This is the complete news archive of the 2004-2005 season.

August 2005

• 14th - Handing over the reins

June 2005

• 17th - Attention grade 12 students
• 17th - Credit where it's due
• 6th - Strawberries
• 5th - Summer updates

May 2005

• 14th - Slowly taking over...

April 2005

• 30th - What a place to end it all
• 22nd - Don't lose sight of your goals
• 21st - Practice going on vacation
• 21st - We found Internets!!
• 20th - Finding our way around
• 19th - Atlanta, meet Sandwich
• 19th - We are Atlanta
• 15th - The Sad Walrus is ready for his glory.
• 13th - Packing our bags...
• 7th - The Big One

March 2005

• 31st - The Pits Went Wireless
• 30th - The Walrus' Beacon has been Answered
• 27th - Club Sandwich Impresses
• 25th - Voice Communication
• 24th - Waterloo Live
• 23rd - Waterloo, goo goo gajoob
• 20th - Important Meeting for all Team Members
• 13th - Science City success and... Updates!!!
• 11th - Club Sandwich set to visit Science City
• 9th - Finger Lakes Finalists!!!
• 3rd - Live in New York
• 2nd - In New York

February 2005

• 22nd - The robot has been shipped!!!
• 14th - Team Picture

January 2005

• 30th - New media gallery
• 29th - LaSalle Silhouette Article
• 6th - Gearing up for Robotics
• 3rd - Hint for 2005 Competition

The first generation of Sandwich Secondary's robotics team has now come and gone and it's time for new blood to carry on the traditions and reach new heights. Best of luck in the 2005-2006 school year and especially in FIRST's 2006 season! See you soon.

Your Graduating Class picture (courtesy of Steven Li, AKA His highness) is ready to download!

Class of 2005 Picture (2MB)
"Funny" Class of 2005 Picture (2MB)

On Wednesday, Club Sandwich held its 2005 Robotics Appreciation Dinner in what some may call, "appreciation" for those who made this year possible for us. We started the evening off with a yummy pasta dinner (along with dessert). Then there was a brief robot demonstration, the animation was shown, and then we saw a slide show from our fun times in Atlanta. At last we got to what the night was all about. Plaques were given out to all of our main sponsors and to those who were truly critical to making the team possible. So, to everyone out there who supported us in one way or another, thanks! You are all part of something that is shaping the lives of young people everywhere.

Pictures from the evening are available in the media gallery.

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This weekend Club Sandwich took part in the Strawberry Festival parade. We met bright and early (7:30 AM), ready to get some sun love. We spent our 2.5 hours prior to the parade prepping our makeshift float and not putting on sunscreen.

Fun was had by all as we avoided horse droppings, handed out brochures, and represented our school in the name of awesome. Our representation was recognized by the parade judges that morning, and we received 2nd place in the parade for the Youth Division!!! Congratulations everyone!!!

After the parade we put together and manned/womanned a booth for 5 HOURS with our robot. The robot's presence prompted questions from passerbys and we were happy to answer. Eventually things started to slow down and we were all burned to a crisp, and things were packed up. Well done!

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Hello! It's been a while since there's been a major update, but I have a couple for you:

Ok I'm sorry to say this, but the (rest) of the pictures from Toronto and Atlanta have been on the website's server for months, there was just never access to them. That has been done, check the pictures out in the media gallery. There are tons!!!

I have also added in the overview for the Greater Toronto Regional on the Current Season page, and there will be a team picture added for Atlanta as soon as I receive it. Rather than writing an overview of Atlanta I have added a link to the daily updates done while we were there, since they are very thorough.

There will be another update coming soon, since yesterday we took part in the parade at the Strawberry Fest! Stay tuned!

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Congratulations to Steven Li and Kirsten Verbeem, our robotics team leader and team manager (respectively), on being Sandwich Secondary Schools 2005 PROM KING AND QUEEN!!!

See the news update here

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See the news update here

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See the news update here

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Andrew: We're here at the Georgia Dome! There are at least 20 wireless networks and I found one with internet in the pits. Oh sweet internet.
Phil: As for in the stands, there's some wifi flying around, but nothing good yet.

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See the news update here

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See the news update here

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We're here!!! Updates coming after we come back from the mall. I have pictures and videos and stuff. Fun!

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Update (2005-04-17): For those of you who feel you might be missing out on all the action without live updates, NASA is going to have a live webcast of the Championship event which is the next best thing to being there. Additionally, we will be providing daily updates with a more personal look at the day that will include pictures and video for our division (Newton). For some of the stuff that we will be missing, Team 384 will be covering the Galileo division so you will hopefully have a really good understanding of how everything is playing out. If more teams have the ability to do this we will point them out to you.

