2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

Are you looking for another regional competition to attend in 2013? Why not come to Maine for the inaugural Pine Tree Regional?

We certainly can't promise beautiful weather, and there definitely won't be that "big city" feel, but if you are looking for an intimate setting for your week 6 regional, where you will leave with more friends that you came with, then the Pine Tree Regional is definitely the choice for you!

Free parking! No traffic! Easy highway access! Reasonably-priced concessions! What more could you ask for in a regional?

You definitely don't want to miss this event! Join us in Maine at the Pine Tree Regional! Week 6 (April 4 -- 6), 2013!

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

1922 Oz-Ram just voted to go there for our second regional. What kind of places are around there for evenings?

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I do believe that 157 will be attending! We're excited! :)

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716 is pumped to go to the pine tree regional for our second event.

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If you're wondering where this event takes place like I was, check out http://pinetreeregional.org/

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Looking like a good group of teams now. And still room for more

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looking forward to this one, should be a good compitition.

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Is there a full list somewhere?

Blue Alliance isn't updated with all the teams yet (at least not on my computer....) :/

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Team 3467 is registered and excited to venture up to Maine for the Pine Tree Regional! :]

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The official team listings for all events are conveniently located on the FIRST website. Here, have a link http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...egional-events

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Thank you! Lots of familiar faces from last year -- we're super pumped!

I think we need to get some anagram boards to keep up with 172 who had them in Manchester last year. :D

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2200 and 2386 are coming here from Canada

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1058 will attend the inaugural Pine Tree Regional!

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The NUTRONs are excited to attend the 1st ever Pine Tree Regional. The team list looks solid!

-Brando

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

37 Teams! Room for more at our inaugural event!

please follow us at http://pinetreeregional.org

and here is our commercial:

1071 will be there! I'm looking forward to it, should be a fantastic regional with a bunch of great teams!!

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The Aztechs are excited and putting together a super secret fun project for this regional.

Details to be announced soon. ;)

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Going to be a solid competition, judging by the teams.

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So excited for the Pine Tree Regional as our second regional... look for the TWO big coach buses reppin the Ontario license plates and Canadian flags! 2386 and 2200 will see you all there! :)

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

Alright everyone.....the fun project I alluded to earlier in the thread is to be revealed. Team 157 is hosting an alternate reality game called "Where's Wilson". It's our take on the classic murder mystery. Keep an eye on our you tube and twitter for videos and fun tweets leading up to the regional - and see if you can figure out whodunnit. Among the teams who guess correctly, one will win a fabulous prize!

Here are the first two videos, I'll keep posting them here as they get released!

Invitation for New Members: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MA0soKlW0Y8

The New Members are Here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WieQ8991nzA

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

Yup, it's gonna be a good one, lots of familiar faces and some new ones too!
BERT 133 will be there of course.. it's practically in our back yard..(well sort of).
:rolleyes:

Welcome to Maine everyone!
Today, (03-19-13) is the last day of winter.. and of course it's SNOWING!
:ahh:

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Week 6 sneaks up on everyone....

Many of the teams coming up have had a really good season, for an inaugural regional I'm expecting some high scores right from the start.

We have some friends from Canada coming up as well! Yes, this is one of the few places in the US where a Canadian team has to drive NORTH to get to a US competition :ahh: Kudos to 2200 and 2386 for getting on a 10+ hour bus ride to visit us :)

If you're reading this and your team hasn't filled out a team information form, here is the link: Team Info. Your MCs and GAs will use your team's fun facts during introductions and throughout the match in addition to our own scouting.

See you tomorrow!

We leave in just a few hours and I am very excited!

I have to say after CTR this past weekend I am really excited for Pine Tree! I'm expecting this to be an amazing event with lots of great action!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone up there!

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Careful with the Akido rolls Eric!

Leaving in three hours- so excited!

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I still have 3 good ligaments left and 2 events, so I should be fine :rolleyes:

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Can't wait for tomorrow! Our team has made good use of our 30lbs, if you saw us at GSR you are in for a surprise! :cool:

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After 1 day of competition I must say this is the best regional I have attended.

Congratulations to rookie team 4793, the Gobotics from Old Orchid Beach. Maine. They have a mostly wooden robot that looks really nice, drives well, has a 1 point dumper, a 10 point climber and plays good defense. It was built by 2 students and one mentor, although they are up to 3 students now. Their entire team is on the field during their matches. I was very happy to see them win the Rookie Inspiration award.

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

Does anyone know what the illegal component on a robot in the red alliance was? I'm unable to watch on line.

