Common Era Robots (2001 - Present)

These robots are part of what we call the Common Era of our FIRST careers; with some experience under our belt, we began to win awards and regionals, and it seemed like 2001 was a new beginning.

Canada FIRST - Team 188's 1995 - 1997 robots

Early FIRST - Team 188's 1998 - 2000 robots

Year	Robot	Information
2001	Blizzard-II	Again attending both the Great Lakes Regional and the National competition, 188 competed with a very competent robot, and notably innovative strategy. We also received a Judges' Award at the Great Lakes Regional for perseverance. Off-season, 188 continued its workshops with Canadian teams and helped create new ones, in addition to founding the Canadian Regional with assistance from Crescent School (Team 610) in preparation for 2002. Award: Judges' Award
2002	Blizzard-III	"Zone Zeal" was the name of the 2002 competition, which involved heavy contact between teams for the first time. Woburn's sturdy, over-two-horsepower behemoth (thanks to our first multi-motor gearbox) overpowered the competition and held heavy goals flawlessly. At the inaugural Canadian Regional, Woburn was recognized for its extensive efforts in helping FIRST in Canada with the Regional Chairman's Award, FIRST's highest regional honour. This was also the first year the team attended two regionals. Award: Regional Chairman's Award, Regional Semifinalists
2003	Blizzard-IV	Featuring an even more powerful gearbox and a rugged, yet versatile function, Woburn's robot was a formidable bulldozer. The team placed as finalists in the Canadian Regional, and won the West Michigan regional in Grand Rapids against some very formidable teams, which qualified the team to attend the Championship event (formerly known as Nationals). By this time, 188 had assisted in the formation of over 20 teams. This was undoubtedly our most successful season to date. Awards: Regional Champions, Regional Finalists, Curie Field Quarterfinalists
2004	Blizzard-V	This year was a very experimental one for us. The new drivetrain had six motors producing nearly 3 horses, that operated through a dog-shifting tranny mechanism to maximize speed and torque. Blizzard-V is likely in the top five robots in the areas of both speed (17 or 4 feet per second) and torque in the history of FIRST. We also decided to deviate from our normal philisophy of performing one function well; we performed them all quite well, from herding small balls, to grabbing and manipulating huge ones, to lifting our own weight to hang from a bar, all in the most complex FIRST game to date. The other two things of note for this year were two personal awards given to our very deserving mentors, and 188's bringing home of the Championship Website Design Award for the redesign and overhaul of team188.com, after having won the same award at both regionals we attended. Awards: Regional Website Design Award, Regional Alliance Captain, Regional Woodie Flowers Award, Regional Volunteer of the Year Award, Regional Sportsmanship Award, Regional Website Design Award, Archimedes Field Alliance Captain, Championship Website Design Award
2005	Blizzard-VI	Surprises came one after another in 2005. It began with our decision to attend 3 regionals and giving up our opportunity to compete once again at the Championship Event. We've been to it every year since we joined USFIRST, following it from Orlando, to Houston and to Atlanta but 2005 was our first year to miss out on this wonderful event. Quickly into the build season, we put aside the design of our monstrous 6 motor drivetrain so that we could spend more time on the functional aspect of the robot, which we believed was more important in Triple Play. In retrospect, it was a wise decision that led to a week's worth of driving practise and debugging, a pleasure we have never tasted in past years. Driving practise was definitely necessary to tame the 13 feet tall behemoth that held what is arguably the most unique and creative device built for the 2005 game Triple Play. Team 188's tetra manipulator was capable of carrying two tetras and then release them independantly, opening a book full of stategic plays. Awards: Regional Website Award, Regional Sportsmanship Award, Regional Creativity Award, Regional Entrepreneurship Award
2006	Blizzard-VII	2006 promised to be another exciting year as we planned to strategize for the year's game, Aim High. To maximize our robot's scoring capacity, we came up with a triple barrel shooter capable of unleashing poof balls at a distance of 6 feet into the eight-foot high goal. Our shooting mechanism with its bright yellow foam rollers lit up many competitions with its innovative spark. Although climbing the 30 degree ramp posed a challenge for Blizzard VII, we were excellent at picking up balls from the ground and low-goal scoring. With the creation of our first welded base, we strengthened the partnership between the team and our sponsors. The season ended off on a high note with our drive coach, Shawn Lim winning one of FIRST's most prestigious honors, the Woodie Flowers Award. Awards: Judges Award, Delphi's Driving Tomorrow's Technology Award, Dual Website awards, Woodie Flowers Award
2007	Blizzard-VIII	Arguably our best season in the past couple years. Team 188 built one of its best robots ever - Blizzard VIII, thanks to extensive prototyping and our robust and reliable drive train that was developed the past summer. In addition to attending the two Canadian regionals at Waterloo and Mississauga, we also took a memorable trip down to Los Angeles, which strengthened our ties between us and Team 4. Unfortunately, we fell just short of becoming the winning alliance at these competitions. We were not winners of regionals, but we were definitely winners of FIRST, as we spread the word of inspiration by mentoring 7 FLL teams and hosting the FIRST Lego League TDSB East Regional at our school. For his great contributions and FIRST, Mr. Breadner was awarded the Woodies Flowers Award at the Greater Toronto Regional. Awards: Woodie Flowers Award, Website Award, Sportsmanship Award, Autodesk Visualization Award
2008	Blizzard-IX	With over a dozen members leaving Team 188 due to graduation, most on the team believed it would be a transition year. That might have been the case, but it didn't feel like it. With a new wave of members stepping up into leadership roles, our team was quite successful on the field, with our team losing to the eventual world champions in the Waterloo Regional finals, as well as off it (Volunteer of the Year winning mentor Roland Anderson). However, the fun didn't end in March. Our provincial championship-winning FTC/Vex team was invited to compete in Atlanta for the World Championship in April. Our boys didn't disappoint, getting all the way to the division semifinals, losing in a heartbreaking final match. Perhaps the greatest moment of the season was our founder, Mark Breadner, being honoured in Atlanta with the Championship Woodie Flowers Award for his tremendous work in introducing and sustaining FIRST in Canada. Awards: Gracious Professionalism Award, Autodesk Visualization Award, Championship Woodie Flowers Award, Volunteer of the Year Award, Delphi "Driving Tomorrow's Technology" Award
2009	Blizzard-X	From the summer of 2008 to the day of kickoff, Team 188 had an overhaul in terms of the way it functions during build season. Leo Qu, a gifted student took on the challenging role to lead the team all year. This system proved to be successful after Team 188 had its most triumphant season in its 14 year history. We had a dominant performance and went on to win the Finger Lakes Regional ending our 6 year drought. In the GTR regional we advanced to the finals and sadly lost the last round, however we didn't fall without a fight. In Atlanta we were selected to be in the fourth alliance and once again proceeded to the finals. Once again we lost but certainly scared the competition but even so, we were still the last Canadian team standing. Awards: Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control Award, General Motors Industrial Design Award, Regional Championship (Finger Lakes Regional), Regional Finalists (Greater Toronto Regional) and Division Finalists (Curie Division)