2013 Connecticut Regional
 

I searched, and could not find a thread on this, so......

20 Rocketeers
95 Grasshoppers
173 RAGE
175 BUZZ
177 Bobcats
178 2nd Law Enforcers
181 Birds of Prey
195 CyberKnights
228 GUS
230 GaelHawks
236 TechnoTicks
237 Black Magic
263 Sachem Aftershock
395 2 TrainRobotics
558 RoboSquad
571 Team Paragon
694 StuyPulse
839 Rosie Robotics
999 Mecharams
1027 Project Jabberwocky
1071 Team MAX
1124 UberBots
1218 Vulcan Robotics
1289 Gearheadz
1665 Weapons of mass construction
1699 RoboCats
1740 Cyber Colonels
1784 LitchBots
1991 Dragons
2064 Panther Project
2067 Apple Pi
2168 Aluminum Falcons
2170 Titanium Tomahawks
2785 Juggernauts
2836 Prometheus
3104 Cyber Rams
3146 Granby Grunts
3182 Athena's Warriors
3204 Steampunk Penguins
3461 Operation PEACCE
3464 Sim City
3525 Nuts & Bolts of Fury
3555 Aluminati
3634 Hard Botties
3718 Junkyard Battalion
3719 STEM Whalers
4055 KISS
4097 Devilbots
4134 Amsterdam
4254 Varsity Robotics
4572 BArlow RobAUtics
4609 MechaniCatz
4628 Sintian Robotics
4812 Crosby Robotics

56 Teams! (not divisible by six, so some surrogate matches)
Three Rookies!
Philly and NYC in the game.
Two 2013 Regional Winners. Wild Card Possibilities.
Legacy teams.
Einstein masters.
Full Court Shooters, Floor Pickups, 7 disk autonomous? 30 point climbers? 20 point dumps?

Who is getting pumped?

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

237 is in the house!!!!
Will there be a webcast?

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

I believe both 694 and 2168 have won a regional this season.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

1124 can't wait!

I poked around the other day and couldn't find a link to one anywhere, but I hope it's in the works (and will be archived)

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

84 matches would give each team 9 without a need for surrogates. (9*56=504, 504/6=84)

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

We had 10 last year, hopefully we can match that again. 12 matches would also work and would only require 112 matches. We had 107 matches last year so it wouldn't be that much more and it would be just amazing if each team had 12 matches.

Truth #teamcolson

Here is a little doc I put together for teams to showcase themselves a bit and to help teams with pit scouting. Sorry I did it so late, but I figured better late than never.

Cannot wait for this competition, CT is the most fun regional I've ever attended and it gets better year after year. With the district model looking like it could take over in New England very soon, this could be one of the last CT regionals ever if not the last one. I know I'm excited to make the time we have left in New England count.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Also, if teams want to help out your MC & GA Team, they have an online form to collect some fun information!!

Please have ONE member of your team (maybe student or adult team leader) submit info to this form. If it is submitted multiple times, we will only be able to see the first submission automatically, so try to coordinate if you can!

The Form is Here.

We already have submissions from:
195, 694, 999, 1218, 3182

Thanks!!!

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Yes, Team 230 will be webcasting.
http://www.shsrobotics.org/webcast.html

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Due to team 999's rebranding this year, we are now called the Mecharams. (On the list of teams, we're written down as CRASH)

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

It's updated on our most recent list, we'll get you out there as the Mecharams no worries :)


And how did it get to be week 5 already??? :confused:

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

What's a MechaRam?
Better have a cool mascot, you know, horns and nuts and bolts, Maybe some 80/20.
Hopefully their robot can scale a pyramid with élan.

Week 5? Uh-oh, better look busy.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Time flies when you're having fun, I guess. (And does that mean it's really been a year since my WAI picture? Man, my hair was short then....)

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Just loaded the robot and accoutrements into the pits.
Ready for Thursday. We think. :ahh:

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

I'm pretty excited for CT. I know our friends on 20 and 2168 made some upgrades after WPI. See you all Saturday!

