2006 GTR - Super Regional

[Steve W]

It looks like Toronto has got another Super Regional. With 2 fields there is non stop action. Are you planning on attending? If not why and if so the same question.

If you would like to come but believe that there might be obstacles, what are they? We may be able to help. We would love to see 75 teams and maybe more. What are your thoughts?

[Jeff Rodriguez]

It happens to fall on the same weekend Philadelphia, which we are hoping to attend.

[Kims Robot]

Its on our list, but is our third choice for a second regional currently...

We had a great time last year, but with having to cross the border and all the extra shipping expenses, unfortunately staying in the states saves us money and the hassle of birth certificates...

But, If we dont go to a regional that weekend, I do plan on volunteering!!

[Karthik]

Teams 1114 & 1503 will most definitely be there! The two field super regional in 2004 was the best regional event I've ever attended. I'm looking forward to an even better show in 2006. I know that all the usual suspects will be in Toronto, hopefully some teams who've never made the trip before will take the Canadian plunge.

[Rohan_DHS]

team 1620 wants to go, but we arent sure wether we can go due to our 'lack of funds' :S if we do make it, we are definately goin to the GTA Regional :D

[Steph]

Team 1006 will definitely be there! The '04 Super Regional was amazing-- having two fields means constant matches, and no field reset delay! I can't wait for the 2006 event.

[Travis Hoffman]

Team 48 has decided that Week 5 Regionals are against our religious beliefs and will be taking up ballroom dancing to pass the time until Atlanta. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

--The Management

[Jeremiah Johnson]

You know.. way back in 2002 648 was seriously considering attending the Canadian Regional... but the engineers and elders thought it would be too much of a hassle to cross the border. Thus, 648 will not attend a regional outside of the US. And we are venturing out of the norm (StL and Chi) to attend the Western Michigan Regional. But we are getting a bit closer to Canada... so maybe it will happen sometime. But not this year.

[Denman]

would love to come but : No money and should really be busy at uni :(

[geo]

Hell yes, we are entering it :)

[Andy Baker]

The TechnoKats (team 45) have just signed up for the Greater Toronto Regional and our status is "pending" until we pay our bill* with FIRST. Our entire team looks forward to making some Canadian friends.

Andy Baker

* - I believe this means our spot is reserved until the 2nd Regional payment deadline of Jan. 26th.

[Mark McLeod]

* - I believe this means our spot is reserved until the 2nd Regional payment deadline of Jan. 26th.

I wouldn't count on that deadline. Philly has 11 pending for 5 open slots. It may be first-paid, first-registered, but GTR isn't near full so that's not an issue yet.

[Ken Patton]

The TechnoKats (team 45) have just signed up for the Greater Toronto Regional and our status is "pending" until we pay our bill* with FIRST. Our entire team looks forward to making some Canadian friends.

Andy Baker

* - I believe this means our spot is reserved until the 2nd Regional payment deadline of Jan. 26th.


Alright! We are in the same boat I guess - the pending status was unknown to me until after we registered for GTR today.

Although, if we didn't get in we could always take up those dance lessons that Travis is going to.... Sounds like a good way to improve our ballerina skills.... :)

Ken

[Travis Hoffman]

Alright! We are in the same boat I guess - the pending status was unknown to me until after we registered for GTR today.

Although, if we didn't get in we could always take up those dance lessons that Travis is going to.... Sounds like a good way to improve our ballerina skills.... :)

Ken

That's "ballroom dancing" lessons, sir. We leave the ballet lessons for you! :)

By the way, we had a religious epiphany, so I'm guessing we'll be registering in Toronto as well when open season on regionals begins. I really coulda used some dance lessons, though....

I have no doubt that both 45 and 65 will get into Toronto, and that Team 48 will see you there!

[Kevin Kolodziej]

I called FIRST this morning to find out exactly how that pending list works, and I was told that if you are on the pending list, you have a spot guaranteed until you pay or drop out of the event. I have no idea how this works with the events that have the number of registered + pending being greater than capacity...

Kevin

[Travis Hoffman]

I called FIRST this morning to find out exactly how that pending list works, and I was told that if you are on the pending list, you have a spot guaranteed until you pay or drop out of the event. I have no idea how this works with the events that have the number of registered + pending being greater than capacity...

Kevin


Please ignore everything I had previously written for this post up until now.

From our team's New Jersey "Event Added" email:


*FIRST Disclaimer - Registration is not final until FIRST Finance receives payment in full for the above event. Once acceptable form of payment is received by FIRST Finance you will be removed from "hold - pending payment" status and registered for the above event. All FIRST Payment Terms and Refund Policies apply. Positions will be filled on a first serve basis as we receive payments.


************************************************** *****

I was a bit confused by what FIRST had told Kevin during his phone call, so I decided to call FIRST on my own for some clarification. What they told me matches up with the information we were given in our "Event Added" email. I explicitly asked them about the situation where the number of pending teams is greater than the number of open spots left.

The bottom line -

There is no "protection" for choosing early.

All pending teams for a particular event are treated the same regardless of when they actually signed up, whether it was before the registered + pending = total capacity threshold or not. The faster your team pays for a regional event, the sooner you will secure a spot at your next regional of choice.

[Pat Fairbank]

I've just signed up for the GTR on behalf of 296 - just waiting for the cheque to come through. Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

[Travis Hoffman]

I couldn't help but notice that 229 is now registered for Greater Toronto. That does not inhale audibly. :p

[Chris]

I couldn't help but notice that 229 is now registered for Greater Toronto. That does not inhale audibly. :p

Wow very quick and observant Travis. Yes 229 will be attending the Toronto regional, we figured we couldn't turn down an opportunity to show up and make fun of Karthik....and as if that wasn't enough we get to play with two of our other favorite teams Tkats, and Huskies should be a great weekend, we're already looking forward to it.


Chris Carnevale
Team 229

PS. Here's to hoping our favorite Canadian partners show up on this list real soon. 1114 still planning on going I hope?

[Travis Hoffman]

PS. Here's to hoping our favorite Canadian partners show up on this list real soon. 1114 still planning on going I hope?


Don't worry. 1114 will sign up.

[Karthik]

Here's to hoping our favorite Canadian partners show up on this list real soon. 1114 still planning on going I hope?

Chris,

Don't worry about it. 1114 would not miss the GTR for anything. We're looking forward to playing with our old friends from Clarkson.

[Nica F.]

im definately going to the GTR regional. i CANT wait!

[J Flex 188]

You always end up graduating just when things are really starting to ramp up for your team it seems =P. But I'm quite sure every alumnus feels that way. I should be there in every capacity at GTR, hopefully refeering just as in Wonderland, but if not, look for 188 to be there along with one or two college bums =P.

[Stephen Kowski]

i would love to come visit and volunteer at this grand event, but alas i am a poor college student in Florida....especially since ive never been to Canada....hopefully this thing will be webcasted?? plus teams i work with prolly would be interested in goin that far north, but me that's another story :)

[supergrover]

Ajax Rams (1397) has registered and we will be paying in a few days.

GTR FIRST gets better every year!
See everyone there!

[Jay Trzaskos]

I would like to echo Chris' sentiments, I cannot wait to work with a few of our buddies down South in Toronto (sounds kinda funny doesn't it?) plus, who could miss a chance to work with Ken and Andy?!?!?! (The men, the myths, the legends.) And then there are the endless jokes that can be made about Karthik's kilt and Blue Jays jersey ;) , and Laura in general :p .

JT
229

[lukevanoort]

If only we could make it. Its expensive enough for me and my Dad to get to Toronto to visit relatives over Christmas, but twenty people, tools, etc. AHHHHH!!!!! The only reasonable method for us would be to drive, but the first and last time we drove to Canada it was ~13 hrs to the border. Then we switched back to good old Canada Air. Plus, we don't even have the money for a second regional (we do VCU and nats). Thinking about this made me think of how hard it must be for Canadian teams to make Atlanta. But, I guess, it all pales in comparison to teams from other continents.

[Travis Hoffman]

Huzzah! Our payment was confirmed by FIRST today, and fittingly, we were the 48th team to fully register for the GTR.

That list of pending teams is quite amazing by itself. 217 and our fellow Delphi teams 378 and 703 are among the most recent additions to the list. This is really going to be one of the best regionals of the year.

