2014 Palmetto Regional

[Billfred]

Back again in Myrtle Beach, still on Week 1 whether you like it or not.

It's already up to 55 teams (https://my.usfirst.org/myarea/index.lasso?page=teamlist&event_type=FRC&sort_teams=number&year=2014&event=scmb)--last year the number was 65. Take from that what you will.

Notable so far:

1) 8 rookie teams so far, 5 of them from South Carolina. Two are back-from-the-dead types; Dorman HS (5020) had 1715 (http://frclinks.com/t/1715) that lasted a year, and Blythewood HS (5180) had 1959 (http://frclinks.com/t/1959) that last competed in 2011*.
2) For ten years, the Palmetto Regional never had a Canadian team. Now we have 4...and two of them are rookies!
3) Of all of last year's 8 medal-getters, only three are returning: 2187 (Conway SC, champions), 2655 (Colfax NC, EI), and 3824 (Knoxville TN, finalists). Room at the top?

Standard policy is teams that last competed in 2011 come back with their old numbers, but my understanding is that they brought back one kid that was around for their last season as 1959. That team was credited with one win (http://www2.usfirst.org/2011comp/events/SC/rankings.html) in their only event that year. That's a rookie team to me.

Who else is excited to head back to the beach?

[ttldomination]

We actually grappled with the idea of going back to Palmetto. Peachtree is a week 5, so that gave us some more flexibility with respect to our 2nd regional options.

However, in the end, our familiarity with the location and the teams fondness for Week 1 drew us back. Hopefully we can help take up some of that room at the top.

Who else is excited to head back to the beach?

Funny thing about this, Atlanta Public Schools doesn't allow students to go swimming during school trips. So we're heading back, but not for the beach.

- Sunny G.

[Jscout11]

Sadly, we won't be coming down to Myrtle Beach this year. It's a shame because last year's event was one of the best I've been to, and with the teams already signed up for this years event it looks to be even better.

[Kellen Hill]

We are hoping to get in off of the waitlist!

[D.Allred]

We are hoping to get in off of the waitlist!

Kellen, Hope you guys can make it!

It's hard to tell how many wait list slots have been taken. There are 9 registered SC teams not on the current Palmetto list. I would expect at least 6 of those teams are also on the wait list which would leave 4 open slots for out of state teams. (I am assuming Palmetto will max out at 65 teams again.)

It was unfortunate that MORT could return to defend their title. Good luck at your District Event.

Billfred, By the way... there's a beach at Myrtle Beach? Who's got time for that!

David

[JohnFogarty]

I haven't been back to Aiken to confirm this yet, but I don't think M'Aiken Magic will be competing at Palmetto this year due to a conflict with the FIRST Tech Challenge South-Eastern Super Regional in Texas.

I'll be at Palmetto with Billfred & I's new team, 4901 Garnet Squadron, and of course my favorite other team, 1772 the Brazilian Trailblazers.

[Jscout11]

It was unfortunate that MORT could return to defend their title. Good luck at your District Event.

Billfred, By the way... there's a beach at Myrtle Beach? Who's got time for that!

David

Thanks, and good luck to everyone competing at this year's event.

And for us to get to the beach this year, we'll have to travel a little farther than SC ;)

[HumblePie]

We're hoping/waiting to make it in from the waitlist. We're confirmed at SMR for week 5, but the other options in the first few weeks a quite a distance away. Fingers crossed.

[JohnFogarty]

Thanks, and good luck to everyone competing at this year's event.

And for us to get to the beach this year, we'll have to travel a little farther than SC ;)

South Florida? Hahaa

[EricDrost]

South Florida? Hahaa

A little farther.

[Kellen Hill]

Looks like 7 teams were pulled off the wait list to bring the team total to 64.

Unfortunately, we weren't one of them.

https://my.usfirst.org/myarea/index.lasso?page=event_teamlist&sort_teams=number&-session=myarea:0A7D78871b3352525AGpyQR8D3DF

[Mr. B.]

