2012 Boston Regional
 

What: NEMO (Non-Engineering Mentor Organization) Mingle
When: Thursday, March 22, 2012 10am - Noon (NOTE TIME CHANGE)
You are encouraged to come and go as your schedule dictates.
Where: Club Room, upper level of Agganis Arena
(near south side food concessions - Commonwealth Ave side)
Who: This meeting is open to any adult, including any mentors, parents, administrators and sponsors, both technical and non-technical!

This will be an opportunity to meet and network with your fellow NEM's. We will be discussing NEMO resources and will have an open discussion, addressing any immediate concerns brought by the group.

I’m looking forward to meeting the mentors at the NEMO meeting. Please share this announcement with the mentors on your teams!

About NEMO: For 8 years the Non-Engineering Mentor Organization has been a support group and information exchange for those adult mentors who help teams as part of the FIRST programs, including JrFLL/FLL/FTC/FRC. NEMO has a central clearinghouse for information. NEMs on teams help with all the behind-the-scenes-glue holding the teams together including mentor recruitment and retention, travel, hotels, meals, parent involvement, fundraising, business plans, public relations, community service, team building and logistics. NEMs help build a team so the team can build a robot. Our membership has grown to over 600 mentors in FIRST!

Joining NEMO: Visit www.firstnemo.org to find out how to join NEMO and the private online forum. There are no dues to join. Visit the "Resources" page to see all the papers written by NEMO members.

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

No chatter on the Boston Regional this year?

AIR Strike 78 is excited to play again after competing a few weeks ago at the GSR. The Boston Regional crew runs a top-notch event every year.

Boston will host 4 teams that have won regional/district events : 125, 131, 233, and 341 (x2). It should be a competitive event!

Is webcast information available?

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Good call Rick! Wheres the Boston love this year???

125 is excited for Boston as we are every year. Only 3 days off for us between New York City and Boston, but we are ready!


The NUTRONs will be hosting the webcast this year. No link yet, but I believe it will be on Ustream. Stay tuned for more info.

See everyone in a couple days.

-Brando

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

We have several rookie teams coming to Boston, including one from Mexico and one from Turkey, so please welcome them to FIRST!

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

We can't wait for our first Boston Regional! We have heard so many wonderful things about this event.

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

This is my fourth year as a volunteer at Boston - I'm excited! See you all in a few days :)

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

I've been in Framingham for the past few days waiting for the festivities to begin.
A couple more days and I'll be able to get around here without using the GPS.
And the best part is it's going to be really nice in the Metro Boston area. It'll be in the 80's on Thursday!

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

I'll be heading up to Boston on Thursday night this year. Looking to move more into volunteering starting with being the Game Announcer in training this year. Working with Peter Moore and "Angry" Eric should be an excellent experience and a great way to start my involvement.

Good luck, and see you on the court.

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

See you guys at the house on Thursday.

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

This weekend at the Agganis is also the return of Dr. Joe to FIRST. We have all read his DFTF series and are looking forward to the teams creation! I know I am.:D

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

The field is very strong this year in Boston!

Unfortunately this will be the first ever 2079 regional that I won't be attending, it's going to be weird just watching the webcast, but nonetheless I'm really looking forward to it!

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

88 is looking forward to the competition. We had some trouble at our first regional but changes have been made and we are ready to compete.

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

1922 Oz-Ram will not be going this year but my daughter and I have had so much fun the last few years that we will be there Saturday just to watch. Hopefully someone will let us use a couple of seats.

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

222 won't be attending the Boston Regional this year, but it was a great event last year. I can't wait to watch the webcast, and I hope everything runs smoothly.

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

We are very excited to make new friends at the Boston Regional!
We have heard so many great things about the quality of the event and the participating teams. We simply can't wait to get on the road to Boston. :)

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

1058 will be there with the Gravity Gun, a vastly improved machine than over the version that competed at the Granite State Regional. We now have multiple driving and scoring strategies, like using our now functional vision system and a speedy and efficient dunk style, as well as using our air-suspension to glide over the bump! Good luck and see you all at the Agganis!

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

The Boston regional has always been a favorite of mine! The Cybergnomes hit the road at about 6am this morning. The only thing left to do on the machine mechanically may be some weight reduction because I know they're *on* the limit. Aluminum ATV rims are pretty heavy :D I know their code isn't the strongest. They lost all of their supporting teachers this year to another school including the only one who knew anything about programming. Since their programming mentor won't be with them, if anyone cares to drop by and check up on their progress for me tomorrow and maybe offer them a hand with setting up their auto-aiming and autonomous I would appreciate it immensely. Their two programmers are sharp guys but are pretty green when it comes to software and the team has always struggled with it.

Unfortunately I am not be able to head down with them as this year I also mentored 3756 RamFerno from London Ontario. Since their only event this year is the Waterloo regional running this weekend as well, I will be there with them.

Good luck to everyone!

