The blog has been a little quiet lately as we’ve been preparing for Atlanta. It’s next week already! Feels like we just got back from Baltimore where we had a great time. Qualifying in 1st place with almost 50 qualifying points between us and 2nd place was quite the accomplishment. Unfortunately due to a Jaguar (motor controller) blowing and some fantastic playing by our opponents we were out in the semi-finals. It was a disappointing finish for sure but a great accomplishment none the less and I for one am blown away by the teams performance and can’t wait for Atlanta.

Speaking of Atlanta we’ve had good luck so far raising the funds on short notice. We were very fortunate to have one of our main sponsors this year JCPenney donate enough to cover the cost of registration (in addition to what they had donated already) as well as a donation from Show Ready Events. Mike Sr. and his company Fleet Ready were able to hook us up with one of his clients ABF Freight who were very generous as well by providing us free shipping of our cart, tools, and spare parts to the Championship. No road trip this year (thankfully!) And a special thanks to Team 2415 The Wired Cats for accepting the shipment from ABF and bringing it to the Georgia Dome for us. Thanks guys! There are some more deals in the works so once those are finalized I’ll post them here too. Although we’ve raised enough to get there, our students and mentors have still had to spend hundreds of dollars each to get there, so we’re still looking for any additional contributions to help bring the costs down. Anyone interested in helping fund the team can make a donation right on our website through paypal! Super fast and super safe, so if you were thinking about donating check out our home page!

On a semi-related note; FIRST Founder and innovative-genius Dean Kamen was recently on the Colbert Report showing off his robotic arm and talking about FIRST. The arm is truly an incredible piece of technology! Check out the video:

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/269864/april-05-2010/dean-kamen

Thanks for reading, and we’ll see you all in Atlanta!
-Mike Jr.
Mentor/ Driver Coach

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Well the team has certainly been on an upwards climb. Unfortunately we kind-of neglected the raffle. But never fear! We’re putting it all to an end right now! Here’s the drawings for the final prizes. Certainly these prizes are worth the wait!

42 oz. bag of Peanut M&Ms

#2 – Susan DeVeber

$5 Play (N) Trade Giftcard

#152 – Jeffry Taylor

Autographed Team Photo

#151 -Karen Olmstead

$5 Play (N) Trade Giftcard

#128 – Stephen Tallo

Autographed Team Photo

#105 – Joy Hefley

That’s all folks. Everyone who got giftcards, m&ms, etc – your prizes will be given to the students who sold your tickets to pass on to you. Team photos are being printed & will be autographed and ready for Monday. Thank you everyone for participating and bearing with us. It’s hard to fundraise AND build a robot all at the same time. But without the money we raised from it, we wouldn’t even be able to compete – so once again thank you everyone!

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I’m sure there’s people here checking for pictures and input about our 2010 GSR win.

We’ve been so busy, we haven’t been able to stand still to type much at a keyboard!

Check our the Union Leader & Eagle Tribune for excellent coverage of the event. We will update this blog shortly with some of our own thoughts about the experience

and for you raffle ticket holders – hold tight. We’ve been super busy since the robot shipped, we haven’t been able to draw the last few numbers! We’re going to get to that before we leave for chesapeake, as well as deliver as many of the prizes as we can to people who have yet to get them. Thanks for your patience in advanced!

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I must say, having been with the team since the first meeting back in 2003, I am incredibly impressed with this years team and feel like we’re a long way from where we started almost 8 years ago! The team did a great job during build season and were able to implement some awesome new software features and build an awesome bot. Here are some links to 2 short videos showing the robot testing, and Brendan explaining how our field oriented driving system works. See you at GSR!

-Mike Jr.

team1058.com/media/video/Drive_Test_2010.mov

team1058.com/media/video/FieldOrientedDrive2010.mov

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The robot is going in the crate, and with the team gathered round, we drew the winning number for the netbook.

&& that winner is…..

#5 – Donna Sullivan!

Congratuations. There’s still some prizes left to win, so be sure to continue checking back through the 28th. =)

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19th: Old School GPS – Jumbo Map of the World

124 – Marie Salipante

20th: $20 CVS Giftcard

156 – Eric Fleagle

21st:  Autographed FRC Team #1058 Photo

46 – Sue Provenzano

22nd:  Morning Breath Monday – 6 Packs of Trident Gum

87 – Larry Pierce

Sorry for the delay in the drawings! Remember, tomorrow is the big day! If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, you might want to for the NETBOOK drawing!

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The winner for day 18, the $25 staples giftcard isssssss….

#56 – Ron Chandler

Congrats! =)

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15th- Morning Breath Monday

#122 Patty Hennessy

16th- $5 Play (N) Trade Giftcard

#13 Tim Jennings

17th- Autographed Team 1058 Photo

#130 Brian Courtemanche

Congrats!

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11th – Autographed Team #1058 Photo

#11 – Warren Jennings

(we didn’t plan that, seriously!)

12th – 2 Free Admission tickets to O’neil Cinemas

#1004 – Lennie Ogden

13th – $5 Play(N)Trade Giftcard

#86 – Larry Pierce

And because we probably won’t remember to draw tomorrow….

14th – $50  Play(N)Trade Giftcard

#178 – Chris Murray

CONGRATS TO ALL OUR WINNERS. =)

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Winner of the FRC Team #1058 Photo-

131 – Daniel Grant

Winner of the $20 CVS Giftcard

97 – Lilan Hefley

Sorry to disappoint, but for any winners of the autographed team 1058 photo, we won’t have that prize available until the last week in february for pick up, because we will be taking a picture with our completed robot  before we ship it out. I know, the suspense is killing everyone…and you’ve probably got a spot already picked out on your mantle, but please pardon the delay. Thanks~!

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