Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

The sunlight come in perpendicular to the field, in from the edge, in the morning. The field is shaded by the roof midday and afternoon shaded by the curtain.

I don't think it is an issue.

edit: go look at this video at 1:40 and beyond.

A ray of sunlight is coming in over the curtain, hitting the step plate and straight up to the camera. That is how we know the the light is coming across the field and not into the targets at each end. If you were to go straight across the field, through the curtain, into the stands behind the curtain and into the exit you are looking straight into the south sky.

Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

Good to know, thanks :)

Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

Team 435 is really excited for the NC Regional. We were thrilled to win at VCU and we can't wait to play against all of you.

As the oldest team in North Carolina, We would also like to offer any help you guys need. We've had a lot of fun helping teams in the past, and we'll have extra members in the pits looking for ways to help out.

We'll see you there, ready to Rumble!!!

Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

The webcast is down, and the Twitter feed is silent. :( Any word on how things are going?

Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

I don't know; the FIRST site has nothing other than the match schedule. I suspect they're Internet-limited.

Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

Match results and standings are now available:
http://www2.usfirst.org/2012comp/eve.../rankings.html

I am not at the event and do not have word on the webcast. It has been down all morning, to the best of my knowledge.

Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

Unfortunately a webcast of the North Carolina Regional will not be up tomorrow either. We had a number of technical difficulties with the venue and were unable to get the webcast online.

Team 2059 and the North Carolina Regional Planning Committee apologize to anyone that wanted to watch the event and has been unable to.

Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

Congratulations to the winners 1311, 1519, 2642 and the Engineering Inspiration winners 3196 the rookie allstars 4083 and most of all Chairman's winner 2614 I can't wait to see you all in St. Louis and to the finalists 2614, 2083, 1771 you guys did great and I'm glad to see 2/3 qualify for championships anyways! - Team 281 EnTech GreenVillains

Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

We're geeked to see our Peachtree alliance partners both made it to the finals--shame it had to be on opposite sides of the bracket! Congrats to 1519/2642/1311, and good job to 2614/1771/4083. (Special shout to 1771, who wasn't even registered for North Carolina as of the end of Week 3 when we played with them at Peachtree. That's hustle.)

Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

Glad to see 4083 got to finals and earned their RAS. In case no one knows, they ran on a KBoS with a giant 30-60-90 triangle on top. We played with them in their last match when there was a mad dash to the top 8 on Saturday morning, and did they ever pull through with the double balance while we sat pretty on the Co-Op with Entropy.

Even though 422 didn't get the win we've been dying for all year, we had a really fun weekend in North Carolina. It was crazy watching the co-op bridge flip the rankings so much (We went from 3rd to 8th in 3 matches!) Also, our build review session next Saturday will probably result in some heavy modifications before we enter in a spring offseason event or two. We (especially the seniors and myself) regret not preregistering for CMP, but that's how the gearbox crumbles.

Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

This is a picture of the feild on Saturday morning before the teams came in.
This was taken about 7:25 am and you can clearly see the sunlight coming
across the feild and hitting the goals. It was overcast on Thursday and Friday
and a bit chilly. On Saturday it was clear, but still a little chilly.

Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

I had such a great time at the NC Regional!

The Flying Platypi would like to say huge congratulations to teams 1311, 1519 and 1642; you guys made a fantastic alliance! Congratulations are also due to #3196, Spork, on winning Engineering Inspiration, the team has certainly earned it. It was amazing watching team 2614 go up to receive the Chairman's Award, we were next to you guys in St. Louis last year and your professionalism is astounding.
Huge congratulations to team #3229, Hawktimus Prime on winning the Judges Award, you guys are an awesome team and we're so happy to see your work recognized.

The competition was such a blast and I'm already excited for next year!

Winning the Dean's List Nomination was such an honor for me. It was a total surprise (I didn't realize it was me until a teammate gave me a gentle shove) and I can't express how grateful I am. I have to thank my fantastic team and our awesome mentors for making my FIRST experience as incredible as it is. Also, special thanks to one person in the stands (I believe a student from #401) for keeping me from falling down all the stairs in Dorton. That was very much appreciated :)

Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

Team 2614 also congratulates the winning alliance of 1311, 1519 and 2642. We started off with a great party with 1519 at the home of 3459 (Pyro-Tech) and ended up facing them in our last match and then also in the finals with them leading the other alliance. What a small world FIRST can be. Congrats to 4083 making it to Worlds with Rookie All Star. Folks should keep their eyes on these rookies. They literally pushed low number robots across the field like the other robots were on roller skates - and they weighed less than 90 lbs ! I've never seen such defense before, glad they were on our side. We really enjoy the Dorton arena with all the natural light and the hospitality is always top notch. Our team loves working with other teams, especially rookies, and getting them onto the field. Congrats to each and every one of you who played hard at NC. Most impressive thing I saw was a robot trapped and dead on the hump get restarted and freed by an opponent bot, and then end up coopertition balancing with that very bot. True coopertition at work. Okay, the 54 points of penalities in a single match was pretty wild as well. Winning Chairman's at Raleigh made the event extra special for us of course. It has been a great year for team MARS and we look forward to seeing in STL the teams we've had the pleasure of getting to know over the past five seasons. We Are... MARS

Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

We were one of the many teams bullied at the fender by 4083. The coolest things I saw their drivers do was push an oposing team around the opponents' key in one match, then push an opponent into 4083's own key to get foul points, THEN pushed them into their bridge for more points. Insanity.

It looked like a Kitbot on Steroids, but I feel like they hid some ridiculous gear reduction to be a bull in the proverbial china shop.

The Dorton Arena, while dated, is one of the coolest venues for FIRST. It's a very calming place where the sunlight peaks through and the cool mornings fill the pits. I stress out like crazy on drive (at VCU, you would see my crayola-red face stomping around the pits in a mad dash to find other drive teams) but at NC, it felt easy going like an offseason event. Definitely stressing to my team how much they should go back next year.

Re: 2012 North Carolina Regional
 

Hi again....

Many people commented on the pit arrangement at Dorton. While its a
somewhat smaller venue...the pit arrangement made it less crowded compared
to what i've seen at VCU. I wish VCU would change that. At VCU it tends to get
very crowded between the end of the pits and the Queing area
(behind the curtain) There is room for them to do the same at VCU. Also at Dorton you
don't have the long ramp like VCU has to deal with. Many people
that i know that have been to VCU also commented that it was more relaxed and easier
going than at VCU. I did'nt go to the team social so i can't comment on the food,
but while it was nice to have the team social at the science museum
(for VCU) the food was awful. Dorton also has the advantage of free parking
(as long as you stay out of the flea market area) compared to the paid parking at VCU.
There were some teams which had to move cars at Dorton though.
I recall team 122's bus almost getting towed, but one of the team members
quickly went out and moved it. (122 uses a small bus)