DEWBOT VI IRI Trip Reports

Saturday - We started off the day getting the robot set up for the days matches. We gathered together for the opening ceremony. Afterwards was the long wait to play our next two matches.

During the wait we watched some amazing matches. We got to see matches that ended with 5 robots hanging, the amazing Team 469 looper in a 6v0 match and the top teams in FRC going nose to nose. We lost our last match but got to see the first ever Breakaway suspension.

Thanks to my sister and Team Exploding Bacon I had Skyline Chili the 5-Way: A 3-Way (spaghetti, covered with chili and topped shredded cheddar cheese) with diced onions and red beans. I ate with the team and learned that when someone comes into the room and goes "oink oink" they all go BOOM. Very entertaining. The chili was pretty good too.

At the end of the qualifications we ended up in 31st place. A pretty good showing for the weekend. At noon we went through alliance selection, we were not chosen.

Next up was the mentor match. We had enough donations in our bucket to have us be the 5th Seed Captain. We did quite well in the first two matches. I was the human player, grabbing balls from the goal for the second match. It was fun, but it's very bright and noisy on the field so it's hard to communicate with the other players.

In between the second and third games one of our alliance partners found that their robot was broken. Since they were in the real finals they withdrew from the match. We promptly lost the next two matches against the Second Place seed and were out of the tournament.

Next up was the loooonng finals cycle. There were an amazing number of ties and an even larger collection of rubber matches. Not to mention rubber matches that ended up in ties. All in all we got to see some great competition, but the last match did not finish until 6:15PM

Sunday - We left the hotel for breakfast at 6:15AM and were headed East at 7AM. With some minor problems due to Dayton road construction we arrived at the US Air Force Museum.

Which turned out to be a super place (well if you are into airplanes or rockets) to visit. It consists of three giant hangers that are filled with aircraft. The first exhibits are early gliders and a replica of the first Wright Flyer. From there on it's a chronological tour of US aircraft with some from England, Japan and Russia. At the far end is a tall round building that has exhibits showing off manned near-space and space flights. There is also a collection of rockets.

After a three hour tour we headed off to lunch at the Olive Garden. By 1PM we were once again heading east listening to bagpipe music and popular songs from Spain in 1496. We hit a backup in Columbus so we did a quick detour through downtown Columbus. Since it was Sunday there was very little traffic so it wasn't a big deal.

Dinner was a gas and go at Sheetz, but I got one of my favorites, a slaw dog with bacon and cheese! We pulled into Downingtown at 9:45, and I was tucked into bed by 10:30.

Overall - It was a great weekend.

• I got to see and talk to my sister, which has been one of the biggest bonus features of FIRST
• Great robots, I got to see the insides and talk to the teams of some very good robots.
• Great people, I met a ton of people that I've wanted to meet face to face
• The Saturday NEMO meeting gave me some good contacts for things we need to do in 2011.
• Food!
• Air Force Museum
• Fun - it was 4 days of non-stop fun

More Cowbell!!! and "I have to ref a match!"