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Early load in is done. Immense room in the pits this year. Practice field has a mostly standard pyramid and plywood upper goals. Pyramid coloring is hybrid to say the least. :)

10x10 pits but giant aisles. Machine shop against the "far" wall and in the open. They have expressed an interest in coffee as a human lubricant. I'm hoping they get the consideration they deserve. :cool:

The stands are further back from the field than last year. Same size, not so cool, but WTH it's home. :D

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

2013 CT Regional Webcast:

WATCH HERE

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Seems TBA was having an issue with your webcast. Was it running today?

https://github.com/gregmarra/the-blu...nce/issues/581

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

My eyeballs were not socketed tightly enough last night. The pits are 12x12. We should call it the Ritz Pitz deal.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

2168's rebuild looks awesome. Hope it performs just as well!

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

What a great Friday in Connecticut.

At many Regionals, you can get a feel about who will be contending and which teams will try to form alliances.
I have no idea how this will play out.

There are at least 4 decent Full Court Shooters, but the defenders showed up early and were effective in swinging matches. 195, the CyberKnights put up some impressive performances consistently filling the 3 point goal. Video is coming.

There are several great cyclers, but less than three effective floor pickups. Team 20, The Rocketeers, quietly go about their business at their end of the field, and before you knew it, they were the only undefeated team.
They have a hot match tomorrow against 195 at 10:59, Match 77.

At least two successful 30 point climbers with 20 point dumps to seduce the top alliances. 236, TechnoTicks are back with Full Court Shooting, climbing, and dumping, and the number 2 rank with two matches tomorrow morning.

The Regional will come down to scouting, batteries, sheared gears, broken keys, luck, and pluck.

One great story is the rookie team 4812, Crosby Robotics, with a paltry crew of maybe five students and mentors that felt like they had bit off more than they could chew. The team was created in December.
On Thursday, they were desperately trying to make their bumpers so they could pass inspection, which they didn't until after their first match. Teams jumped in to help, among many, 4134, Amsterdam, who with a staple gun and hammer, helped them to complete the job. 4812 team was so forlorn at this point.

Then the day began.

In their third match with 228, GUS, they were asked to go after 2170, the Titanium Tomahawks, with their climber dumper, and hit them as they transported their red disks to the pyramid. Crosby's driver did, they lost their cache, and the match was won by only two points.

No question that they are being carried. Nonetheless, they are ranked 12th (losing the first match by DQ) and are theoretically undefeated. :)
When asked about scouting, they seemed to think about camping.

They are in for quite the ride tomorrow, and may not even see eliminations, but the spirit of FIRST is alive and well in Connecticut this weekend.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

I'd like to start by saying that 2013 was the most competitive Connecticut regional I have ever seen. From top to bottom, competition was fierce and high scoring.

Secondly, congrats to our close friends 20 for their second consecutive Connecticut regional victory. And of course, congrats to their alliance partners 195 and 95. Also, obligatory congrats to Chairman's winners and finalists 230. Year in and year out you do a great job. It was great spending the day in Hartford with The Rocketeers and good luck to you in St. Louis.

Thirdly, I'd like to recognize 2170 and 4134 for improving steadily over the years and completely surprising me with your skills.

Lastly, I suppose its time for us to say farewell to our friends in NE. It's been a fantastic four years competing against, learning from, and befriending many of you. Unfortunately, it is highly unlikely that NE FIRST will include the capital region moving forward. Good luck with districts next year, and we hope to see you on our home turf (the soon to be Albany regional) sometime soon.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

A very fine Regional.

The CyberRocketKnighteerHoppers were formidable.

The Grasshoppers winning their first Regional since their 2001 season (with its jaw-dropping soccer ball sucker) was sweet. After meeting them at GSR with their wastebasket dumper (Take that Home Depot Buckets!), I wondered if they would ever climb. They did, all the way to the top.

Great Finalists of GaelAmsterAppleDamPiHawks. Your Semifinals against the RoBoBuzzCats were epic.

A huge thank you to The Nuts and Bolts of Fury and Sim-City for picking us to join the Seventh Alliance. We took it to three QuarterFinals against the RoBoBuzzCats. You helped our season to end on a grand note.