[Jay Trzaskos]

Andy, Ken, Paul... I want to see 45, 65, and 217 as the next three teams to move off the pending list and onto the registered list! I totally agree with Hoffman, this is shaping up to be one of the best regionals of the year...

JT
229

[Tim Delles]

Wow its going to be a great regional.. Now i kinda can't wait to go. Just thinking about the teams that are going to be there. And then add non-stop action to that, this is going to be great!

[rourke]

It's too bad some teams feel that it's too much of a hassle to register for an event in Canada (e.g. confronting shipping or border issues). The Canadian teams confront the border issues to attend the U.S. events and it really isn't a big deal. Maybe some advertising around this needs to be done to help convince others (Waterloo could use some more teams!).

[lukevanoort]

I've never had crossing the border be a problem. It is really easy on the
Canada/US border, literally you just say how long you'll be there and if you have anything to declare. Sometimes they might ask about biological goods (don't bring castor beans :eek: ). The airport is even easier, just say how long, and you're done. I'd recommend the roads, though, they are much much better than the US's. The QEW puts any interstate to shame.

[Tristan Lall]

I've never had crossing the border be a problem. It is really easy on the
Canada/US border, literally you just say how long you'll be there and if you have anything to declare. Sometimes they might ask about biological goods (don't bring castor beans :eek: ).Because of ricin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricin)?I'd recommend the roads, though, they are much much better than the US's. The QEW puts any interstate to shame.That's funny, we're always complaining about the QEW (to Niagara, especially on a holiday, it can be terrible). In fact, there are plans to add a second four-to-six-lane highway (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Peninsula_Highway) or toll road to relieve congestion on the QEW, within the next decade.

[Kyle Love]

I'm pumped...thats all I can say.:yikes:

[Eric L]

I'd recommend the roads, though, they are much much better than the US's. The QEW puts any interstate to shame.

Thats true, i've been on many canadian and american highways, some worse than others. Yes the traffic is really bad on weekends, on friday and saturdays its going towards the falls and the boarder, on sindays its going the other way! Its never that bad though during that time of the year, unless the highway decidedsto rip up! :ahh:

I lived the 2004 Super Canadian Regional. had a blast and am really looking forward to this years!!

[Yan Wang]

I was making tentative plans on attending GTR before finding out today that I will be in Chile during spring break for a class. It will be a shame to miss this great event for the first time since its inception. I hope my old team can raise the money to go - we went quite overboard last year. In any case, I'll try to volunteer at/attend the Boston regional the weekend before.

[Michele9]

Team 178 will be going to the GTR this year for the first time rather than nationals.... I was wondering if anyone who went last year remembers what hotels were recommended by FIRST. It's not on the GTR website, and they haven't exactly been forthcoming with info yet (the response we've gotten so far is "we're working on it").

Thanks for any help! Go Enforcers!

[Steve W]

Team 178 will be going to the GTR this year for the first time rather than nationals.... I was wondering if anyone who went last year remembers what hotels were recommended by FIRST. It's not on the GTR website, and they haven't exactly been forthcoming with info yet (the response we've gotten so far is "we're working on it").

Thanks for any help! Go Enforcers!


I don't think that the regionals are allowed to give out that info, due to contracts with THS and FIRST.

[Kyle Love]

I don't think that the regionals are allowed to give out that info, due to contracts with THS and FIRST.

I don't either...to me that is giving out free advertising. But, what you could do, is call/email the local travel bureau. They should have a list of hotels in the general area.

[Michele9]

Thanks for the advice!

Michele

[AmyPrib]

Yeah - there's no rule against booking hotel rooms thru your own source (internet, calling, etc). You are not forced to use THS.

[Stu Bloom]

Yeah - there's no rule against booking hotel rooms thru your own source (internet, calling, etc). You are not forced to use THS.So for those of us un-initiated to the great north, where is the GTR venue so we can check for hotels by proximity (I didn't readily find a venue/address listed on their website).

[Vince lau]

So for those of us un-initiated to the great north, where is the GTR venue so we can check for hotels by proximity (I didn't readily find a venue/address listed on their website).

http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/discover/hersheycentre

hope that helps

[Karthik]

So for those of us un-initiated to the great north, where is the GTR venue so we can check for hotels by proximity (I didn't readily find a venue/address listed on their website).

Stu,

The address is:

5500 Rose Cherry Place
Mississauga, ON L4Z 4B6
Phone: 905-520-9100

When booking your hotel for the GTR, here are a few things to keep in mind.

1. When searching online, search for Mississauga, not Toronto. If you do a Toronto hotel search, the default return will be hotels in the downtown area, which is a 30 minute drive from the Hershey Center, not including dreadful Toronto traffic.
2. Make sure the postal code starts with an 'L'. This means the hotel is actually in Mississauga
3. Call the hotel and verify that you won't need to pop on the highway to get to the venue. Even if it's only for one exit, it's going to take too long. Toronto is notorious for it's horrible morning traffic, especially in part of the city that the Hershey Center is in.

The site that Vince linked has a very good list of hotels close to the venue. That list can be found here (http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/discover/wheretostay).

[Stu Bloom]

Thanks Vince and Karthik,

You guys have been a big help!

Hope to see you there in March (if not sooner - Manchester??).

[Jonathan Norris]

Team 610 wouldn't miss it for the world, gone every year since it first started. It is definitely the largest and most competitive regional that we have been to.

[Steve W]

Right now we have 69 teams signed up and 5 pending. There are 12 US teams making their way north and 1 from Great Britain. Teams will also be coming from right across Canada. If there are other teams that would like to come, we would be glad to see you.

For those that can't make it to FIRST's only Super Regional, we hope to have all of the matches web cast. Will update once finalized (probably just before event).

[Rohan_DHS]

Oh man, I'm excited!!! Can't wait 'till the regional :D...Kick-Offs almost here!!! *head pops off* lol

[Nuttyman54]

971 would love to come if we could raise the money...we're still trying to pay back the forwarded check for registration...add that to shipping, and it's not very likely. I'll be watching the webcast tho. Maybe next year

[the_short1]

its a shame, 1596 is not going to GTR this year, we chose Waterloo to have a little variety, but i will definately miss being there steve!

[Alex Cormier]

WAHOO for a Canada Comp!!

[Jay Trzaskos]

Anybody have any info on how the regional will be set up between the two fields? Perhaps a mini Nationals with two 'divisions'? I am just wondering about how some of the bigger teams are going to switch between watching at two different fields. Any insight would be much appreciated.

JT
229

[Karthik]

Anybody have any info on how the regional will be set up between the two fields? Perhaps a mini Nationals with two 'divisions'? I am just wondering about how some of the bigger teams are going to switch between watching at two different fields. Any insight would be much appreciated.


In 2004, the last time Toronto had a two field setup, there were no divisions. Teams played matches on both fields. Matches never ran concurrently, they announced the score of the Pontiac field, then played a match on the Chevrolet field, and so on. This is the current plan for this year.

[Vince lau]

can't wait to see all the amazing robots coming this year. I wonder if i should get a hotel room, so i don't have to keep driving back and forth everyday

[Travis Hoffman]

So where's everyone staying at while at the GTR?

Team 48 will be in the Delta Airport West.

[neilsonster]

So where's everyone staying at while at the GTR?

772 is at the Fairfield Inn... I believe the one by the airport?

[Vince lau]

is Karthik the MC this year?

[neilsonster]

is Karthik the MC this year?

On the same note, is he (or whoever is doing it) working both fields? That would be tiring!

[Steve W]

Karthik is MCing one field with Amanda C (Team 1547 alumni) on the other.

[MattB703]

In 2004, the last time Toronto had a two field setup, there were no divisions. Teams played matches on both fields. Matches never ran concurrently, they announced the score of the Pontiac field, then played a match on the Chevrolet field, and so on. This is the current plan for this year.

Does anyone know if you can see both fields from one location? we are trying to figure out how we will do our scouting work. I hate the idea of using 2 scouting crews. I never know how well the information correlates that way.

[Karthik]

Does anyone know if you can see both fields from one location? we are trying to figure out how we will do our scouting work. I hate the idea of using 2 scouting crews. I never know how well the information correlates that way.

Yes, you can see both fields from one location, although the you'll be getting a reduced field of view from the center point.

[Koko Ed]

Well I'll be visiting GTR. Friday and Saturday.
Should be fun!

