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04302011 last day :( saturday
today was another amazing turn out!!! i was soooo excited that we had four days!! and we actually got to run on the fourth day because of our awesome performances during the competition!! today was finals and i didn't write a journal last night because we were working and fine tuning up the robot on friday night for the FINALS!!!! i said "we'd love to" when team 3785 asked us to be on their alliance!!! we were soooooo close to being a captain of an alliance but that last match didn't work out to well for us.. but we have met all our goals!!!! :D over 100 point run!!! score the magnet!!! be in the finals!!! be in the top ten of 128 teams at worlds!!!! :D.. we have done great this year and whatever happened at finals was a super bonus!!! :D and it was a bonus!!!
FIRST :P FINAL best 2 out of 3 match!!! :D
i do believe that the ftc strategies and complexity of this competition came out in the worlds finals!!! our match against the third place alliance team was very very VERY close!!! and consisted of a loss... and win... and tie... and a win!!! :D... ( i really want to finish typing this but i may not to!!! :( i played portal last night (the night i am currently writing about) i am writing from the hotel in chicago the night after saturday (sunday)... so the tv is very attention grabbing :o... bin laden has been bombed...) in the first final match our alliance captains and the raptors ran first... and they lost becuase the short circuits (the team that we helped get to the finals last year) had a great autonomous program that dispensed two dispensers in autonomous!!! :D... then we got to run in the next run and it was very close!!!! the finals were soo exciting! we did our one quick program that aven made in the hotel that just drives forward over the mountain to score ten points... and our captains tried to block the short circuits but failed... :( the short circuits had a great autonomous! so then in teleop since the other alliance was ahead ... then they played defense the whole time... and when we went to get the magnet baton which we did after dispensing 13 other batons we had to try and get to our roller goal but our alliance didn't save one for us... so we didn't get to put the magnet in!!! :( that would have been awesome!!! if we got the magnet in the FINALS!!! :D.. so i tried to put that magnet in the entire end game and didn't balance becuase that was worth 32 points with the other four batons too.... since we lost our first match this second match was critical.. for best 2 out of 3 we had to win in order to move on.. and since the opposing alliance touched our bridge in the end game we won by quite a lot... it was a vey close match though!!!! then since we scored fewer points in autonomous than the opposing alliance with our captains... the captains decided to go with the raptors rather than us.. i was very confused at this point and thought since we won with them why not go with us... but it was a good choice maybe in the end and it could have also been luck.. the captains were able to stop the short circuits by blocking both the right ramp and the cliff... we were red... the short circuits ran into the ramp and the raptors were able to get to the other side and dispense maybe one baton! :P... but then since wee were ahead in the autonomous we played defensive and didn't allow the opposing alliance to score since they had to play offensive to make up for autonomous... (this may sound very repetitious... sorry) at this point i think rohan and i made up a hand pile kind of thing on a crate with one of the other team members for our captain team... (3785)... and we would channel all our excitement energy to the playing teams :P... it was great fun and the media loved it!!! i have a secret feeling that they will put it on the first website in their slideshow of pictures!!! no doubt that our portal team will on first's pictures somewhere.. :D... this "star power" hand trick worked!!! because we came in a tie with the other alliance with 50 to 50!!! at the very last second the opposing alliance balanced with a roller goal.. the were about to not balance but that one tap of the joystick and it balanced while the buzzer sounded.!!! :/... it was very close and very awesome!!! they decided to run with the raptors again which was fine with me since they were able to get a high autonomous with them... but i think we were a little better than the raptors... also they were required to rerun that match with the same teams because it was a tie.. and in this final match i think we beat the opposing alliance by quite a few points... it went just as the last match autonomous wise and then in teleop we were able to score more points balancing and kept that lead... (when i say we i mean our alliance)... our star power was awesome and we were SOOO excited (we we we so excited... so excited :P) when we won our first FINAL Complete match!!!! we moved on to the division FINAL FINAL!!! :D i couldnt believe it!!! it was awesoem!!!! i felt bad for our phoenixtrix team that we loved to ally with if we were in the top four that we beat in the finals... but we went to the FINAL FINAL!!! :D...
