thing we do after checking into the hotel is visit the nearest White Castle! Yum, Yum.

I sent an email with the webcast link. In case you didn't get it here it is again: http://live.wildstang.org/iri.php

On Friday I will post our match times here.

Stay tuned...

IRI Webcast Link

http://live.wildstang.org/iri.php

Be sure to look out for the TechTigers!

Friday, July 13, 2007

Updates during IRI

As you may know, we are competing in the Indiana Robotics Invitational (IRI) competition next week. Assuming I have internet access through the day at the venue, I will post updates on our performance (and different happenings) including pictures.

Still no word on a webcast. As soon as the information is available, I will post it.