Stay tuned! We'll be reporting back to you Tuesday evening!

Andre!!! Don't forget to buy the flag, hair stuff, and face paint!!!

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It's Andrew's birthday on Sunday and Dan's birthday on Monday!

Well we just finished our pre-competition meeting tonight. Club Sandwich will be leaving for Atlanta, GA in two groups. About 2/3 of the students will be going on Tuesday (the 19th) and the rest of the students with a bunch of parents will be going on Wednesday. We will be returning from the competition around 10:00 PM on Sunday night.We would really like to thank the people who have made this trip possible with such short notice:

• General Motors of Canada
• The Greater Essex County District School Board
• Mr. and Mrs. Branoff
• The Parent's Council
• The University of Windsor
• Sandwich Secondary School's "Pepsi Fund"

In other news, on Monday it was announced that Club Sandwich is one of the 85 teams in the Newton Division. The way it works is that there are four divisions: Archimedes, Curie, Newton, and Galileo. The 340 teams are divided up amongst them and each one is run on its own field like a regional competition. Once the winners come out of each division, the four alliances face off in a semi-final-type setup where two winners will emerge that compete for the title as overall Champion.

Regarding live updates: we have looked into it extensively and largely heard that internet access is not available. I also heard that last year there might have been a wireless connection but it was very spotty. Given how huge the venue is I would gather that it is unlikely we'll be able to do *live* updates during the championship. Our hotel, however, will have internet access. We will work in collaboration with several other teams' websites to have updates on all four divisions daily with videos and pictures.

Also, I have all the Greater Toronto pictures and such, I have just had tons of homework and I have to get it all done before we leave!! I'll probably end up adding that stuff next Wednesday.

Oh, and one last thank you to Mr. DiTomasso for being so co-operative with his Grade 12 robotics team members (and Deniz)!

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6 900 Robots - 73 000 Students - 40 000 Volunteers
2 500 Sponsors - $5 000 000 in Scholarships...

Well, the loss at Mississauaga was a bit disappointing, but we've sure got one great consolation prize on our hands now. Thanks to the magic of waiting lists, Club Sandwich is - yes! - going to Atlanta! This delicious news came to us earlier today after waiting nearly a week to find out the results of our entry into the competition. As of now transportation is limited, but we hope to be bringing along as much of the team as possible. Still, we wish all the best for our team in the competition, which will be taking place in two weeks. GO WALRUS!

Where'd all the news go? Well there was a lot of scrolling going on withing the front page so we have created a News Archive. A button will be added to the menu soon.

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Breaking news! We have wireless internet in the pits. That means that we can do live updates! The only drawback is that they wont be as live as Rochester and Waterloo, since Phil has to be in the pits to have a connection. We're thinking he can probably do the updates on the field and then come back to the pits periodically to upload them.

Nevertheless, we're here live from the 2005 Greater Toronto Regional!

P.S. we won both of our first match's practice rounds (they let you play twice in each practice match). The scores were 35-0 and 71-0 :).

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Ok, unfortunately at this point we don't think we will be able to do live updates. The only internet access at the competition will be "wired" and from what I have heard it will be available in the pits, where Phil won't be able to see what's going on. At worst we will be providing "previously recorded" updates every day. We know how much everyone loves the live updates, but there isn't really anything we can do.

We arrived at the Holiday Inn Express around 7:15 P.M. and got unpacked. By 8 we were called down to the lobby to go to an unknown destination. That destination would be later known as "Bowling." After many a drive down many a street, we ended up in an alley, not one of bowling. Through this alley we moved on to a gas station where we strategized and had inter-vehicle light competitions (our vehicle won 10-0). Afterwords we did some backtracking and ended up at Brunswick Bowling. Many fun times were had, I will add some pictures to the media gallery tonight for your viewing.

Currently we are in our rooms under lock and key. Well we'll be updating again tomorrow at some point, stay tuned!!!

Update: It appears that in anticipation of another competition, I have lost my voice (moreso than before). Good night.

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Well Team 772 has just returned from another successful weekend in Waterloo. Aside from being semi-finalists, our robot performed better than it ever has before. We finished our qualifying matches in 5th place with a record of 8-4-0 and an average round points of 15.83. Our performance allowed us to be the Alliance Captains of alliance #3 with teams 188 (Blizzard) and 1503 (Spartonics), creating arguably the most offensive alliance of the competition. This is the highest seed that Club Sandwich has ever finished!!! Congratulations!