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I heard that they had pre charged their pneumatic system because their on board compressor wasn't working, so they had to let out the air.

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But aren't you allowed to do that? (R80, R81)
R80 Blue box

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The assumption is that if their on-board compressor is not working, they used a different compressor to fill the tanks, which is not allowed.

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Not if they also have an on-board compressor. The rules specify one compressor.

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It's a rather strict reading of the R80, but the rule does say "Compressed air on the ROBOT must be provided by one and only one compressor." (And, if the off-board compressor used was not a legal compressor, that's potentially two violations of one rule.)

The R80 violation would then trigger multiple tournament rules that would remove the robot from the match and/or disqualify the alliance.

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I think it has to be powered by the robot, and it wasn't. This is a secondhand account I heard from someone on the winning alliance, so I'm not really sure.

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Maybe I'm "lawyering" this rule a bit too much, but IMO it doesn't say that they can only have one compressor, just that only one compressor may supply air.

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One and only one may supply air. That one may be located either on-board or off-board. If they had removed the on-board compressor from the system somehow, then I think they would have been perfectly fine (provided that R86 was met). If they did not, then there exists the possibility that it could turn on during the match, thus supplying air, thus having two compressors supplying air to the same system during the same match, though at two different times, thus potentially creating a rather nasty rules debate if the team gets called on violating a robot rule (and thus not passing inspection, see T06 for the aftermath).

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

Now that I read the rule again, I'm not convinced. R80 prevents compressed air from being provided from multiple compressors, it does not prevent the potential for air to be provided from multiple compressors. I know this is essentially impossible to enforce, but as the rule is written, you could have an offboard and an onboard compressoras long as only one was used, assuming all other rules are met (which is sounds like they weren't, in this case).

Footnote: If this isn't lawyering the rules, I don't know what is.

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I am pretty sure this is the correct interpretation. In 2011, 449 had two identical (and both 100% legal) pneumatic systems, one on the robot and one off the robot. Before every match we would use our off-board pneumatic system to precharge the storage tanks on the robot. All the inspectors seemed fine with this, and we used this technique through 2 different competitions. The inspectors just required that they could inspect both boards to make sure that they would both be legal if they were on the robot.

However, the 2011 wording is different from the 2013 wording, and it is always up to the Inspector on whether you can or can't do this.

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If you then used the on board compressor during the match, it would be illegal. R80 only permits air from one source.

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2386 was told they where not allowed to use their (illegal) offboard compressor. and this was unrelated to why they sat dead in match F2. Their digital sidecar power cable had come loose and they where not allowed time to fix it.

They got it fixed between F2 and F3, charged their air tanks with their onboard compressor, then went to swap their battery. The lead robot inspector came over and told them that if they changed their battery they would have to drain then refill their air tanks. With no time left to do that and no time to argue the ruling they (2386) decided to run on the same battery as they had not moved in the last match.

Also between match F1 and F2 a bearing exploded in their shifters. It was quickly replaced with wraps of electrical tape.

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What? That's a common practice, and not prohibited in the rules. Since when is that a rule?

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I only have good things to say about this new regional. It is easily one of the best events I have been to in my time with FIRST. The volunteers and refs were nice and did their jobs well. The judges were awesome as usual, especially the ones listening for chairmans presentations. Then of course the competition. There were great robots in every match, and the finals were the best ones I've seen all year. On a personal note, a HUGE congratulations to my good friends from 3467, the Windham Windup, for winning their first regional. I know you guys went through a lot this year, and you definitely deserved a win. As Angry Eric said, "I'm just gonna say this now, but these guys have the fastest climber on the east coast." Also, if anyone from the Pine Tree planning committee is reading this, you did a perfect job, thank you. I'm very hopeful to attend this regional in the future.

There was also something that happened during the award ceremonies that I will never forget. When the rookie highest seed came up, it was originally given to team 4564, although it was supposed to go to team 4473. This was later fixed, and 4564 was told they could keep that trophy as well as they did not want to take it away from them. However, as 4473 came up for the real rookie highest seed award, members from 4564 came down and gave the trophies they received to members from 4473. It was truly amazing to see two rookie teams handling themselves so professionally. Also note that 4564 would go on to win Rookie All Star later on.

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I later asked for clarification on that rule on behalf of 2386. After searching through the rule book, and not finding anything indicating that rule I was told to post the question to the Q&A if I wanted an answer.

- Bochek

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

You probably should post it then, just to make FIRST aware that this happened at Pine Tree.

