2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

We are pleased to be back at the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland - College Park April 2-4, 2015. Week 6.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Great! I'll definitely be volunteering again as a robot inspector!

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Yes!

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

I thought it said Cheesecake Regional and that's why I'm here.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

The Volunteer Coordinators are starting to nail down the assignments. If volunteering for the mighty Chesapeake Regional is on your bucket list, now is the time to sign up in the VIMS!

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

This will be our second time at the Chesapeake regional. We are looking forward to experiencing the new venue!

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Looking forward to seeing everyone again.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

2537 will be there again this year! Just to hopefully avoid some confusion, it is now called the Xfinity Center, not the Comcast Center.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

FIRST @ United Therapeutics will be directing employees to sign up during this week! If there's any roles that the RPC is specifically looking for, please let me know! :)

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Ursa Major team 2849 will be back at the Chesapeake Regional cant wait to see old team and make new friends with new teams

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Thanks for the correction. It is indeed. Same place. New name.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Aww yeah!

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Team Talon 1598 is excited to be coming for the first time this year. We just got off the wait list last week or so.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Again, we are moving to finalize many of the positions. Last chance to sign up. I know this is early, but we have many returning volunteers, corporate partnerships and also working with the Univ. of MD with lots of involved alumni.
We will also be running a student Ambassador program through our FIRST Stop visitor program. More info will go out to the teams about this fun job.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

We are so happy to be back again! I'm looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Steve

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

went to Chesapeake regional last year. I'm eager to see who will be there this year.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

http://mdfirst.org/programs/first-ro...peake-regional

We will adding to this information.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Hi! We're the Arabian Knights FRC Team 4928 from the United Arab Emirates and we are so excited to meet everyone at the Chesapeake! This is our FIRST time going to this regional and can not wait to see everybody's robot! For those of you who have been to this Regional before what are some fun things to do in the area while we're there?
We'd love to hear from you via frc4928@mhischool.com, Instagram (@FRC 4928), Twitter (@FRC4928), or Facebook (FRC 4928)
Good luck during the rest of build season!!! See you soon!!!!

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Welcome to the Regional with 4 national anthems for opening ceremonies! We have a tradition of students singing the anthems as part of the Chesapeake Chorus - open to any students. More info to come on how to sign up.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

We are still recruiting for a couple more field resetters to join the all-alumni crew. We have closed the position in the VIMS, but chose "assign as needed" and I will keep an eye out for you.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Just 2 weeks away from the Cheaspeake Regional. It would be nice to get some information on everyone's robot before the regional started.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

For anyone attending the Chesapeake Regional - we would love to invite you to An Arabian Night! This is something that our team hosts as a way to share a taste of Arabic hospitality. Join us in the lobby of the Best Western Plus on the evening of April 1st between 6pm and 8pm. We hope to see you there!

https://www.facebook.com/FRC4928/pho...type=1&theater

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Not gonna lie; was scrolling through my CD feed and read this as "Cheesecake Regional". Thus, I expect to see something of that nature in the Playoffs. :) Cheers, and good luck to all teams here!

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Lots of info went out to the team leads and volunteers with links to information including new practice field procedures, changes to event layout, new team media procedures, updated parking and loading, FIRST Stop visitor program, Alumni & senior mixer, check in, Chairman's & Dean's List Interviews, NCR Districts Implementation Town Hall, NEMO meeting, student singers, student ambassadors and video ports.
Webcast will be here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/frc-ch...l-baltimore-md
Website is here: http://mdfirst.org/programs/first-ro...peake-regional

Safe travels and looking forward to seeing everyone next week.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

This is going to be a regional like no other

55 Teams
7 Teams already qualified for worlds
4 Countries Represented
4 Teams already won at other regionals (1542, 1610, 1629, 2363)
3 Teams already won chairmans at other regionals (375, 836, 1111)
0 Rookie teams :(

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

This makes me sad.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

I hear you Matt....Like the Virginia regional this will probably be the last Chesapeake regional because of the New District system being put in place
next year and sad because there are no rookies. No telling if a district
event will be at the xfinty (comcast) center next year or not. So far
no one has mentioned where any of the district events are gonna be.