MORT 11 will miss attending the 2014 Palmetto Regional! Unfortunately we are hosting our MAR District competition Week 1 and can't attend. The Palmetto Regional is like a second home for MORT, the planning committee is top notch, the competition is great and more importantly, the people of SC and the surrounding areas are so welcoming to us. Your warm hospitality will be missed. To all of our friends attending, good luck this year and we hope to see you out in St. Louis! Stay well, Mr. B.

[mechanical_robot]

We actually grappled with the idea of going back to Palmetto. Peachtree is a week 5, so that gave us some more flexibility with respect to our 2nd regional options.

However, in the end, our familiarity with the location and the teams fondness for Week 1 drew us back. Hopefully we can help take up some of that room at the top.



Funny thing about this, Atlanta Public Schools doesn't allow students to go swimming during school trips. So we're heading back, but not for the beach.

- Sunny G.


It would be way to cold to swim anyways, pluse the only times yu would be able to swim is late at night then it would be very cold.

[CASN8R]

Kellen, Hope you guys can make it!

It's hard to tell how many wait list slots have been taken. There are 9 registered SC teams not on the current Palmetto list. I would expect at least 6 of those teams are also on the wait list which would leave 4 open slots for out of state teams. (I am assuming Palmetto will max out at 65 teams again.)

It was unfortunate that MORT could return to defend their title. Good luck at your District Event.

Billfred, By the way... there's a beach at Myrtle Beach? Who's got time for that!

David
Haha we did not! :ahh:

[JohnFogarty]

http://www.usfirst.org/whats-going-on/event/10813/teams

So it seems our event up to 67 teams 2 more than last year.
With such a depth in the number of teams at our event I'm expecting some really excellent play come eliminations. Of course something I'm interested in is finding out how many teams will be building specialized assist robots.

Of course welcome to our new Canadian friends from north of the border, and our friends the Brazilian Trailblazers are back.

[JohnFogarty]

1 week away and counting everyone!

[Bochek]

Of course welcome to our new Canadian friends from north of the border,

Thanks! We're excited for the warm weather! Any pointers for the new guys?

-Bochek

[ttldomination]

Thanks! We're excited for the warm weather! Any pointers for the new guys?

-Bochek

Don't pack snow boots and tire chains.

- Sunny G.

[JohnFogarty]

Thanks! We're excited for the warm weather! Any pointers for the new guys?

-Bochek

We might be rookies as a team but as you can tell by this thread Billfred, Casey, and I are experienced in the ways of the Palmetto Regional.

Weather-wise...
While you are coming to the South-East it hasn't exactly warmed up here yet. Though it should be a bit better than what you experience in Canada. I'm expecting temperatures to be in the 60s or 70s so still bring a jacket for no other reason than it could be windy since it is the coast.

Venue-Event-wise...
Seats are a premium if nothing has changed much from last year, though we don't have the large teams on the roster like we did last year, make sure you send a good few of your teammates to find seats right as doors open.

Palmetto as of last year only had a half practice field. I don't expect anything different this year. Though maybe they will...because multiple robot play is more important this time around.

There are in house concessions on the audience side of the convention center....YAY!

Make sure you visit the college and sponsorship row, you may be from out of country, but they still have some big scholarships for international students.
I can really only speak for the University of South Carolina in which I attend.

If you need scouting sheets or any other black and white printing done. Come to 4901's pit. We can help you in a jiffy. (Laser-jet printer)

All in all, Palmetto is a really well done competition, Our DJ has always been as we who watch a lot of streams call it, "Canada Tier" and of course all of the teams are friendly. Just ask our Brazilian friends about the first time they came to the Palmetto state.

Looking forward to seeing you down here!
-John Fogarty

[Anupam Goli]

I'm excited to meet our neighbors from the north and from south of the equator!

[Kevin Thorp]

We're excited about coming back to Palmetto... and a little concerned about how things will play out in a "Week 1" Regional.

