2004 regionals
 

http://www.usfirst.org/frc/public/FM...s.htm&-findany


2 weekends w/ 6 regionals!!

*trying not to act too excited*

Wow, this is awesome. I’m so excited to hear that we’re going to be in the Sovereign Bank Arena for J&J. First the RAC, now this… we’re really moving up!

They still managed to put two of the New York area regionals(Drexel and NYC) on the same weekend. At least its not as bad as last year, when both NYC and SBPLI were the same weekend.

yahoo for NYC and SBPLI are on different weekends!

Oh... not happy with JnJ moving to Trenton, NJ. More distance to travel means hotel stay is a must.
No vanpool commuting to JnJ.
Ah.... and JnJ is early too (really not happy).
:(;)

Now when can we register :p

Whoopeee:). Wow there are four differnt regionals that are relatively near to my team.

Pacific Northwest
 

Wow... Portland is the site of the Pacific Northwest Regional, and Seattle is not. This is kinda like another rookie regional.

Also... a question for anyone who knows: what does "open capacity" mean? Obviously, there are going to be more than 26 teams in Detroit. I assume that this number does not include local teams who have spots reserved. It sure would be nice to know the facility capacity numbers at these regionals.

Andy B.

Re: Pacific Northwest
 

The "open capacity" is the quantity of teams the regional can except.
Last year in NYC several teams were booked out of the local regional and had to go somewhere else. This meant more cost to the team for travel and hotel.
In NYC we tried very hard to get a larger arena but was unsuccessful.
So register early!

Re: Pacific Northwest
 

They had the same thing last year too, I believe some spots are saved for grant winners, as was the case at STL last year, and some proabably are for local teams.

I can't believe the canadian regional has an open capacity of 70!!! There were < 55 of us this year and almost 10 of us had to be in some stupid back room! ARrrrgh. I hope that there's a system worked out this year so that the judges are well aware of where all the people at the regional are located.

The Canadian Regional is going to have 2 fields this year. This is quite a coup. 70 competitors, 2 fields, and many qualification matches will lead to this regional being one of the best to attend. This regional is looking much like FIRST Nationals looked in the mid-90's.

Andy B.

A 2 field regional?? That would be great to compete at... Do you know if they are going to just mix everyone up among the two fields or if it would turn into more of a division system like at the Championship? A little disappointed to see NYC and LI back to back, would be nice if they spaced them out 2 weeks so for the teams who do both, missing school wouldn't be much of an issue.

Maybe this was already mentioned somewhere else, but why is the championship a four day event?

With the open capacity of Nationals at 210, what does that mean for registration this year?

How many teams will really get to compete?

Might I suggest you take specific Canadian Regional questions to the official board?
Get used to it :) . The two fields are going to take up the entire main part of the stadium. The 'other' arena - which you may have seen while exploring - is going to be used as the pits. You'll have a short walk to get there. But I kind of liked it last year in the back area; there was a lot of space for you, us, and a couple other teams. It already is! But I think we can be assured other regionals will follow suit. Not this year, though.

That's my question:D .
Some of the slots could be reserved for pre-qualified team (i.e. chairmans/technology oriented awards), but even after that you still are down 45-60 slots. hmm. that's not much when you think about it 45-60 slots... I guess it's just a slightly smaller arena this time, but this is just my pondering. carry on.

I just checked FIRST's "important date" section. Registration for the first regional and championships starts on Sept. 29. That's not that far away!

"We're so Canadian we've been to their regional more than some of the Canadian teams..." :)

Heh, yeah, Canadian Regional is really moving along - I think 639 will keep the tradition of going every year (possibly so we can keep claiming that Candian-ness).

Because there's a lot of teams :P

Only one NASA comp?? That so can not be right!!!
Peachtree!! Yahoo!!!!! that was one fun comp last year!!!
To bad though its no longer at KSC...those were the days!!

We will be receiving a 'starter kit of parts' upon payment this year. I wonder what will be in this goodie bag?

Also here is the important date link:

http://www.usfirst.org/robotics/frc_time.htm

Where'd you get the info that there is only one NASA comp? Did I miss something?

I didn't notice earlier that April 14 is a Wednesday. Are they going to implement the threatened extra day of competition this year?

maybe they are!!!! or maybe the game will involve some intricate tuning and they need more time for working on the bot...no i dont think thats it....with nationals being smaller i dont see why they would add an extra day. We will know soon though!

If 210 is the open capacity, that could be the number of slots allowed for teams who will qualify by performance during the season, or during last season, as well as any extra slots. Teams that automatically qualify might not be counted in that figure.

Cory

Andrew, about the NASA thing I went here

http://www.usfirst.org/frc/public/FM...s.htm&-findany
and only one had the new of NASA under Event... unless that is the only one that will be held on a NASA location

The committee was very happy to get the Arena and maybe it will encourage some of the local schools down there to participate. It is going to be a tremendous event.

WC

For those wondering how the competition worked back in the day when every competition had two fields here you go:

One match would be on one field while the other field was setting up. As soon as one competition ended Woodie would run across to the other field and start the competition while the other was being scored and set up again. This way of doing things cut back on the down time and let everyone view all the competitions.