One of my regrets is that we never were able to attend Chesapeake while
it was still at Annapolis. That would have been interesting. While i have lived
in Virginia a long time I was born and raised in and near Baltimore.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Less than a year to go and we have no idea where any of these events are going to be held. This concerns me greatly.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Understand we're on-track according to the District Planning Guide.

1885 hosts iroc off season event
612 hosts an off season event
Macdonaugh hosts BoB off season event

I would be greatly suprised if at least one of these places dosn't host a district event.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

6 month lead times for large venues for events that are only possible during 6 weekends?

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Don't forget that the Rumble in the Roads is hosted in Hampton Roads too. A lot of the things that need to happen for districts won't happen until the need is there, like expanding the volunteer base.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Yup...and after they had problems getting Refs and other positions for DC
getting enough volunteers has me concerned. I've been a volunteer for both
FRC and FTC but i can only do it when my own team isn't at a event.
Another concern is getting two volunteers from each team. While thats
not a problem for the bigger teams it will be for the smaller ones like ours.
I brought this up to Sally Silvester in a e-mail recently.

There was a team from the eastern shore of Virginia a few years back
that had only one teacher-mentor and three students on the team. How would
a team like that provide volunteers?

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

I saw the post on here where PNW actually had a real goat on the field...
Being that Chesapeake is so close to and used to be at Annapolis someone
outta talk to the Naval Academy and see if they can bring "Bill" to the
Chesapeake regional.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

2914 has also qualified for Championship. We earned a wildcard slot in Mexico City as the Finalist alliance captain.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

The RoboBees (FIRST Team 836) is so happy to be able to come home! One more time!

So for those of you who have followed what we have done this year - Winning the Regional Chairman's Award at the Palmetto Regional, and despite a very rocky start, still ending up as a semi-finalist -- we have some interesting news for our friends in Maryland!

Our initial bot was amazing! Beautiful! A work of art! The most ambitious robot we have ever built! Designed to take on the world! Did I mention it was beautiful?

But ... It didn't work. :(

We could have said, oh well. We tried, but after 6 grueling weeks, it just isn't going to make it.

But no! A historic event, 45 years ago, became our motivation! Since our week one competition and now, we have been very hard at work with a major redesign effort! If you ever saw Apollo 13, you will recall the scene where they looked at what they had, and had to figure out how do something new ... Well, we have 120 pounds of robot in a bag, and 30 pounds of withholding ...

Come watch us on Thursday as we attempt an impossible feat!

#MarylandWeHaveAProblem #2RobotsIn12Hours #Odyssey #Aquarius #TeamTether #GoBees

See you in three days!

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

58 teams will be attending. 38 of those teams have competed at a previous event. Here are some stats on some of those 38 teams

• 1690 ranked #1 at their second competition with a average qual score of 113.35
• 2683 ranked #14 at their first competition with a average qual score of 65.88
• 1111 ranked #21 at their first competition with a average qual score of 64.08
• 1690 ranked #6 at their first competition with a average qual score of 61.5
• 1389 ranked #12 at their first competition with a average qual score of 60.36
• 1629 ranked #9 at their first competition with a average qual score of 59.66
• 4456 ranked #15 at their first competition with a average qual score of 57.06
• The average qual average for these 38 teams was 41.9
• The max qual average for these 38 teams was 113.55
• The min qual average for these 38 teams was 22.11

18 of the 58 teams made it to play offs at a previous regional

• 1086 made it to the finals with a 101 playoff average (they were a 3rd pick)
• 1547 won a regional with a 148 playoff average (they were a 3rd pick)
• 1610 won a regional with a 106.25 playoff average (they were a 3rd pick)
• 1629 won a regional with a 115.75 playoff average (they were the 6th seeded alliance captain)
• 1690 made it to the finals with a 139.43 playoff average (they were the 1st seeded alliance captain)
• 2363 won a regional with a 106.25 playoff average (they were a 2rd pick)
• 2914 made it to the finals with a 66.43 playoff average (they were the 5th seeded alliance captain)
• The average playoff score for these 18 teams was 84.07
• The max playoff average for these 18 teams was 148
• The min playoff average for these 18 teams was 49.15

