One of the best things about my job at AndyMark is that we get to provide parts to passionate robot builders around the world. For the past few years, we have been selling more and more parts to our friends who make up the 44 FIRST Robotics Competition teams in Israel. This past week was the 2012 Israeli FIRST Robotics Regional, and I had the chance to attend. Also, Jerry Budd, our robot and systems controls engineer here at AndyMark also flew over to help as the event FTA (FIRST Tech Advisor). Jerry and I both had a great time, and I would like to show some pictures and stories about this wonderful event.
Here is a view from our hotel in Tel Aviv. The water on the horizon is the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. So, the direction I am looking is back home to Indiana.
Here is a picture with a very friendly Israeli team, 3211. They used a tennis racquet as their ball shooter and bicycle tires as their conveyor lift. Also, they had a very complete description of Mecanum wheels on a flyer in their pit, all in Hebrew.
As with any FIRST Regional, there are many team members camped out on the arena. The Nokia Arena in Tel Aviv was full of many teams, and they had big banners (some 10 meters long). These teams were definitely louder than teams at US Regionals, as drums and vuvuzelas played along with the pumped-up music all day long. The passion of the Isreali teams is impressive.
I got a picture of this fancy Israeli robot. Team 3065 has a very nicely machined conveyor system, with yellow powder coating. The robot quality here at the Israeli Regional matched the regionals in the US. The craftsmanship and attention to detail is excellent on many of the top-performing robots. At the same time, there are teams with fewer resources who struggle to comply with bumper rules and other robot specifications, just like the struggles with teams in the states. The quality and competitiveness of the Israeli robots is definitely on par with their American counterparts.
Even in Israel, every day they're shufflin'.
Team 1937 from Maccabin Reut High School was a part of the winning alliance, along with team 1690 from Benyamina High School
and team 1662 from Lodi, California. I had a great time visiting with all of these teams. This team was very thankful to receive AndyMark parts, and their engineers also were able to give me some constructive input on some quality issues that we can improve upon. Whenever we get that sort of input I know that our customers care and I listen.
Here are some proud students on team 2213, showing off their Modulox shooter from
iR3.
Dov Peri is the Lead Robot Inspector in Israel. He runs a great group of volunteers, which include 12 inspectors. I enjoyed working with them, helping resolve "issues" for the teams, with Dov, as the other inspectors were going through their work. Probably the biggest issue we found was that some bumper segment backings were not 8" long as required by the rules. This caused some grief for the teams, but also was appreciated by the teams who did catch this rule earlier in the build season.
I suppose that if I stay hunched down until the start of the match, I will be legal. Of course, I am well under the 120 pound maximum robot weight. My bumpers weigh a bit more than they are supposed to, though.
All of the teams and volunteers were willing to speak English, which made things easy for me. Everyone seemed to know the English language and spoke it very well, especially the students.
Here is a good shot of the field with the Nokia Arena seats in the background.
During the qualification rounds, teams got a nice surprise from the Tel Aviv professional basketball team,
Maccabi Tel Aviv. The head coach and star player,
Richard Hendrix (played at Alabama) challenged the robotics teams to see who could score the most points during a match. Here is a picture of the two teams, 1574 Mis-car and 1662 from California enjoying their time with the pro players.
As teams were wrapping up the day and crating their robots, I got a chance to visit with some students and mentors. These are some neat kids on team 4406. They were led by a couple of young, energetic mentors, including Itay here in the yellow hat. We swapped hats. Etim even nicely embarrassed me with a version of an "Andy Baker - clap, clap, clap-clap-clap" cheer.
After inspections were finished on qualification day, I decided to take a break for the FIRST Competition and head out to Jerusalem. Alisha and Rob MacIntyre were nice enough to loan me their car. Eyal Hershko gave me some quick directions on how to leave Tel Aviv and get on the highway to Jerusalem. Once in Jerusalem, I followed signs for the "Old City" and ended up parking on Abraham Lincoln St. All of the signs are this way in Israel, with Hebrew, Arabic, and English texts.
I was looking for a tour of the Old City, so I ducked into a nearby hotel. Their tours already left for the day, so I was on my own. I started walking toward the Old City, and entered Joffa Gate. I must have looked like a tourist, because many gentlemen asked me to part with my money at their shops and with their services. One guy asked me if I needed lunch, and I said yes. After a nice lunch, I decided to listen to him some more, and he offered to give me a tour of the city, just he and I. For the next three hours, George was my best friend, teacher, and guide.
George took me to the cistern near the Upper Room, where Jesus washed the feet of the disciples. Since I am a Christian (Roman Catholic), this was special for me. George is Armenian and Catholic, so we prayed together throughout many of the stops along our journey.
Here is a picture of me with a bronze olive tree in the Upper Room where Jesus and the 12 disciples had the Last Supper. This tree was a gift by Pope John Paul II.
George knew his way around the back alleys and shops of Old Jerusalem. We hoofed it up some stairs to see a nice view from the rooftops. On the left is the Mount of Olives, with a Jewish settlement on the right.
We went into the Church of the Dormition, where Mary was laid to rest before her Assumption into heaven. There is some disagreement regarding where and how this happened, between the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox, and the Armenians. This church is where the Catholics believe it happened.
George led me to the entrance of the Western Wall, which is sacred to Jews and Muslims, and I went in to this area without him. So, I entered and took some pictures of the Jewish side of the wall. Then, ignorantly, I followed some ladies toward the wall and was heard "excuse me, sir, you need to go to the men's area". Duh. The men's area is much larger, on the left above. When I left, I asked George why he didn't tell me to watch out for this, and he just laughed.
As you can see, by this time of our walk, I was sweating a bit. Behind me is the Golden Gate, which has a Muslim cemetery near it. Also, immediately behind me is a Catholic cemetery for priests.
We came upon this large structure (
Absalom's Pillar), which is very old, at about 2000 years.
This is the tomb of Mary, according to the Armenians and Eastern Orthodox Christians. We went in to pray. Like other sacred locations, a priest (Franciscan?) was overlooking the location. This also reminded me of a robot sizing box for inspections.
I took a picture of George as we waited for a priest to open this door to the Grotto under the Garden of Gethsemeni. He wasn't sweating as much as I.
Within the Garden of Gethsemani, there are some very old olive trees. George claimed that they were over 2,000 years old. Who am I to doubt George?
George and I walked in to the Church of All Nations, on the grounds of the Garden of Gethsemani. This is the rock where Jesus wept and Judas kissed him on the cheek.
The Dome of the Rock is shown above, which is a Muslim temple.
We made it to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, which is the location of Jesus' tomb. It was very crowded, but spiritual.
I was taking pictures of the streets of Old Jerusalem, as this is quite different from the cornfields and flatness of north central Indiana. George asked me what I was doing, and then offered to show me his family's house, nearby.
George introduced me to his mother and two nieces, and they offered me some water. They must have noticed that I was sweating a bit after this walk around the Old City.
I made it back to the car, thankfully. On the way out to the highway back to Tel Aviv, I saw a sign for a robot. Neato!
The rest of the Regional went very well. Teams had a great time, and the regional ran very well. During the morning of the final day, Dan Green and I were able to announce the winner of the WFFA for Israel, which went to Haim Derivin of team 1574, who also was one of the Robot Inspectors I worked with on Dov's staff.
I had a great time, felt very safe and welcome during this fun event. I encourage any American team to make the effort like 1731 (from Virginia) and 1662 (from California) did. I believe that both of these teams were hosted by local Israeli FRC teams, and enjoyed themselves immensely.