[Yipster]

2 Vancouverite teams, coming to vist you Torontonians. Hopefully, both our hockey teams will be in the playoff picture.

[Vince lau]

Looks like we'll be have nice weather all weekend. For once it won't be cold, raining or snowing

[omutton]

Ya she's gonna be a beauty weekend, eh? I can't wait for this weekend! Good luck to everyone, the competition is going to be intense!!

[Steve W]

For those interested, I have just finished testing my link with NASA. The GTR will be web cast. We will attempt to archive the finals but no promises. It was all I could do to get this far.

[Sunjit]

Good Luck too all of the teams ,
1241 will definitely be there.

[iamthetallpaul]

To those, especially students, coming to watch, where will you be staying? I'm trying to make the drive up from Detroit for Friday/Saturday but as of now it's looking like I'd be sleeping in my car.

[Stephen Kowski]

For those interested, I have just finished testing my link with NASA. The GTR will be web cast. We will attempt to archive the finals but no promises. It was all I could do to get this far.

sweet this time when karthik tells everyone florida says hello ill be able to see it :)

[Ricky Q.]

I am at the airport in Detroit, waiting to make the 2nd leg of my venture across the border. Can't wait.

[Hiteak]

I will just be there for Saturday. I wish i could go earlier or if my team could join me, but we will try to be there next year.

[JVGazeley]

Was looking through the team lists earlier and the location of one of the Rookies caught my eye; can I just wish good luck to our fellow Brits of Team 1963.

Many regards from Systemetric (759), hope the regional is as good as NYC was last weekend.

[evelyn1503]

dose Any one have the link for the webcast???

[Steve W]

http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/webcasts/regionals_2006.php

Go to the Greater Toronto Regional link

[The Cyborg]

As the operator for team 65, I am very excited about this regional. I am currently in my hotel room in Mississauga,ON, and I am completely awake with excitement, and it's only practice day tomorrow!

Because there are so many powerful teams here, I am sure that this regional will be a challenge to us, and definitely fun!

I can't wait to see you all tomorrow!

Mary Soltis

:)

[iamthetallpaul]

I'm now sorry to report I won't be making it. I'll be watching the webcast though, good luck everyone, especially team 771!

[VEN]

I shall see you all tommorow...with the refurbished frank the tank :D

[Cory]

Should the webcast be active right now? I get an error when I try to view it.

[rourke]

Should the webcast be active right now? I get an error when I try to view it.

I had it active just before lunch, and then had to go to some meetings. Just got back, and I'm getting "server busy" message. Anyone have this working at 2:15 p.m. EST Thursday???

[Ted Boucher]

I had it active just before lunch, and then had to go to some meetings. Just got back, and I'm getting "server busy" message. Anyone have this working at 2:15 p.m. EST Thursday???

Same problem here, I was looking forward to it to :( . Hopefully it will be up soon.

[SizzelChest330]

Is the webcast working for anyone yet?

I really wanna check this one out

[Beth Sweet]

Nope, the webcast was up earlier today but it appears to have been taken down for the remainder. Hopefully they'll have it up and running tomorrow????

[Mike Ounsworth]

After the first day of the Greater Toronto Regional, I decided to break the ice. We've been watching the practice matches (those robots that went to theirs) and I have to say that there is gonna be some pretty fierce competition. :ahh:

I have to say that I'm liking the human loading mechanism of the ThunderChickens, the stretched cloth is simple, but works so well.

[Steph]

Today was a great start to what is shaping up to be an amazing regional. I really liked the two pools for practice rounds idea; always going to the same field made things less complicated, though I look forward to competing with and against everybody throughout tomorrow. There's some awesome looking machines out there! Good luck to all tomorrow.

[Vince lau]

i love 1006 hover cart..

didn't really get to see any practice matches, but just walking around the pit and seeing all the amazing robots, it looks its going to be competitve competition

[Steph]

i love 1006 hover cart..



Thanks. It's too bad the trip to the playing field is so uneven, or we could use it all the way out. Ah well, still works in the pits :) .

Speaking of neat-looking things, I'm really impressed with the effort put into pits at this regional. There's many teams with elaborate displays and fun features. Well done everyone.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

So, what teams look good at GTR?

I heard 1114 was pretty decent. ;)

[Steve W]

Sorry about the web cast. I set it up and then had other duties to attend to. It seems that the computer program stopped because of errors and I didn't find out till I went to shut it down. I will have some one manning the computer all day tomorrow so if it goes down again there will be some one to bring it back on line. This is a first for me to do so I guess that I will learn from my mistakes.

[Kims Robot]

From watching robots all day, here are the ones I can remember (not at all all of the greats, but a start)
Triplets (of course)
65 (except when they locked onto the outdoor light/exit sign!!)
229
45
217

Hmm, I know there were more, but I just cant think of them right now.

[Guy Chriqui]

they forgot to ship our robot =/(team4)
so we built another one today but uh our robot comes tomorrow so look out for the robot with a huge tower of doom! =]
-guy

[Beth Sweet]

Sorry about the web cast. I set it up and then had other duties to attend to. It seems that the computer program stopped because of errors and I didn't find out till I went to shut it down. I will have some one manning the computer all day tomorrow so if it goes down again there will be some one to bring it back on line. This is a first for me to do so I guess that I will learn from my mistakes.

How did I guess that this was Steve's fault... ;)

[Tyler 783]

I really liked the two pools for practice rounds idea; always going to the same field made things less complicated, though I look forward to competing with and against everybody throughout tomorrow. There's some awesome looking machines out there! Good luck to all tomorrow.

I was actualy opposed to the idea of seperate pools for practice day for that exact reason that it was less confusing. I want you guys being confused today so that by tomorow you are no longer confused (or at least knowlegable enough to just listen to my quers.) But it was decided for speed so that we could get more practice matches if we did two pools. Just the perspective of the lead team queer.

[VEN]

will it be only one field for competitions? i hope it will....Also, good like to those with all the troubles today, like the flooded robot crate and the unshipped robot...

[Ellery]

Good Luck Steve with getting all the things running smoothly up there. a Few of us X-CATS will be driving up on Saturday but I unfortunately won't make it since I have to supervise a team activity in the morning but I'll be watching the webcast if it's up.

Thanks Steve for always helping us out down here in Rochester. I'll return the favor soon.

Ellery

[Alan Anderson]

will it be only one field for competitions?
It will be only one field at a time. The matches will alternate between the Chevrolet and Pontiac fields, with one field setting up as robots compete on the other.

[Kims Robot]

I was actualy opposed to the idea of seperate pools for practice day for that exact reason that it was less confusing. I want you guys being confused today so that by tomorow you are no longer confused (or at least knowlegable enough to just listen to my quers.) But it was decided for speed so that we could get more practice matches if we did two pools. Just the perspective of the lead team queer.

I dunno, from the IFI perspective, I think teams had enough trouble figuring things out today as it was. At the end of the day, I was still having to remind teams to:
1. TURN ON YOUR ROBOTS
2. Plug in your battery!! (turning on your robot really doesnt do much if your battery cable is disconnected!!!
3. Plug in your robot radio! (Guess what, your controller cant talk to your robot without a radio *gasp*).

So I think today might have been enough of a shock for some teams, without alternating fields. But everything did run smoothly, and the teams that got out there seemed to do well. I have to admit, with the craziness of two fields, I think things are going (and will go) well.

[Nuttyman54]

Also, good like to those with all the troubles today, like the flooded robot crate

Ouch that doesn't sound good...what exactly happened? Were the electronics ruined?

[Tim Delles]

A few early teams that have stuck out to me

703 - auto ramp and then all 10. pretty sweet
1114 - auto is perfect. Drivers handle like they have drove that robot for years
1503 - auto is perfect. Drivers handle like they have drove that robot for years
296 - Pretty great robot. Its like the rest but on steriods.
217 - Turreting revolver. Once the balls start up it shoots pretty quick
45 - nice turreted wheel shooter they have now
48 - haven't see it work but I have seen it in the pits, and it looks pretty good.
63 - Elastic shooter, and they are pretty accurate.
65 - Haven't seen them run yet, they were changing a few things all day. So it will be interesting but they look pretty solid.

[Ricky Q.]

Opening ceremonies are about ready to start here, time for the real fun to begin.