I don't know if this is how they are going to do it in Canada but it would make sense. It would allow twice the number of matches to be played in the same amount of time.

Guys, just a reminder that this isn't "official" yet.
There is no link to this list from off the FIRST main page.
Until we see that, we should assume that this information is subject to changes, and may contain certain errors.

Within a week or 2, we should see a more "official" version.


Just try not to make any plans/assumptions based on data that may, or may not be correct.

Each match in the FIRST competition have a 5 mins cycle. Due to last year's autonomous mode, which will probably happen again, the match length is about 2 mins 18 seconds. The rest of the 5 mins is used for clearing the field and setting up the robots.

So, I suppose they can alternate the matches in each cycle, so you start match 1 in cycle 1 for the first 2 mins 18 seconds while match 2 in cycle 1 is being prepared, then as soon as match 1 cycle 1 ends you start match 2 cycle 1, and you let the first field get cleared off and setup for match 1 cycle 2.

That will make sure matches doesn't happen at the same time for the audiences. I am interested in finding out how they are going to make the scoring software works for 2 fields. Maybe they will program one field to do odd number matches and the other field do even number matches.


I hope to see more 2 fields regionals in the coming year. That's one way to enlarge capacity of regionals while keeping the cost low. I like it :-).

Looks like they're not. It has now been changed back to the originally announced April 15-17.

It is offical now! As i check the main page now its in the FIRST Robotics news section, i guess they came through with their promise and gave us regional dates in August. Now just we have to wait and see about some other minor things.

~Mike

OK, I have a bit of an update:

It has been clarified to me that "Open Capacity" does not necessarily mean facility capacity. If a regional has an open capacity of 40 teams, their facility capacity may be more, depending on how many spots the regional coordination committee are being saved for rookie teams (who often register late) Grant teams, local teams and sponsor teams.

Also... from my observation and experience, it looks like FIRST has done a very good job with scheduling. I am suprised to see people complaining about having certain regionals on "back to back" weekends. You guys should know that there are many variables involved with scheduling these facilities (spring break, athletic events, corporate events, vendor availability, regional load balancing, FIRST staff availability, regional planning member timing conflicts, etc.). Think about this stuff before you complain that two regionals which are 150 miles apart are scheduled on back to back dates.

There are 26 regionals here. During the past three years, FIRST has presented us with more conflicting schedules than they did this year, that is for sure.

I say this: good job FIRST.

Andy B.

yeah, I didn't want to mention about the reserved spots at some regionals for rookies, locals, last year winners and sponsor teams.

Since you mention it first, they can't blame me for talking too much!
:D

PS- I wish I can go to Canadian Regional!!!!

I agree completely, Andy. They've done an outstanding job with the regional scheduling this year. The geographic distribution of events during any particular week is about as good as it gets. The competitions are scattered all over the map.

I for one can't wait for everyone on Team 48 to go back to Canada for a third time. With 70 teams and 2 fields, that event is going to be beyond exciting. Our Canadian hosts do a wonderful job staging this competition every year, and it would be nice if a larger number of American teams could come up and participate in 2004 - I guarantee you will not be disappointed!

I wonder how many spots are not being included in the 70 "open capacity" slots listed for Canada? It's mind-boggling to consider how immense this regional might become if there are a significant number of reserved spots we don't know about yet. I'm getting dizzy even thinking about it.

I agree. This is the best schedule we've had on the West Coast since before there was an LA regional. Finally we can compete in two regionals without a 400mile drive to one of them. On top of having them on back to back weekends. Of course we still have a 400 mile drive to one of them, but that's what we get for living in Paradise. That weekend in between makes all the difference.

Sheesh you East Coast people complaining about back to back regionals in cities a couple of hours apart. Get a clue. I know people who commute that far each way daily. Surely you could handle it for a few days. ;) Out here, we've been living with worse for years and have just been glad to have another regional to attend. This schedule looks like somebody at FIRST finally took into account the realities of life in the West.

Thanks Jason! I know you worked hard at this.

I am SO happy with the dates for Sacramento and San Jose...I thought I would have to miss one of the two because of a band trip to Hawaii, but now I'll get to go to all three!

Looks like we have a new regional - Detroit, Michigan! Alright! :)

Midwest Represent. :D

Ryan
 

I was thinking the same! Now, I get to go HOME and sleep in MY OWN BED. (But who sleeps during a FIRST Competition?)

This is a good thing for Detroit. It raises the awareness of FIRST. I ask a lot of people about FIRST, and they don't know, or mention a thing.

Woo...now I can start making travel plans...

Week 1 - VCU
Week 2 - Florida or Pittsburg
Week 3 - Anni
Week 4 - So Cal
Week 5 - San Jose
Week 6 - Nats


Look for this Sunday's edition of Zits for the real story behind my trip.


Wetzel

hey jeff, i never knew you drove a VW Bus...LOL! Well jeff, if you go, you will need a navigator, ill do that with pay(to you) as Krispy Kreme Doughnuts...
~Mike


LOL