Videos posted here:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hreadid=115629

Finally, a quick video of 4812 Crosby Robotics from Waterbury, behind the glass before match 60. This is a thank you video for them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyQpFT2BAGw

I wish I had some footage of their original Robot that eventually became a Scrap Wood NoodleBot after having their top sheared off in an early match

They finished as the highest ranked rookie out of four, and 17th out of 51 Their final record was 5-2-0, with one disqualification because their Robot was not completed and inspected before their first match.

The help that they received from other teams made me verklempt.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Another fantastic Connecticut Regional! Always a blast and an enjoyment!

On the team side of things:

Not going to lie it was a rough year when it come for field performance for us, but we still did very well all things considered with the factors from this season.

Thanks to 1218 and 2170 for being on an alliance with us!

On the Volunteer side of things:

This was my first opportunity to Volunteer at a Regional, and boy what a blast was it! Being an Ambassador was a cool thing, and I would recommend it to any Senior student or FIRST Alum who's looking to get involved.

To all the other Volunteers, thanks for letting me into the family and showing me the ropes. I look forward to doing more of this future!

Some General things:

Congrats to 95, 20, and 195 on becoming champions.

Congrats to 230, 2067, and 4134 on becoming Finalists!

To team 230, a huge congratulations on the Regional Chairman's Award Win! Having personally seen all that you do for FIRST and for the Community, you truly deserve this award. I was very happy when it was announced you won and once again congratulations.

To the RPC thank-you for all the hard work you put in to make CTR the great event that it was.

Looking forward to next year!

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

I have to say, this year was one of the most fun regionals I have had the pleasure to volunteer at. Every team was indefinitely pure professional! I hope all that energy & professionalism returns next year. Congrats to teams 195, 95 & 20 for an outstanding win. I knew that from early on, if 195 could keep shooting & not get blocked they would win. I don't make predictions like that very often, but today I can say that. This doesn't mean other teams were worth less, it just means that cyberknights had the right focus & luck.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

What a way for the CT regional to go out, some of the best competition we have seen in our trips out there, can't believe how quickly the last 5 years have rolled by. StuyPulse has had some amazing times and we wish all the NE teams the best, maybe some day when NYC is involved in a district we can jump into a few of the district competitions in the NE area.

Such an amazing weekend, from getting to play a match with 177 for the first time in our trips to CT, to getting to team up with a hall of fame team in the eliminations. I always knew 236 was an amazing team in terms of spreading FIRST, but I never really saw them make a splash at CT like they did this year, such an amazing robot, such a great group of kids, and such amazing strategy. Thanks for taking a chance on us despite our inconsistent qualification play and recognizing what we could do for you. It was really an honor working with you guys and I learned a lot from the experience. Also huge thanks to 1991 for your attitude throughout the elimination rounds, you guys had an awesome machine and our alliance was very fortunate and surprised you guys were there for us to scoop you up in the second round. The fact that you were so willing to have the alliance throw a wall on your bot so last minute really speaks to what kind of team you have, you were willing to do what it took to go all the way and that is special, I hope we cross paths again in the future.

To our QF opponents it was great playing all 4 of you, I thought you had our number. Specifically 228 and 2168 who we are both friends with, I hated the fact that we had to face you, but I had a ton of fun while it was happening and I hope you guys did too.

Congrats to the winners, 20, 195, and 95. What an amazing alliance. From practice day I knew that if 20 and 195 hooked up it would probably mean game over for everyone else. Include 195's 30 point climb and you have a deadly combo. Even when 1991 was blocking 195, those discs were on the ground for 20 to pickup. Those Semi Final matches were some of the best I have ever been a part of. You guys dominated the field and earned the win. Can't believe 195 just took their 3rd straight CT regional victory, I believe the last team to go on a streak to rival it was 1124 from 2006-2008. What an amazing accomplishment especially with the field being so deep year after year. I've loved your team ever since we joined forces on Galileo in 2011 and I hope to see you guys at champs.

Huge congratulations to 230 for their Chairman's award. You guys have really done some amazing things and really earned it, not to mention your amazing finalist run. I'm glad you were the ones to end our streak of Chairman's awards at CT, I can't think of a more deserving team. It was great working with you guys last year in the eliminations and I hope we get put in the same division at champs this year.