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I'm being a bit pedantic now, but does the LRI have authority in THE ARENA to prohibit this?

Sounds like the head referee's call to make.

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Does anyone have the match videos from eliminations?

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Does anyone know if the webcast was archived? I can't even find a link to where it was on the Pine Tree Regional website.

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Based on what we were told, 2386 was not allowed to use the compressor on their cart because it was not controlled by the robot's battery (even though it was the same thing). Before finals match 2 they were asked to remove their pre-charge air and use the compressor on their robot to charge their tanks.

In the process, one of the cables to power their sidecar came unplugged and due to how much time was used to sort out the pnuematics issue they were asked to leave the field to start the match. So the reason 2386 didn't move in finals match 2 was not because of an illegal component it was due to an electrical problem we didn't have time to fix. Between finals match 2 and 3 2386 quickly fixed the problem and they were back up and running for match 3.

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

From the Q and A:

and from The Robot section of the Game Manual

It does seem that the correct interpretation of the rules (especially after noting the text in the informative block under R80) is to allow only the onboard compressor to charge tanks, if an onboard compressor is utilized.

If the call was made that the same battery must be used to pre charge the tanks as was used during the match, however, I don't see justification for that rule in the Game Manual. It may have been based off the phrasing of question Q473. Another Q and A question to clarify Q473 to see if the same battery MUST be used to precharge the compressor would be required to get a real answer. Unfortunately I don't have access to our teams Q and A account at the moment, or I'd post one myself.

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

All of the above said,

This was one of the most fun regionals I've been to. The atmosphere at the event was truly kind and professional, projected by the event staff and all of the teams present.

As our team was in a well enough state of affairs to allow me a lot of extra time this weekend, and there were rumblings of slight short staffing on the number of volunteers at the event I volunteered at the spare parts table and I can say that all the volunteers I worked with were also kind and professional and treated well during the event.

Overall it was a great pleasure to attend the inaugural Maine Regional, and I'd be happy to do it all over again.

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

Inspiring.

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The webcast was run by wsea.tv and I just heard that they will have the archived video available on their website Monday morning.

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Congratulations to
78 on winning the Chairman's award
2648, 3467, and 2386 on their first win (we will be seeing many more from these teams!)

Huge thanks to our partners 125 and 63 on doing everything we asked in some of the most exciting matches we have participated in.

Huge thanks to the Pine Tree Planning committee for putting on such an excellent event. We look forward to next year.

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

I believe this is the correct intent of the rule. If you pre-charge a system before a match with a different compressor and have the ability to add compressed air during a match, that's an advantage over other teams.


We never use pnumatics so I don't know all the rules, but I'm surprised they let you get away with that. What ever happened to the stored energy rule such as not having compressed springs, coils, surgical tubing? Isn't compressed air the same thing?

**Edit, just read more of the posts, apparently you can have a pre-charged air tank as long as it was filled by a compressor powered and controlled by the robot.

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

Yes agreed! It was a well organized, fun and professional event.
Loved how smooth the field was loaded and unloaded.

BERT 133 had a blast!

It was the committee's first time running a regional competition, although some in the committee had organized off-season events, and all members have many, many years of FIRST experiance. They worked so hard all year long planning this.

We here in Maine were glad you all came, hope to see you next year!

Hope to see some of you at Beantown Blitz!

:cool:

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

Does anyone have/know of any film from the finals matches at pine tree?

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

As I posted above, video of the competition is available at wsea.tv with the finals about 2 hours into the 3rd video.

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

One thing about living in Canada... things get blocked... Day 2 Part 2 of the PTR is blocked for viewing in Canada due to copyright laws.... :(

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

Pine Tree Regional Extended Previews are up!! These were easily some of the most excited teams & kids I've had the opportunity to photograph! They had tears in my eyes so often I'm surprised I didn't fog up my viewfinder! :D

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimsrob...7633214226943/

More to come, but I am not sure how quickly since I need to get back to my CT photos also!

As always, please feel free to use/repost these... I just ask that you provide photo credit and/or leave my copyright symbol on them.

Thanks!!

Re: 2013 Pine Tree Regional
 

I think the videos were mislabeled on the WSEA.tv site and it's actually the Day 2 part 1 video which is blocked, presumably for music copyright.

Try this direct link to YouTube. Final matches start around the 2 hour mark.

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Thanks, I tried this tonight. Still doesn't work! It's tough living in the North... I will have to see if my connections with watchfirstnow.com archived anything as they were restreaming the webcast! Thanks for the help... :)