FINAL FINAL FRANKLIN DIVISION best 2 out of 3 match
this was a really exciting match!!! i think maybe the most exciting match of all of the final matches!!! the tie was pretty awesome though... so the last match of the first FINal 2 out of 3 match our captain team burnt something out so they had to replace it while the raptors and we ran against the fourth place seed in the Franklin division... this match was the division final!!! :D... and we went up against the crusher who had an awesome chasis that looked like it had shocks but the wheels were three chasis pivoting on an axel in the middle!!! :D... and the mighty bots were also on their team who we had talked to during the FRC opening ceremonies... the first match against them was odd... after not being able to score the magnet baton robert told me we had to take the penalty for holding the roller goal.. and i was in the position to grab it and go.. and i looked around and asked aven and rohan and i feel like they said no so i didn't grab it.. now that i look back i should have and took that 5 point penalty and see how long it would have taken to get over... but then we could have did the dispensing with a roller goal behind us and it would have been AWESOME!!! instead we went over and dispensed the high dispenser and there wasnt a magnet baton! :(... so unlucky and a poor decision on my part when i had the opportunity to grab that roller goal!!! that was the object most picked on by defensive players!!! they just hold those and guard them in the corner and it is impossible to score in them! how cool would it have been if we took that roller goal over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D man!!!! but this lost match was not the place where we lost the entire thing... our second match against the crushers was with our captain team and the raptors... and this went very well!!! it was awesome! the raptors autonomous worked and the opposing alliance dropped their five preloaded... we were ahead by a lot of points at the end of autonomous and just played defense during teleop... the defense worked well because the raptors were able to control both roller goals while the captains stopped the super duper fast crusher team 178 from getting batons... and so our autonomous and balancing won us that match with a lot to spare! and at this point our star power moved from the crate to the ground since we were blue on the second field... and we gained aven and heather!!! :D... the media was all over us now!!! :D... and this match was an excitement!! :D!!!! and the next one would have gone very similarly if our captains had moved!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :( it was SO CLOSE!!! the raptors got the preloaded batons and the opposing alliance didn't... (the captains thought it best to run that same style with the raptors rather than us becuase they had won that one.. but we really should have run with the raptors rather than the captains..) and the captains didnt budge an inch!!!! :(... i was really nervous whether or not they would be able to drive during teleop becuase one against two never works to well in the FINALS!!! :o.... but it turns out they didn't move and raptors had to take on the feat alll by themselves!!! they blocked both the roller goals quicker and kept the speedy crusher from getting any in the roller goal... but the corregated area was all open and since the crushers were very fast they were able to get some points there... probably four dumps or so... (flash back: in autonomous the raptors ran a perfect run!!! and they dispensed one baton out of the dispenser... and rohan turned to me and said what if that one baton is the deciding factor whether we win or not!! and i said something like it could be and hope soo...) as the crushers were scoring lots of one pointers and our captains were dead in the water... i was tallying up the score! it was very close and i knew we had 52 points... but since the crusher was scoring soo many batons and accidentally knocking a few out it was hard to tally them up... this match was the raptors against the mighty bots and the crusher 178 (team captain)... it was soooo close i was really excited for the score to be posted... and i told my teammates and our senior captain alliance teammates to not go crazy when we win... but the score came up............................ 50 blue........ 52 red..... we.. were blue.... :(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was SO SO SO SO SO!!! CLOSE!!!! man!! two points with one robot!!!!!!!!!!!! man!!! so close!!! and it was quite ironic when we thought back to rohan saying what if that one baton was the deciding factor that the raptors dispensed in autonomous... and it was!!! they just needed ONE MORE!!! or two MORE!!! or the ENTIRE DISPENSER!!! :) man o man o man!!! IT was CLOSE!!!! :D.... and adrenaliny!!! just if the captains moved!!! they would have scored ten in autonomous.. and kept the raptors from scoring any!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D!!!! dag namit!! :P!! close... to close... and later we found that the crushers team 178 fourth seed in the franklin division won the entire tournament! so we lost to the world champions by two points... with one robot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we definetly could have gone all the way if we just had two robots working!!! but since it wasn't the fcs and all the robots didn't stop they didn't re do... :(... bummer.. good job 178! but bummer :(... i really did like the strategy of 178! they were fast and scored many points by driving very well and zipping back and forth over the mountain to score five batons at a time.. :P it proves that it is possible for a person like me to win the entire championship and it is possible for a tiny robot that does not weigh 40 pounds and has battery problems to win!!! :D.. this tournament really taught me a lot! last year i envied those who were in the finals and thought they were like gods! but this year i realized how so many people probably thought we were gods and cheared us on with our portal costumes gun and cube!!! portal was a great theme and i really think we should do it next year even though there wont be a portal three comming out right before the competition :P.... that really helped our attractiveness :P... we were like magnets with those costumes! heather did a fantastic job with the costumes and robert made a wonderful portal guN!!!! :D... we even found out that heather was tweeted on with a picture of her holding the gun... and very interesting comments were posted :P... but we found out by one of the many blood clots that formed just by walking the halls of the dome stadium!!! :D... it took robert and heather a long time to walk far distances!! :P.. we were on the field with dave patterson when the score came out... and he captured that very close match on video for the alaska project... i have a great feeling that these videos will make alaska provide more funds than 0 dollars to this education program!!!!! :D.... this was a great year!!! :D...