A side note on the drama with our headlight on Friday, just so everyone is aware of what went down. Dave, the head ref, told us our headlight was too bright after our first qualification match, so we scrambled trying to turn it down. We had very little success and were forced to turn it off for one match before the Jerry, the FTA, let us keep it on for at least one match before getting an official ruling, we of course did not wire it back in correctly and despite that had an amazing match. We quickly got an official GDC ruling that it was okay and played on with it. I'm in the process of emailing FIRST HQ about this, not to put Dave on the spot for anything, but just to make sure refs and FTAs are aware that these headlights are just fine because a significant number of teams are using them and I don't want them to go through what we did.

Also a thanks to 237 for their awesome water bottles, much better than the ones FIRST gives the volunteers, I switched it to the one I now keep in my backpack.

And most importantly a huge thanks to all the volunteers, referees and judges for making CT the best event on the east coast year after year, I will miss all the great times and look back on them fondly. From Andy Grady making his classic, awesome calls, to Peter saying AmsterDayum along with Justin calling out the slamajamas(hope I spelled that right). And on the other side of the announcing team Jack in the Hat and his amazing enthusiasm for the teams and Angry Eric bouncing around the field being the first MC to ever get electrified by our drive team. I have a feeling we are going to be doing that as our intro for a while. Also seeing Josh take his first run at MCing was awesome, clearly a great MC in the making, good luck in Maine.

Lastly I want to bring light to something special I saw yesterday during the elimination rounds. In QF2-2 our lead screw broke. We were working on it and thinking about taking a timeout when dave from 228 tells me if you need a second time out, we are ready to use ours. We had a quick fix and didn't end up needing to use our time out nor Gus', even though I'm not sure if timeouts can be taken consecutively. But it all really spoke to what kind of team 228 has. Even when we are facing them they are trying to help us out. That's just awesome.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Quick question for teams who attended CT.

Did anyone feel the pyramid was sitting too low or grabbed the dimension to the top or bottom of the bar from the floor?

Thanks!

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

The bars were measured & were with 1" of specs. Don't forget to take into account that measurement must include the upper carpet & Masonite below to total the 30". We measured them & they were 29.75" at the center of the bar, including the above mentioned.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

What a weekend. 22 seasons of FIRST Robotics history, and Team 20 has its best competition yet! So proud to be a part of that.

Congrats to Team 230 for their Regional Chairman's award; this is a team that everyone should take time to learn from, be inspired by, and emulate.

Thank you to the Cyber Knights for joining our alliance. Your robot's pyramid shooting and difficult to block, high volume full court shooting was a very nice complement to our floor-pick up frisbee scoring machine. It was a pleasure to work with you again for the second year in a row to take the regional! The level at which our teams strategize is truly uncommon and it makes for a great partnership when our teams get together.

To the Grasshoppers:
Why in the world did you fall to number 24? A 4 CIM drive train with 6 driven traction wheels, an extendable blocker to block full court shots, a 30 point climber with a potential 20 point dumper, and a smart drive team to boot. 'Nuff said. All we had to do was determine each match whether > 30 points in favor of our alliance would be contributed by some action other than purely climbing for the match. If yes, do that action. If no, climb. We then had an alliance partner that consistently gave us at least 30 points per match. That kind of versatility is rare. I thought you were exactly what we wanted when we picked you. When I visited your pit immediately after selections my expectations were blown out of the water. Congratulations on the win, you've earned it, and thank you for being such an important part of it :) . One word description: Clutch.

We once again performed a collaborative scouting effort with local teams in the New York Capital District with teams 1665, 4134, and 4254. Without the help of these teams, our scouting, strategy, and performance could not have been the same. Thank you for your part in our success as a team this weekend and as a community throughout this season.

Congrats to the finalist alliance of 4134, 2067, and 230! Those scores your teams were putting up throughout eliminations would have been enough to take many regionals handily.

Congrats to 4134 on your Judge's Award! Simply put, the description sounded like they gave you the award for being an all around awesome team, and I couldn't agree more, keep it up! It's always wonderful to see Capital Region teams taking home hardware.

