2009 NASA/VCU Regional

[Wetzel]

The NASA/VCU Regional looks to be a blast again this year! At this point, my attendance is fuzzy, but look at is as more room for you! :D

Only 10 spots left, don't miss your chance to register!


Wetzel

[waialua359]

Good luck everyone! Wish we could be there (too bad during week 4). Easily the most friendliest group of competitors. Every other regional could take a page out of this regional's GP.

Glenn

[Coredesat]

Ah, looks like it will soon be time for me to come out of hibernation and volunteer at this regional. It's pretty far out still but I definitely plan to volunteer!

Good luck to all the teams that plan to journey to Richmond in March! :)

[koka230]

Team 388 wishes everyone good luck, and will see you guys at the competition!

:D

[sayso_411]

Sparky will be there...10 Years for NASA/VCU Regional and Sparky

[sporno]

540 will be there too!!

We cant wait to see everyone at this years regional.
Best of luck to everyone.

[waialua359]

David,
Make sure you wear that bright red aloha shirt! ;)

[NorviewsVeteran]

Watch for the wings this year

[kjohnson]

1610 will not be competing this year, because of a lack of facility to build in. We were kicked out of the school shop, and the school system did not see the need to find the team another place to build. We hope to return for the 2010 season.

Even though 1610 will be absent, I will be back at VCU volunteering again.

[384 huband44]

good luck to all teams attending

[MOE]

:D Helloooooo form the North East
This year TEAM 88 TJ2 will be at the VCU Regional for the FIRST time. Hope we have a great time its a long ride in the bus 10 -12 hrs. see all the great teams soooooooon.:yikes:
MOE and team 88 TJ2 {the TYE DYE team} oh yeah?????
OH YEAH !!!!

[1086VEX]

team 1086 will be there, yet again!!! we can't wait! looking forward to some great competition!!:D

-Alex

[BigBig5]

Team 587 is not going for the first time.

[sporno]

David,
Make sure you wear that bright red aloha shirt! ;)

Will do! , when I helped MC the Robot Rumble here in richmond I wore that bright red aloha shirt.

[sporno]

:D Helloooooo form the North East
This year TEAM 88 TJ2 will be at the VCU Regional for the FIRST time. Hope we have a great time its a long ride in the bus 10 -12 hrs. see all the great teams soooooooon.:yikes:
MOE and team 88 TJ2 {the TYE DYE team} oh yeah?????
OH YEAH !!!!

were you guys at championship during aim high and rack and roll?
If so , I think yall lent my team a CMU2 Camera during rack and roll.

[MOE]

Hellooooo from the North East:yikes:
Yes that was us, great to here from you see ya soooooon. oh yeah ?????
OH YEAH !!!!:D
MOE and team 88 TJ2

[Ian S.]

Team 1522 will be there once again! It'll be great to see some teams in the double digits, I haven't seen any below 116 for a while in Richmond.

[1522_Kira]

Good luck to everyone this year! Best of wishes!

[Electricia 1599]

Hey everyone this is Atlee 1599 looking forward to seeing everyone at the competition and good luck! if anyone has any questions about the robot or the game just give me an email! :P
Alex

[bandducky511]

Good Luck Everyone!
Team 122 will be there!
Hope this year will be one for the books :]

[RKElectricalman]

Who's ready for this weekend?!! WOOOOO

LET THE LUNACY BEGIN!


- Meez

[jacksparrowlov6]

our robot on 2363 has recived ALOT of modifications...based on our preformance at the nj regional we decided that our shooter/turret was not the best way to go so by adding a curved peice of metal to our shooter we transformed it into a dumper and our turret is stilll fully operational

this is a very difficult game

[wilsonmw04]

Goochland has been ready to go for 4 weeks. We can't wait to get on the field, errr... crater!

[NorviewsVeteran]

Goochland has been ready to go for 4 weeks. We can't wait to get on the field, errr... crater!

Its a field. It will feel good to be under some pressure at home again. DC felt like a garage compared to the Siegel Center.