Quick Facts:

124 Qual matches
10 matches per team
2 fields
Lots of craziness

Should be interesting.

Ricky Q.
Faithful IFI servant for the weekend.

[pathew100]

Opening ceremonies are about ready to start here, time for the real fun to begin.

Quick Facts:

124 Qual matches
10 matches per team
2 fields
Lots of craziness

Should be interesting.

Ricky Q.
Faithful IFI servant for the weekend.

I've been watching for about a half hour now. Looks like the bugs are still in the scoring system. :( Must have followed you from Wisconsin. ;) I hope you can work things out at GTR and before Atlanta.

[akshar]

is anyone having trouble with the NASA webcast?

[GaryVoshol]

I've been watching for about a half hour now. Looks like the bugs are still in the scoring system. :( Must have followed you from Wisconsin. ;) I hope you can work things out at GTR and before Atlanta.The field used in Milwaukee was scheduled to go to W Mich. (Same field previously used in GLR and Detroit.)

[Tom Bottiglieri]

1114 + 703 + 1680 = OMG!!!!!!

Score is coming up soon!

[pathew100]

Man, you think someone would have figured out what causes the blue alliance to not go in Auto mode. It's always Blue. sigh.

Also, about every 5 matches, a robot loses a battery. Remember, cable ties are your friends! Wrap one around that Anderson connector when you plug the battery in. Oh and secure the battery too! :)

[Joe Ross]

WOW! 1006, 229, and 1241 Scored 135!!!!

They got all 3 robots on the ramp and scored over 100 points in balls.

[Cory]

Holy crap...1503 and 703 just scored 159.

Not only that, if I was properly paying attention, they still had time to score in the other alliance's goal at the end to raise their average.

[Karthik]

The high score has just been smashed. 159 points for 1503, 703 & 178.

Wow.

[robotmom#1]

is webcast still not working . its not for me. i guess i will have to rely on the match results on the web page but its not up yet ethier. hopefully this afternoon. see you in toronto on saturday.

[Cory]

is webcast still not working . its not for me. i guess i will have to rely on the match results on the web page but its not up yet ethier. hopefully this afternoon. see you in toronto on saturday.

It's working great for me.

[robotmom#1]

hope to see more of those scores, anyone know team 1114s high score yet by the way the webcast is not working. the scores and matches are not up on the web page yet.

[Beth Sweet]

The webcast is working through this page (http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/webcasts/regionals_2006.php), I'm not sure on 1114's high score though. I know that last match they seemed to have broken something but knowing them, I'm sure it will be working perfectly by the next.

[tkwetzel]

hope to see more of those scores, anyone know team 1114s high score yet by the way the webcast is not working. the scores and matches are not up on the web page yet.
1114's high score so far is 108...there are several higher scores on the day by other teams so far.

[Madison]

The high score has just been smashed. 159 points for 1503, 703 & 178.

Wow.

Don't you have a job you ought to be doing? :p

[pathew100]

I also like Team 4's 'One Day Wonder'. It's a nice collector/dumper and scores in auto mode. Pretty darn good for one day. :) Did their 'real' robot make it yet?

[iamthetallpaul]

It's working for me...there's no sound, right?

[Beth Sweet]

It's working for me...there's no sound, right?

There's sound but you have to crank your speakers up allllllllll the way

[Dave Scheck]

Sound works...I noticed that I had to turn up the volume on my computer because the signal seems to have quiet audio

[iamthetallpaul]

Hmm, tried that. I'm using WMP 9 for OS X, it gave me an error about the compression while it was buffering, it must have been about the audio. Anyone else have this working on a mac?

[Richard Wallace]

Did 776 make weight? I heard they were about 48# over late Thursday.

[Hiteak]

Sound works...I noticed that I had to turn up the volume on my computer because the signal seems to have quiet audio


I'm having the same problem. On top of that It keeps on saying it has to buffer.

[Beth Sweet]

I'm having the same problem. On top of that It keeps on saying it has to buffer.

If it says that it has to buffer, close it and open it again. I don't know why that fixes it, but it does.

[Heretic121]

1503 just got SHUT OUT...

45 played amazing non stop defense...

[Hiteak]

If it says that it has to buffer, close it and open it again. I don't know why that fixes it, but it does.


Thanks, that helped alot.

[BoyWithCape195]

703 gets my vote for favorite robot!

[BoyWithCape195]

1503 just got SHUT OUT...

45 played amazing non stop defense...

...and 703 scored...alot...

[SizzelChest330]

Does anyone know the Standings for the end of today?

[Nawaid Ladak]

Does anyone know the Standings for the end of today?

Question, can i leagally state, "where's Waldo", i mean in the rankings. lol

[Ricky Q.]

GTR Friday Awards:

Imagery: #703 and #773
Radio Shack Innovation in Control: #296
Xerox Creativity: #217
Delphi Driving Tommorrow's Technology: #610
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship: #1305
Judges Award: #4
Website: #188
Regional WFA Finalist: Shawn Lim from #188

[Ricky Q.]

GTR Friday Awards:

Imagery: #703 and #773
Radio Shack Innovation in Control: #296
Xerox Creativity: #217
Delphi Driving Tommorrow's Technology: #610
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers Entrepreneurship: #1305
Judges Award: #4
Website: #188
Regional WFA Finalist: Shawn Lim from #188

Standings and match results are being worked on, there is an issue uploading the data to FIRST.

[Richard Wallace]

Does anyone know the Standings for the end of today?The standings shown on the FIRST site seem a little mixed up; e.g., 45 is shown as 69th with a 4-4-0 record (?!) while 610 is 1st with 4-0-0.

[Clark Gilbert]

The standings shown on the FIRST site seem a little mixed up; e.g., 45 is shown as 69th with a 4-4-0 record (?!) while 610 is 1st with 4-0-0.

Looks like they are updated now.

[Richard Wallace]

Go 771! Nice qualifying record on Friday!

I'd like to see S.W.A.T. in the finals for a second weekend.

[Ian Curtis]

I didn't see today, but judging by the team numbers in that standings list, tommorow afternoon is going to be quite a site. Can anyone tell me what 45 looks like now? Last time I saw them they still had their katapult. Does anyone have pictures of 703?

[Heretic121]

um from what i saw in 45's last match i didnt see a katapult =X so i dunno if it was for that match they didnt use it or what...

[Kyle Love]

um from what i saw in 45's last match i didnt see a katapult =X so i dunno if it was for that match they didnt use it or what...

45 did not use the katapult at all this weekend. We put on a new wheel shooter. If you saw the saw the last match, you saw that we didn't really need to use it, defense prevailed.

[Ryan Dognaux]

um from what i saw in 45's last match i didnt see a katapult =X so i dunno if it was for that match they didnt use it or what...

I'm pretty sure they've switched to a spinning wheel on a turret for their shooter. That's what it looked like at least.

[VEN]

we are getting there lol...we made a lot of improvements! oh yah and to those driving like a bunch of morons at the parking lot at the Center...GROW UP!!!!! There was at least 5 people you could have hurt or injured...

[Bongle]

WE BEAT SIMBOTICS! (we think) ... in a match that was then replayed due to apparent field failure. Then in the end of day rematch we were soundly trounced 39-0 :( Also, we had a lovely match where our driver ( ^^^^^^ ) scored 10 low balls on OURSELF, and the match ended up being lost by a margin of less than 10 points :(.

In other good news, our shooter is finally more useful than a plate of iron from the weight room, thanks to donations of roughtop from team 45.

Good job to everyone competing so far.

[VEN]

lol thanks for clearing that up Art....well i just put a 2mm by 3mm hole in my hand so yeah lol

[Vince lau]

great first day of competition, can't wait till tomorrow.

[Richard Wallace]

... our shooter is finally more useful than a plate of iron from the weight room ...You used that plate of iron very effectively, though. Best of luck now that you're shooting again.

[VEN]

oh and don't worry 1281 i drive with my other hand...although theoretically i shouldn't be..

[Kims Robot]

In a team update, 776 made it on the field, I think for their last match. 4 finally got their robot, but there are rumors that it was ripped up by customs (they had their drivetrain & electronics board all pulled apart near the end of the day). I cant confirm those for sure, but I have seen their big black tower of a robot.