I'd like to acknowledge a complete GP act by our neighbors: Team 2791, Shaker Robotics. They were our alliance partners as Finalists at WPI three weeks ago, and even though they weren't competing here, some of their team members made the 2 hour trip to Hartford on Saturday to cheer us on. Not only that, but they even helped our alliance strategize during eliminations! Having someone focus on how to play against all of the remaining alliances while we were busy worrying about the task at hand was a huge help in getting through a competitive set of matches. Thanks guys!

Thanks to all of the volunteers who make this event possible. It's really great to have such hard working people making sure everything goes as smoothly as possible, and it certainly shows.

Lastly, I'd like to say how proud I am of our students. We had such a cohesive drive-strategy-scouting unit, the loudest section in the stands, and plenty of our students working with other teams to pass inspection. Maybe some of that had to do with a robot that required a grand total of 4 minutes of repair all weekend. Regardless, you guys continually inspire me and make me proud to be a Rocketeer!

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

95 would like to thank teams 20 and 195 for picking us and working together to deliver our first regional win since 2001. I thought it was really cool to see three extremely different robots function together as a team so effectively.

My jaw dropped at the immense and consistent level of talent and raw scoring power of all 8 alliances playing after lunch on Saturday. I have never seen so many eliminations rounds going to three matches or so many narrow margins of victory.

We had a very frustrating set of mechanical issues and set-backs at GSR that left us in 40th place of 45 teams and unable to climb past the first row. We spent Thursday and Friday of the CT event installing new parts and sorting out a few new bugs that cropped up. We were finally able to do our first climb and dump Saturday morning. :eek:

For those un-aware: the machine shop equipment, welding equipment, and volunteers to operate that equipment was all brought in last-minute when the NASA machine shop changed their schedule. The immense pile of work orders they completed every day, in record time, was stunning. A big tip of the hat to them!

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

On behalf of FRC 2168 the Aluminum Falcons we would like to congratulate (FRC 20, FRC 195, FRC 95) on their well-deserved regional win at CT. How 95 slipped that far in alliance selections is beyond me. A mix of great scouting and accepted risk put together a great alliance and some exciting finals on behalf of the winning alliance and the finalist (FRC 2067, FRC 230, FRC 4134). Again, a great performance from both alliances! Special thanks to GUS for picking us, and our whole alliance (FRC 228, FRC 263, FRC 3104) for competing their hearts out for 3 matches.

More importantly for the Aluminum Falcons, I would like to express our appreciation for some new and very good friends; that would of course be FRC 228 GUS Robotics. Without writing a book about our mid competition season collaboration, I can say that the entire team is a group of the most gracious, supportive, classy, sharing, skilled, and professional FRC students and mentors we have had the privilege to work with. In just a short build week and a Regional, the two teams assimilated together as friends and FIRST family working together to not only make our robots better, but our teams better. While 228 may not have quite the number of banners and awards of other esteemed teams in FRC, their robots are always a model of technical excellence and their mentors and students are bastions of gracious, humble, competitors, seeking to constantly improve and provide the best opportunities and education to their students, which at the end of the day is the best legacy to have. GUS truly doesn’t build just robots, but also people. Regarding the elimination rounds at CT, we couldn’t have been more excited to work with anybody else and are deeply saddened that GUS and one of the top “run and gun” shooters (aka the precipitator) on the east coast will not be sharing the pits with us in St. Louis. We look forward to the future and working with GUS to make a well-deserved trip to championships next year. ::rtm::

The CT regional this year was the most exciting and competitive in recent memory, with a large number of rookies and great group of veterans. We made lots of new friends with both, and look forward to both helping and seeing each of us grow in the future. We look forward to seeing our friends in St. Louis; may we all represent our respective programs with determination towards excellence and inspire our students towards unparalleled success.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

WOW, just getting back to reality. If there needs to be proof of inspiration, look at 4134. Many thanks to 2067 and 230 for having a little faith in a second year team. Reflecting back on our 2012 rookie year we wondered how we could ever compete in the same league with teams like the Gaelhawks , Apple Pi, Grasshoppers, CyberKnights and the Rocketeers.

There is much more to this than building a robot and 4134 RoboRams have been fortunate to learn from some of the best teams in the world. The 4134 kid's have experienced something they will not soon forget.