I'll be watching the webcast on my phone every chance I get!

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Hey everyone, we've got a special announcement for the Boston Regional! We're hosting a special event for K-12 school administrators who want to learn more about FIRST, whether it's about how to get started in their district or how to support and sustain the teams they already have. We've mailed this out to the school districts but if you think your district superintendent or school board members could use a trip to the Boston Regional, please feel free to send them the information below.

---

Are you a K-12 administrator in Massachusetts (or immediate vicinity) who would like to learn more about FIRST? We've got a special "VIP" event for you on Friday 23 March from 10 AM to 2 PM! The Regional Director for Massachusetts, Steve Cremer, will be there to talk about the FIRST programs available throughout the K-12 levels, and how your school district can be successful in this program -- whether or not you've already got a team! Our FIRST Ambassadors will also take you on a tour of the event, give you a chance to talk directly with the student teams, and answer your questions.

Interested? Just email ask@bostonfirst.org to find out details and RSVP!

---

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

I'm on the train now! I'll see you all on and off the field! I can't wait to work with 'Angry Eric'!

i hope everyone is ready for some Hunger Games quotes this weekend!

May the odds be EVER in your favor!

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Boston promises to be a competitive regional in 2012! This year's field combines for 48 regional wins, 5 of them from 2012 alone, over 100 awards, and a host of 2nd year teams who were Rookie All-Star, Rookie Inspiration, and Rookie Highest seeds.

A number of our teams this year were at BAE or WPI already, or will be heading to the NU CT regional next week. I don't think anyone would be surprised to see some of those alliances re-form, given how critical bridge points end up being in eliminations.

Good luck teams, and see you tomorrow!

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

I'm upset to be missing the Boston regional this year! (I have graduated from Northeastern and since moved to the other coast)

Boston is my favorite event, by far. The planning committee and volunteers do such a great putting this regional together and it really shows in the quality of venue, entertainment, and overall experience.

Good luck to all the teams (but you know, especially 125)!

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

The NUTRONs will be hosting the webcast this year
From what i have heard that there is no link to the webcast yet

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

It looks like Olin college will be webcasting through ustream. We will be there just in case anything else needs to be done. I'd stay tuned to this thread for the link.

-Brando

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Any news on the link for the webcast? We would love to get this link out to everyone in the Philly Region.

Our bus is currently in CT and driving onward to MA. Can't wait!! :)

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Unless something changes between now and the event, the stream should be at: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/bostonregional

http://www.ustream.tv/user/bluealliance2

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

How about Boston being so ahead of schedule today?

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

We have a kick butt field crew!

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Overwhelming competence :yikes: We pulled back to the normal match schedule if teams were "late" (ie on time), and it gave us some flex in the event things ran over. Turns out it was just right for the 2 match replays and a solid 15 minutes before closing ceremonies!

See you in a few hours and good luck tomorrow (stay safe!)::safety::

-Eric

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Wow, the Boston Regional must be the most under represented regional on CD! It was great. Miss Daisy deserves all the praise it can get. The Pink Team was great too. Even though my team, Oz-Ram, was not at the event I am so glad I went to the elimination rounds and saw these teams in person.

Eric did a great job as emcee and the rounds couldn't have run any smoother.

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Miss Daisy (the team and the robot) is currently on the bus back to Pennsylvania, and we wish safe travels to everyone else on their way home today!

Our team has been to *MANY* Regional competitions over the years, but the Boston Regional is definitely one of the very best. We heard great things about the event, and they were all 100% true. The venue, volunteers, teams, and guest speakers are among the best in FIRST.

Our robot was unable to shoot accurately for a few rounds on Friday - it took us several hours to figure out that our shooter wheels had worn and were no longer gripping the balls without slipping. We applied some grip tape to the wheels (thanks Pink!), recalibrated on the practice field, and now our shooter is more accurate than ever (I don't believe we missed more than one ball in any of our elimination matches). If anyone was wondering, in Finals 2 we had a failure on the transmission of our shooter feed motor shortly after hybrid, hence why we didn't shoot in teleop. In diagnosing the problem on the field, we originally suspected a controller getting unplugged, so we tried re-enumerating our joysticks but this resulted in being unable to operate our bridge manipulator as well. Thanks to our partners for ad-libbing on the fly to pick up the scoring slack and adapting to balance with our intake deployed!

We have many thanks and congratulations to give out:

233 - It was great to get to work with you in the playoffs and get to know your team! Your team manages to be extremely professional while also knowing how to have fun! And, as usual, your robot is amazing and is still getting better with each match you play. You inspire me. Look out for Pink in St. Louis!

246 - We were simply AMAZED that you were still on the board with our second pick. Your hybrid, ball feeding, and balancing skills were vital to defeating the ball starvation tactics employed against us in the elimination rounds. Congratulations on Chairman's as well!

