2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Who else is looking forward to the district at the end of the month? For some it'll be their last chance to qualify for the MAR championship in Philly!

So who's coming, and who out there is submitting their Chairman's award?


See you all in a few weeks!

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

We just can't get enough of George's announcing, so we'll be there for sure.

Mt Olive HS is a great venue, this one would be the one to visit for those interested in seeing a MAR event, or for families who think their kids might find robots cool. Make sure you bring the kids to the pits!

I had some co-workers who always hear me raving about FIRST Robotics and stopped by the Rutgers event, and found that it was far cooler than they expected. Maybe anyone around the area can coerce their co-workers to have a look-see?

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Excited to compete at home with both of my new and old teams :). Some more MORT alum are also volunteering so it should be a really fun event. If anyone needs suggestions of places to eat or stay, just ask myself or anyone on 11.

We'll be bringing our A game. See you all there!

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

I will be there!
Along with my two teams: 1923 and 4281! I'm very excited to see some new teams, and teams that i've met over the past two weeks!


Go teams!

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Let's get this thread up and running again!


With this being the last district event for MAR, it's going to be an exciting and riveting weekend for sure!


On behalf of Team 303 we would like to announce that we will be collecting gently used unwanted cell phones and Non-Perishable food this weekend.

All donations will go to the NJ food bank, and the Cell Phone's for Soldiers programs.

Any little bit helps, and we urge everyone attending to pitch in if they can.

PM me with any questions that you may have.

SEE YOU THIS WEEKEND!

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Well I'm home for spring break chilling at my house, 5 minutes away from the high school haha. Excited for this event. 3929 will hopefully have the robot mods finished and tested for the weekend. I'm not there so I'm hoping they get it all done! :)

This will be a tough competition:
11, 25, 56, 103, 222, 714, 1228, 1279, 1403, 1676 and 1923 should make it an interesting event.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

I hate to hype up my own posts, but the fact we have about 15 teams on the bubble competing for spots should make it extra crazy:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...4&postcount=36

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Thanks George, I'll remember to bring some food. To donate...:rolleyes:
Well, this IS do-or-die for many teams, and nobody's first event, so I fully expect some of the best competition we'll see....until Philly of course. I expect Awesome.

Not to mention, Mt Olive HS is a great venue.

For those folks attending:
If you are coming from Route 80 and you exit onto Rte 206 South, at the turnoff that heads to the High School there's a Dunkin Donuts (part of a gas station). So Coffee is assured.

About 2 miles south of that spot there are several shopping areas, with a Tractor Supply plus lots more (including food). Between that spot and Rte 80, there is a Lowe's at the 'International Center' (first traffic light near Rte 80) - in case of spare parts. A Home Depot isn't far, either, in Allamuchy.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

For those of you coming off of route 80 towards the school from route 46, there's also a shopping center at the International Trade Center which has a Lowes, Walmart and more food.

The following link can direct you to any and all shopping/restaurant/lodging locations in Mt. Olive (which is composed of Flanders and Budd Lake).

http://www.flanders-nj.com/flanders_shopping.html

Please post up or shoot me a PM if you have any questions about the area.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Budd Lake Diner. Theres really no need to eat anywhere else.


I'm excited to come home and fully volunteer at an event. I honestly don't know what its like to get to a competition and not have to worry about strategy/robot/team related things which is sad for my 12 years of FIRST. I'm looking forward to it.

Excited to watch many of my friends from the MAR region competing for a spot at the Championship.

-Brando

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

I really wanted to come up and watch, but we'll be at home pre-scouting for NCR and preparing for our RCA presentation. I'm likening this competition to a Thunderdome-type atmosphere. Given the high match count per team, and how stacked the field is, the field might spontaneously combust, only to be extinguished by some dark, ominous storm cloud over the venue.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Shhh I didn't mention it cause we don't want it crowded by everyone else :p

MORT has posted up a vistor's guide, as well as a food order form on their website.
http://mort11.org/district/visitorsguide

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

There will be food for sale all weekend at the High School. They will have breakfast, lunch, and snack menus. Teams will not need to go looking for food. And here is a link from their website for pre-orders:


http://mort11.org/district/food


And this is the link to the visitor guide which has the menus:

http://mort11.org/static/visitorsguide.pdf

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Can't wait to head out to Mt. Olive tomorrow. Its going to be a great event and theirs going to be a lot of familiar faces I haven't seen in awhile throughout the competition.