Thanks to all of the teams and Volunteer's who have allowed us the opportunity of a Lifetime.

This is a Pic of the 4134 Bumper Crew with some new hardware.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

NRG 4055 will first thank team 839 Rosie Robotics for picking us. We were more shocked then everyone else was. We also thank team 558 Robo Squad. We could not over come the awesome assault of the winning alliance 95,195, and 20. But if you noticed we did have the only affective way to deal with 195. Look at our second and final match with them. It was totally unintentional and unfortunate for 195 but hands down that looks to be the only way to stop them. (I say in jest)

Congratulations 20,95 and 195. Very well done.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

NRG, you guys were a pleasure to play with. Very impressive for a second year team. I sense great things for your team's future. I hope you guys are planning to come to the CT Championship on May 11. We look forward to hopefully playing with you again there!

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

In Q62, 2170 blocked at least four of 195's full-court shot attempts before 571 came to the rescue by knocking us over. You can also see the blocked shots in 195's on-board video, link posted elsewhere. We were back five matches later for a 50-point climb in Q67. I cannot say I was sad to see 195 topple, but I certainly hope that 571 did not intend ours.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

I want to add our congratulations to the accolades for the winning alliance 20, 195, and 95. You were a trifecta that was difficult to beat although we did our best. You deserved your victory. Also a shout out to our alliance partners 2067 and 4134. It was great working with you and much thanks to Apple Pi for choosing us. I think we all made a great team! And to 4134... I think you were a great 2nd pick... you really contributed to the team. :)

I would also like to thank everyone for the kind words regarding our winning of the Chairman's Award. We are truly thrilled and appreciate being recognized. I also want to give a shout out to Tyler Tallo, our student who was a Dean's List Finalist winner. The CT regional 2013 was truly magical for the Gaelhawks!

Lastly, I would like to share a quick story of Team 20. Part of their team happened to be sitting behind our team on Saturday... you see, they have very large contingent of students, parents, etc that come to cheer them on at their regional events and they were both next to and behind us. Although we have a fair sized team, we can't rival their cheering ability. However, this team happily lent their voices to cheer for us during our matches all day long. And when we found ourselves facing them in the finals, we recognized that we would be cheering for opposite alliances (but they still cheered when our team was announced :). Anyway, when congratulating them after their victory they indicated their optimism that we would win Chairman's and be in St Louis with them. You see there were lots of conversations shared by the 2 groups between matches over the course of the day. When we were announced as the Chairman's winner, I think they cheered even louder than we did. It is such a great feeling to meet up with teams that really understand what Coopertition and Gracious Professionalisn are about. We hope to see you in St Louis! :)

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Unintentional topple on the part of 571. If you watch the video, they bumped and pulled back...which is done all over the field...they did not push and continue to push. I think it was just positioning that caused the topple and totally unintentional by 571. The blocking was very effective.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

On behalf of Team 237 Black Magic, we'd like to congratulate all of the teams at the CT FIRT regional this year. This competition has always been my favorite and this year just proves why. Congrats to 20, 195, and 95 for winning such an exciting regional and bravo to all the teams that competed against this powerful alliance and providing some intense matches. Congrats to 230 for winning the chairman's award this year. It's a testament to all you have done when a regional who has had a repeated chairman's winner (congrats to 694 for previous wins) has a new one after a few years.

Team 237 would like to personally thank Team 20 The Rocketeers, for giving us a personal award for our creative design. For those of you who don't recognize our bot by our team number, we designed the flip bot. Although we didn't win a technical award, congrats to those teams that did.

To our alliance partners throughout the day, thank you for being patient with us and supporting us as we flipped to the top and put on a show for the regional. Woodie came up to me smiling after our last match when we made our final climb of the regional. Hopefully our team will be able to put out some videos for everyone to see, and hopefully show off some of the other amazing bots at the regional this year.

To the CT teams, hopefully we'll see a lot of you at the CT State Championship May 11th. I think this is going to be just as competitive as the regional this year, and produce just as exciting matches!

