Team 1816 went to the Twilight Star Mini Regional, hosted by Team 2220-Blue Twilight, and what an exciting event it was!
It was a busy morning, filled with presentations of interest to new – and veteran – FIRST Robotics teams. The Green Machine presented two seminars. One focused on how FRC teams can promote themselves to corporate sponsors; a second seminar provided teams with an update on this year’s “beta” test of C++ software and new hardware, such as the Classmate PC.
Attending the all-day mini regional were more than 12 FIRST Robotics teams, including Team 2169-King TeC,; Team 2177-The Robettes, and Team 2175-The Fighting Calculators. The game challenge was similar to the 2009 FIRST Lunacy competition, only played on a smaller field. The pits were aligned along the wall, which made for a buzz of anticipation as teams shared tips and stories about how they built their robots. Not only that, but team members were kept busy throughout the day, lending a hand with the technical problems that kept popping up.
The Green Machine, in alliance with The Fighting Calculators, made it to the finals and came in second place. We also won the “Gracious Professionalism” award. But those weren’t as important as the learning opportunities the event provided. One of the purposes of a mini regional is to help new FRC members have a taste of what awaits at the regional competitions in spring. Several new team members had a chance to drive our 2009 robot, Zeus, and learned what it means to be in the “pit crew.” Great preparation as we gear up for the 2010 FIRST competitions!