The matches today were quite impressive :) But someone needs to get JVN a segway! And oh yeah, Ricky, my field still rocks yours ;-)

[David Brinza]

I also like Team 4's 'One Day Wonder'. It's a nice collector/dumper and scores in auto mode. Pretty darn good for one day. :) Did their 'real' robot make it yet?
Yes, the real robot made it and we hope to get it on the field today (Saturday). Our drive team is anxious to get back in high gear!!

The "One Day Wonder" was made possible by contributions from many teams at the GTR. Teams 45, 48, 188, 217, 1310, 1379 provided substantial amounts of components and labor. Special thanks to the Thunder Chickens for assembly of the electronics board and design advice. The machine shop folks provided terrific support. Bill Thorne (886) took this mentor shopping locally to find some components we couldn't find in the pits. There were many, many others that showed the true spirit of Gracious Professionalism with their offers of help - this is what really makes FIRST great!!

A highlight for our team today was when Woodie Flowers autographed (and kissed) our "newborn" robot after one of our matches. Fortunately, there was a photographer nearby, so we will have some lasting images.

During the awards ceremony, I was near the machine shop when I heard Karthik say something he had said to our team after one of our afternoon matches: "Every regional has it's own unique story..." That was my cue to get our skeleton crew working on our "real robot" out of the pits to join the rest of our team in accepting the Judges Award. In our minds, that Award is shared by the outstanding people who make FIRST such a special experience for students and mentors alike.

Our students (and others) learned a valuable lesson at GTR in what can be accomplished with teamwork and some persistence.

Thank you, FIRST!

[AGadgetGeek]

Hmmm, low volume eh. Sorry. I'll make sure I pump up the volume a bit today ;). (Re: webcast volume).

Update: Volume is all the way up for now but if I notice the mixer bars going into the yellow and red again i'll have to lower it. It was pretty high yesterday so i'm a little confused why it would have outputed to you guys at such a low volume. Oh well we'll see in a few minutes...

[Rob]

So for the 2nd day in a row I can't get my computer to recognize that the webcast is running. I get "Cannot find the specified file"

I thought it was just network security at work yesterday, but I guess not. Too bad, I would really like to watch this event...I guess I can just keep trying.

Rob

[SizzelChest330]

I cant get the webcast to load either

[Ian Curtis]

Tom's link works! W00t!

I can't get it running either. I tried Palmetto and that's working fine, so I don't think it's my network blocking out the webcast.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

I can't get it running either. I tried Palmetto and that's working fine, so I don't think it's my network blocking out the webcast.
The link from NASA isnt working. I saved this from yesterday, and it seems to work.

www.team195.com/files/live.asx

[Rob]

I can't get it running either. I tried Palmetto and that's working fine, so I don't think it's my network blocking out the webcast.


Palmetto is working great for me as well...I guess we will have to rely on the FIRST website for updated on GTR

Rob

[AGadgetGeek]

http://sargasso-3.arc.nasa.gov:10005/live Try using this link

[Rob]

http://sargasso-3.arc.nasa.gov:10005/live Try using this link

Woohoo it works! Thanks!

Rob

[AGadgetGeek]

No problem, other than sitting here and making sure the webcast doesn't go down, I don't have much else to do but help ;).

[Tom Bottiglieri]

1st seed- 1114 and 1503... Two triplets!
4th seed- 229 and 217! Division by Chicken!

This should be interesting!

[Ricky Q.]

GTR Alliances:

1 1114 1503 865
2 378 296 912
3 1680 1305 1419
4 229 217 4
5 703 610 1325
6 49 1006 907
7 1241 522 1334
8 1547 781 63
9 1353 48 772
10 1281 1219 45
11 65 854 1346
12 843 771 188

QF Matchups:

8v9
7v10
5v12
6v11

Alliances 1,2,3, and 4 have byes.

[Richard Wallace]

GTR Alliances:

1 1114 1503 865
2 378 296 912
3 1680 1305 1419
4 229 217 4
5 703 610 1325
6 49 1006 907
7 1241 522 1334
8 1547 781 63
9 1353 48 772
10 1281 1219 45
11 65 854 1346
12 843 771 188

QF Matchups:

8v9
7v10
5v12
6v11

Alliances 1,2,3, and 4 have byes.Was the 12 alliance tournament planned at the beginning of the season? It doesn't seem to fit section 8.4 of the manual. Other regionals had almost as many teams (e.g., 63 at NJ, 64 at VCU back in Week 1) but followed the usual 8 alliance format for eliminations. GTR has two fields, making it more practical to expand the elimination field. I think it's a great idea -- just wondering if teams that registered for GTR knew this was going to happen?

[pludodog]

Is it just me, or is the music at this regional much better than the other ones? Less rap, more rock, and it's actually catchy...

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Is it just me, or is the music at this regional much better than the other ones? Less rap, more rock, and it's actually catchy...
I think EVERYTHING at this regional is much better than the other ones. Bravo GTR planning committee! You've put on one great event!

[akshar]

i think both bae and boston had good music as well, although in boston the FIRST songs were over used

[AGadgetGeek]

The music IS better, different DJ's I believe, and looking at the selection it looks good =). It's about to start!!! :D!

[Nawaid Ladak]

Can somebody explain whats wrong with the webcast. i got everything fine form palmetto, but BOTH of the links are not working for me. is there a limit for bandwith from the servers. considering NASA is a US agensey webcasting a match north of the border.

[AGadgetGeek]

Can somebody explain whats wrong with the webcast. i got everything fine form palmetto, but BOTH of the links are not working for me. is there a limit for bandwith from the servers. considering NASA is a US agensey webcasting a match north of the border.

Which links have you tried?

[Richard Wallace]

I'm using this -- it has been working fine for about four hours now:

http://www.team195.com/files/live.asx

[Nawaid Ladak]

I'm using this -- it has been working fine for about four hours now:

http://www.team195.com/files/live.asx

sorry, doesn't look like it's working

[pathew100]

Division by Chicken vs the Two Triplets - WHAT A MATCH!

[DanDon]

Division by Chicken beats 2 triplets @_@!!!!

[BoyWithCape195]

I think 1114 fault was having the two robots that rely on the same things. Yes, they have won two other regionals, but I think the whole "needing the same things" was shown in their last match.

[Cory]

I think 1114 fault was having the two robots that rely on the same things. Yes, they have won two other regionals, but I think the whole "needing the same things" was shown in their last match.

Not really.

Their problem was that they lost auton.

They were forced to go on offense first, while not having full loads of balls.

Further compounding the problem, 217 and 229 both had all the balls they wanted once their offensive period started, and 1114 was forced to defend against them instead of picking up balls.

They just didn't have enough balls/time to score in the final 40 seconds.

[Ianworld]

It was close though. The triplets shooting seemed to be a little off. It looks like teams are wearing their batteries down and/or running their robots too hard. I know my team's robot by the finals had a main breaker that was searing. Too many tough matches after each other and the robot just starts to run inefficiently.

A good way to tell if a robot was running low on battery is if they can't get up the ramp at the end of a match when they usually just pop right up.

[sw293]

I think 1114 fault was having the two robots that rely on the same things. Yes, they have won two other regionals, but I think the whole "needing the same things" was shown in their last match.

Are the triplets top load only? If they are, then yes, 1503 was a pretty bad pick by 1114, and if 1503 was in the top 12, they should have declined. See this discussion (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45634).

[DanDon]

Are the triplets top load only? If they are, then yes, 1503 was a pretty bad pick by 1114, and if 1503 was in the top 12, they should have declined. See this discussion (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45634).

No, the triplets can harvest.

[Cory]

See what I said about autonomous mode? :)

[BoyWithCape195]

But also, team 4 fell over very early in the match. This left 2 vs 3...

[Tom Bottiglieri]

See what I said about autonomous mode? :)
Don't worry. Someone agrees with you. :)

[Ianworld]

Yup auto made the difference. A big difference. Division by chicken is going to have to play better auto defense next time to win. Such an amazing match up.

And we could get all three triplets in the finals. If not the 217's alliance is going to have another nightmare on their hands.

[edit: Barring any penalties 1114, 1503 and 865 are going to the finals!]

[DanDon]

Triplets vs triplet.............poor 1680.

I wonder if the lone triplet can pull a win off of its two siblings?

[Richard Wallace]

Gotta agree with Karthik -- that's the most exciting set of 3 matches I've seen yet in 2006. Congrats to Division by Chicken.

