Checking bags at the Honolulu airport.
Waiting for the Saint Louis airplane (an Embraer 145) in Chicago.
After we dropped our things off in our rooms, we took a walk outside and found we were across the street from the Busch
Stadium, home of the Saint Louis Cardinals. We got tickets for the Friday night game.
We walked up to the America's Center venue for the Championship event and saw this head along the way.
Across Washington, an east-west street, from the America's Center.
On the way back we went to Gateway Park to look at the arch. Leaving America's Center for the Gateway Arch.
Getting closer to the arch.
At Gateway park.
Andrea got a group photo by the pond near the arch.
This is Andrea's photo of the group by the arch.
It's pretty impressive when you get close to it.
ZJ, Jennifer, Andrea, and I went up in the same capsule. This is the souvenir photo taken by the National Park Service there.
ZJ and Jennifer get into the capsule first.
We all went up to the top. Andrea took this photo of the Mississippi River from the top of the arch.
Looking out the windows at the top of the arch. Wildstang, FRC 111, was there too.
Here's the view of the stadium and our hotel.
Here's the view of the Edward Jones Dome at America's Center where the competition was held (far right).
Students with the statue of Thomas Jefferson in the history museum at the arch.
Outside the arch museum, heading back to the hotel.
Back at the hotel: mentors Tyron, Andrea, Brian, and Rick. Photo by Madi.
The next day, Wednesday, the 25th, we got up early and met down in the lobby to go exploring.
We walked to the City Museum, just off Washington, west of the America's Center venue.
The City Museum could be called the weird museum because of all the weird stuff inside, with lots of weird things to crawl through.
Here are some weird displays in the museum.
The weird ray gun collection.
The museum collection has many salvaged architectural features, like this weird flying pineapple with crossed lightning bolts.
Andrea poses with a Sphinx.
Saint Louis presenting the crown.
The outdoor climbing apparatus was a real jumble. Photo by Andrea.
Andrea and I climbed in some of the play equipment.
Andrea waits at the bottom of the long slide.
Egyptian motif on the exterior of the museum building.
There is lots of public art in Saint Louis.
The team had lunch at Hardee's.
Thursday morning we walked around the pits. Two students look at a very low number legacy team's robot.
On Thursday, Glenn Lee of FRC 359, Waialua High School, Hawaii, gave a conference session on tips for a successful team.
Qualifying matches began on Thursday. Here are the Archimedes and Newton fields. We were in the Archimedes Division.
We had a very nice looking pit.
The Space Cookies work on their robot.
The Robonauts always have a really cool (and beautifully engineered) robot. They made it to Einstein field, but the robot was
mysteriously dead in both matches.
Another view of the Robonaut machine. Photo by Andrea.
The Beachbots (FRC 330) split off from Beach Cities Robotics (FRC 294) back in 1998. The Beachbots, World Champions in 2005,
were in the Newton Division, but didn't make it to finals.
The Metalcrafters (FRC 207) is the other team that split off from Beach Cities Robotics. They did make it to Einstein field, but were
eliminated in the semifinal.
Our robot takes the field at Archimedes.
3008 robot action on Archimedes.
3008 participating in a triple balance on Archimedes.
Thursday evening Hawaii's ROC held a second reception for the six Hawaii teams with lots of good food.
Opening ceremonies on Friday.
Friday's Deans List Awards ceremony.
Using the Kinect to control the robot during hybrid period.
Good results during hybrid period. Our robot usually sunk two six pointers during hybrid.
Madi with Mark Leon. Photo by Madi.
Madi made lots of friends in the pits. Photo by Madi.
The engineering model of the Curiosity Mars rover was on display.
Team photo in our pit.
Friday evening we saw the Saint Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers. The score was 12 to 1 after the fifth inning when we
left to get a good night's rest.
Getting ready for the final elimination matches.
Naturally, Dean Kamen made some great inspiring speeches with homework.
Receiving the Judge's Award trophy.
The students pose with their Judge's Award trophy.
After the finals (Bomb Squad was the winning alliance captain), Andrea and I ate in the Westin restaurant. The food was great.
We got up at 3:00 AM to return Sunday morning.
Email Richard dot J dot Wagner at gmail dot com