Good luck to all the teams going to the championship and other regionals, you have the support of Team 237 Black Magic.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Now that was intense. In all my years of being at and competing in FIRST events I've never seen a regional that matches to this ones character, level of intense play, and sportsmanship. Not a single elimination match was given to any alliance easily making the elims a true spectacle to watch.

First off on behalf of all of Team 195 I would like to thank our alliance partners 95 & 20. 20, it was a true honor to be able to work with you guys for the second year in a row and it's always impressive to see that even after 22 years you guys are still pumping out a quality machine, your intake method has to be one of the best ones throughout FIRST, combine that with a precise pyramid shooter and an almost seamless last second climb and I can promise that you guys will give all of championships something to watch out for. And 95, we are truly blessed that your value may have not been seen by the other alliances, for what you added to our alliance can simply not be overlooked, you contributed to that win equally as much as anyone else. We look forward to seeing both you guys down at championships and hearing about how well you'll be doing. We would also like to congratulate Team 230 for their chairman's victory! How you guys manage to do so much in your community and still find the time to build an incredible robot is truly inspiring. To the finalist alliance of 4134, 2067, and 230 I would just like to say that you had an incredible alliance and you should be so proud of your efforts, you sure didn't make the finals easy!!

I would also like to give a huge thank you to all the volunteers, judges, and refs that were able to make it this weekend. All of your constant upbeat attitudes and helpful nature are what makes this regional what it is. And of course let's not forget our master of ceremonies Angry Eric, who seems to have become somewhat synonymous with the Connecticut Regional itself.

I would also like to give a shoutout to a few teams starting with 4134, I would've guessed by looking at your robot that it was built by a team with much more experience in FIRST, but to hear that you are only a 2nd year team coupled with your winning of the Judge's Award, I would say that you have a serious future in FIRST and look forward to your other developments. It was also great to see all the teams that came to our scrimmage at our practice field do so well in the Hartford competition, it's amazing to see that we could help the other teams perfect their driving skills and robots.

Overall this has to be one of the most exciting regionals we've had the fortune of being in and we hope that it will go down with remembrance as the last Connecticut Regional before we move onto districts next year.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

First off, congrats to our good friends 195, 20, and 95 for taking the regional win. It was pretty cool seeing so many frisbees flying through the air at once. And a big shout out to Damiaen, 195's driver for staying calm and driving it like he stole it. I just wish I had an opportunity to go toe to toe with you guys again!

Congrats to 230 on a much much much deserved Chairman's win. You guys have an incredible thing going and you're going no where but up. I can't wait to see what you guys do for the community in the coming years!

To our alliance partners, 263, 3104, and 2168. Thanks for making our three matches some of the most insane I've ever experienced in the 10 competitions I've driven. It stinks we had to go out the way we did, but it is what it is. I enjoyed the ride and it was awesome.

To our friends on 2168, thank you for everything. Josh, Justin, and all of the other mentors and students it was awesome going through a rebuild with all of you and I hope we can keep the bond close and put out something even more incredible next year. You guys ooze inspiration, and after seeing you build an entire upper structure, shooter, hanger, and all in one week, I can now confidently say nothing is impossible. You guys have a team that is well on it's way to becoming an elite and I can't even imagine what next year holds. You better kick some bot down in STL, I'm glad one of the siblings is going down to compete.

To the volunteers, you all did an outstanding job. I have rarely seen a regional run as smoothly as it did in Hartford this past weekend. The energy level in that building was so high is was hard to keep up with!

I'm very excited for the CT State Championships, it should be awesome. Good luck to everyone competing down in STL in a couple weeks!

-Dave

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

I couldn't have said it better myself

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Definately was an awesome event.
Those semifinals against 177's alliance were really intense :P

I'm still pretty surpsised of how great our alliance was; we made it to the finals despite being the #6 alliance! So thanks 230 and 4134 for being awesome partners :D

Slightly off topic, but since it was mentioned earlier, what are these district competitions for the 2014 season? I'm assuming that they're just mini-regionals, but how do those work?

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

I think the only official information is and will be posted at nefirst.org .

