Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Suffield Shakedown 2014 has been verified for Feb. 15, 2014 at Suffield High School. There was question last year if it would continue. I am happy to say it is on again & I will happily take on the responsibility of field set-up, take-down & maintenance during the event. This is my 11th year doing the Scrimmage & hope it continues. I look forward to all the teams that will be participating & hope everyone has a great time. See ya on the the 15th!

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

SO glad to hear

Team 1099, acquired alot of new machines this year (Laser cutter, 3d printer, Plasma Cutter, Welt Belt Sander, CAD lab computers) BUT most importantly we changed the structure and organization of the team. This year we have a schedule we are strictly following for build season. One of our goals is to make it to Suffield Shakedown, which we haven't in a few years now.

Cant wait!

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Great to hear that the Shakedown will continue.
When will we be able to sign up?

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Best news all day!

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

YES!! Me and a few of my teammates were so worried that this event wouldn't happen this year, while we traditionally don't attend this event it's always a pure blast to see the very first iterations of strategies for the new game

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Same here.

The Suffield webcast is always an event at the 694 homebase.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

So far no other details have been worked out. We were told by CT FIRST that they would make sure we have a field, but that so far is all we know at this point. As soon as we gather more details, we will announce it.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Yay!

I always love going up to Suffield and seeing the game initially play out. I'm glad to hear that it will be making a return!

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

This is truly great news, we always attend suffield scrimmage and its a great way to start the season, If you need any help with field setup or take down I am available

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

This is excellent news. I'm glad to hear that CTFIRST/NEFIRST is continuing to support the scrimmage. It has been a staple of the FRC culture here in the north east for as long as I can remember. As always, let us know if you need volunteers. Pending robot status, I'll be there to help set up at the very least.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

This is awesome news! We were so sad to hear last year that it would not continue. It is great that CTFIRST is supporting this amazing event in our area.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Is registration open yet for this event? If so, who should we contact to register?

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

No, registration is not open at this time.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

I just learned tonight at our team meeting that we will not have an official FIRST field for the Suffield Shakedown Scrimmage. I will be going to Southington & meeting with team 195. Fred Van Scoy is heading up an effort to build a practice field, which will be available for our Scrimmage. As far as electronics to run the robots, that is up in the air as well. FIRST will not be providing any electronics, due to the fact that the NE district will not have either the field, nor the electronics in time for the scrimmage. I will learn more on Friday night & post an update.
If anyone out there knows how other scrimmages/practices are done to run robots, please let me know!!

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Hi Marc,

While Where's Wolcott now uses official FIRST electronics, back in 2009 and 2010 we actually didn't. Back then we used the FMS Lite set-up that can still be used for scrimmages and practices.

Basically all you need is a wireless router, a computer, two bridges, and a bunch of ethernet cables to connect it all together. This allows you the basic starting, stoping, and timing functions for the field. This however doesn't cover scoring, and this is something you would need to do manually.

http://www3.usfirst.org/roboticsprog...control-system

Scroll down to the FMS Lite section on this page, and all the documentation and software is located there.

While it isn't perfect, hopefully it's a good place for you to start.

All the best!

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Thank you! It's a start for me at least. I guess I'm spoiled by having everything handed to me. I knew I could count on others to point me in the right direction.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

No problem! If you have any questions or need any help, please don't hesitate to let me know!

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Several teams could pitch in to provide parts of the playing field. I know most teams will be building just one 10-point goal (that is, half the end-field) and a single 1-point box. So 4 teams could altogether bring in the "Team-version" of most of the field.

In doing so, the 10-point goal would need to be built so it can be separated. We had to do this anyway because it needs to be stored between uses (we play in the school hallway).

If nothing surprising happens with the rules (as has been speculated), the truss can be represented with a couple of strings pulled tight across the field. I'd be willing to deal with that if it meant the Shakedown would go on!

It has been nice in the past to get early use of the actual field, but hey... sometimes you have to get scrappy!

