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2011 Off-season Recap

Tuesday, November 29th, 2011

With the 2011-2012 season just starting, FIRST Team 604 has already been hard at work, competing at two different off-season competitions — the WRRF CalGames and the MadTown Throwdown – running workshops, and demonstrating our robot throughout the community.

Working with NASA and FIRST Team 846, we showed off our 2010 FRC robot OverKill and introduced kids to robotics by letting them drive VEX robots at the 2011 San Francisco Fleet Week. You can find pictures from that demo and a few more this year on our website here.

For our off-season competitions, we chose to redesign our entire arm and minibot deployment. At CalGames, after some hard fought matches, we were chosen to be on the 6th seed alliance by FIRST Teams 1351 from Mitty HS, and 751 from Woodside Priory HS. Unfortunately, after losing the first quarterfinal against FIRST Teams 1868, 1678, and 256, our robot had communication issues with the field and was unable to move the entire next match, ending our CalGames tournament run. However we got some good news later on in the day when we found out we won the Entrepreneurship Award, as well as the first runner-up for the AMD CAD Award.

At the MadTown Throwdown, we were selected to be on the 6th alliance after winning 4 matches and losing 2 in the qualification rounds, joining FIRST Teams 3512, 1323B, and 3859. Unfortunately we lost in quarterfinals to the 3rd alliance, consisting of FIRST Teams 2073, 971B, 3256, and 362. It was a great learning experience for the team, and we look forward to going back next year!

Two Saturdays ago we hosted our annual FLL tournament, the Quixilver Qualifier. There were 16 teams in attendance with some action-packed rounds. We tried out a new system this year, having playoffs done with four alliances of two teams each, to try and mix up FLL and FRC. Looking at the feedback, it seems that all of the participants loved it! Congratulations to the champions, Team 1202,  VulnifiSquidz. Our team was later recognized with the Volunteer Award! A big thanks to Jim Mori for directing the tournament, all the volunteers, and FIRST Teams 2643 and 2135 for their help.

Entreprenuership & Runner-Up CAD Award!

Entreprenuership & Runner-Up CAD Award!

Our eliminations alliance at the Madtown Throwdown

Our eliminations alliance at the Madtown Throwdown

Shooting t-shirts at the Quixilver Qualifier

Shooting t-shirts at the Quixilver Qualifier

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2011 Google Silicon Valley Regional

Monday, April 4th, 2011

After a successful Sacramento Regional, FIRST Team 604 competed at our home regional, the Google Silicon Valley Regional. While initially faced with some electrical and pneumatic issues, Quixilver made the necessary modifications on our robot, and passed inspection early Friday morning.

Having considerably more experience, our drivers were able to consistently put up one to two logos per match as well as play strong defense. During alliance selections, we were invited to join the second seeded alliance, comprised of FIRST Team 1323, Madtown Robotics, and FIRST Team 1868, the Space Cookies. Our alliance was able to breeze through the quarterfinals and semifinals, before narrowly losing both finals matches to the tournament champions, FIRST Teams 254, 1538, and 751. The finals were so close, in fact, that the match could have gone either way up until the last second. Thank you 1323 and 1868 for being great alliance partners and becoming the 2011 Google Silicon Valley Regional Finalists.

We would also like to give a shout-out to one of the teams that we helped start, who were just rookies last year – FIRST Team 3256 the WarriorBorgs — for winning the Engineering Inspiration Award, as well as having one your members being recognized as a Dean’s List Award Finalist. You guys have come such a long way in a short time.

Another shout-out goes to one of our former members, James Best, for mentoring FIRST Team 3473, Team Sprocket, to a Regional Win at the Los Angeles Regional! See you in St. Louis!

3 weeks until the FIRST Championship!

FIRST Team 604's Drivers

Our Drivers

The GSVR Finalist Alliance

The GSVR Finalist Alliance

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2011 Sacramento Regional Conclusion

Sunday, March 20th, 2011

This past weekend, FIRST Team 604 attended our first regional competition of the season. After three days of exciting and intense competition, we received several awards recognizing our hard work.

On Friday, our mentor Mrs. Best was awarded the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award. She will go on to compete for the Woodie Flowers Award at the Championship Event against all previous Woodie Flowers Finalist Award winners, including another one of our mentors Mrs. Arrington who was a finalist last year as well. That same day, another of our mentors, Mrs. Zafiropoulos, was named the Bret Harte Teacher of the Year. Congratulations to our amazing mentors!