9 of the teams have already earned their ticket to St Louise

• 375 Regional Chairman’s Award
• 836 Regional Chairman’s Award
• 1086 Wildcard
• 1111 Regional Chairman’s Award
• 1547 Regional Winners
• 1610 Regional Winners
• 1629 Regional Winners
• 2363 Regional Winners
• 2914 Wildcard

More details can be found here http://team1389.com/who-are-we-going-to-see-this-week/

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

If The Blue Alliance is correct, 1690 was actually a regional finalist at the SBPLI Long Island Regional.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

The page is missing 2914 as a Regional Finalist at Mexico City. It also lists the lowest qualification average at 22.11, which is well lower than the 38 you posted here.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Thanks for the updates

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

If three teams have already won chairman's, which teams have a good shot at chairman's at this competition?

Using the blog post from 1389, these 8 teams have already won a non competition award (imagery, entrepreneurship, dean's list...), but haven't won chairman's this year.

1086
1389
1547
1629
2377
2537
2638
2642

Who has a good shot out of these, or possibly other teams at this regional?

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

I say 1086 1629 and 2642 are the front runners, but any team that put in the effort needed to win this year can also be a contender.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

All,

4456 is excited to be at Chesapeake as one of the last teams in off the wait list! We just had a great experience at DC and competed well. Shout out to the greater DC people…you did a great job! For 90% of our team this was the first regional they had ever been to and with lessons learned and a few small adjustments we think we have the chance to do even better than our 15th ranking after qualification. (Although there are so many factors that come into play.)

We are also looking forward to a great time. The Xfinity center is a great place to hold an event and Anne Shade and Co do a great job of organizing. From what I hear they have new Gigantic video boards at the Xfinity center (Think ATT stadium). I hope they play the video on those boards.

A little more than 24 hours until load in. See you all there and feel free to stop by our pit and check us out or follow us at @mechcadets4456

Greg Sesny
Lead Mentor

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

This is basically the most ambitious thing I have ever witnessed at an FRC regional. It is awesome, and my fingers are crossed that it works out well for you guys. Can't wait to see your revamped robot(s) on the field tomorrow.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Triple Helix would like thank our new friends from 1690 Orbit and 4050 4-H Biohazard for an awesome set of playoffs and finals matches! You guys were a pleasure to play with and our alliance seem to click from the start, faltering only slightly when the capacity of our robot to play as efficiently as normal was compromised by a bad limit switch. It was really cool to be able to come back from that with a big finish in finals match 2!! We are truly pleased that both of your teams are now qualified to attend the FIRST Championship. It was amazing to us that 1690 hadn't qualified previously since you play at such a high-level, but we were very pleased to be able to help you punch that ticket. You are certainly a well-deserving team!

Congratulations to the many award winners and many thanks to the regional organizers, judges, referees, and volunteers. We enjoyed our visit to College Park very much, and we are hoping to return some day if the National Capital Region district championship is ever held there. The facility is awesome, and a number of us on our team really enjoyed the space in front of the field from which we could watch the matches up close. It really made a big difference in trying to debug any robot problems!

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Big congratulations to team 1629 GaCo for once again winning the Regional Chairman's Award, your team is truly an inspiration.

Also, a congratulations to team 4945 Titanium Wrecks on winning the Engineering Inspiration Award in only their second season. Keep your eyes on this team moving forward, they are doing big things.

How bout them Robobees? Rebuilding their entire robot on Thursday and making it to the finals on Saturday!

Once again, glad that the entire finals field was qualified for the Championship! Aren't wildcards awesome?