Good Luck to all the teams and I hope this weekend will be very exciting.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

All the best to MAR teams competing at Mt Olive this weekend!

Would someone please provide link to webcast of the event?

Thanks!

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

I'm 95% sure that Pascack will be providing the webcast. But I'll confirm once I get to the even tonight.

The address is team1676.com

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Team 555 will be there!

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Just letting you know I've forwarded your request to the people involved, I'm not actually sure of that link myself.

I'll be heading over there from Manhattan shortly.

More information from MAR's website:

Parking map...http://www.midatlanticrobotics.com/m...e-parking-map/
Competition schedule...http://www.midatlanticrobotics.com/m...tion-schedule/
A few reminders...http://www.midatlanticrobotics.com/m...nt-update-324/

Please be aware that Mt. Olive High School is >NOT< particularly within walking distance of any food serving establishments, so if you did not preorder food, make sure you realize that everything nearby is probably either going to be packed or already sending us food...plan accordingly (PB&J is your friend).

A big thanks BTW to the Budd Lake Diner and all local eating establishments for past contributions of food during build season.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Hi everyone!

The stream will be posted on http://mort11.org/district/stream once it is live.

Good luck to everyone.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

For those who haven't seen it yet via Twitter or Facebook, Team 25 will be running our new autonomous mode in match 1. Be sure to tune in!

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Wow, it's really... dim.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

... and quiet.

EDIT: Webcast now has sound.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Great first day of competition everyone!

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Great? More like awesome!

First, apologies to George A for nearly killing him with an errant foam basketball. Good thing that microphone was there to take the blow...:o

Next, team 11's home rocks! While the walk from the pits to the field is almost reminiscent of the trek in Atlanta, the pits are ROOMY! The food is good and very reasonably priced, there's quiet spaces for those needing it, a nice setup for viewing in the theater (although there was always room in the bleachers), and very few technical hiccups.

Last, the competition is awesome. Some teams came loaded for bear, since this is do-or-die as far as qualifying for Philly, and even the rookie teams are making a great showing. Lots of coopertition points out there this weekend.

Rest up, because tomorrow's finals are going to be very exciting.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Its not actually dim. It seems darker in the webcast because 11 is running overhead lights and spotlights.

In person the lighting is actually really cool :)

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

I keep getting connection errors for the webcast.
Is it working for everyone else?

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Seems to be working for me. It'll kinda cut out every once in awhile though for a second then be fine.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Most...exciting...finals...Ever!*
I think the winning alliance made it a 1 point win just to make it awesome.


*That I've seen anyway

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Haha, yes. It was all intentional, of course... ;)

I unfortunately had to watch on the webcast this time around, but I am thrilled with our win and incredibly grateful to our alliance partners 222 and 3929. It was a great ride. And it's always a pleasure to play with or against our good friends team 103.

As Rasheed Wallace, who gave his name to this year's Evil Machine, would say, "Both teams played hard."

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Now that I'm at a real computer, congratulations to 25, 222 and 3929 are in order. I'd also like to congratulate the Finalists 1403, 103, and especially 3142 who probably never expected to be where they got.

3142 is one of those teams that "gets it" and will be a future star, I am certain. Oh, and they build nice robots too, as evidenced by their Engineering Inspiration award.:D Below is a photo of their Varsity Letter Jacket, note the robot....

Thanks to our alliance captain Team 11 MORT for selecting us, and thanks to Team 219 for their performance in elims.

To our friends on 75, congratulations on the Chairman's. You talk the talk and walk the walk. Thanks especially for helping get Teams 752 and 4347 (and probably several others) through inspection - I asked for some help and a sea of red descended upon those teams' pits like a plague of (red & black) locusts. Amazing to watch.

I know I'm forgetting several teams or something, so please take no offense if I've forgotten you. My brain is still a bit fuzzy...:(

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Don, thanks for the kind words. However, huge thanks are also in order for you and the PI-Oneers. Thanks for being our inspector and having the patience to deal with all of our pneumatic issues, for sending members of your team and parts over to us when we needed them most, and of course for lending us those fancy air tanks today! Our team is happy to have become friends with yours and we wish you good luck at Philly; hopefully we'll see you there if we can pull a grant together!

Thanks are also in order to Teams 75 and 1302 for helping us resolve our strange CAN-bus-during-autonomous-mode issues.