On Saturday, after ten qualifying matches, we were selected to be on the 7th seeded alliance, compromised of FIRST Team 3013, the Zombots from Vallejo High, and FIRST Team 114, Eagle Strike from Los Altos High. Unfortunately, we were knocked out in the quarterfinals by the eventual champions, FIRST Team 1678, the Citrus Circuits from Leonardo Da Vinci High, FIRST Team 1868, the Space Cookies from the Girl Scouts of America, and FIRST Team 766, M-A Bears from Menlo-Atherton High.

Later, four of our members were recognized for their invention of a secondary container for battery transportation, winning the Runner-Up Abbott Inventor Hall of Fame Award.

Finally, our team was awarded the Regional Chairman’s Award (RCA), the most prestigious award given at a Regional competition, for our outreach within the community and the nation — our fourth RCA in the last five years. This award qualifies our team for the Championship Event in St. Louis, which will be held mid-April.

Photos and videos from the competition will be on our website shortly.

Two weeks ’till the Silicon Valley Regional!

Congratulations to Mrs. Best!

Congratulations to Mrs. Best!

Our Abbott Inventor Hall of Fame Team

Our Abbott Inventor Hall of Fame Team

Our fourth Chairman's in five years!

Our fourth Chairman's in five years!

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Sacramento Day 2

Friday, March 18th, 2011

The Sacramento Regional has certainly had many ups and downs. Starting the day with a semi-non functional robot, FIRST Team 604 worked its way back up the rankings, ending the day with only one loss in the last five matches. One of our mentor’s, Mrs. Best, was recognized for her efforts today with the Woodie Flowers Finalist Award. She joins our teacher/advisor, Mrs. Arrington (Sacramento ’10), as our second distinguished mentor.

But the good news didn’t stop there. Today another of our mentors, Mrs. Zafiropoulos, was named the Bret Harte Middle School Teacher of the Year.

Congratulations to both of our mentors for their achievements!

Go 604!

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Live from Sacramento! (And a teaser!)

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

Starting tomorrow, FIRST Team 604 will be competing in our first regional for the 2011 season, the Sacramento Regional held at UC Davis. We will be posting updates on our Facebook and Twitter pages: facebook.com/frc604 and twitter.com/frc604

And our second teaser is finally here:

Stop by our pit to find out what this is!

Stop by our pit to find out what this is!

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One Month Till Build Season!

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

The 2011 FIRST Robotics Competition season is quickly arriving.  Team 604 is currently holding safety workshops to prepare all members for the upcoming build season, so we can have an injury-free one.  There will also be other workshops over winter break in final preparation for the season.

We have also been helping out on the FIRST Lego League scene.  Team 604 has volunteered at six tournaments so far, and run our very own tournament, the Quixilver Qualifier on November 13.  Congratulations to the champions, Team 455: The Los Altos Geek Squad.  Full results and more information can be found here.  Team 604 also mentored four different FLL teams, with two advancing to the 2nd Tier regional level, and one advancing to the state championships.  More information on their achievements can be found here.

Celebrating - Quixilver Qualifier

Celebrating after a successful round during the Quixilver Qualifier

Trophies - Quixilver Qualifier

Trophies for the Quixilver Qualifier

Safety Training

Hacksawing during Safety Training

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CalGames 2010

Saturday, October 23rd, 2010

Team 604 finished off the extremely successful 2010 FIRST Robotics Competition Breakaway season today, while starting another at the 2010 California Robot Games, an annual off season competition hosted by the WRRF.  We were the runner up for the AMD CAD Award, as well as having Mrs. Arrington being recognized as the Mentor of the Year.

After four wins, two losses and one tie in the qualification rounds, our team seeded fourth, and moved up to third and invited Team 1868 from NASA Ames and Girl Scouts of Northern California and Team 668 from Pioneer High School to join our alliance. We lost our first match by one point, won the second, tied the third, and lost our fourth by one point once again.

Many thanks to our alliance partners, Team 846 from Lynbrook High School for hosting the event, and all of the volunteers at CalGames! We will be back next year!

Our videos will be on Youtube and our website shortly.

2010 CalGames Team Picture

Our Team

Our AMD CAD Award

Our AMD CAD Award

Our robot and drive team during quarterfinals

Our robot and drive team during quarterfinals

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2010 FIRST World Championship Event and Season Conclusion

Saturday, April 17th, 2010

Our team’s most successful season in our history so far came to a conclusion today at the 2010 FIRST World Championship Event.

We were placed in the Archimedes division, arguably the toughest and most stacked of the four divisions at the Championship Event. Despite this, after ten qualification matches we were the only team in our division to go undefeated with 8 wins and 2 ties, ranking us 6th out of 87 teams — the highest our team has ever seeded at the Championship Event. After choosing the team we won the Sacramento Regional with — rookie Team 3256 the WarriorBorgs — and the 2010 Championship Chairman’s Award Winner — Team 341 Miss Daisy — to join our alliance, we went on to compete in the elimination matches.