[1086VEX]

Goochland has been ready to go for 4 weeks. We can't wait to get on the field, errr... crater!

haha...we've been ready to go for about a day, design revision wise...:yikes:

[wilsonmw04]

haha...we've been ready to go for about a day, design revision wise...:yikes:

After hearing what you guys have been up to in the weeks since Ship has convinced me that we have to have a prototype (2 robots) next year to work on.

[bandducky511]

I agree; it seems like having two robots worked out very well for most teams.
We created a prototype base and hopper, but we did not have time to create the dumping mechanism.
Maybe next year our team will be able to create two working robots :cool:

On another note...

Where are you guys staying during VCU? I know we are at a hotel nearby, but is everyone staying at the same hotel (if so that's gonna be crowded).

[1086VEX]

it is deffinetly a big help...the down side is now we have a ton of stuff to change come thursday morning:eek:

1086 just drives there every day...luckily its only a 20-30min drive

[Manoel]

Team 383 is already in the USA! Currently touring Washington, DC, driving to Richmond on Wednesday. :D

[gblake]

If you want to stretch your legs during along day in the stands, take a little walk and stop by the Lunacy simulator in Tech Row up on the concourse.

Bring a couple of friends and try for high score. Be one of the high scoring alliances and come back to compete in a play-off.

Blake

[MOE]

HELLOOoo from the North East :D
We will leave at 5 am should take about 10-12 hrs. on Wed.:rolleyes: Hope we have a great time at this Reg. looking forward to seeing some old friends. this is a full one 60 teams should be a HOOT. See all soooooon. We trade TYE DYE shirts!!!;)

MOE and TEAM 88 TJ2 TYE DYE for ever oh yeah ???? OH YEAH !!!!

[Phyrxes]

Team 2068 will be making the trip down 95 this evening, our students protested the idea of making it tomorrow morning.


We want to give the 5th Gear guys a plug, if you get a chance you want to stop by and play a match its lots of fun.

[VanMan]

Team Awkward Turtle is leaving at 5:00PM today and we are excited to go. We are ready to play some Lunacy!

[NorviewsVeteran]

1793 will see everyone there tomorrow, we leave at 0600.

[JoshD]

I hope everyone travels safely to VCU and the best of luck to everyone. I'll be at the doors to the Siegel Center around 7am, so if you see a tired looking guy wearing this t-shirt:
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y227/M1A2AbramsTank/kiwishirt.jpg
top by and say hi if you wish!

[Coredesat]

I will not be at pit admin this year; instead FIRST is going to have me put my quickly-developed photography skills to the test by having me serve as a volunteer photographer. FIRST wants me to take photos of volunteers for the mosaic. However, that's not to say I won't be taking photos of everything else at the regional; I'll be setting up my tripod and a video camera from time to time to record some time-lapses of the pits like I did last year. So if you see a guy in a volunteer shirt walking around with a camera, don't hurt him, because that's me! :P

I won't be there during the day tomorrow, but I will be there from about 5 to 8, and all day Friday and Saturday. Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

[1522_Kira]

Good luck to everyone! From DOTM 1522!
See you in a few hours. xD

[1086VEX]

looking forward to some excellent competition!!!! Good luck all from team 1086!

-Alex

[sayso_411]

It was an exceptional day today...good luck to everyone tomorrow! ;)

[Phyrxes]

Team 2068 would like to remind everybody that does not yet have one of our buttons that you just need to stop the student running around in the black cloak (covered in our buttons) with a lightsabre and ask for one.

[Coredesat]

For those who might be looking for them, I will eventually post photos from the past couple days. However, since I'm an official photographer, I've taken so many photos and it will take me a while to go through them all and process them. I'll likely start putting things up at the beginning of next week.

And of course, there will be photos from tomorrow. :P

[waialua359]

we will be watching this weekend.
We miss the teams, venue, and great teams.
Good luck everyone!

[Joe Matt]

Can we get photos or something up soon? I'm disappointed that sparky384.com doesn't have any photos up yet of this year.

