This year, 68,175 students on 2,727 FRC teams in 17 countries participated in 98 Regional and District competitions. This week, X-Cats students from Rochester, NY, are among 12,000 students from around the globe traveled to St. Louis, MO, to compete at World Robotics Competition, held at the Edward Jones Dome.
Congratulations to everyone!
Chau Nguyen
Time is literally flying these days. A lot of people asked about our trip to St. Louis. I promised to send something out, but was too busy for most of last week. In Summary our robot didn’t perform as well as we wanted it to, but the weather was great, the food was awesome, and the students were wonderful. My daughter traveled with the team for the first time, and I can’t recall seeing her more overjoyed.
We left Rochester on Tuesday (4/22) night to begin our 15 hour bus ride. With a familiar bus, and bus drivers, our kids laughed played, laughed some more and eventually managed to get a few hours of sleep in. We got breakfast, hit the road again, and headed to St. Louis where we had our Hall Of Fame celebration. Recognition for being a Hall of Fame team was a great way kick off the events. Carlos and I were invited to speak on a panel discussion about minority involvement in FIRST and in Engineering. We enjoyed our discussion and lots of people continued the conversation the whole weekend. Our only practice round of the day went great. We were excited and pumped for the competition. We headed back to our hotel and we “convinced” some team members to do a two mile jog. They complained before the run, but laughed and had fun during the run. Afterwards, we freshened up and we ate again. If you’re not careful you can easily put on 5 pounds on these trips.
On Thursday (4/24), one of our students and I had to wake early to attend a Hall Of Fame discussion. It was nice interacting with other teams to discuss the HOF, FIRST, and ways of improving. We had a few kinks in our robot, but we were in good company. Other teams seemed to be having some issues as well. As soon as our kids started getting down, it was time to eat again. Paul did fantastic job picking out a restaurant that picked the students spirits up. That afternoon Linda was invited for a panel discussion on Women in FIRST and in Engineering. Most of our team was there to support her, and similar to the panel the day before, she was bombarded with questions. Afterwards, we went right back to competing. When we weren’t competing, students got a chance to do what I consider as the most important part of the trip: students were able to meet vendors who were showcasing technology, and getting information on colleges and college scholarships. We ended the day with another fabulous meal.
On Friday (4/25), we ironed out a few kinks with our shooter and our autonomous mode and we had a much better showing. We all had a sigh of relief. We were also one of the only teams to slow down an incredible robot, which also happened to be one of the robots that eventually would advance to win it all: NASA’s team 254 The Cheesy Poofs from San Jose, California. After our morning matches we ate a fabulous lunch, and we got back to work. We didn’t have as much time between our arrival at the hotel and dinner but our smaller running team still managed to get another run in; even if it was only one mile. St. Louis is known for its barbeque so we topped our night off by eating some genuine St. Louis barbeque.
On Saturday (4/26), we had our game faces on and we were ready to adapt to the way the game changed. We proved that with each match we were getting better. Unfortunately, as each match went on, the competition got better as well. After our matches we had a chance to actually breathe for a while and enjoy lunch without rushing back. We even had time to celebrate a certain birthday that was in April. Lol. There are four sub-divisions in St. Louis. All four winning sub-division teams meet for the Final Four finally on the Einstein field. We had incredible seats, and the finals did not disappoint us. The 2014 best of three finals match looked like a game of chess, with each robot looking ahead to figure out what their opponents next step would be. In the end the alliance that won, had the robot that awed everyone - The Cheesy Poofs. They literally scored three balls in a matter of seconds: they deserved to win. There are no sore losers at FIRST. We celebrated until the late hours of the night.
Between, Grammy award winning performer Will-I-Am, and dozens of performers at the FIRST party we had a great time. So great that we all managed to get a lot more sleep on the way back to Rochester than on the way leaving Rochester. And of course we ended it with great food again.
Until next year, go X-Cats!
DaTwan Dixon
Links to the 2014 World Robotics Competition:
1) Day 1 & 2, 2) Day 3, 3) Day 4, 4) Day 5 - Finals, 5) Day 5 - Party
After 15 hour bus ride we arrive at at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, MO
X-Cats are getting ready for sightseeing
Patty, Sheliah, DaTwan, Kayla, Annie, Chau and Ana are enjoying the view at Gateway Arch
Dedrick, Mark, Phil, Mason and Evan
Gateway Arch
Nigel, Chau and DaTwan are at the Hall of Fame
X-Cats inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992 and 1994
Twanda, Ellie and James are enjoying the party at the Hall of Fame
X-Cats are taking pictures with Dr. Woodie Claude Flowers (blue shirt, center)
Heading back to Edward Jones Dome
Entering Edward Jones Dome
Phil is wearing a horse head
Carlos is speaking about minority involvement in FIRST and in Engineering
DaTwan enjoys talking about his experience in engineering
Nigel is walking back to the arena
X-Cats are cheering during the practice match
Tarith is holding the ball
X-Cats 191 robot has the ball
X-Cats robot is throwing a red ball over a truss
We are all hungry and going to Fenton Grill restaurant for dinner
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