125, 78, 2084 - Your alliance was outstanding, and you had us very nervous! 78, congrats on EI! I was extremely happy to see that you got your ticket to Championships!

3958 - It was an honor to finally meet the legendary Dr. Joe, and I am incredibly disappointed that 3958 won't be at Championships (barring something unexpected). Hopefully they will post some up-close pictures and videos of their robot. The drive system is truly one of a kind; I'm pretty sure AndyMark never intended their pneumatic wheels to be used as bevel gears! The quad-stinger arrangement was awe inspiring to see on the field, and it was a blast to triple balance with you on the practice field!

Jeff Downs (FTA), Ed Patterson (Field Supervisor) and all of the other volunteers - WOW! This is how all FRC events should run!

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

It was an absolute pleasure to have you up here. Our students were inspired by your robot and your team. We hope that you'll consider coming back in the future!

The finals were a lot of fun, too. We really think that our hopper-based ball starvation will open some eyes strategy-wise as the game evolves. While we wish that the result was more in our favor, at least we lost to the best and we made it interesting in the process. We definitely couldn't have done it without our partners 78 and 2084. We hope that we'll see you guys at Blitz this year.

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Thank you to all of the teams who attended (especially the out-of-state and out-of-country teams!) and to our volunteers who made the event possible. I had a blast and I hope you did too! We really appreciate the kind words from those of you who attended and enjoyed it -- it means a lot to us after all the work we do.

We're also always looking for ways to improve for next year. I've already got my list -- and load-in logistics now that we're a bag-and-tag event are at the top of it -- but I'd be happy to hear your thoughts and suggestions. Feel free to respond here or PM me if you feel more comfortable doing it privately.

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Is that how they did that? I spent a bit of time looking it over but never did figure it out completely. It was a pleasure working with 3958 and 121. The triple balance left me shaking. By far it was the best time I have ever had at a FIRST event.

EDIT: just watched the 19th elimination match recording. Did your (341's) drive team copy us? Technically we copied it from the Stig, and your drivers were very un-stig-like, but I shall interpret it as a complement.

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

I'm not sure what you are referring to...?

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Ah, now that I've had a day to recover from 6 days of competition in a 9 day time period, I wanted to come give some thanks/congrats.

Congratulations to the winning alliance. Daisy and Pink were absolutely phenomenal scoring machines, and Overclocked appeared to compliment you well. A truly dominant performance for your teams. Good luck to Daisy at MAR championship.

A big thanks to our alliance partners as well. Finally being on the same side of the glass as 78 was a welcome change for our team. Of course, congratulations on your EI award, we look forward to seeing you in St Louis.

To 2084, it was a pleasure to work with you guys, you really understood our strategy and fit our alliance perfectly. May this be the first of many finals appearances for you guys.


The NUTRONs had a great time at our hometown regional!

-Brando

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Before one of the matches I saw what there drivers did, thought it was cool, and then (very poorly) repeated the gesture. Although it was probably a terrible rendition it was definitely meant as a compliment.

I believe that is what he is referring to.

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Oh, okay! There's your answer ::safety::

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

This link was posted in another thread, but I figured I would paste it here for anyone interested. All of the Boston Elimination matches: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/21331638

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

I had such a great time at the Boston Regional, as usual. I love the volunteer crew at Boston, they're all so much fun to work with. And thanks to the teams for some awesome, really close matches!

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

I work with alot of great field crew but Boston gets top marks from me. It's shocking how effortless they were and finished early both days. Jeff and Sam were amazing!

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

This was my second trip the the Boston regional, the first being in 2006. It was great, and not just because we did well in the competition. Boston is a great city with its history, cool architecture, universities, duck tour, etc. We got lots of good exercise walking the Freedom Trail, to Harvard Square for dinner, and more.

Thanks, Miss Daisy, for picking us, and thanks, 246, for completing a great alliance. I don't know how were were still available when we got to our second pick, but I'm glad you were.

See everyone in St. Louis.

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Thanks to 125 and 78, 2084 made it farther than we've ever been in the past! It was so awesome to be picked by and work with you guys as an alliance, thank you!! And, I was in awe watching 246/233/341 score hoops in those final rounds, like jaw-dropping (100+ points in one round!).... I can't even imagine the system behind that shooter. :ahh:

Overall I think it was a simply awesome experience. (And good luck at championships!)

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

I finally got around to sorting through all my photos from the Boston Regional and have posted them up here on Flickr. If anyone wants any additional photos of their teams, just PM me (preferably with a place to upload to) and I can send you additional photos.

Congrats to all the teams, it was fun reliving the event through all the photos (only wish I had taken more!)

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Thanks for the pics!

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Yippie! Our hoop hat made it big time! .... oh my... oh - oh my... :D

Re: 2012 Boston Regional
 

Whoops! I forgot to post my photos from the regional in this thread.

They can be found here.

Usually I tag the teams in the pictures, but I haven't had time yet this year.