Congratulations to 25, 222, and 3929 - it was great to play against you guys and the one-point winning final round was incredible!

Thanks especially to teams 1403 Cougar Robotics and 103 Cybersonics as well for their amazing performances as alliance partners that helped us get to finals.

Thanks to everyone who came out to make this a great weekend and congratulations to everyone who won any well-deserved awards.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

We were thrilled to play against everyone this weekend and happy for the winning alliance. That last finals match had me jumping up and down. Congrats to all the teams who played and a big thanks to our alliance partners 3142 and 1403.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Are the match videos archived anywhere?

I'll post up my thoughts about this event after a nice long nap :)

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

I was able to find almost every video here EXCEPT round two of the finals which was arguably the most intense match played all weekend..

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...0l0l0l0l0ll0l0.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

The second finals match is now up: http://youtu.be/7h2Dm29WPik

The buzzer beater shot isn't shown because the camera is focused on the balanced robots, but watching the scores climb so quickly as us and 103 exchange shots at the end is almost just as exciting!

EDIT: Found this video that shows the game winning shot! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=225Iaf-wPBg

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Now that we have recovered from our heart attack...

Thanks to our alliance partners and opponents for making the tournament one of the most memorable I have had in years. Special thanks to our friends at 103 who worked with us all season and made it possible to get a robot up to speed for the events. I personally learned a lot this year and I am exceptionally proud of how our students have bonded together and grown.

And congrats to all the award winners, especially 75 for receiving the Chairmans. There were a lot of fine machines out there this weekend.

I have a special bonus for some lucky FIRSTer

We found a really nice camera left on a table in our pit area when we were breaking down. So far none of my team members have come forth to claim it. If you lost your camera at the event PM me and identify it and we will figure out how to get it to you.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

When 25 hit that last shot at the buzzer... that was probably the most exciting moment of my life.

On behalf of all of team 3929, I would like to send out a huge thank you to our wonderful alliance partners, 222 & 25. You guys were great!

Also, good job 1403, 103, and 3142.

Lastly, I want to say thank you to 75. They were so helpful in the pits and so spirited in the stands. They truly deserve to win Chairman's.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

I've got a bunch of people to thank and recognize, both personally and on behalf of 3929.

To MORT Team 11 - still my home team. You guys did insanely well at this event and I am so proud to see how the younger students have dramatically changed the performance of the team since 2010. David Bodmer, Ernie DiCicco and the various other volunteers and students who ran this event were awesome, and I expected nothing less! Compared to Hatboro and Chestnut Hill, your arrangement and use of space of the high school was by far the roomiest. Also thanks to you guys for providing so many teams, including my own, spare parts and electronics. Looking forward to seeing you guys in Philly, keep on inspiring!

To teams 222 and 25- thank you guys for giving us the opportunity to show off other attributes of our robot and for letting us feed into you for autonomous. (We had been waiting to use that autonomous mode since Chestnut Hill! :) ). We were glad the top teams were looking at our performance as the weekend went on rather than the rankings. It was cool to see our drivers pull off really quick double balances in each eliminations match. Shaun and Cliff, coaches of 25 and 222 respectively, you guys were great! Cliff, thank you for helping myself and our team keep its cool while under pressure, you are really a class act and it was a pleasure working with you. By far one of the kindest, calm, and collected mentors I've ever met. Both your teams were powerful and we were glad to be able to help you earn those blue banners.

1403, 103, and 3142 - thanks for those crazy final matches. You guys were definitely putting the pressure on our alliance in that last match.

See you guys in Philadelphia!

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Hmmm... that shot from the red alliance at the end of auton was counted as a teleop score :rolleyes:

This would have ended different if we still had that couple second grace period :P

Congrats to 25, 3929, and 222!

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

The scores were updated manually after the match. I can attest to that as I saw the scorekeeoer confer with the ref and add the 6 points.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Didnt know this!

Oh, and entertaining announcing as usual!

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

After a good nights sleep and my first cup of coffee I think I've collected my thoughts well enough to post. First of all thanks to team 11 and all the volunteers for putting together a smooth running event.

Thanks to our partners 25 and 3929. We knew 25 was the team to be with based off of our scouting data and the consistency they displayed. We were extremely happy when they selected us. 3929 played hard and you guys were a pleasure to work with. I can see big things in the future of 3929!