Does anyone know if there will be a live webcast?

[Billfred]

We're excited about coming back to Palmetto... and a little concerned about how things will play out in a "Week 1" Regional.

Does anyone know if there will be a live webcast?

The Palmetto Regional committee allayed a lot of Week 1 fears for me as an event-goer, though I do miss going to another event beforehand. (Not to mention the downtime after ship day!)

I remember seeing something about a webcast, but I'm currently too fried to dig it up.

I'll echo John's sentiment about hitting up the USC table; they're both a great supporter of FIRST and a great place to get an education (ask the man that owns one!). Plus, they'll likely have some snazzy buttons (https://twitter.com/GarnetSq/status/435923385831677953). ;)

[Bochek]

Does anyone know if there will be a live webcast?

I (and all of WatchFirstNow) Offered to run the webcast for the event, But have not heard back with a decision from the organizers.

-Bochek

[ttldomination]

Venue-Event-wise...
Seats are a premium if nothing has changed much from last year, though we don't have the large teams on the roster like we did last year, make sure you send a good few of your teammates to find seats right as doors open.

There actually seemed to be a ton of seating, especially towards the top.

- Sunny G.

[Kevin Thorp]

The Palmetto Regional organizers send important information by email. I wish they'd also post it on their website.

They wrote Palmetto WILL be webcast live by NASA! :)

On or after Thursday evening, February 27th go to www.myrtlebeachfirstrobotics.com. There should be a webcast link on the home page.

[JohnFogarty]

I figured NASA would be doing it because of the recent sponsor status of the regional.

[JoeWithTheSpecs]

Just wanted to wish everyone luck for next week!
Pretty disappointed we aren't going back to the Palmetto Regional this year, it was definitely one of the funnest competitions I've been to, judging from the regional last year.
We're headed to Lubbock, Texas, for the Hub City Regional, this year instead.

[ttedrow]

As week one guinea pigs, be prepared to squeak ;)

[JohnFogarty]

I hear there's this Andy Baker guy, he'll be looking at your robot and making sure you RTFM.

[ttldomination]

I'm curious, is anyone here staying at the Captain's Quarters Resort and Hotel?

- Sunny G.

[Bochek]

I'm curious, is anyone here staying at the Captain's Quarters Resort and Hotel?

- Sunny G.

All the Canadian teams!

[JohnFogarty]

Most of 4901 is staying at the Sheraton attached to the actual Venue, the rest of the mentors will be at the Dayton House Resort.

As of 2/26
Some of the team worked till 1AM this morning, however it seems we have a very solid shooter and more than likely solid floor pickup. The ice-storm killed us, but the extra withholding weight saved us.

[ttedrow]

I hear there's this Andy Baker guy, he'll be looking at your robot and making sure you RTFM.

Does Andy know anything about robots? :D

[JohnFogarty]

If you happened to forget something important and you need to print it out tomorrow (Black & White Only) like your BOM, Scouting sheets, etc. Come by our pit. We'll have our printer available.

Also if your team would like strategy mats in black & white like the one's team 701 created. Come by our pit. We'll be using them and we think you should too!

[ttldomination]

So,

My team just got home, and I think there are some congratulations to give out.

4935, 3824, and 1261 - You guys had a good run and it was amazing to watch you guys really clean up during finals. You guys had some good scares there, but a good alliance always pulls it off in the end.

1772, 2655 - I speak for my team when I say that we appreciate your trust in our team and letting us join you guys on the 3rd seed. Looking at the numbers, we actually had the best alliance in eliminations (and if you don't believe me, I have the data to back it up), but alas it wasn't meant to be. We had a fun time, and we can only look forward to what's to come.

1648 had a rough event (fighting our shooter and intake nearly every step of the way), but we saw some of the light at the end of Saturday and have a clear heading for the P'tree Regional.

Good luck to everyone, and we hope to see some of you guys at St. Louis.
- Sunny G.

