Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Greetings! I am a mentor of Team #1287 Aluminum Assault and an annual attendee of the Palmetto Regional in South Carolina. Our school, the Academy for the Arts, Science, and Technology is located about 10 minutes from the event located at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.

This regional begins at Week "0.5" this year instead of Week 1. FIRST made a blog post about this change Here. This is the only FRC event happening this week and it starts almost immediately after bag and tag day! There are 66 teams registered for this event, so it will be quite a busy event. Make sure to tune in to the live broadcast from FIRST to see the game in action at http://www.myrtlebeachfirstrobotics.com/!

We will be providing our own practice field for the regional in addition to the practice field provided by FIRST, giving us two practice fields to provide teams with at the regional this year. We are also providing student volunteers to help with operation of the event. If you have LabVIEW programming troubles at the event and can't get to one of the FIRST assistants, flag down one of the members of our team and our student programmers or I will do our best to assist you.

If you have any questions about the event or the surrounding area let us know and we will do our best to answer your questions. Best of luck to everyone attending the event!

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Know any teams who play good defense? ;)

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;)

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Do we know yet if teams will be able to do pit setup on the Wednesday night during load in? Or will we have to wait until the Thursday like previous years?

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Hopefully Wednesday night. They let teams do a little last year and it was great.* I have to commend the Palmetto regional staff for allowing teams to just plug in their batteries. It might seem simple but it is one of the best things and we've been told "no you can't plug in your batteries" during load-in more than once at the other events we've attended.

*I might have been remembering 2014...

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

I have been told that this year we are permitted to set up our pit on load in day. As most of you might remember, last year we were prohibited from setting up our pits during load in.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

The South Carolina regional director told us South Carolina teams at Kickoff and I'm sure it will be info included in future email blasts about Palmetto that he will allow the 5 member teams one Wenesday night and Thursday morning to setup pits.

As for 4901 we are looking forward to the competition with what could be our most dominate and competitive robot to come from our shop.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

We're Team 1369 Minotaur out of Middleton Magnet High School, Tampa, FLand excited to venture to the Palmetto state. We have our heavy jackets, wool hats & gloves packed :yikes:

We are looking for a recommendation on a good restaurant for a team dinner on Friday night. A buffet style would be best as we'll be 55+ people and our kids love buffets. We're staying at La Quinta on Kings Highway so anything relatively close to Arena or hotel would be great.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

haha i can remember, North Carolina 2014 :)

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FRC 1296, the Full Metal Jackets, are making our way to beautiful SC from Dallas. Restaurant recommendations for team meals would be great!

I grew up in the mountains of NC and we are sponsored by a company in Virginia, it will be nice to do a east coast event. We look forward to meeting all the local teams.

Build robots, have fun!

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

The closest buffet I can recommend (to Team 1369) is The Original Benjamin's Calabash Seafood. The main theme is seafood but they have a ton of menu items to choose from for those who aren't seafood fans.

Another buffet near Broadway at the Beach is Captain George's. It's another seafood theme but it also has a good pot roast on the menu.

An inexpensive, BBQ themed buffet is Simply Southern Smokehouse. It's close to the location of the Palmetto Regional and you can't go wrong with BBQ!

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Thanks for the info - We'll check them out

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Hi All,

I am a mentor from 2386. 2386 along with 4 other teams from the Halton District School Board in Ontario, Canada will be convoying down to Myrtle Beach! We are looking forward to this as for some of our teams we will be new to the regional!

Good luck to all... and we promise not to bring snow like we did last year to Arkansas!

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Looking forward to having Canada at the event again! I'm curious, how do you guys plan to travel to the event this year with the event happening so close to bag-'n-tag day? Will your teams finish early?

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Our teams are planning for a Saturday February 20th Bag 'n Tag as we will be travelling via Coach Buses leaving the schools Monday morning. We are pulling extra hours and also currently have exam week right now for the students so the shops are open for students to come and go after their exams. Today we are working later than normal for a Saturday too. It's going to be tough this year but we are determined!

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

For those asking about restaurants, one word of caution from our experiences the last few years. February is the off season in Myrtle Beach. The tourists have not yet arrived. Many of the restaurants close earlier than they do later in the season.
If you go out Thursday night after the pits close (I think that is 8 pm), you may find that some restaurants are already starting to close down. It is definitely a good idea to call ahead and see how late they are open.

3824 is looking forward to seeing everyone and storming some castles together. ;)

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Team 343 Metal in Motion is super excited about the Palmetto Regional this year. We look forward to welcoming all of those teams coming from out of state. We are also looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones. Welcome to the rookies coming to the Palmetto. We too are able and willing to help anyone having trouble with LabView.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

lets do some pre scouting for everyone attending shall we?

list all the defenses you can cross successfully.

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Only 3 days away!

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Is NASA hosting the livestream?

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There will be a webcast per Frank Landford, our regional direcor. I've heard the live stream is being done by some of the same folks that host the RoboShowOD that is done in Florida at the Orlando Regional among other locations.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Close--the story I had was RoboVisionOD, not The RoboShow. (Hard camera, not the full coverage...though a guy can dream!)

