2014 Arkansas Regional
 

The venue for the 2014 Arkansas Regional has moved to Harding University in Searcy, AR. The new venue has more parking spots, more room for teams, and is closer to the interstates in central AR. The event will hold 48 teams and is only 45 miles from Little Rock, AR. The event dates are March 6-8, 2014. Please ask any questions here!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Are there hotels in Searcy? Or will we be commuting from Little Rock?

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Sounds like the making of another awesome regional and with members of Team 16 in charge of the event, I'm sure they'll guarantee it.
You can bet we will be there in the next several years.:)

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Nice work Meredith and Team 16! Can't wait to come down and visit. Hopefully I can volunteer!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Meredith, we are a week 4 event this year.
You folks should really come one day!

Koko Ed is coming this year to volunteer at our regional. :)

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Sorry, Hawaii is week 5 and Ed can't come now!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Yeah most alumni just flocked together on accident. can't wait for the event!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

1706 Ratchet Rockers are in...can't wait!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

45 can't wait to make the trip

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

3666 will be there!!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

1939 is excited about making the trip to Arkansas again this year!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

We will be welcoming teams from 9 states so far!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

How do you know? You're supposed to be at college! :-P

Since the Illinois/Indiana region expects to go to the District model in 2015, the TechnoKats team decided that traveling outside Indiana was important this year. It'll be fun playing with so many teams we've never met before.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

So glad you decided to join us for your last venture abroad!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

I have friends on the inside. :yikes:

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

And now we have 10 states represented!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Wow! That is impressive, is that a new record for your event?

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

We had 8 states last year.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

I must say I'm jealous since we are moving to the district system I'll only get to see teams from WA and OR and won't get to see my friends from ID, MT and Greece anymore. We also won't get the teams from HI and CA that used to make appearances at events in our area.

Heck with the larger number of smaller events I won't even get to see many of the teams from WA and OR unless them make it to the district CMP.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

1939 is excited about making the trip to Arkansas again this year!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Team 2410'll miss all y'all this year! We're so sorry that we're not coming back :( We try to at least keep some variety to the traveling regionals we go to so our students are always going somewhere "new", but I'm sure we'll be coming back to Arkansas in the near future!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Actually Calvin, the reasons we aren't going to Arkansas doesn't include the "new" places argument. The reasons we aren't going are:

• We don't want back-to-back weekends (KC is the next weekend).
• We want, if possible, for KC to be our first regional and our out of town one to be our second.

We had a lot of fun at Razorback last year and wanted to go back, but the scheduling didn't work out. So instead, we are going to OKC.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

3991 has been wait-listed for Arkansas. We really want to make the trip up there this year. Any word on if capacity will increase from 39?

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Matthew,

I am waiting to hear from all the Arkansas teams outstanding and rookies that are still registering before I start clearing the wait list. But we should be able to get you in. We are also looking to increase our initial capacity which is actually 48. Thanks for your patience; hope to have a resolution for you in the next few days.

Meredith

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Thanks Meredith!

Can't wait for the event

Oooh, my team registered apparently. I'm excited that 935 is gonna head down!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

We are very happy to have 935 as well!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

have any chance to get a spot in the third pick?

we have a Brazilian rookie team on the waitlist and want to add 1772 as well?:o

fingers crossed! :P

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

We will do our very best. The rookie is now 5206 and confirmed for Arkansas.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

And Brazil!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Good news!

thank you! :)

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Looks like we have three teams from Louisiana!! 2992, 3666, and 3991!!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Hello from Florida. The Arkansas regional just so happens to be during spring break for me and a buddy of mine. Since there are no Florida competitions that week, we would like to attend the regional and volunteer. If there are any other volunteers that were looking to split a room, let me know. Meredith was nice enough to give me a list of hotels in the area with their rates, so I do have that information if you are curious. Please PM me if you are interested.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Very excited to have this regional in our home town as well, it will definitly be nice to save on travel. There are quite a few nice hotels in Searcy, not sure if enough to house everyone from the regional but there are towns around 15 minutes out with plenty of hotels. If your team needs help with finding a hotel PM and I can point you in the right direction. Good luck to everybody, hope to see yall there!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

I think we decided to go with the Holiday Inn Express

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Team 3160 is also going to Arkansas Regional! There is a lot of new rookies in the whole state of Arkansas this year! And there is a Brazilian team coming also! Can't wait to meet them!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Did you seriously just post the same thing in two different threads??

Next time, please try to refrain from doing so..

