TNT 2008 Pictures

Friday














The TNT Field


Dave and Mr. Ellich


TechTigers [chillaxing]


TNT from a distance




Human Overdrive!





Saturday






Drive Team






El Tigre!




Rankings after Qualifying Matches


Mr. E-in-the-hat!


TechTigers in the stands


Our alliance: 1251, 179, 1029


Top 8 Alliances


179, 1251, 1029


1251


Hurdling [233 near, 1251 far]


179


The Winning Alliance: 233, 744, 1999



More pictures can be found here.

Tempest 'N Tampa 2008

This past weekend was the 2008 Tempest 'N Tampa (TNT) off-season robotics competition held at the USF Sun Dome and hosted by FIRST robotics team 79, Team Krunch. This was the 2nd time this event has been held and it is sure to become an off-season event to be modeled after.

Friday

The TechTigers departed from school at 9am [fortunately, Broward County schools did not have class that day] and arrived at the Sun Dome around 2pm. Upon settling into the pit, establishing the 1251 sleep zone [TNT is a lock-in event], and helping with the event setup wherever it was needed, the TechTigers were on a mission to storm Tempest 'N Tampa.

Being a lock-in event, all the teams slept in the Sun Dome in staked out areas. Entertainment was provided well into night, including Guitar Hero, Halo 3, Human Overdrive (a human version of the robot competition), a FIRST Overdrive computer game programmed by Lockheed Martin engineers, mentor matches, and many other activities. It was a great way to socialize with other teams and take a break in the middle of competition.

Saturday

Opening ceremonies started at 8:15am and after a time-consuming field error matches started around 9am. The competition was fast paced, with teams putting their all into this last chance to fully play FIRST'S 2008 game FIRST Overdrive. At the end of the qualifying matches, 1251 was seeded 2nd with a 6-1-0 record. Alliance selections yielded the 2nd seeded alliance of 1251, 179 [Children of the Swamp] and 1029 [Wolvcats]. After advancing to the semi-finals, the TechTigers, Children of the Swamp, and Wolvcats lost 1-2 to the 3rd seeded alliance of 233 [The Pink Team], 744 [Shark Attack], and 1999 [Outer Limit]. This 3rd seeded alliance went on to become the 2008 TNT winners - congrats to 233, 744, and 1999!

Following a rather eventful finals round, the awards ceremony took place and TNT 2008 came to an end. The TechTigers had an awesome time, with the new drive team learning how to function in a regional-like atmosphere, those new to the team getting as realistic a feel of a robotics competition, and who can forget the dances at intermissions? Overall, TNT 2008 was a grand success and the TechTigers were happy to have been a part of it.

Check back soon; pics to come in a separate post.

Mission Mayhem 2008

Mission Mayhem field


TechTigers!


Working on the robot


Driving!


TechTigers and TechTigers rookie robots next to each other in match


Mission Mayhem drivers


Even the busiest TechTigers need time to chill...


TechTiger Alumni reffing the competition [Dave and Drew, 2nd from right and far right, respectively]


TechTiger Alumni Melissa doing field reset [left]

More pictures can be found here.

Watch Mission Mayhem live!

Today is Mission Mayhem 2007 at Stranahan High School, in which the TechTigers will be participating and helping to run. Tune in and watch the webcast from

http://www.missionmayhem.org/

Just click on the "watch Live Now" link. Information about the other teams and past events are also available on the website. Good Luck TechTigers and have a great time everyone!

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...

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!

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.

TechTigers to attend IRI

From Mr. Ellich:

The TechTigers applied for and were selected to participate in the Indiana Robotics Invitational (IRI) offseason event in July. A group of 9 students will be traveling to Indianapolis on the 19th. This competition is considered the premiere offseason event in the country. Many of the top teams will be there. There's a good possibility it will be webcast - stay tuned for information.