Now -- three Triplets in the GTR finals!

[BoyWithCape195]

Well i am sure they know each others strategies...

[Joe J.]

I have a feeling that 1114, 1503, 865 will win the regional. In my opinion 229, 217, and 4 had the best chance of beating them.

Anyway I wish both alliances the best of luck. All amazing robots.

[Cory]

It's too bad that 229 217 and 4 couldn't have met 1114 and company in the finals. Those would have been some of the best regional finals matches in the history of FIRST.

[Starke]

229, 217, and 4 won the first round against 1114, 1503, and 865. this is the first time i have seen the triplets loose a match. but, they came back to win the next two matches. now i feel that 1114, 1503, and 865 will definitely win the regional.

[Starke]

something else i just noticed. two triplets versus the other triplet. this should be interesting.

[Ianworld]

Well its nice that their seeding turned out to be set in such a way that they didn't face each other until the finals.

[Heretic121]

i was sitting and wondering and wishing for the same thing...

all... darn... kathrik's intros are so long... but very interesting to say the least... =D

[Ianworld]

Woah. 1680 pulled out a win. That match was incredible. So close with so many robots rushing to get every single ball in. The triplets are just dominating the competition.

[Joe J.]

Finals 1.1 was a amazing match.

Very well played

[DanDon]

The triplets dominate the stage...............looks like 1680 won due to winning auton.........amazing finals.

[Richard Wallace]

Now this is really gettin' good!

Let's do the time warp again!

[DanDon]

And red calls a time out. Did the triplets break something?.........or do I smell a new auton coming?.........@_@ we'll see what happens.

[Starke]

this is a great regional, maybe the best out-there. A thread about the triplets here (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=46121)

[pathew100]

Karthik has an amazing knowledge of FIRST teams and matches. I love the intros. AS he says, "Every match has story"

The question is, is he just that crazy about FIRST or does he have a crack research team? :)

[Cory]

Karthik has an amazing knowledge of FIRST teams and matches. I love the intros. AS he says, "Every match has story"

The question is, is he just that crazy about FIRST or does he have a crack research team? :)

He's that crazy :p

[JamesBrown]

There is so much talk about the triplets, 1305 is scoring as much as the triplets and are key to the success of their alliance.

[Richard Wallace]

He's that crazy :pAnd he does his own research.

Just when the final couldn't get any better, it just got better! 1114/1503 donate a sprocket to repair 1680 before the third final match, and help install it, too! Top level competition is good, GP is even better.

[JamesBrown]

Does any one know what song they were playing right in between Karthik pointing out the triplets were working together and when they announced the scor or Finals match 2?

It couldn't hear every thing but it sounded a little bit tech no and was something like Make it break it cut it paste it...

[akshar]

Congratulations to 1114, 1503 and 865

loose wires, that really is horrible!

[iamthetallpaul]

That was Technologic by Daft Punk

[DanDon]

1680 was dead..........I hope we get an explanation.

[Ianworld]

It appears that they didn't manage to finish the repairs to 1680. They didn't do much more than twitch that last match. A real shame. It turned what would have been an awesome tight match into a slaughter.

And thanks for that song tip. I thought it was pretty awesome too.

[edit: IT appears it was a lose wire on 1680 that stopped them from working.]

[Cory]

Congratulations to 1114 and 1503 on making history. Two teams winning 3 regionals in one season. Simply amazing.

That was a great regional. Definitely the best I've seen all year.

[iamthetallpaul]

It was on an old iTunes commercial.

Yeah, that's too bad about the final match, but still a great regional

[Kit Gerhart]

There is no info on this regional beyond Q96. I'd like to know how the quarter finals and semis went, but there is nothing there. What's the deal?

[Cory]

There is no info on this regional beyond Q96. I'd like to know how the quarter finals and semis went, but there is nothing there. What's the deal?

The first through fourth alliances sat out the first round of the elims.

I can't recall many specifics from the quarters. One thing that stood out was 4 getting on top the ramp and perfectly blocking 703's autonomous.

In the semis, 229, 217, and 4 faced 1114, 1503, and 865. In the first match 1114 and company lost auton. It looked like they were out of position after that, and lost.

In the next match 1114 won auton, 4 tipped over early in the match, and 1114 ran away with the match.

in the 3rd match, 1114 won auton and ran away with the match again.

[MacFlightSierra]

GTR - the Absolute Best of FIRST, and the Greatest Regional Ever!

To Our Alliance - 378 and 296 - THANK YOU!! YOU ROCK!! We did our best to cover 1680, sorry it didnt work out that well.

Once again, congratulations to 1114, 1503 and 865 for the spectacular win - it was history in the making.

865 Western Tech - please pass our thanks to David Edwards for his programming workshops, and best of luck in Atlanta.

Thanks to 1213, NTCI and all others for your batteries/chargers - it gave us the power we needed.

To all GTR teams - you made it what it is, and it will be better next year:

GO GTR 2007!!

[Richard Wallace]

GTR Alliances:

1 1114 1503 865
2 378 296 912
3 1680 1305 1419
4 229 217 4
5 703 610 1325
6 49 1006 907
7 1241 522 1334
8 1547 781 63
9 1353 48 772
10 1281 1219 45
11 65 854 1346
12 843 771 188

QF Matchups:

8v9
7v10
5v12
6v11

Alliances 1,2,3, and 4 have byes.Still no update to the match results at FIRST website as of this writing.

From my notes, the eliminations went like this:

8v9 was won by 9 in straight matches.
7v10 was won by 7 in three matches -- 10 won the second.
5v12 was won by 5 in straight matches.
6v11 was won by 6 in straight matches.

Quarterfinals were won by the top four alliances, all in straight matches.

SF1: 2v3 was won by 3 in straight matches.
SF2: 1v4 was won by 1 in three matches, with 4 winning the opener -- this was hands-down the most exciting set of 3 matches I've seen in 2006. Division by Chicken really put a scare on the top alliance.

Finals: 1v3. Wow! Three triplets, all Canadian teams, 1305 shooting very well, on-field repair of 1680 before match 3 with parts and labor provided by their opponents, mounting excitement generated by Karthik, 1620 getting on the field as 1st standby. The 1v4 semifinal was still the best played set of matches I saw, but the final couldn't be beat for drama! Won by the top alliance in three matches, with 3 winning the opener.

SF2 and the finals at GTR reinforced the (by now majority) view that autonomous is the key to victory in Aim High.

[VEN]

Great times today...I'd like to thank our programming team for a great set-up, the shooter team for troubleshooting the shooter. Sorry I jumped to conclusions...the battery put into our robot during the 7 vs 10 showdown was dead oh well...stuff happens...GREAT REGIONAL

[Ianworld]

Did anybody record the matches? There were a couple there at the end that I wish I had for posterity. Just some of the best FIRST competition ever.

[Rohan_DHS]

Congrats to the Champions 1114,1503, and 865!!

and also a HUGE thanks to teams 1305, and 1680 who accepted us midway and helped us get into the finals. It's been a pleasure working with you guys! Also sorry to 1419 who got so far but had to drop out :( .

[StephLee]

Anyone know who won what awards today? They aren't up on the FIRST website yet.

[Richard Wallace]

Autodesk Visualization -- 296
GM Industrial Design -- 378 and 1241
Motorola Quality -- 854 and 1353
Johnson & Johnson Sportsmanship -- 217
Daimler Chrysler Team Spirit -- 772 and 1547
Saturday Judges -- 1963
Rookie Inspiration -- 1935
Rookie All-Star -- 1814 and 1846
Highest Rookie Seed -- 1870
UL Industrial Safety -- 1846
Engineering Inspiration -- 178
Regional Chairman's Award -- 522

[Vince lau]

wow another great day, congrats to all teams, you all did an amazing job.

Hope to see you all and even more teams next year at the GTR

[Nawaid Ladak]

does anyine have a recording of these matches. considering AOL blocked out acess to Toronto thanks to their servers.

i wish SOAP had them so i could watch.......anyone willing to stratigize agenst the triplets.

[Tim Delles]

I'd just like to say congrats to all 3 of the triplets, 865, 1620, 1419, and 1305.

Also I finally agree that Autonomous is KEY to this years game.

