Sunday, April 25, 2010

Day 4: The Finals!

After yesterday's qualification matches, the Finals arrived today! We have 2 more matches to compete before noon. As usual, we woke up around 6.30am and made our way to the convention center at 7am. We had Macdonald's Hotcakes for breakfast.

The first great news came unexpectedly as ACSI clinched the 'Unite' Award for their collective efforts to work together with Rulang Primary and Lian Hua Primary. It is the first award won by Team Singapore! We were overjoyed!

Next up, we played the first match of the day. It was a tough match but we managed to beat our opponents together with our alliance! Yeah! After that we played the last match of the competition. It was a very close fight and we tried our best. However we lost by a small margin. We were a little disappointed.

In total of 8 qualification matches, we won 5 and lost 3. That was an awesome result as we knew we are competing with the best in the world. Although we did not qualify for the Finals, our final rank is an excellent 30th out of over 380 teams! We were ecstatic!

Our compatriots from ACSI managed to enter to finals! Their performance was fantastic! Sadly their quest for championship ended in the second stage of the Finals. Nonetheless it was the first time Team Singapore entered the Finals. Well done Team Singapore!

The Finals and the Prize Presentation were the next highlights. We watched these events in a spectacular arena and we were overwhelmed with excitement. When the the special guest announced "The 'Future' Award winner is...8058A!", we almost cried our lungs out! We ran all the way down from the last few rows to the stage to receive our awards! The feeling of winning this award was priceless. This award recognizes our efforts in realizing dreams of future leaders in robotics.

The last great news came from ACSI winning the 'Design' Award for their great mechanical report and design documentations. That means Team Singapore won an unprecedented 3 awards in the VEX Robotics World Championship 2010!

As we celebrate in the Team Party into the night, we will provide more updates, photos and videos in the upcoming blog posts. Till then, thank you for all the support! We did Singapore proud! :)))

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Day 3: Qualification match day!

This is the biggest day of the competition! 5 crucial matches in a day! We can't wait for today. We woke up at 6.30am and made our way to the competition venue at 7am. We had Macdonald's muffins for breakfast and got ready for the competition.

Learning from yesterday's defeat, we picked ourselves up and make sure we don't make the same mistakes. Our determination paid off. Together with our alliances from different countries, we went on an impressive 4 match winning streak! Not only did we win, our robot control improved in every match. We were ecstatic!

In our fifth match, we faced tough competition from our opponents, incidentally our compatriots from ACSI. It was a close fight and in the end we suffered a narrow defeat. We were quite disappointed. The good news is, despite the defeat, we finished the day with a respectable rank of 26th out of 100 top teams from all over the world. Hurray! End of the day, we were quite satisfied with our performance. Our teachers brought us for a sumptuous Japanese dinner!

Tomorrow will be the finals of the competition. We will do our very best to win the last 2 matches and hopefully finish as one of the eight teams to go into finals. We also hope we can win any of the special awards and do our country and school proud. Time to do some final robot maintainance and get ready for the finals!

Due to connection issues in the hotel, we will upload more photos and videos later. Stay tuned!

Friday, April 23, 2010

Day 2: Interview and Qualifying round

The big day has arrived! It's the official first day of the competition! We woke up really early at 6am this morning. Some of us are so excited that we didn't sleep well. Nevertheless all of us woke up on time and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant.

It was a windy morning. We used a trolley to carry our robot to the Dallas Convention Center. Along the way, we met up with participants from all over the world, looking as excited as we were. It was really an eye opener!

We reached the convention center event hall and were immediately blown away by the sheer size of the venue. We made our way to the end of the hall where our designated booth was. Interestingly, our booth is just next to the Food Court. Haha!

After we settled down at our booth, we began our trial sessions on the practice play field. It was a bumpy ride as we encountered some technical issues. Then we queued up for robot inspection and software update. The queue stretched almost the width of the hall! Lucky we were among the early birds. Inspection and software update were smooth sailing. We also met up with participants from USA, Mexico, China, Puerto Rico etc! It felt like celebrating International Friendship Day! We exchanged ideas and strategies with them and learned a lot from them.

We had burgers and fries for lunch at the Food Court. After that we got ready for the important interviews for 'Design' and 'Future' awards. Mdm Fion Wong and Mr Kwan guided us how ways to impress the judges. When it was our turn, we entered the interview rooms confidently and presented to the judges. The interview sessions were a big success! The judges commended us for our creativity and maturity. We hoped we stand good chances of winning awards!

The only low point of the day was the first and only qualifying match of the day which ended up in defeat. We combined well with our alliance from USA but we met some unexpected technical glitches. We were a little disappointed but we realised we need to pick ourselves up quickly and learn from mistakes. We are very confident of returning with vengeance!

We will be competing in another 5 qualifying matches tomorrow which could prove deciding in our quest for awards in USA. No time to blog now. Time for robot maintainance and turning in early to recharge ourself bodies for the biggest day of the competition!

Due to some unforseen internet connection issues, we can only upload a few photos for the time being. Here a link to a few photos of Interview and Qualifying round: http://picasaweb.google.com/kwantuck/VEXRoboticsWorldChampionship2010?feat=directlink

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Day 1: Robot Assembly and Interview Preparation

Today we woke up slightly late at 8am after a long and tiring flight. We decided to have our favourite Macdonald's for breakfast. After breakfast we made our way to the competition venue, Dallas Convention Center. The convention center is only a 10 minutes walk from our hotel. Walking in a cooling weather of around 23 degrees celsius made it a breeze.

Unfortunately the convention center security did not allow us to go into the competition play fields. It did not stop us from strolling around the vicinity. There is a war memorial just beside the center and many metal bulls monuments. We had some fun riding on them!

After the trip, we went back to our hotel and turned our rooms into our 'workshops'. We quickly assembled the VEX robot and started working on our presentation slides. Under the guidance of Mdm Fion Wong and Mr Samuel Chee, we practised for our interview tomorrow. Not forgetting Mr Kwan for helping us to film our activities in our 'workshop'! :D



We had Taco Bell for lunch and Subway for dinner. Plenty of fluids and vegetables too. We are ready for the qualifying rounds and interview tomorrow! Follow our blog for the latest updates!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Day 0: Arrival in Dallas!

Our journey to Dallas, USA began at Changi Airport Terminal 3 on 20 April 2010! Since the flight is at 7am, we have to check in very early in the morning. After a hearty breakfast with our parents and teachers, we set off for a very long journey to USA!





We went through a few flight transits and we finally touched down Dallas, USA at 4pm. We were all tired and hungry. However when it comes to Chinese Chess and delicious food, we came back alive! We even got to pat a real horse after dinner!





Tomorrow we will be assembling our robots and making a trip to the competition venue, Dallas Convention Center to get a feel of the competition heats! Time to wash up, take our vitamins and turn in!

Monday, April 19, 2010