[Coredesat]

I'm working on what I have. Unfortunately I couldn't make it down today because of total burnout plus problems with seasonal allergies. :/

[wilsonmw04]

I had 2 folks folks taking pictures Friday and Saturday. When I get them, I'll put them on the Flickr account and post the link.

[Mr-Shutter]

Ahh, I am missing a Cabels to Go PC repair Kit!
http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=1406&sku=27371
In it is also a Ethernet Cabel Tester, An ESD wristband, Tweezers, mirrior, and a Flash light. Please pm me if you find it.

http://www.cablestogo.com/assets/product_images/27371.jpg

Please PLEASE look trough your stuff!

[1522_Kira]

I want to say. Good job to all the teams!
Our team had a great time this weekend and I think it was a great season!
Good job once again!

[bandducky511]

Good job everyone! Congrats to blue cheese for chairman's again and their alliance for winning :)
Great regional! We saw a lot of amazing things this weekend. Hope to see everyone next year (or Atlanta!)

[mrmummert]

Mr. Shutter....I've sent you a message about the missing kit mentioned above.

Does anyone know where i might get a copy of the video they showed after lunch for the 10 year anniversary?

[kjohnson]

Ahh, I am missing a Cabels to Go PC repair Kit!
http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=1406&sku=27371
In it is also a Ethernet Cabel Tester, An ESD wristband, Tweezers, mirrior, and a Flash light. Please pm me if you find it.

http://www.cablestogo.com/assets/product_images/27371.jpg

Please PLEASE look trough your stuff!

Yep that was at the inspection station during awards, Hank kept an eye on it and should know where it went.

[Jmasta]

Great competition this year,(the first year my team actually built a robot over 2 ft tall lol) Grats to everyone who wuz a higher rank then my team which wuz most of you :D (rank 58). Hope the winners represent VA well.

[1086VEX]

Good job everyone! Congrats to blue cheese for chairman's again and their alliance for winning :)
Great regional! We saw a lot of amazing things this weekend. Hope to see everyone next year (or Atlanta!)

Thanks!!
we had a blast this year!!
we definitely owe a big thank you to our partners 346 and 88! without them we wouldnt have been in the elimination rounds.

[MikeE]

I'd like thank everyone involved in the regional - organizers, volunteers and fellow teams - for such an awesome event.
For me personally, it was the friendliest and most welcoming regional I've ever attended, and I plan to be back as often as possible.

It was great to contribute to the winning alliance (thank you 346 and double congratulations to 1086!). But my most positive memories are of all the wonderful people I met and hopefully the start of several friendships.

[sayso_411]

Can we get photos or something up soon? I'm disappointed that sparky384.com doesn't have any photos up yet of this year.

sorry joe...the gallery is malfunctioning so i have photos of the robot on picasa
http://picasaweb.google.com/Team384/Sparky?authkey=Gv1sRgCIqI4r6gqqiQmAE&feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/Team384

the url above should provide some photos until i get more up

Thanks for a great season everybody...

Special Thanks to 1095 and 1522 for picking us at a critical moment (#1 Seed-Finalists at the VCU Regional)

Congratulations to 88,346,1086 for winning the VCU Regional and 1086 for winning the chairman's award and the regional two times in a row

Also Thanks to Team 2106 (especially Sean) to help us out with Programming

-Sayso :)

[Bsteckler]

Good luck to 1086, 88, and 346, we'll be rooting for you in Atlanta!

It's too bad that we finished where we did (and we didn't get insulted too badly), but it was still a great time.

[wilsonmw04]

Congratulations to all the teams that competed over the past few days. 2106 had a frustrating, yet an exciting and fun, weekend. I would like to add an additional "congatz!" to team 1086 for their dual win on the field (Champs) and off the field (Chairman's). You are an exceptional team that we all can learn something from. Best of luck in Atlanta! Oh, and if you need anything you know where to look. :)

[NorviewsVeteran]

I have some photos of 122, 88, and 1086 in the stands during the finals, and they should be going up as soon as my brother reconnects our external hard drive to the network... terabytes are nice.

[Ericgehrken]

Congratulations to Team 88 on winning your first ever regional, you guys earned it!!! Congratulations to 1086 and 346 .