1403, 103 and 3142 you guys pushed us hard in two very exciting matches.

Akash thanks so much for the kind words. You and your team was excellent at keeping their cool during some tense moments as well.

We'll see everyone at the MAR championships!

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Now that I am back in Boston, and have recovered slightly I wanted to send some congrats out on the Mount Olive event.

For this being the first time this event took place, the entire planning committee, volunteer staff and MORT parent involvement was spectacular. I've heard nothing but positive things from everyone about the event. Congratulations to everyone on a successful district event.

Congrats to the winning alliance of 25/222/3929. As soon as your alliance formed, everyone knew you would be the ones to watch out for. It was great to see my friends on 222 take home their first district title!

To my friends on MORT, you guys had a fantastic showing. Congratulations on really dialing in the robot and becoming an offensive powerhouse all weekend. The lack of failures on the robot side also speaks to the design and robustness your robot has. I'll be pulling for you at the MAR championship on the field and off the field for Chairmans.


-Brando

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

Thanks to everyone who came, saw, played, volunteered, judged, fed and help pay the bill to make this possible. Thanks to ChiefDelphi for helping get the word out. Thanks to the folks at MAR. Special thanks to Mount Olive High School for putting a roof over our head. Another special thanks to Umut, James and Joey of "All Computers Go!" who with no warning dug up a used Dell Latitude D620 laptop battery, rushed to close the shop for the day, drove it to the competition and then gave it to the team to keep.

Nice to see you all at spare parts and thanks for keeping on top of your returns.

For those of you worried because we didn't have enough tags for your bags, again apologies about that last issue but FIRST was contacted directly about this several times and you should be okay. If not please contact MAR or ask me and I'll help you straighten it out as best I can. We just weren't issued the necessary materials.

For all you teams with broken Ethernet latches on your 2GO PC, may your hot glue live long and help you prosper.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

For a rookie district event, this event was fantastic! I had a great time and I really did enjoy my job this weekend.

Ernie & Dave, you guys nailed it! Its not easy to run an event of this magnitude, especially the first time.

All of the teams, great job on being gracious and professional. I spent every single day on and around the field and I saw very courteous performance by everyone in and around the Arena.

All my volunteers in and around the field were great, it really felt like we were one big family at times. Literally. George, Sarah, Big Mike, and Cassie, the event could not have run the way it did without your help. Brando, Henry, Howard & Bharat, thanks for keeping sanity and doing everything I asked and didn't ask for. Kim, and the Refs, thank you for keeping it fun around the field and keeping it great. Inspectors, CSAs, Brian and Garret, thank you too, because of you guys the robots had spent more time competing and less time sitting around. Andy and the AV Crew, you guys were great to work with! Evelyn, none of the above names would have been mentioned without your excellent job.

Congrats to 25, 222, 3929, 1403, 103 and 3142 for putting on a great finals. Extra special shout out to 75 and 3142 for Chairman's and EI. There was a very deep field for both of this awards this week and they were well earned.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

To everyone who ran the event, volunteered at the event, played at the event and watched the event, Thanks for being amazing. MORT your team, mentors and families made the weekend so much fun and we learned a lot about what it will take to be a top tier team. 222 and 25 congrats on the win, i am glad we were a part of it. 103, 1403 and 3142 thanks for making it so exciting, you were very impressive...1 fricken point. I think a match 3 would have been crazy.

Re: 2012 MAR Mt. Olive District
 

On behalf of the RoboRaiders, I have several thank-yous for this weekend's awesome district event.

First, we would like to thank Team 11 for hosting a great event. The competition ran very smoothly, the music was great, the venue was spacious, and I've never seen our team have a better time at a competition. It was definitely a great experience for many of our new members! We would also like to congratulate you guys on Safety and GP. You guys worked really hard and truly deserved both of them!

Second, we would like to extend a huge thanks to all the volunteers and MAR coordinators. The staff was incredibly friendly and helpful, and assisted us through several communication issues with our robot. Because of their dedication and persistence, our issues were eventually identified and worked out. The results of their actions meant a lot to us.

To our friends from 1676, congrats on your website and third KP award. You guys have a solid and sustainable team. And as always, your robot performed amazingly.

To 25, 222, and 3929, congrats on winning the event! The final matches were some of the most exciting matches I've ever seen.

Finally, congrats to everyone that qualified for MAR championships! We can't wait to see you all there!