[Stephen L]

On behalf of 865, I would like to thank teams 1114 and 1503 for picking us for their alliance. Can't wait to see everyone in Atlanta, and a quick shout out to Quiet Riot!

[Hiteak]

Congratulations to all teams. I was well worth the drive early in the morning.GTR is in my top 3 Regionals to go to next year with my team. And if not my team, I will volunteer.

[Unglued]

today was a great day for 865, it's the first regional (we've always attended the GTR, and nothing else.)we've won since the original Canadian regional in 2002.

First of all, we'd like to thank our alliance partners 1114 and 1503 for picking us, we were ranked 68 by the end of he qualifying matches.

there were many problems with our robot this year, many were solved by the beginning of the last day, some later, some not at all.

Luckly our most important feature, a 2 speed transmission built and designed by students worked flawlessly throughout the competition. bumpers wern't used but were not needed because we had steel bars protecting us, originally it wasn't there, but we were almost 40 pounds underweight.

I believe we were chosen for our defence capabilities and ability to climb the ramp without a problem. Last year we paid the price of not getting picked for the finals because of our defence based robot, this year things are different.

to team 912 Mr. Edwards is a great mentor who not only helped us, but other teams also, he really dosn't need to do that, but he does and he pushes us to be the best we can. i'll forward your thanks, but for now we need some time to take it all in and raise some money for atlanta, we still don't know how we'll end up getting there. with a small team of 15 core members and 1-4 adult mentors a bus might be too big, and a plane will be too expensive. I don't think any of our supporters would want to drive for a full day, no matter how dedicated.

just getting the entery fee money wil be a challenge, but hopefully all will go well and we'll be at atlanta for the championships.

sorry for the long post guys <3

[geo]

GTR regional ROCKS!!!!
I would like personally thank team 1114 and 1503 for trusting us as a defence bot. You guys have the best robot I've ever seen.
Team 217, your robot is a night for us. Our driver told me that he was so scared of you guys because your robot could shoot well even if we were pushing you.....lol
Good job team 229/217/4 for kept us bus..lol..you guys are very competitive.

Thanks to all people who made this possible. Now we just need to get a bit more, actually alot more, money for us to go to the national...lol

[sw293]

Autodesk Visualization -- 296
GM Industrial Design -- 378 and 1241
Motorola Quality -- 854 and 1353
Johnson & Johnson Sportsmanship -- 217
Daimler Chrysler Team Spirit -- 772 and 1547
Saturday Judges -- 1963
Rookie Inspiration -- 1935
Rookie All-Star -- 1814 and 1846
Highest Rookie Seed -- 1870
UL Industrial Safety -- 1846
Engineering Inspiration -- 178
Regional Chairman's Award -- 522

Why did they double up some awards and not others?

[TheFerret]

I got video of finals-2 but the file size is 105 mb though...

Did anybody record the matches? There were a couple there at the end that I wish I had for posterity. Just some of the best FIRST competition ever.

[Steve W]

We did get the games archived but we need to edit and get put up on a server some where. I will post back with a link once completed.

[Sagar Vyas]

On behalf of 1503, I'd like to thank everyone that made today possible for our team. It was a very tough regional for us but we got through it smoothly.

Thanks

[neilsonster]

This was easily the best regional competition I have ever personally been to. The level that these teams were competing at was just insane! *Especially* the semi-finals on the Chevrolet field and the finals.. WOW!!! The Element of Division by Chickens sure gave Warp 7 and the two Triplets a run for their money, and if it wasn't for the mechanical problems I think 1680 1305 and 1620 (with 1419's robot having been replaced) could have taken it all.

I really want to thank teams 1353 and 48 for picking us... We did not have much luck in qualifying rounds in this competition and the fact that we were even chosen raised the spirits of our whole team. Then the two matches we played to get to the quarter finals were just awesome and really made everyone's day. Once we saw who we were paired against in the quarter-finals (1114, 1503, 865) I think eveyone knew we would need to pull off something crazy to get a win, but it was great to get to play against such an incredible alliance.

I'd like to say congrats to everyone who received awards. There were 74 teams at the regional this weekend... be proud that your team was singled out and rewarded for their efforts! Also, a special congrats is in order to Where's Waldo, the other team spirit winners! Your team pretty much taught us how to cheer last year in Rochester, and you have always been a benchmark for the spirit of FIRST. Well done!

Team 188... it's been an amazing season. Three regionals together and although we didn't get to team up again this year in the competition, we love cheering you on! Keep up the awesome work... I hope you guys might be able to get a spot in Atlanta! But other than that, we'll be seeing you next season for sure.

[Firestorm]

On behalf of Team 1346, I'd like to give a huge thank you to Team 65 and 854 for selecting us to be your alliance partner. We'd run into huge technical problems midway through Friday and were afraid of our chances. Our wonderful engineers and builders were able to fix it with hard work and time so good job to my own team =)

On a more negative note, I hope the guys who put the stinkbomb outside our room at the Novotel Hotel will grow up soon. We know who you are. It's not too hard when you say things like "keep a straight face" when you pass us. Learn some class and dignity. You're the only team staying with us here, so I'm pretty sure you know who you are. Been nice talking to the rest of your team, they've been nice people.

Overall, this will be my last year in FIRST as a student, I had a blast =)

[GaryVoshol]

Congrats to the Champions 1114,1503, and 865!!So do the eyebrows come off now? :yikes: :eek:

Congrats!

[Paul Copioli]

What an extremely exciting regional. It was definitely a great experience for all of our team: students and mentors. The 1114, 1503, 865 alliance was very tough and those were some of the most exciting matches that I have been involved in.

While I agree that auton is very, very important; what is more important is to have three functioning robots during the competition. Two shooters is essential and two defensive robots is also essential. What this means is one of your robots better be good at both.

The auton strategy switch by the 1114 alliance was a key to their success, but we helped them by not being very reliable as an alliance. For those of you that do not know the story leading up to the amazing semi-finals, I will break it down as best I can.

Semi-Final match 1 we knew the double defense against the triplets was the way to stop them. We also knew they would be sending 865 to defend against us in auton. Well, we were able to get 9 in auton and 229 and 4 clipped the Triplets enough to only allow them to get 7. We win auton and go on defense. 229 and 4 play amazing defense all over the field and we waited to load up. During the remainder of the match, 229 and 217 were able to score a few more balls, but 865 and 1114 played very good defense. We managed to still outscore them and win match 1.

Before Semi-Final match 2, Team 4 had some loose wires that needed to be repaired so we called a timeout to give them time to fix it. Also, the 229 shooter was busted so they had to fix that too. Remember, team 4 did not get their robot until Friday morning due to some shipping SNAFU and spent all day Friday and most of Saturday morning fixing it from the battle damage obtained in LA. They managed to get it out for the last match Saturday morning and played amazing defense. The 1114 alliance changed their auton strategy to stop playing defense against us in auton. They used 865 to block for them. This strategy worked and our robot got free-throw fever. With no one defending us, we had our wheel of doomed get jammed (this is the thing that is supposed to help clear jams .. gotta love irony) and only scored like 2 or 3 balls in auton (if that). The blocking strategy freed the triplets up enough to pop off at least 11 balls in auton winning auton. Team 4's drive base was not at it's top game due to the loose wire/Victor issue and team 229's shooter was broken. As a result, we got demolished. There is not 1 robot in FIRST that can keep up with 2 great shooters.

Match 3 was more of the same, but the triplets only scored 9 in auton. Even if we won auton, we would not had enough firepower to keep up with them as the 229 shooter was completely out of commission. However, getting only 3 again in auton for the same reason as match 2 was very disappointing.

The 1114 alliance was very tough and they had some hard fought battles to take this regional. At least one of the 1114, 1503, and 1680 Triplets will be on Einstein in Georgia.

Thanks to 229 and 4 for fighting through the damage and playing hard until the end. Finally, Division by Chicken was formed! To team 4, your team is amazing and we were glad to be a pert of your great story.

To the rest of the ThunderChickens, I am proud of all of you. Your actions on and off the field made me very proud to be a ThunderChicken. All in all, the GTR was a great event.

-Paul

[Alex Cormier]

All i can say is GTR was amazing and i left the regional speechless. We had a great time up there and i hope to convience the team im on next year to come up there! One thing i did notice was that friday and saturday that there was not much responce to the balls going outside of the field and getting those back into the HP boxes or onto the field. It was pretty sweet to see two fields and 2 sets of MC's/Annoucers and all.