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Still working on the field perimeter. I've gotten a little disappointed in the last couple of days on whether there will be a scrimmage. I won't go into detail as I am not one to intentionally offend people if I can help it. I really hope we can pull it off. Pass the word that we need help in getting this together. The trouble with not using an official field is that the wooden structure needs to be anchored to something. My thoughts are that Velcro is attached to the bottom of the wood to adhere to the carpet. 195 has a field, but their field is anchored to cement floors. It might come down to assigning certain sections of field to teams & having a mass put-together the usual Friday night prior to scrimmage. Even though I'm a little discouraged right now, I don't want to throw in the towel yet. I have too much fun & really want to help these teams achieve their dreams.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Scrimmage Update; We will be using official field sides & wooden drivers stations. We will be provided with a truss from RX2 Productions & we will be using FMS lite. At this point there will not be any electronic scoring, just human counting.
I am looking forward to this years Scrimmage, as it will be be a true Suffield-run show. I am not in charge of signing up teams & that has not been put into motion yet. Stay tuned for that update here & other means of communication. We will be looking for volunteers from each team to help out with scoring & field reset. That will be sorted out during registration.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

This is great news! - Apple Pi hopes to participate in continuing a great event.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Hi everyone,

Registration for Suffield Shakedown opened earlier today. We still have ten spots available for teams to sign up. If you would like more information on how to sign up, please visit our website at http://www.aceshigh176.org/ss-scrimmage. We look forward to seeing all of you there.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Update! All I'm going to say is if everything works out, there will be a pleasant surprise! Calls have been made, monsters have been sacrificed. I will be a happy camper...hopefully!

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

More good news! I now have an official FIRST FTA for the event!

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

This.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

I know there are teams out there wondering the status on the Scrimmage. Today we went to WPI & picked up the complete field. We will still be running on FMS lite, so there won't be any electronic scoring. We will do our best to do manual scoring.The Field is now at Suffield H.S. ready to be built. LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING ALL TEAMS ON SATURDAY THE 15TH!

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

When will the field be assembled... I'm available to help set it up if it's Saturday early morning until my team arrives

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

We will be building the field Friday starting sometime after 3pm. Still looking for set-up & take-down volunteers.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Any word about a webcast for those of us a bit too far away to attend?

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Friday is no good for me, we have a team meeting from 5-9 which I cant really miss knowing we are going to the event. Sorry.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Hi everyone,

Suffield Shakedown is 3 days away. We currently have one opening for a team to attend and participate in the event. If your team would still like to come, please email johnsonshelly14@gmail.com. Also, you can go to the scrimmage page on our website at http://www.aceshigh176.org/ss-scrimmage?showall=1. We're really excited that we are able to have the scrimmage again this year and we can't wait to see all of the teams there.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

With all of the snow ending this morning, but the school "closed", do you need help today with the field setup?

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

If you want to help, Field Set Up is today at 3:00 PM.

Thanks.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Field is built, FMS Lite is up & running. I just hope the snow holds out tomorrow.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

How many teams are still on the list? (website hasn't been updated since Thursday and i already know of 1 that has dropped)

We knew we wouldn't be able to get into the school all weekend/break due to snow so we put all needed things into our trailer outside. We had to dig our trailer out today, but everything has been loaded up into cars. We have to travel quite a distance tomorrow morning across the state (Through the snow now i guess), but plan to see Team 1099.

We had to combine our practice and competition robot into 1 robot (very last minute) in order to have a mostly working robot. Unfortunately the winch to pull the catapult wont be on the robot.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Hi all. It's 3am and we finally got our robot assembled enough for the programmers to start on the robot. Been a long night but I think now that we may have something to put on the field.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Here we go.

It is possible that there will be a webcast at:
http://shsrobotics.org

Not sure. But the Gaelhawks usually come through.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

What's the status of the webcast? Is there a link we can follow?

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

The webcast link appears to be: http://new.livestream.com/accounts/3...events/2770940

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Webcast is up. Both UStream and LiveStream. Links at www.shsrobotics.org.

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Thanks so much for the live stream!

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Is anyone planning on manning the cameras or will there just be a fixed shot on the middle of field all day?

Re: Suffield Shakedown 2014
 

Thank you for moving the cameras. Is there any chance we can follow an Autonomous Mode as well, please?