[Nate Laverdure]

Can we get photos or something up soon?
Here (http://www.flickr.com/photos/n8laverdure/sets/72157615651764521/) are a few from me.

[MOE]

HELLOOoooo from the North East :D
We at Team 88 TJ2 had a super time this we-end,congrats to all of the 60 teams. We have never been to this Regional the NASA/VCU Regional before, what a great place you have to run it. Thanks to all of our NEW friends we had so much fun,what a HOOT,;) hope you all will never forget the TYE DYE Team. Hope to see ya sooooooon :yikes: Untill we meet again!!!!!
MOE and Team 88 TJ2 TYE DYE for ever oh yeah ???? OH YEAH !!!!

[bandducky511]

I have some photos of 122, 88, and 1086 in the stands during the finals, and they should be going up as soon as my brother reconnects our external hard drive to the network... terabytes are nice.

Sweet! Tell us when they are up! I may have some photos of everyone's robot; it depends on whether or not I can get my hands on the scout's camera.

[Coredesat]

Still working on the photos, but here's a video I took:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW4lZHtKljU

I had a great time this year, and hope to do both this and the DC regional next year. Congrats to 88, 346, and 1086! :)

[kjohnson]

My videos of the finals two matches at VCU:
Finals 1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_FKV-hpZtU)
Finals 2 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7-eEoPWHlc)

[1086VEX]

keep an eye on www.bluecheese1086.org pictures will most likley be going up later this week!

[juliecat10]

Congratulations to Team 88 on winning your first ever regional, you guys earned it!!! Congratulations to 1086 and 346 .

This was 346's first time too! We are so excited! We've been waiting 10 years for this! :)

Plus we were undefeated! 13-0! And this is the first year we're recieved GM's Design award. Our team is finally pulling everything together! But I'd like to sincerely thank 88 and 1086! We could not have done it with out you! I hope to see you both at Nationals!

[Phyrxes]

On behalf of Team 2068:

Congratulations to team 1086 on the Chairman's Award.

Congratulations to Teams 346,88, and 1086 on the Regional Championship, we enjoyed playing against you guys in the eliminations.

Thank you to Teams 612 and 1908 for being awesome people to work with.

Thank you to all teams competing it was an awesome weekend.

[kjohnson]

Congratulations to 346, 1086, and 88! You guys played great, along with all the other teams in the tournament. Thanks for making the 10th anniversary go smoothly.

I loaded the few pictures I took to Flickr (http://www.flickr.com/photos/36659659@N03/sets/72157615722494621/).

[gblake]

Hey Everybody! - David Dobbs and I enjoyed hanging out with you in Tech Row at the 10th anniversary of the NASA/VCU Regional.

We hope everyone who gave the Lunacy simulator a try enjoyed it. We look forward to seeing you and everyone else next year at VCU for the 11th NASA/VCU Regional, and the third appearance of the 5th Gear simulator there (it's where we first unveiled the prototype last year).

In this year's virtual competition we used high scores and one single-elimination match to whittle our competitors down to the top four 3-person teams/alliances. They were:

Team 620 James Madison HS (Highest score for the entire weekend = 118)
Team 2028 Phoebus HS
Team 2068 Osbourn Park HS
Team Awesome (one person from each of 122, 384, and 2402)

In a 6 match, Round-Robin play-off, the impromptu Team Awesome! alliance went undefeated, dethroning last year's champs (Team 719) and clinching the NASA/VCU 5th Gear bragging rights for the next year. Their scores against the other three teams were 72-62, 86-66 and 88-68.

Congrats to Logan, Stephen, and Paul, this year's 5th Gear NASA/VCU Regional Champions (and the winners of our extremely nonvaluable prizes:))

Picture of a Match in progress (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/33553?)
Team 620 (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/33554?)
Team 2028 (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/33555?)
Team 2068 (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/33556?)
Team Awesome - 2009 Champions (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/33557?)




Blake
PS: A heartfelt Thank You to Annika, Pattie and Dee for all of your support and help this year and last.