That's not all, our resident animators, Aruj, Deniz, and James, took home the Autodesk Visualization Award! Congratulations guys :). They are now eligible to be judged on the national level, as well as for a rookie animation award.
Here is a link to their winning animation.

Aside from everything else something close to my heart was accomplished. That's right, the Sad Walrus is now equipped with one killer autonomous mode! Once we had it done near the end of Friday's matches, we were able to score 4 points during autonomous mode every single round. Thanks is given to Matt Branoff for helping me get this done over Friday's lunch break without having to test it on the playing field.

Read more on our current season page.

Greater Toronto: Here we come!

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The Sabres have arrived in Waterloo, and the Internet situation is looking good. Live updates likely to follow. Tomorrow the early-goers will head in at nine, and the laggards at ten.

Here's the schedule for Thursday:

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To all members of the robotics team,

There WILL be a meeting on Monday March 21 in T-80 after school.

This meeting will be to discuss any important information as well as to assign individual roles for the upcoming competitions.

Hoping you had a restful March Break.

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Our journey to Canada South Science City provided great fun for one and all. To top it all off we were greeted by our old friend: The Sabrebot! Unfortunately in all of the dust collecting adventures he's been on, The Sabrebot was due for repairs. We got it basically up and running to demonstrate our first robot to spectators.

Our main goal at this event was not only to promote FIRST robotics, but to show the kids who were there how much a bit of hard work and dedication can pay off. Hopefully by seeing some neat robots this weekend they'll be inspired to join a robotics team when they get older or even pursue a career in science and technology. Club Sandwich was very honoured to spread the word.

In other news the website has had some major updates over the past weekend! Be sure to check out the media gallery to see all the great pictures from Rochester, and for some video footage we dug up from '02 and '03! But that's not all! Every page has had something improved or updated, so be sure to check it all out.

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Did you know that Windsor has a Science Centre? That's right its called Canada South Science City and on Saturday March 12th 2005 Club Sandwich will be paying a visit to the Science City. The very first robot SabreBOT that was created by the team back in 2001-2002 was sold at the end of the year to the Science City and it has now been on display for the past year.

This Saturday the Canada South Science City will be holding its one year anniversary and Club Sandwich will be bringing the robot Scorpion to demonstrate to visitors what today's technology can do and how the kids can one day use technology to make the world a better place. We hope to show the kids how great FIRST is. That through FIRST they will gain a vast amount hands on experience while applying their classroom skills and abilities to a real life situation. Come visit us this Saturday. The Team intends to be present from noon till 5pm.

Canada South Science City
930 Marion Avenue
Windsor, Ontario N9A 2J2
Ph: 519-973-3667
Fax:519-973-3676

Click Here For A MAP (PDF file) Canada South Science City Located In Red Circle

The Canada South Science City website can be found by clicking the orange button below.

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Thanks to the help of our 4th-seeded alliance with teams 1507 and 229 we defeated both the 5th and 1st seeded alliances without a single loss to make it into the finals. We won the first finals match but unfortunately we ended up losing in an extremely close tiebreaking match. We congratulate teams 191, 639, and 494 on their well deserved victory and for being part of our first experience in a regional final EVER!

Everyone should be extremely proud! You have all performed incredibly well. Congratulations team! :)

Be sure to check out our new live updates section to find out what happened during each minute of the competition!

Click the orange button below for the whole story!

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That's right! Team 772 will be launching over to the following regional competitions very soon!!!!!!

Our robot's name this year is the Sad Walrus, and it shall defeat all, because there are NONE TOUGHER.

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I will be taking a FINAL team picture tomorrow (Tuesday, February 15th) at 4:00pm. Please make all attempts to be there. This picture will be displayed in the Tech hall.

If you can not attend, please e-mail me back. I will attempt to do something to add you into the picture (using the computer).

Thanks

PS: If possible, please wear a shirt without wording

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There is still work to be done on it but it's mainly just our old videos and the pictures from this year which have yet to be taken! If you have any pictures from previous years that you think should be on the website, e-mail them to me or Phil. (file size is not a problem for me)

A new button on the menu for the media gallery will likely be added soon.

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Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to mention that there was a robotics article posted in the LaSalle Silhouette on Friday January 28th 2005. The article can be found on page 13. In the article there is a team picutre taken by Graeme Desjarlais and the article highlights on the past 4 years of the team. Also don't forget about the Boppers Cafe Night that will be held on Wednesday February 16th 2005.

Boppers Cafe Website

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