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We're on our way down to Palmetto now and we're starting to get worried about our battery situation. Are there any local suppliers of batteries we can purchase from, or maybe a company with speedy shipping if we order tonight? Where do local teams get them?

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

A local Interstate battery dealer will have some. That is where we get ours.

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Billfred was too slow to answer so I'll give you the answer he might have given. Amazon. I see several batteries that you can order today shipped and have in your hand by Thursday at your hotel if you pay for the shipping.

Additionally. Come see 4901. I'll make sure we pack 2 teams worth of batteries if we have to.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Thanks everyone for the battery suggestions.

We ordered 4 new ones off amazon. Should be delivered to the hotel by wednesday!

See you all saturday.

- Bochek

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Anyone got any reveal videos or pictures they want to share?

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We're under 49.5 hours from practice matches starting--why bother with pictures that close? :rolleyes:

Sandstorm III has seen a lot of work since the USC open house...

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FRC team 179 is proud to announce swamp thing 2016.
20 years of FRC has lead up to this epic moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvHnjYLO-HI

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Whelp, that settles how many 8-sided robots we'll see at Palmetto. Looks fantastic!

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Both 2200 and 2386 have several photos here on chief. Here are just a couple, search our team numbers to find the rest:

2386
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...highlight=2386

2200
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/42822?

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Your team is always my favorite to look forward to your reveals, awesome

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I know we're looking forward to getting beat by you! Awesome looking robot!

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If any teams would like to volunteer members to join a scouting team because they are a smaller team without the numbers needed to create a shift based 7 member scouting team. Please PM me.

I'm looking to recruit people for a stands scouting team that will provide participating teams with very useful and complete scouting information for alliance selections.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

I'll be driving up on Friday night with a couple people to check out the action on Saturday and to see what ridiculous contraption Aren came up with this year.

Looking forward to my first visit to the Palmetto Regional.

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Don't you put this all on me :P, we all share the blame equally

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Have fun at Palmetto guys - the entire FIRST world will be watching you all compete :)

-Brando

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Can't wait to make the trip down from Virginia! Looking forward to seeing how Stronghold plays.

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yes we will be watching i dont think that there is going to be one single person in the first community that will not be watching i know my team will be watching!

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That's amazing! Can't wait to play with you all. And as Marshall said, we look forward to getting beat by you.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

I see that you have found some batteries, but feel free to stop by our pit if you are in need of anything else, besides batteries we always throw in some other extra stuff just in case. And we have a full load of nuts and bolts, etc thanks to Fastenal.

We are very excited about the weekend. We have a lot of new kids that can hardly wait to experience their first regional competition.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Is the Swampthing another 10 wheel robot, or is that center wheel just a gear on the drivetrain?

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

10 wheels, you can see the middle wheel really well at the end.

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Did you guys do another Internal CIM swerve???

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That would require CIMs on the robot, we've still got some work to do.

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4 matches in...aaand the Cheval de Frise broke

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So I did see that right.

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That is a lot of people needed to fix a CDF

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I can not say I did not call this.....

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And it broke again in Match 6.

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As of right now, matches are running 30 minutes behind schedule. These competitions are gonna be slow, folks.

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Should the CDF breaking count as a field fault? If it breaks on the first crossing, couldn't that potentially make it impossible to cross for a second time, preventing a breach?

I know it hasn't been called as a field fault these past two times, but it's something I'm wondering about.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Does anyone know if there's an alternate video streaming source, other than the one posted on http://www.myrtlebeachfirstrobotics.com?

It's blocked on my computer.

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http://www.thebluealliance.com/gamed...w_0=2016scmb-1

Try this one.

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Now on match 8, and 3 CDF's have broken.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Both of those links have the stream embedded from the same source. If it is blocked on one, it will be blocked on both. Although The Blue Alliance one also has twitch chat embedded.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

For me only one is blocked (the Blue Alliance one works), that's wierd

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We have now learned that if you cannot cross the CDF the correct way, just make it into a rock wall, np. Another one down in match 8.

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If FIRST is looking for some more Mechanical Engineers I'll be graduating in 2018 :D

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

... and now CDF is no longer an option since they've run out of spares.

Whoops.

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Update: "We are out of CDFs, we are now taking it out of the running for selection until we can fix them."

....okay, then. I feel bad for whatever event has Palmetto's truck next...

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And now they are out of chevals

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Just announced that the CdF will be taken out of play. The Portcullis will automatically be selected for Category A defenses.

That is...interesting.

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Cheval de fries is toast. Took it out of the game

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So what happens if teams treat the portcullis like it's a 2-way draw bridge, and the event runs out of portcullis defenses?

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So many mechanisms built solely for the Cheval de Frise just became worthless. Wow. I can't even imagine the combined time and effort that, for now, was wasted. I'm hopeful that FIRST will come up with a solution for the long term.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

That would be awful if one of your only crossable defenses was the CDF and now it isn't usable.

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I wonder if there will be an update made to the Cheval to make it sturdier. Not sure how they would do it, but requiring the Portcullis to be out there changes a lot of the strategy teams can use.

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Thanks, but that doesn't work either.

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Steel. Lots of Steel.

