2012 Smoky Mountains Regional - Knoxville, TN

[Ster]

Welcome back to the second year of the FIRST Robotics Competition Smoky Mountains Regional in Knoxville, Tennessee!

WHEN:

March 1st-3rd, 2012

WHERE:

Knoxville Convention Center
701 Henley Street
Knoxville, TN 37902

PARTICIPANTS:

52 teams are registered for this year including:

• Thirteen rookie teams for the second year in a row
• Ten returning second-year teams from last year
• None of last year's game winners, so the playing field is wide open!

Six teams will receive an invitation to the FIRST Championship in St. Louis, MO:

• Three teams from the winning alliance
• Regional Chairman's Award winner
• Regional Engineer Inspiration Award winner
• Regional Rookie All-Star

USEFUL INFORMATION:

• This year's competition is a week one event
• This year's competition is a Bag & Tag event
• Freight and load-in traffic goes to the South end of the convention center by the freight elevator. Foot traffic and spectators goes to the North end of the convention center and uses the escalators.
• Remember that all pit materials and robots move into the arena by a freight elevator. Take this into account when designing your pits.
• Dress warmly on Thursday. The freight elevator slows down the line moving into the arena and you may spend a while standing in line outside.

RELATED LINKS:

• Tennessee FIRST Website
• Registered Teams List

[Wayne Doenges]

FIRST Team 1501 (T.H.R.U.S.T.) can't wait to come to the Smoky Mountain Regional.

[IndySam]

Originally Posted by Wayne Doenges

FIRST Team 1501 (T.H.R.U.S.T.) can't wait to come to the Smoky Mountain Regional.

Hey Wayne, I need a ride.

[Jimmy Nichols]

1038 is looking forward to our first Regional competition South of the river, the Ohio River that is.

[Gary Dillard]

Hey I just saw on the team list that Cyber Blue got in - when did that happen? Can't wait to see you guys again. We're hoping to be considerably more competitive than last year (which wouldn't take much <sigh>).

We're staying at the Crowne Plaza Downtown. It's about a 3.5 hour drive for us - coming up after school on Wednesday.

[Jimmy Nichols]

Originally Posted by Gary Dillard

Hey I just saw on the team list that Cyber Blue got in - when did that happen? Can't wait to see you guys again. We're hoping to be considerably more competitive than last year (which wouldn't take much <sigh>).

We're staying at the Crowne Plaza Downtown. It's about a 3.5 hour drive for us - coming up after school on Wednesday.

They dropped Queen City to go, we were dissapointed here, but at least we still get to compete together at Smoky Mountain.

[Wayne Doenges]

I see that Indiana FIRST Team 292 (Panther Tech) will be joining us in Knoxville.

[bam-bam]

Alright, proper thanks in order from 1501....

Thank you so much to 447 and 1261 for being alliance partners. We seriously did not consider anyone else above you two to be on our alliance.

447- 1501 was so sure that you guys would be taken by another team, because you all had such a consistent robot that put you above all others. We were extremely surprised and happy at the same time when it came to our turn to pick. We had a great time working with you all, and hopefully if we can pair up again sometime in the future, we will get a blue banner.

1261- We were completely taken by surprise at the end of the first round when we found out you guys were still not taken. It's still baffling to even think about the shooter- it was one of the only three shooters by our count that could consistently shoot in the top row. You guys were great partners to work with, and unfortunately for our first time together in eliminations, it had to be cut short.

It was amazing to work with you all (especially this was my first time being on an captain team), and yes, I do feel it was a blue-banner alliance.

Once again, congratulations to 772, 234, and 3259, in addition to thanks to all teams at Smokey Mountains for a great first time week 1 regional for us!

[Chris Fultz]

Smoky Mountains was once again a well run event - great venue, great volunteers and well organized. The facility is just about perfect for an FRC Regional.

It was great to meet new teams and make some new friends.

Thanks to our new Canadian friends 772 for the Alliance pick and to 3259 for being an awesome selection! I don't think there could have been a better combination of robots and capabilities than we had. We worked well together and were able to adjust strategies when needed. I look forward to seeing both of you in St. Louis!

[Liv22]

Originally Posted by bam-bam

Alright, proper thanks in order from 1501....

Thank you so much to 447 and 1261 for being alliance partners. We seriously did not consider anyone else above you two to be on our alliance.

447- 1501 was so sure that you guys would be taken by another team, because you all had such a consistent robot that put you above all others. We were extremely surprised and happy at the same time when it came to our turn to pick. We had a great time working with you all, and hopefully if we can pair up again sometime in the future, we will get a blue banner.

1261- We were completely taken by surprise at the end of the first round when we found out you guys were still not taken. It's still baffling to even think about the shooter- it was one of the only three shooters by our count that could consistently shoot in the top row. You guys were great partners to work with, and unfortunately for our first time together in eliminations, it had to be cut short.

It was amazing to work with you all (especially this was my first time being on an captain team), and yes, I do feel it was a blue-banner alliance.

Once again, congratulations to 772, 234, and 3259, in addition to thanks to all teams at Smokey Mountains for a great first time week 1 regional for us!

On behalf of teem 447 we thank you for the opportunity to work with you. Thank you 1501 for chosing such an awsome alince. We truly enjoyed the experience. We hope to work with both 1501 and 1261 in the future. Just working with you all on the practice field made us shore that we had an awesome alliance! Thank you all so much for everything and we hope to work with you all again soon to take home the blue banner!!!!

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by bam-bam

Alright, proper thanks in order from 1501...

I suppose I will check in from team 1261.

To team 1501, obviously thanks are in order for picking up our team. I can't say that we were too excited to be around for 2nd picks, but you guys were able to create an exciting, stacked alliance. Additionally, I want to thank you guys for being so courteous and kind to our team. We don't have too many "friends" outside the Peachtree Regional, so it was extremely nice to hear the scouts speak so highly of your team.

To team 447, you guys were excellent partners and provided just the balance we needed for the alliance. Good luck to you guys in the future.

I keep staring at the image of the 3 robot balance and think about what could have been. Anyways, it was the most fun Week 1 event we've been to, and we look forward to the next time.

- Sunny G.

[Dan 1038]

On behalf of FRC Team 4306, the Robo Kamotos, I would like to thank all of the teams who threw support at us - my kids had an absolute blast! Two teams I would especially like to thank are 772, who adopted us as thier own and screamed out my drivers by name every time we were up, and 1038, our pit partners who helped us get a bulletproof auton and get our camera up so we could see trapped balls under the bridge. What a great regional for a rookie team, everyone was great to us - the kids are already amped to help my other team, FRC Team 3945 - Cobrotics, prepare for Queen City!

Thanks again,

[Nate Laverdure]

Drove 1,100 miles (round-trip) just to visit on Saturday... wanderlust cured (for now).



BTW, I loved the "Mardi Growl" festival!

[akoscielski3]

Originally Posted by Nate Laverdure

Drove 1,100 miles just to visit on Saturday... wanderlust cured (for now).



BTW, I loved the "Mardi Growl" festival!

WOW! Thats further than us coming from Canada! lol Nice picture of 234's drive team looking really into the match lol. Same with our human player there .

Does anybody have Videos uploaded from the finals? or any other matches??

Thanks For the great Competition! Hoping to come back next year

[CrimsonStorm]

Congratulations to 234, 772, and 3259 on the well-deserved championship win this weekend! 2856 and I had a blast competing with and against everyone - it was an excellent event, and everyone who was there should be proud of their performance. I particularly want to thank 2200 and 4092 for their support in the tournament - despite our quarterfinal loss, it was great working with you to do our best on and off the field.