[R.Mangum]

Team 122 Nasa Knights would like to give
Congratulations to Teams 346,88, and 1086 on the Regional Championship, we enjoyed the eliminations so much. 346 13-0 WOW impressive.

I would like to thank Teams 116 and 620 for being such great partners . The last set of matches were some of the best if seen. Many teams came to us with complements on are matches.

To all the teams we worked with and talked to at DC & VCU it was a great experience see you in Atlanta.

Rick:]

[Coredesat]

I'm going to be posting my photos on Picasa this year, since there's far too many for my Flickr (the total number is about 25% of my entire gallery!).

I've posted photos from Wednesday, since there's only 32 of those. More to come.

http://picasaweb.google.com/coredesat

[fixermark]

Does anyone know where i might get a copy of the video they showed after lunch for the 10 year anniversary?

I was able to pull some strings and acquire a copy; I'm hosting it on my website (fixermark.com/frc/2009/FIRST_Richmond_Regional_10th_Anniversary.m4v (http://fixermark.com/frc/2009/FIRST_Richmond_Regional_10th_Anniversary.m4v))

It would be great if someone could set up a bittorrent for this; it's about 66MB and I'm hoping to be able to share it without hammering on my bandwidth quota. ;)

While I live in Pittsburgh now (Petersen Center Regional Woo!), 2000 was both the first year for the VCU regional and the first year for our team. We shared a build space at VCU's brand-new School of Engineering with a couple of other teams; it was an equipment bay that they were converting into a new laboratory. The space was large, cold, and half-finished, and we loved it. That was the year we came in only a couple of steps away from last place and ended up in the finals. It was the year we learned what a drive train was, and what melted motor brushes smell like. It was the year I signed on to do half of the programming and ended up doing just about all of it and much of the electrical system too. But mostly, it was the year I learned that all of that neat stuff I see engineers do wasn't something other people with degrees and titles did; it was something anyone with enough patience, care, and interest can do. The reason I still volunteer with FIRST every year is that it worked for me, and I want to see it work for other people too.

Congratulations to this year's competitors; there were some great designs out on the field this year. Best of luck at nationals!

Take care,
Mark Tomczak
FIRST Alumnus, Team 422 (Mech Techs, GSGIS, Richmond, VA)

[Nate Laverdure]

It would be great if someone could set up a bittorrent for this...
OK, here's the torrent (http://www.mininova.org/tor/2416638) (via Mininova). I'll seed for a while.

[NorviewsVeteran]

I'm having a hard time with photobucket (any suggestions for a better image host?) but I am uploading a few of my favorite photos from the finals onto CD, so look for them soon.

[mrmummert]

Thanks for the download link

[Coredesat]

I'm having a hard time with photobucket (any suggestions for a better image host?) but I am uploading a few of my favorite photos from the finals onto CD, so look for them soon.

Try Flickr (http://www.flickr.com) or Picasa (http://picasaweb.google.com).

[wilsonmw04]

2106's first round (http://www.flickr.com/photos/wilsonmw04/sets/72157615823490593/)of pictures

[Coredesat]

Updated my Picasa (http://picasaweb.google.com/coredesat/) with Thursday's photos.

[vavex]

Ahh, I am missing a Cabels to Go PC repair Kit!
http://www.cablestogo.com/product.asp?cat_id=1406&sku=27371
In it is also a Ethernet Cabel Tester, An ESD wristband, Tweezers, mirrior, and a Flash light. Please pm me if you find it.

http://www.cablestogo.com/assets/product_images/27371.jpg

Please PLEASE look trough your stuff!

The kit was found in the inspection station after the event. Dee Tomczak, assistant RD, took charge of it. I have emailed her about it, letting her know who it belongs to.

[sayso_411]

Thanks for the uploaded pics everyone!

Havent seen them all because my school comp wont let me go to flickr

-Sayso

[Coredesat]

All the photos I have are now on my Picasa page (http://picasaweb.google.com/coredesat/). Unfortunately I lost over half my photos from Friday due to the Siegel Center's poor lighting; I need to get a flash unit for my camera.