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

418 from Austin, TX is looking forward to coming to Arkansas! Wow, I haven't been in Arkansas since I was a little kid. What are some good burger joints in Searcy? Our team coach loves to go to a good greasy-spoon at least once while we're traveling for competition.

Are there any hole-in-the-wall places that locals love to go to?

-Danny

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Hey Danny! As a non-local vegetarian, I am in no position to answer your very important question. I forwarded it to the local planning committee. I will certainly let you know what I find out. Btw, Urban Spoon says a place called "Frozen Delite" has the most popular burger. Sounds hole-in-the-wall enough. :rolleyes:

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Ice cream, where can I get ice cream after hours?

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

After hours in Searcy? That is a funny concept. But there is a world famous ice cream company located about 5 minutes from the venue: http://www.yarnells.com/tradition/

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

As a Searcy native I can tell you that Frozen Delite is definitely the place to go. It has great burgers and amazing ice cream and shakes.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Well, there you go. Sounds like we need to ask them to be a sponsor. And I love Urban Spoon.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

I'm so happy we are getting these all important details worked out prior to the regional!
:D
Thanks

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Hey, Jefferson! It is all about the ice cream...and autonomous...you on that? Three scoops, please.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

And if you are craving something sweet for breakfast, Daylight Doughnuts has some great doughnuts and 99 cent large coffee! It's maybe 2 minutes away from the competition.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

We have several BBQ places here. Whistle Stop is one of my favorites. It is located about 10 minutes from the venue. Frozen D's (Frozen Delight) is a great place to eat serving ice cream and burgers. Mattie's Café is on the square two minutes from the venue. That would be your greasy spoon. They serve a good line up for breakfast. El Almacén (The Warehouse) has authentic Mexican food very good. The Bulldog is another local favorite about 12-15 minutes north of the venue in Bald Knob. They have great burgers and ice cream as well. Also in Bald Knob is Who Dat's Cajun Restaurant. FroYo is a great place for frozen yogurt after hours. Brick Oven pizza has a great menu, a little pricy, but there pizza is outstanding. We have a Japanese steak house here called Fuji's. They have both traditional seating and group seating where they will cook right in front of you. You can order from The Mixing Bowl and pick up dinner or lunch. They have some of the best Southern Style food I have ever tasted. There is also a good Italian style eatery called Pasta Grill. And of course, we have all the fast food and chains: Sonic, McDonalds, Burger King, Little Ceaser's, Chili's, Colton's, Quiznos, Subway, etc.

Hope this helps out!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

I see where the Lowe's is located.
Any recommendations on other local sources for hardware, aluminum stock, and other robot material?

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Does anyone have information about a live stream of the Arkansas regional? With so many teams traveling from out of town, I'm sure there will be a lot of interest from friends and family back home.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Gavin, we will have a webcast.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Excellent! Thanks Meredith for the prompt reply. Our team can't wait for the event!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

There is an Ace Hardware across town.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Will there be a machine shop on site?

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

We have a Fastenal open to the public located just two minutes from the venue. The Lowe's is located 8 minutes from the venue. The Ace Hardware store is located approximately 8 minutes in the opposite direction. There is a Tractor Supply store close to the Lowe's. All these stores are within 8 minutes of the venue.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Yes, the machine shop on campus will be utilized. It is less than a half a mile from the venue and we will have a constant stream of parts coming back and forth to help with demand.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Right. Three hot scoops of ice cream.

;)

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Does anyone know if a machine shop will be available? At least a drill press and a couple of decent saws would be really nice. If not, no big deal, but I want to make sure we plan accordingly.

Thanks to all involved in setting up the Arkansas regional this year.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Here ya go! From their website I can tell that the University has at least a band saw, and some mills and lathes.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Would anyone attending the Arkansas Regional be willing to trade shirts? I have a couple of SPAM shirts that I would be willing to trade. They are all large, fun (black) shirts that I have from the past couple of years. PM me if you are interested. I look forward to volunteering at a new event (for me), and see you all soon :)

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Will anyone have a heat gun?? We're going to need to heat form some pvc pipe on Thursday...

-thanks

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Bomb Squad has a heat gun and we will also have a full machine shop.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Team 2992 from Mandeville, Louisiana, is looking forward to coming to Searcy for our very first away from home regional!

It seems that scouting will be extremely important this year. Unfortunately we can afford to bring only a very small travel team, which will leave only 3 or 4 kids for match scouting duties.