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

I was also one of the assisting bumper builders with 4812. I brought over my electric scissors so we could trim their u-shaped bumper covers. I also demonstrated a folding technique that got them going. I was then distracted by the notch in their backing board. Discovering that the reason for it was the extreme extension of their drive axle bolts beyond the frame, I pointed out that they needed to reverse those bolts so the head was on the outside and put the nut and extra length on the inside.

About that match assignment: Our driver claims that a driving error had him hit the wall diagonally to jar the red disks out of the bucket. Streaming video does not show either theory of the loss of those disks.
My review of video of Q21 split from 230's live stream follows.

• at 113 left 2170 and 4812 do indeed meet with 2170 on the way to pickup disks.
• Both go out of frame as cameraman is distracted by 173 interior climb on the red pyramid. at 103 sec left.
• 92 sec remaining - 2170 approaches feeder to load disks, 4812 mid field between blue pyramid and center line
• then 4812 engages 230 emerging beside pyramid - 230 escape by 86 second mark, camera angle zoomed in on them so 2170 not visible.
• camera follows 230 to shooting position at pyramid corner and zoom out during shots to 77 second mark.
• 75 sec shows 4812 still on centerline and red disk already spilled
• 72 sec - 2170 continues to red pyramid and tries alignment.
  bothered by white disk on the floor.
• start climb at about 32 or 31, climb finishes but only 20 as 2170's ladder portion not raised out of zone 2 - red alliance gets 40 climb points.
  red alliance loses match by 4, so even one of those 4 dropped red disks would have won it for red. I'd still like to see a better video of the match just out of curiosity.

I have to agree about it being a great weekend. Many thanks to 1218 for picking us to play in the elims (eventually :D ) It was our first time for Saturday afternoon playing. We hope you found your trip from Philly was worthwhile. Best of luck with South Florida and the MAR district championship. Thanks also to 1071 MAX for energetic participation. It would have been nicer to have kept the pesky 4134 out of our path to the pyramid in QF4-2. At that point we had a pretty big target on our backs anyway. We did get the disks to the top but then proceeded to punch them right through the bottom of the pyramid goal.::ouch::

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Kind of off topic, but has anybody actually found information regarding the State Championship? I know it'll be on 5/11, but does anybody know of an official press release with registration info and the like?

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

All I got for details to announce was 5/11 at the Hartford Armory, sorry :(

Also, I located a rarely dancing alumni for you Überbots!

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

I've got a flyer page - somewhere - but nothing posted on ctfirst.org or on the ctfirst facebook page. They need encouragement or help or both, so lets send some email to the contacts on their contact page. Unfortunately for me, I've already got plans for that weekend that I might not have made if I'd known about this post-season event with a reasonable lead time.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Can someone say more about the State championship? This is the first I've heard of this.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

The salient points are (by word of mouth, I did talk with Sue and Mike at Hartford)

• All CT teams invited, no qualification other than that
• One day event at the Hartford Armory, Saturday 11th of May (day before Mother's day) (other days that month ruled out for semi-obvious reasons)
• $200 registration fee
• There was an awards list on the flyer but I cannot recall particulars
• We will take the opportunity of this gathering to discuss, dissect, analyze, bemoan and celebrate the coming of the NE District, I'm betting.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Thanks Eric, I'm sure she'll love this. :)

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Here's the link. I found it by googling Connecticut First Robotics Championship "May 11". And yes, 558 is registered. Hope to see all our friends there!

http://www.casciac.org/scripts/shownews.cgi?story=1329

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Aha, that's what I forgot. It's being scheduled by CASC , duhhhh.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

Great find, thanks a ton!

That, and it's always impossible to find things on the CIAC's website. I've spent way too much time hunting around looking for soccer info....

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

UTC produced video can be seen at this address.

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

I realized I forgot to post these... I put up an extended preview (roughly 100 photos) from the CT Regional here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kimsrob...7633193330114/

I still need to finish processing the rest, but I thought I'd let people see the start of it!

As always, feel free to repost/use these as you want, I just ask that you provide photo credit and/or leave my copyright symbol. Thanks!!

Re: 2013 Connecticut Regional
 

I must have been preoccupied, Kim. I totally missed you again. I wanted to shake your hand to thank you for your pictures of FIRST events. Maybe next year. Thanks.