2012 Palmetto Regional
 

I'm just going to start the thread like last year.
Welcome back to the Charleston, SC Palmetto Regional it looks like a more South Carolina dominated year with a few exceptions of NC, TN, and NJ all of our Florida friends don't seem to be on the list. The list shows only 44 teams compared to last years 56.
I still expect heavy competition this year.
Teams like M.O.R.T, Metal in Motion, Los Pollos Locos, Spark Robotics, Burning Magnetos..ect.

It should be some fun.

M'Aiken Magic will be bringing it's "A" game considering how similar this game is to the past 2 years of FTC competitions, which our program is mainly successful in.

Good Luck!

Re: 2012 Palmetto Regional
 

Team 3489, "Category 5" is looking forward to competing in our home-town regional after a stop in Orlando in week 2. Last year's Palmetto had 43 teams compete, so the turnout is about the same. I remember the team count all too well as we finished 43rd in our first and only regional (as rookies)....:o We did manage to bring home the Rookie Inspiration award as a nice consolation prize.

This year, we're loaded up with 3 times the student members of last year's team, now we just need to focus their efforts a little bit better.

Look forward to seeing you all at Palmetto. Please stop by our pit and say hello.

Re: 2012 Palmetto Regional
 

My bad, ahahaa I can't remember the list.

Re: 2012 Palmetto Regional
 

You KNOW that Los Pollos Locos will be there! With SPAM and Triple Helix not coming to Palmetto this year, someone's got to defend the title.

I've also been to the shops of 1293 and 3976. I won't spill any of their beans, but let's just say that Team Columbia is rolling deep this year. (The latter was part of 2815--while they didn't take enough kids to lose rookie status, they definitely got some of our all-stars. Watch out for them, especially since they'll also be practiced after going to Peachtree.)

M'aiken Magic is ready to go! We got in a solid amount of driving practice this last weekend. This should be the year of magic that no one shall forget.

Re: 2012 Palmetto Regional
 

Should be another fun event. What's this driving practice that you speak of? We will be loading up next week to hit Knoxville, so we will have a little experience under our belt. Our robot does this in our minds:
8WD with AndyMark pneumatic tires and Super Shifters
Shooter that can clear balls half the court, and can score 3's from the area around the key
Ramp actuator to help get two robots up, 3 robots will be a challenge/impossible for us (unless we have a special ramp robot on our alliance)

This is in theory right now, so hopefully Knoxville will be kind to us and we can have some momentum coming to North Charleston.

You know. Just driving the robot around the shop..picking up balls shooting shots. Practicing balancing quickly. The usual.

In the end.
Hybrid mode capability.
We have 8" wheels 6WD.
Tower style ball feeding.
Lazy Susan style articulated turret.
In a perfect world it will be automatic tracking.
Automatic distance compensating shooter.
Has special arms for lowering the bridge.
At this moment in time the maximum tested shot is 25 feet.
Though for all intents and purposes until I have 100% accuracy from there we won't be shooting from that distance.

Re: 2012 Palmetto Regional
 

"Invention is the mother of necessity" would describe our year so far. We went to Tenn. planning on playing the game in one direction, and then switched directions on Friday. We knew the drive train was robust, could climb bridges, and take the bump without pausing. So when we tried some defense, it was good for that too. It wasn't until later on Friday that we truly understood the importance of that co-op bridge. So we pull an audible and help teams balance.

Our strategy for next week is to get better at hitting two 3-pointers in hybrid. Then in teleop get some balls off of bridges if need be, then clear balls from the other side (taking shots from beyond the bump). For the end game, we hope to assist our two partners in balancing our bridge and then hooking up with the other alliance to go for the co-op bridge.

We feel we have that good drive train, so we feel the co-op bridge is important enough to make sure it gets done. We saw in Orlando last weekend that each alliance made sure to do the co-op bridge. Toronto is another story :o .

The defense may come back in for elimination rounds if we make it in. We are also working on a method for the triple balance for elimination rounds.

That's us in a nutshell so far, good luck to all teams!

Re: 2012 Palmetto Regional
 

Does anyone have a link to the pit layout?

Re: 2012 Palmetto Regional
 

I'm not sure it's posted anywhere. Palmetto is also a hockey rink, so last year there were some places where condensation had formed. There may be more of a gap between the last game and FIRST this year so it will have time to warm up.
Can't wait!
There are 5 teams competing in the Peachtree regional this weekend that will also be coming to North Charleston. Might be worth watching a webcast.

I'll be watching it while at the SC State FTC Tournament, it'll give me a small idea of what to expect next weekend. Even though I've watched the Alamo, FLR, Israel, San Diego, and BAE regionals on YouTube.

Re: 2012 Palmetto Regional
 

Every team needs good scouts like you. I was glued in front of Orlando last weekend. Competing in week 1 really helped too.

Good luck in FTC!

I'm a drive team member and so I use them to formulate my strategies and learn from other peoples mistakes to not make them myself.

After watching Peachtree I'm looking forward to this upcoming week, Metal in Motion and Flash made it all the way to the finals. It should forshadow who will be in the top bracket at Palmetto, we'll see what happens!



-Thanks to those who wished us luck, my freshman drive team was chosen by the first seed captain. Global Force captured another SC FTC state championship!

Re: 2012 Palmetto Regional
 

YETI Robotics, Part of last years North Carolina Regional Winning Alliance is on the attendance list, and from my Youtube Scouting they look to have a REALLY solid robot.

http://www.yetirobotics.org/wp/our-robots/

Team Spork seems to have a beautifully machined robot, taking a quick look here.

http://teamspork.com/v2/index.php?pa...video&tab=2012

The Hitchhikers robot looks interesting from the view of it in their bag on their website.