Are there any teams out there who would be willing to allow us to work with them and share scouting duties and data? We'll have about 4 kids available to contribute to your scouting system.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

418 does "video match scouting" as our primary scouting duty. We take match videos and save them electronically as AVI files. If everything goes well, we should be able to do this at Arkansas. If we do, we'd be happy to share our videos with you - bring a 4GB flash drive to the scouting area (press box) and we'll make you a copy. The videos and pictures we take of robots should be fairly easy to share.

We're also going to be using the paper scouting that SPAM provided on CD - the "Poor Man's Scouting". I don't think that will be easy to share (unless you bring a camera and take pictures of the scouting sheets). If you want to help us do the match scouting, we'll figure out some way to share that info with you too.

-Danny

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Team SCREAM would love to have your scouts helping out. I sent you a PM.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Our team is considering paper file scouting, I'd have to ask but I'm sure our mentor would be ok with it.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

The Kuh-nig-its would also be happy to work with you. We are planning to use an electronic system, so getting data extracts for you shouldn't be a problem.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Thanks to all of the teams who've offered to let us share scouting! I'll be in touch with you next Thursday.

Good luck!

I just looked through all the reveal videos that teams attending Arkansas posted; this looks like a very competitive group of teams, even by FIRST's standards.

Here's what I'm seeing:

Two robots with three ball autonomous routines, and several more that go for two. Of these teams, most seem like they could succeed in hot goal targeting. Don't be surprised if 55+ point auto runs become the "norm" in most elimination matches.

Soft throwing and secure catching: every team attending Arkansas that I have seen seems to have either a solid catcher or a soft lob option, making truss/catch combos much more likely to succeed. I feel like this part of the game was forgotten by a few teams in Week 1 Events. I witnessed several matches where teams were trailing by less than ten and lost because they wanted to get a high goal shot instead of the easy truss points. I don't expect we will see as much of that in Searcy.


My predictions:

If nothing significant changes in the rules, many of the juggernaut robots at the event might be slowly worn down and broken by standard issue "kit bots" playing defense. I believe that the previous high score of 261 points (I'm not counting fouls here) will be broken, possibly multiple times. Maybe I'm wrong, but I am super excited about seeing these bots in action.

Best of luck,

Jared Crawford
Jackson Redneck Robotics Team 4092

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Do you have a list of links to these reveal videos you care to share? I've only been able to count them on one hand so far for Arkansas...

-Danny

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

We don't have reveal video but we have a HOT goal auto and we'll be working on a two ball

I have only seen pictures or videos of 8 robots attending the regional thus far (so I guess I can only count them on my fingers too.) However, team 3666 has seemed pretty confident about their bot, and I assume that 45 will have an impressive bot as well. Pictures of 832's bot and 4490's bot are sprinkled throughout CD (you might have to dig deep for these as I can't find them.) If memory serves right, 4490 has a pretty big net to catch and dump into the low goal.
As for 4092, I wish we would have done a reveal video, but we were pressed for time. We will be tweaking our 3 ball auto at the regional, along with 2 and 1 ball "hot goal" auto routines. Not a good catcher, but we can inbound easily. We have some "tricks" in our bag using our shooter, giving it options ranging from 2 to 27 feet for both the high and low goal. Pickup is vertical roller intake, and drive train is AM14U long chassis with two speed transmission. Here's a practice video that doesn't show our "tricks" being implemented: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6L3d6...ature=youtu.be I apologize for the atrocious driving; it was his first time driving the robot. With an experienced driver, the pickup takes 1.6 seconds from contact with the ball to being ready to shoot.
Also, 1209 posted a practice video very early in the build season. I can't find it now, but their robot was roughly the size of the low goal and uses hooks to grab and dump into the low goal.

Here are the videos I could find:

Team 2992: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg96L...XHrlBorWUywqKw
Team 16: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcsi4zBwIjc
Team 1939: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfsfdWAMzeU

I guess I don't need to tell you that there are pics of PHirewire on CD. Can't wait to see it in action.

Jared Crawford
Jackson Redneck Robotics Team 4092

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

And here is 3937 (the venue host) team's reveal video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJi7qda5AIc

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Team Scream's robot- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7ByQeF80XI
And our robot- http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39654 the netting will be different but it is the same design.
This will be a great and competitive regional! I could see a record being broken!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Team 3666's robot
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/39755

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

I'm really hoping that most teams at our regional will know a decent amount about the game, especially about the human player aspects. One of the things that stood out to me last year was the abundance of gracious professionalism by the attendees at our regional, really looking forward to seeing that again!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Here is Metal Mayhem's reveal video

Team 2352 Robot Reveal

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Does anyone have any extra schedule 80 pvc they can bring? Can't seem to find any in the area and too late to order from McMaster now..