As the 6th seeded team, we went up against the 3rd seeded team, a powerhouse alliance of teams 1124, 968, and 2854. We won the first match 16 to 10, but unfortunately lost the second with a close 6 to 9, tied the third 8 to 8, and finally lost the fourth in another close match 10 to 12.

Despite this abrupt end to our season, our team is extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished during the 2009-2010 season, totaling ten awards since the 2009 CalGames, including the FIRST Triple crown at a single regional — Regional Chairman’s, Regional Champion, and Woodie Flowers — as well as triple qualifying for the FIRST Championship Event. We are also really glad to have made many new friends within the FIRST community, especially Team 3256, with whom we hope to continue our relationship for long time. We hope that many of the lessons we’ve learned, friendships we’ve made, and accomplishments we’ve achieved will continue to help better Team 604, and in turn help us better reach out into our community.

The 2009-2010 season has ended. But since here at Leland Robotics, robotics is year-round, and there is no time to rest! The 2010-2011 season starts right now!

Go Team 604!

2010 Atlanta

Team 604 with our mentors and parents!

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2010 Sacramento Regional

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

Following the Silicon Valley Regional, our team worked even harder to try and improve for the Sacramento Regional, held at UC Davis. After twelve qualification matches, our team seeded first out of 38 teams — the highest team 604 has ever seeded. We also had the most CoopertitionTM points, earning us the CoopertitionTM Award.

During the alliance selections, we picked the second seeded team, Team 3256 from Valley Christian High School, a team we started and mentored this season, and Team 2761, a second-year team from Clovis North High School. After gliding through the quarterfinals and semifinals undefeated, our alliance found ourselves against our toughest competition yet, the alliance of teams 2122, 2035, and 1835. After four intense, action-packed matches, winning the first, losing the second, tying the third, and finally winning the fourth, our team, along with teams 3256 and 2761, became the new Sacramento Regional Champions!

Furthermore, our mentor Mrs. Arrington was honored to receive the Woodie Flowers Award for her outstanding ability to lead, inspire, and empower her students. Congratulations, Mrs. Arrington!

To top it all off, our team won the Regional Chairman’s Award, FIRST’s most prestigious award, for the third time. This award honors teams that inspire “greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology” (www.usfirst.org).

Now, after winning the Engineering Inspiration Award at the Silicon Valley Regional and the Regional Champion and Chairman’s Award at the Sacramento Regional, we have qualified three times for the the FIRST Championship Event held in Atlanta, Georgia from April 15-17! We’re excited to compete, and we hope to see you there!

2010 Sacramento Woodie Flowers

Congratulations to Mrs. Arrington for winning the Woodie Flowers Award!

2010 Sacrameto Team

Our team at the 2010 Sacramento Regional

2010 Sacramento Regional Champions

2010 Sacramento Regional Champions with teams 3256 and 2761

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2010 Silicon Valley Regional

Saturday, March 20th, 2010

Our team started another successful competition season today at the 2010 Silicon Valley Regional, held at the San Jose State University Event Center. Our robot’s reliability and robustness proved to be an important asset; we were able to consistently score four to five balls each round.

After being chosen by the fourth seeded team, Team 8 from Palo Alto High School, and later choosing Team 1323 from Madera High School, our alliance breezed through the quarter-finals, but were bested by the tournament-winning alliance in the semi-final round. Thank you Team 8 and Team 1323, and we’re looking forward to compete alongside Team 1323 once more at our next regional, the Sacramento Regional.

The day ended with three great surprises, the first being the Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Award, awarded to two of our mentors, Mr. and Mrs. Best for their 10+ years of dedication to FIRST, later the Engineering Inspiration Award, for our team’s unparalleled “success in advancing respect and appreciation for engineering within a team’s school and community,” qualifying us for the FIRST Championship Event in April, and finally the Dean’s List Finalist Award, awarded to one of our co-presidents, Eugene F., who will compete with other Finalists at the FIRST Championship Event for the Dean’s List.

Also, congratulations to the rookie teams we mentored for making it through your first competition and bringing home several awards!

We can’t wait for our next regional competition and the FIRST Championship Event. Good luck to all teams!

2010 Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Award

Mr. and Mrs. Best receiving the 2010 Outstanding Volunteer of the Year Award

2010 SVR EI

Winning the 2010 SVR Engineering Inspiration Award

2010 SVR Dean's List Finalist

The two Dean's List Finalists from the 2010 Silicon Valley Regional

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