[Qbot2640]

I hear there's this Andy Baker guy, he'll be looking at your robot and making sure you RTFM.

Does Andy know anything about robots? :D

It was a bit humbling to find out I was inspecting along side Andy Baker - but he was awesome and fun. For those of you unaware - he took on most of the rookie teams, and really helped guide them through the process.
I sent a message to my son: I had "Lunch with Andy" for REAL!

[JohnFogarty]

Our team had a lot of fun despite our despairing ranking after some unbelievably extremely tough matches. Our strategy was executed very well in the matches that our partners could execute it, even if that was only 3 of them.

The positives are endless for us though.

This was the first time I've had a FRC team that's robot that never failed/DCed on the field with the very short exception in one match.

Our shooter that only finally started working 5 days ago performed much better than I ever hoped, and we've gained a lot of inspiration in the floor intake area. Even if our main strategy doesn't require one.

Our drive team proved to be really level headed and extremely talented for their first FRC season outing.

Thanks for the help that 4451 and 1293 consistently gave us if/when we needed it. I still am blown away that 4451 wasn't picked for elims.

We'll be ready to burn rubber in Orlando.

[D.Allred]

That was a wild and crazy event. Definitely the deepest talent pool I’ve witnessed at Palmetto. Well done teams!

Congratulations to 1311 Kell Robotics for winning your 6th Regional Chairman’s Award. Your program is on track for the Hall of Fame. Well deserved win and good luck at the Championship.

The very strong winning alliance of 3824 HVA RoHAWKtics, 1261 RoboLions, and 4935 T-Rex was one foul away from sweeping through the eliminations. The RoHAWKtics 3D printed robots never cease to amaze and this machine has to be their best yet. 1261 also built an awesome machine with a great 2 ball autonomous sequence.

One highlight of the weekend was watching our sister rookie team 4935 win their 1st event. That’s always inspirational to see.

Of course, our biggest highlight was Mike Bryan’s Woodie Flowers Finalist award – presented by Woodie himself! Mike has developed and supported multiple FIRST teams for the past 15 years. It was fantastic to finally see Mike get the recognition he deeply deserves.

Thanks to the Brazilian Trail Blazers, Canadian teams, and out of state teams for joining our South Carolina event. Having teams from other regions really makes this event special. Also, thanks to Andy Baker for being the LRI at our “small” regional. (Andy Baker can inspect 67 robots, by himself, before any robots are unbagged…)

Orlando is next!

David
Mentor 4451, ROBOTZ Garage

[Rohawk1]

That was a wild and crazy event. Definitely the deepest talent pool I’ve witnessed at Palmetto. Well done teams!

Congratulations to 1311 Kell Robotics for winning your 6th Regional Chairman’s Award. Your program is on track for the Hall of Fame. Well deserved win and good luck at the Championship.

The very strong winning alliance of 3824 HVA RoHAWKtics, 1261 RoboLions, and 4935 T-Rex was one foul away from sweeping through the eliminations. The RoHAWKtics 3D printed robots never cease to amaze and this machine has to be their best yet. 1261 also built an awesome machine with a great 2 ball autonomous sequence.

One highlight of the weekend was watching our sister rookie team 4935 win their 1st event. That’s always inspirational to see.

Of course, our biggest highlight was Mike Bryan’s Woodie Flowers Finalist award – presented by Woodie himself! Mike has developed and supported multiple FIRST teams for the past 15 years. It was fantastic to finally see Mike get the recognition he deeply deserves.

Thanks to the Brazilian Trail Blazers, Canadian teams, and out of state teams for joining our South Carolina event. Having teams from other regions really makes this event special. Also, thanks to Andy Baker for being the LRI at our “small” regional. (Andy Baker can inspect 67 robots, by himself, before any robots are unbagged…)

Orlando is next!