Any help appreciated

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

The Lowes in Searcy appears to carry 3/4" and 1" Sched 80. You didn't indicate what diameter you're looking for.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

For anybody interested in next year's control system:

Next to the Bomb Squad pit will be a pit for the our 2015 Alpha Testing robot. Stop by and quiz us about it. We have it set up to see the new Power Distribution Board (PDB), roboRIO, Voltage Regulator Module (VRM), and Pneumatic Control Module (PCM). They are all on display on top of the robot.

I'd love to show it in action, unfortunately we are at a point in the development with FIRST that has rendered it temporarily nonoperational.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Where exactly will the regional be held on the campus? Can't seem to find that info from FIRST's website.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

It is called the Ganus Center, here is the campus link http://www.harding.edu/map/pdf/hardi...ycampusmap.pdf the center is building #5, and the shop is building #29. The lowes in town has a full isle of pvc material, there is also a supplier in town, and an Ace Hardware with plenty of pvc things.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Just sent to teams:

"I have had a few questions about travel to Searcy following our winter weather Sunday. We came down from Mountain Home (near the Missouri border) today with a large truck and made it fine. Roads to the South of Central Arkansas should be perfectly clear. I understand there is ice and traffic issues from Searcy to Memphis. Temperatures are expected to go above freezing tomorrow and approach 50s the rest of the week.

There are several of you who have issues with your robots being locked in schools that are closed, not being able to go on school trips when school is out, etc. Please get with your principals and mentors and try to work out a solution. I am suggesting that at least one student team member and a mentor or parent at least transports the robot by Thursday so that we can get you inspected and ready to play Friday. By all indications, travel Thursday and Friday should be fine all over the state.

If you are near enough to Searcy, I can look into sending a truck to fetch your robots as well. We will do everything in our power to make sure your teams get to celebrate their hard work.

Please let me know if you have issues and I will do my very best to help you come to a solution."

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Go to bed Meredith. And tell John those old man retired hours aren't gunna cut it for the regional. He's gunna have to get out of bed before 1100.
:D

In all seriousness, thanks for the info.

Teams: Y'all be safe out there. Arkansas road crews aren't well trained/equipped for icy conditions.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

No worries. I am actually under orders to sleep in. I just get in the way during production set up! And John is crazy, in case you didn't already know. But at least we will have a full practice field. 'Cause a 17' U-Haul truck is a great vehicle on unplowed Arkansas mountain roads. I know FRC 16 will get here okay, because, well the rest of you are kind of crazy too. Concerned about the cautious people. :(

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Here is the event map for entrance, unloading areas, car parking, bus & trailer parking.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Any update on where we can find the webcast? The event website from the FIRST regional page says:

I have to input these to our sponsor's IT department so they're not blocked by policy - last weekend I ran up my hotspot minutes getting around it.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

And we all know how well you listen...

Wish it wasn't the same weekend I was competing, could be a fun regional to watch.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

I know, right? At least I have a large, lovely suite to pace around in. Working out travel details for teams and robots, but I am about to head over. John is tired of me calling him. I should post pictures, but you would all laugh at what 4 inches of white stuff does to us!

Good luck to 125 this weekend.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Make sure you take him over a thermos of coffee and he will forgive you for all the calls.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

He has a nice Keurig machine in the office. :)

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Set-up is proceeding well in Arkansas. A bit behind because of the weather and we are spending a lot of time on the phone trying to work out travel with teams.

#arkansasregional on Twitter if you want to help make it loud!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

We're on our way....hopefully we will make it before 7:30

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

No worries. We are allowing flexibility due to travel conditions. We should be here to let you in. Be safe!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Still no sign of a webcast, am I missing something or is it simply not there? I have gone through thebluealliance and the event's website

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Code Red is hosting the Arkansas webcast. We'll post a link as soon as we can. We don't plan to webcast until Friday.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Okay thanks! Good luck to everyone!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Do you mind putting the link to it on Blue Alliance's website?

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

It is supposed to be. Thanks for asking!

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Arkansas Regional is streaming at Code Red: http://www.coderedrobotics.com/webcast/

Just sent the link to Blue Alliance Gameday. Hopefully it will be there shortly.

Re: 2014 Arkansas Regional
 

Do you know which webcast it is? They're numbered 1-4 but I can't find where it says which events they are.