we watched the crushers 178 go on to the FINAL FINAL FINAL FINALs... and they won in two matches pretty quickly... therefore we probably also could have with TWO robots... :P... o well we did great and it leaves some room for us to make a comeback and do it next year!!!! :D... there is sooo much to write!! :P... daddio and i just talked about how we can improve on this year!!! if we go to two outside tournaments to get that experience and driving skills and preparedness!! we would have a shot!!! we need to catch that plane though :P.. and the cool thing is that the crusher 178 was from MONTANA!!! :D... man there were soo many ways that the tournament could have gone! but i am glad we got third alliance!!! we always think of the things that we could have done differently to completely win it.. but i never have placed that much emphasis on what we did that if we didn't do could have lost it for us! that one motor catch was amazing!! actually both of the motor catches!! we had two motors burn out and we caught them in the practice matches... they actually burnt out in the practice matches!!!! and i had enough time to fix them and have the robot completely running!!! ;D happily!! and the cool thing was that we didn't have any forty five wheel or any servo burn out at all!! :D mr ehnert will be happy about that!! :P... i am just going to blend the third and the fourth day together in this journal and add more thoughts of sunday and monday in.. i am currently typing this on the airplane to anchorage.. so this is a conglomeration of thoughts and facts with the closeness of the games and points... one match on friday was with the pheonixtrix!! and we worked sooooo well together!!! and if we had won our last match on friday we would have been in the top four and we could have chosen the pheonixtrix!! that was a longer shot though than just having a second robot operational in the Division final! :P... but we scored 104 points with the phoenixtrix!!!! which was probably in the top five of the highest scores at worlds!!! :D... they could dispense from the low dispenser and we could dispense from the medium and high!!! :D... it was a perfect fit!!! and we got that magnet baton in this match!!! it was very very close getting that magnet!!!! i love the feeling when we are cycling through the baton dispensers and seeing the batons get sorted.. magnet? no dump... magnet? no dump... magnet? no dump... magnet? YES GRAB!!!! heart pounding and jumping and feeling soooo weightless!!! it is the best thing ever!!! the best feeling in the world!!! its sooooooo uplifting and yet i still keep control of my hands to drive and navigate the robot over to the roller goal and SCORE IT!!!! this time when we scored it... the baton waved around the middle 2" pipe like a basketball circles around the hoop!!! it was soooo close to falling out but then it gave in and bang the light turned on RED and we GOT THE MAGNET BATON FOR THE SECOND TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and we worked SOOO well with the phoenixtrix (the team that worked with will.i.am!!! :P)... we also balanced with three elements and got a score of 107 but then were penalized a few.... :P... it was magnificent!!! :D... and that is the excitement in these ROBOTICS FIRST COMPETITIONS!!! :D... not only was the robot part of this competition super duper exciting and an even greater learning experience... but it was a fun trip!!!
we got to see the arch and walk around down town st louis! :D... and we played with the alaska team from a village near bethel! and it was great fun!!! :D.. the awards ceremony was fairly soon after the final competition where we were nominated for the connect award!!!! :D that was really cool to hear our name! :D.. and then out of the blue i was not expecting to get anything for the finals... but we got called up there for being a division finalist!!! :D... and if only we had scored 2 more points or we grabbed that roller goal we could have been world champions! :P... but we got a plack and seven metals!!! :D... i cant wait to give mr ehnert that plack and his metal!!! he deserves it and i just cant wait to see him!!!!! :D... we need to do something HUGE FOR MR EHNERT!!!! :D i was thinking that lego bust would be good but we need something more!!! mr ehnert IS AWESOME and soooooo DEDICATED!!! to lathrop robotics and he works very hard!!!! :D... i really wish he could have been there with us!!! that would have beeen SOOOOOO Awesome!!! for him to see us doing soooo well in the competition!! :D... we will just have to earn an invitation next year!!! :D... this year we did everything we wanted to!!! be in the top ten in our division! score the magnet baton! score over 100 points!!! and BE IN THE WORLD FINALS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D!!! it was a great super duper great super green year!!! and i have to say i love our robot rather than loathing it like we have in the past :P.... this was a great TEAM!!!! :D... well we are going to land soon in anchorage soo... i may or may not pick this journal entry up again!! :P (rohan inside joke :P)... but there will always be more detail and stories that i will leave out of this journal because i cant capture the experience in text! it was just indescribable undescribable :P.. and just the little things made it sooooo much fun!!! i just pretty much summarized our robot performance but off the field was what really counted!!! being with rohan aven and heather was awesome!! we had a blast!!! like that tire swing on the way down.. the little things are what makes it memorable!!! :D
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