The quality of teams of robots at GTR was bar none of any other regional i have seen this year.

Those triplettes are simply amazing and i have yet to figure out how to stop them from winning other then 1. make them lose auto mode. 2. take all the balls off the field! 3. pay them enough money to not shoot any balls in one of the periods. :D

Congrats to 1114, 1503, 865 on thier win! It was not a surprise once i saw that we dropeed out of 1st place and saw that 1114 was first about your alliance. Even though we put up a crazy fight and somehoe won the first match i knew it was going to be very hard once we did not win auto mode.

Well Team Division by Chicken Element was the best alliance we could have been made with what was left there for us. 217 was an amazing auto bot and was excellent when they had time to shoot without 865 in thier face blockign thier shooter. 4 was one crazy defensive robot and i was impressed how they got on the ramp and stopped 703 from thier famous auto mode.

overall i was amazed and it stands up the the name. Greater Toronto Regional. i will be back.

[Matt Chou]

On behalf of team 1935 (and bear with me, I know there are a million thank yous that always go out to all of the amazing teams out there), I'd like to thank all the teams that lent us tools and advice, especially teams 45 and 48, who turned our robot from a pile of duct tape into an actual moving device (that just barely passed inspection, but that's a long story)! It was an amazing experience I'll never forget, and it couldn't have happened without everyone at the "Super Regional". It's awesome that we won the Rookie Inspiration Award this year, not because we had a particularily functioning robot, but because we were able to build it without mentors or sponsors :D Hope everyone who qualified has an awesome time at the Championships, and if anyone wants to help us secure sponsorships/mentors for next season that would be so awesome and much appreciated. Thanks again everyone, and look out for us next year; now we know what we've got ourselves into! ;)

Matt Chou
UTS FIRST Robotics '05-'06

[Tim Delles]

Does anyone have video of the semi finals between 1114, 1503, 865, and 229, 217, 4?

[robotmom#1]

WATCH DAILYPLANET AT 7:ooPM TONIGHT april 3rd. just got e-mail from them say a short film will be shown on GTR

[Nica F.]

Well Team Division by Chicken Element was the best alliance we could have been made with what was left there for us. 217 was an amazing auto bot and was excellent when they had time to shoot without 865 in thier face blockign thier shooter. 4 was one crazy defensive robot and i was impressed how they got on the ramp and stopped 703 from thier famous auto mode.




Team Division by Chicken Element : ]



The GTR regional is a robotics experience i wont be able to forget. From walking into an empty pit area to find out that our robot is still in Los Angeles... to building a new robot in six hours... to winning the first semi finals match against 1114, 1503 and 865 ;this past weekend,the regional was absolutely AMAZING. i cant pick any other words to describe it with

[Madison]

Can someone from 217 or 229 talk more about your decision to choose 4 as an alliance partner? Specifically, I'm curious about how the use of their 'real' robot only at the end of qualifying matches affected your consideration. Presumably, they were allowed only to use that robot once they decided to make the switch and had retire the one-day wonder.

[slickguy2007]

After watching the regional on the webcast I must say that I am in shock. That regional was AMAZING! The legendary list of teams, the relationships between the teams, the set up of the regional, the 12 alliance difference etc. It seemed really exciting. I am really going to push 1403 to make it out to that regional next year. Even if they don't go, I definitely will. Great job to everyone competing, those were some of the most exciting matches I have ever seen(and I have seen a lot of matches). I graciously/humbly bow down to the GTR event planners/organizers for putting on such a great competition.

GO 1403!!!

[Chris]

Can someone from 217 or 229 talk more about your decision to choose 4 as an alliance partner? Specifically, I'm curious about how the use of their 'real' robot only at the end of qualifying matches affected your consideration. Presumably, they were allowed only to use that robot once they decided to make the switch and had retire the one-day wonder.


Well to make a long story short, our goals for the regional was to end up either paired with 1114, or 217 our two closest friends at the regional. When it heavily looked like we were going to end up number 1 we had a fierce internal debate on our team going about who we would pick. As it turned out we lost our last qualification match and ended up 4th. Luckily we were still able to pick the thunder chickens.

Now all weekend we had to watch 4 live out our reoccurring nightmare, of showing up to Toronto with no robot. They handled it with amazing professionalism and grace, and even their one day wonder turned out a decent performance. But walking through the pits seeing their beautiful Kingman/poof style drive base, we decided that if they were around in the second round they really deserved a shot to show their stuff.

Due to the shipping snafu they never really had a chance to fix all their battle damage from the previous regional, but we stand by our choice of them. They were great to work with, and played their hearts out in the finals, it was inspiring to watch and be a part of. It turned out our alliance didn't have enough to take out the triplets twice, but without 4 I don't think we would've been able to take them out the one time we did.

Best of luck to everyone at Nats.
Chris C.
Field Coach
Team 229

[David Brinza]

Presumably, they were allowed only to use that robot once they decided to make the switch and had retire the one-day wonder. That is exactly what the FIRST officials told Team 4.

We had to play our 'real robot' in at least one qualification match in order to be allowed to use it in the elimination round. The robot made it on the field "just-in-time" for our tenth qual match. The drive team and, thankfully, the robot performed as well as in SoCal. We played that match as if it were an elimination match because, in essence, it was.

[blue_crew]

sadly, the archive from GTR is not going to be available on the nasa webcast site. http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/webcasts/regionals_2006.php
Someone please put some video up!!!!

[David Brinza]

I want to thank Chris Carnevale (229) and Paul Copioli (217) for picking Team 4 as your third alliance partner. It was an honor to be part of your alliance.

Paul and Chris put a solid strategy together for both the quarterfinal and semifinal matches. Their robots and drivers were totally awesome in the elimination matches. I thought we could pull off the upset in the semis, but the gremlins got to our robots and the 1114 alliance was way too strong to be beat with anything less than 100% performance.

Maybe we'll hook up in Atlanta or IRI and take it to the finals...

[AGadgetGeek]

So, i've got the videos split and trimmed, and the harddrive with the files is about to go back to Vance, just one tiny problem. Other than the huge file size (30-50mb per match :|) the quality is amazingly poor still, and the sound is amazingly high. If anyone knows of a program I can use to decrease the volume, it'd be appreciated.

[Doug G]

sadly, the archive from GTR is not going to be available on the nasa webcast site. http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/webcasts/regionals_2006.php
Someone please put some video up!!!!
I'm just now getting to the webcast that I recorded that Saturday. Holy Smokes, that was an amazing Semi-Final and Final Rounds!!! Here's the last match of the Finals with the Triplets.... (http://www.travisusd.k12.ca.us/vanden/clubs/robotics/New%20Site/movies/GTR-GF2-2.wmv)
I also have the other rounds including the Semi's with 217,229,4 but I can't get them up on our site until Friday. Check back..

[Doug G]

Does anyone have video of the semi finals between 1114, 1503, 865, and 229, 217, 4?

Its on our site (http://www.travisusd.k12.ca.us/vanden/clubs/robotics/New%20Site/movies.htm) now, scroll down past the Portland vids and you'll find the GTR SF's with "Team Division by Chicken Element" vs Triplets. Enjoy!!

[David Brinza]

Its on our site (http://www.travisusd.k12.ca.us/vanden/clubs/robotics/New%20Site/movies.htm) now, scroll down past the Portland vids and you'll find the GTR SF's with "Team Division by Chicken Element" vs Triplets. Enjoy!!Thanks for posting these videos. In spite of the outcome (from the blue alliance perspective), the GTR SF's were hot! It's a preview of the intensity of matches ahead in Atlanta..

[Adrienne E.]

Wow. Those videos are pretty amazing. Thank you SO MUCH for posting them. There may be a highlight video in the works now :p

[David Brinza]

When (if ever) will the final match results and standings for the 2006 GTR get posted on the official FIRST GTR website?

I read the following post describing the difficulties:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=484397&postcount=4

The two-field and 12-team elimination round formats cannot be accommodated by the Hatch scoring software. Apparently, the some of the match results will need to be entered manually and the final standings recomputed.

I know the FIRST staff is busy making preps for the Championship, but this data is useful for scouting, etc.

[Steve W]

You would be better to contact FIRST as they are the ones that control the website. If we had the info we would be glad to post.