David
Mentor 4451, ROBOTZ Garage

Thank you so much for your compliments and I can't believe Woodie Flower's signed our robot!!! Lucky us, the piece that he signed broke off in Finals:(

[marshall]

It was a great event for us. We walked in with what we thought was a unique strategy and it definitely turned out to be. It was simply awesome for us. We were teamed up with 1225 and 1311 all the way up to the semi-finals. And thank you to both teams for being such great partners.

We had our strategy completely validated when 1024 attempted to block us by camping in our corner. Fortunately we were prepared for that. Honestly, that was the highest compliment paid to us at the event. You know you are doing something right when the defensive strategy tries to block you. We enjoyed working with 1024 though and they even gave us an award for having the best launcher. One of our students suggested it would be poetic to make a video of us launching the award... ;)

Not only that but our robot performed perfectly for the entire event. Not a single FMS, communication, or major mechanical failure. Everything just worked.

Thank you to all of the teams there who were awesome to work with. There wasn't an unfriendly person at the entire event. We really enjoyed ourselves.

The highlight for me was meeting Andy Baker and talking about all kinds of stuff with him. It was a real pleasure getting to talk to him in person at the event.

Thanks Palmetto for putting on a great event!

[Billfred]

That was a wild and crazy event. Definitely the deepest talent pool I’ve witnessed at Palmetto. Well done teams!

Congratulations to 1311 Kell Robotics for winning your 6th Regional Chairman’s Award. Your program is on track for the Hall of Fame. Well deserved win and good luck at the Championship.

The very strong winning alliance of 3824 HVA RoHAWKtics, 1261 RoboLions, and 4935 T-Rex was one foul away from sweeping through the eliminations. The RoHAWKtics 3D printed robots never cease to amaze and this machine has to be their best yet. 1261 also built an awesome machine with a great 2 ball autonomous sequence.

One highlight of the weekend was watching our sister rookie team 4935 win their 1st event. That’s always inspirational to see.

Of course, our biggest highlight was Mike Bryan’s Woodie Flowers Finalist award – presented by Woodie himself! Mike has developed and supported multiple FIRST teams for the past 15 years. It was fantastic to finally see Mike get the recognition he deeply deserves.

Thanks to the Brazilian Trail Blazers, Canadian teams, and out of state teams for joining our South Carolina event. Having teams from other regions really makes this event special. Also, thanks to Andy Baker for being the LRI at our “small” regional. (Andy Baker can inspect 67 robots, by himself, before any robots are unbagged…)

Orlando is next!

David
Mentor 4451, ROBOTZ Garage

This. All of this, in its entirety, repeated a second time. You know what? Needs a third time:

That was a wild and crazy event. Definitely the deepest talent pool I’ve witnessed at Palmetto. Well done teams!

Congratulations to 1311 Kell Robotics for winning your 6th Regional Chairman’s Award. Your program is on track for the Hall of Fame. Well deserved win and good luck at the Championship.

The very strong winning alliance of 3824 HVA RoHAWKtics, 1261 RoboLions, and 4935 T-Rex was one foul away from sweeping through the eliminations. The RoHAWKtics 3D printed robots never cease to amaze and this machine has to be their best yet. 1261 also built an awesome machine with a great 2 ball autonomous sequence.

One highlight of the weekend was watching our sister rookie team 4935 win their 1st event. That’s always inspirational to see.

Of course, our biggest highlight was Mike Bryan’s Woodie Flowers Finalist award – presented by Woodie himself! Mike has developed and supported multiple FIRST teams for the past 15 years. It was fantastic to finally see Mike get the recognition he deeply deserves.

Thanks to the Brazilian Trail Blazers, Canadian teams, and out of state teams for joining our South Carolina event. Having teams from other regions really makes this event special. Also, thanks to Andy Baker for being the LRI at our “small” regional. (Andy Baker can inspect 67 robots, by himself, before any robots are unbagged…)

Orlando is next!

David
Mentor 4451, ROBOTZ Garage

Looking forward to Orlando!