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Team 1629 GaCo, would like to congratulate Teams 1690, Team 2363, and Team 4050 on their big regional win. Great alliance and great strategy!

2363, Triple Helix, you all are amazing, you keep working on things and seem to really nail them down when they count. Too bad we didn't get a chance to play together all weekend!!! We always enjoy seeing you at the events, a great group of people and a great team! Keep up the good work.

836, impressive rebuild, enough said. Great run into the finals!

Congrats to all award winners, and just all teams in general, we all are aware of how are these robots and competitions are to pull off!!!

Thank you all volunteers, your work is amazing!

Great regional, great venue!!

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

What an event! Thanks to the planning committee and volunteers for once again making the Chesapeake Regional an awesome event.

Congratulations to the all the award recipients, especially 1629 for Chairman's and 4945 for their first Engineering Inspiration.

Thank you to our alliance captain, 2534, for selecting us to be your partner along with 1610. We had a strong alliance, but couldn't pull off the victory. It was a lot of fun playing with both teams during the playoffs.

Congratulations to the winning alliance, 1690, 2363, and 4050. 1690 was by far the best robot at the event and when paired up with 2363 and 4050 we knew we were going to have our work cutout if we were going to win. I think we put on a good show throughout the playoffs.

A huge thank you to all the teams that supported us through our rebuild; from offering materials and manpower all they way to providing positive feedback and words of encouragement - this means a lot to us. We plan to release a more detailed write up on the rebuild in the near future.

Many of our friends we will see again in a few weeks at Championships; to all our other teams we look forward to seeing you at an off-season event, training session, or at a competition next year.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Our multimedia team has begun uploading full field view match videos. You can find them on the Triple Helix youtube channel.

I also shoot closeup video to aid in troubleshooting in the pit. I have match video of our alliance in the playoff matches posted on my channel.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

1086 had a fantastic time at our second ever Chesapeake Regional.

First I would like to congratulate 1629 for their well deserved chairman's award, as well as their success on the field.

Congratulations to 1690, 2363, and 4050 for winning the event and showing consistent high level play.

Thank you to our alliance partners, 3941 and 1111, for showing excellent teamwork and bringing Absolute Power Cheese into the semi finals.

Lastly, thank you to the Virginia teams for making our state look good, on and off the field. Can't wait to see what we can do at Championship.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Gotta say that my team thoroughly enjoyed the event. If this is what the Champs of our new district is going to feel like, I think this is going to work.

I do think we need to educate our fellow FRC'ers, however. The "boos" or "Ohhhhs" we got from the crowd when we declined the alliance invite was a bit misplaced. There was no disrespect in our declining. No one should have read anything into it. As we go into our district next year, this is going to happen more often.

Best of luck to those heading to World's in the a few weeks. I will be very interested to see what the "Capital Area District" will do in St. Louis.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

I think lots of times "Whoaaaaaaa" gets misheard as "booooo". It's just that usually alliance selections are fairly scripted through the first 4 or 5 (or at least should be) picks, and it's generally surprising to hear someone get turned down in the first round. My reaction of "whoaaaaaaaaa", was definitely not a negative gesture, just a reaction, really.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

I would be more surprised to see someone get turned down during the second round. ;)

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Hello everyone! I served as one of the official photographers at the event this year, you may have seen me running around the event.

I've finished sorting the nearly 8300 photos I took at the event and pared them down to the best ~1200 photos. They are available on Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/122681157@N06/

I have also dutifully tagged each photo to make them easily searchable: https://www.flickr.com/photos/122681157@N06/tags/

These photos are free to use and distribute as you see fit. (Please make use of them!) I can send the RAW (CR2) files if anyone would like them as well, shoot me a message on Flickr with the link for the photo you would like.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Peter, thanks so much for this.

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

Dude,
There are so many great shots in there. There's a pic of a young 2363 member suspended in mid air this is priceless. Thankfully there are a few Cheesy shots in there as well!

Re: 2015 Chesapeake Regional
 

They definitely weren't booing.