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I am glad we have a week 0.5 event this year to work these issues out. Otherwise the impact could be much greater. Sincere thanks to Palmetto for testing out the inevitable first competitive week flaws. Hopefully, they can resolve this soon, especially for those whose only event is this one.

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Yeah, wow. I'm sure glad we didn't waste any time trying to design and build a mechanism for it.

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Maybe they just need some big fender washers instead of the countersunk bolt that holds on the pivoting bracket. It would poke up a bit, but at least it wouldn't break all the time.

The drawing for the CDF starts on page 50 of the field drawings, for those curious.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

I'm really curious as to what part of the Cheval de Frise is breaking. If anybody could post pictures that would be awesome. I'm sure it's where the hardware attaches the boards to the pivot bar. I don't think having something sticking up from the Cheval de Frise would be an acceptable fix though. Many teams present company included need a smooth surface for the mechanism to work. I'd rather see thicker boards than hardware sticking up.

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And now a Rock Wall has been dislodged from a Defense Platform during Match 13...

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This would be my guess too. It's the most frequent failure we saw on the wood version.

The difference in build quality between A/C and B/D/low is pretty apparent. Did anybody else see the team bend the drawbridge into a 180deg arc?

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Betting somebody forgot to put the pins in to keep it from sliding out.

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I did. Luckily it is almost impossible to break Lexan by bending it.

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Right, but it's much more possible to crack it at the mounting holes.

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In other news, looks like FMS isn't updating again. The Blue Alliance is showing 0-0 scores for match 11, and nothing after. I thought they were working on fixing this last year?

http://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2016scmb

EDIT: Well, right after I post this, it updates.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Interesting. Blue Alliance is showing the updated scores on Gameday

http://www.thebluealliance.com/gameday#layout=2

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

We're seeing intermittent results of 0-0 being returned from FRC's API (see the feed: http://tba-notification-firehose.appspot.com/). It seems like they matches are getting updated with proper scores a little later, though. No idea why and nothing we can do!

Hopefully this will get sorted out soon...

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

The GMS app is currently tracking this event and displaying rankings. It is a Team Scouting app for Android and is available on Google Play. To login, use any name & password, Role=Team, Online, Shared Server. More info on http://gms.pejaver.com. Feedback appreciated.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

The first 13 matches have been saved/uploaded on the website. Also, the broadcast seems to have stopped recording. :confused:

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

Lunchtime?

Edit: yep, just started back up

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The detailed match score API endpoint is currently down on FIRST's side though.

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Yeah, I wasn't saying it was on y'all's end. Usually when this happens it's on FIRST's side.

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The Cheval de Frise is back in play! Let's see how long it lasts, and if FIRST puts in a permanent fix for later weeks...

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Match 26, Portcullis has been dislodged from Defense Platform during Autonomous.

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

First four audience selections were:

Cheval De Frise
Ramparts
Sally Port
Rough Terrain

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So question, does this count as a Tortuga since the match was reset? I mean, did anyone think it was possible to Tortuga on the Portcullis?! :ahh:

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I see a lot of steel in FIRST's future :ahh:

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You're not going to get thicker boards, there's just not enough time. They'd have to make and distribute enough parts for something like 30 fields. That's something like 500 ramps to make. If you want to know the kind of solutions they're thinking of, think back to the ball ramps in Breakaway. They weren't clearing balls effectively from under the bridges, so the solution was to install the ball ramps upside down.

Whatever they come up with is going to leverage existing custom parts and fix the problem with COTS items. Fender washers longer button head bolts sounds pretty likely. MAYBE some plasma cut plates to increase the bearing surface, since you can knock those out fast.

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We saw one up at Week Zero https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEeI...outu.be&t=1m5s

It's a trickier defense to cross than expected.

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Actually, I bet they could come up with something. They have most of today to design, might be able to find a shop open on the weekend to make them, and could ship them all out monday, with the items being on time to the events next weekend. Now this would cost FIRST a TON of money, but I bet they would, because they can't afford the field breaking within 8 matches...

Re: Palmetto Regional Week 0.5
 

While I agree it would be difficult, it's not without precedent. In 2014 they drop-shipped a lot of pre-cut Lexan to all week 2 events to cover the bars behind the high goal and prevent bounce-out.

I expect FIRST started working on the problem as soon as the first one broke this morning.

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So far, the game actually looks pretty good - it's entertaining to watch because there's so much going on sometimes and there aren't too many robots sitting around doing nothing.

I've noticed very little defence in many of the matches I've watched. I'm wondering if it's because teams are focusing more on scoring at first or if it's because they're afraid of fouls.

As for the field... seriously?? Did they forget to test it or something? It failed in 3 matches.

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I was expecting portcullis tortugas to be clotheslinings like the week 0 sample or having the bar catch between two protrusions in the robot top and basically pin them in place. Having a robot drive up the portcullis and end on their back bumper was a bit of a surprise.:eek:

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The revised CdF is 1/8" steel across the entire underside. Trying to get some help uploading a picture.

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https://scontent-iad3-1.xx.fbcdn.net...59&oe=574DE004

Revised CdF design, hot off the press.