Regional Updates?????
 

Does anyone have any updates on the Regionals going on this weekend? FIRST's website still doesn't have the scores working and we have a firewall at work so I can't get the webcasts. I'm dying for some information.

Any of the following information would be great:

- score updates
- robot type statistics (i.e. how many ball machines vs. goal machinces)
- robot pictures
- strategy differences between these and the previous regionals.
- any robots that really stand out

Thanks in advance to anyone that posts.

-Chris

Re: Regional Updates?????
 

From the SBPLI Long Island Regional..
-First place after Friday (7 rounds) is 496 with ~80 points. The top eight are all around 70.

-Goal-bots are more prevalent than ball-bots - about a 3:1 ratio. The top four consists of three goal handlers and a hybrid (yay, us). The best robots are the goal manipulators, with two or three exceptions.

-There's still no shooting machines. =(

-There is one robot which is straight out of Battlebots - its basically a wedge. However, it attempted get under another robot and flip it, at which point every referee on the field threatened to DQ it. (I think they might go with a different robot strategy next time.)

-All of the robots in the field seem to be a bit slower here than their counterparts at KSC.

-224 has a nifty setup - it looks (and maneuvers) like an oversized shopping cart, but it can suck up, hold, and dump en masse about 15-20 balls. I have a feeling they'll make the elim rounds really interesting.

the battle bot robto you speajk of, is that 353? the red and black one that grabs two goals? cause i thought that came our of battle bots too, it's like completely encased in lexan or something, so it's impossible to destroy. oh well

as for us (team 810), as of the end of today, we're in 7th place!!!! yeah, so it's not all that amazing, until you take a second glance at our number ,adn realuize we're a rookie team. yes, that's right, a rookie team, with a highly tempermental robot. we must have blew the self reseting breakers every match, even blew the 60 amp main breaker twice, oh yeah, we have lot's of raw power. we would have been in a higher place number, but our very last match of the day, our chain drive system somehow fell off the sprockets on the right side of the robot, front and back. that limited us toturning in circles, and we weren't able to get back to our homezone (we were in the opposing goal zone). we lost by two points (36 - 34). when i saw the score, i almost cried, because it was so close. then, i realized we're still in a really high seed, so we went and tried to fix the robot, and actually managed to get the chain back on relatively fast. :D

also, during one of our matches, fox 5 came and started uinterview us while we were setting up. then, as the match was ready to start, the refs were pulling the mdeia peopel away, they tried to resist! "just one more question!" god, how i hate media, always getting in the way. then, i think they taped us, while we screamed and shouted at each other, and somehow managed to win. then, after the two minutes, they came back, and interviewed us some more! i mean, yeah, publicity is great, but when we're rying to drive the robot, leave us alone!

oh well, other than that, the LI regional seems to be awesome. i've had more fun over the past two days than i've had in a long time. can't wait till the nationals. :D

Buckeye Regional Updates?
 

Is there anyone from the Buckeye Regional that has a scoring update? I'm trying to find out how Team 535 is fairing. Observations and opinions accepted!! I have heard they have the second highest score of 117 in today's matches. I would love to hear any first hand accounts.

Thanks in Advance!!

it seems on the LI regional scores are out. not sure why, but that's all that's upo at the moment.

LI-Seed #3
 

Well, nothing that our robot was built to do works, nothing except drive. However with the other robots all concentrating on the golas/end zones, we have been able to play amazing defense. Our goal gripper doesn't grip, our ball picker doesn't pick, but our drive system does drive. And it seems that our 6 wheel drive has over powered nearly every robot at LI. So we are seeded #3 at the end of 7 matches, having never grabbed a goal or picked up a ball. All we do is drive.

actually, it appears you are in 6th, right in front of me. heh, rather funny, team 30, which must have been around for a while, followed closely behind by team 810, who first popped into existence this last october. :D

Links to this Weekend Webcast Competitions (3/16/02)
 

Links to NASA Webcasts

http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/webcasts/buckeye.htm

http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/webcasts/lonestar.htm

Heh.... your chain fell off during that match?? Now it all makes sense....we didnt know why you didnt go back into your zone...

We were the bot holding the goal steady while you tried to push it away (quite in vain, if I may say so :D ).... heh, anyway...good job

We had something similar happen.. we lost 39-40 and only a foot away from making our endzone....we were spinning in circles, just thinking that our breakers tripped, but in fact the electrical clip somehow BROKE OFF the drill motor on that side...it kept us disabled for 2 rounds unfortunately and dramatically lowered our score. Had the motor not broken, we would've been in 2nd place after that match (hey 120 pts compared to 39, and then we lost our next 2 matches with only 20 pts which prob woulda been higher).....

Oh well, we did pretty good overall.... Still think we got screwed over where our pit was (all the way to the side where no one goes :confused: )

But it was fun... BTW...we were the robot with the mirrored-aluminum sides :cool: I dont know if you noticed, but when the light hit just right, BANG!! everyone in the stands blinded :p

heh, i never noticed the other teams we were up against. i jsut kinda tried to beat them all. didn't work too well. :D

Well, if you were unhappy with were your pit was, you don't even want to know about the original pit plans. The four rookies numbered higher than us (810) were supposed to be in a solitary group off in a corner someplace. The venue just happened to be large enough to fit you all on the end.

Congratulations on your Rookie All-Star award. You guys had an amazingly nice robot for a rookie team, and I expect that you'll do great things in the future.

Really??!! Wow..... I dont understand that at all. I mean, us rookies are already at a disadvantage becaues we are....well....rookies. Rookie teams really need all the help they could get. If FIRST wants more teams to join and do well, they need to make them feel accepted, and have a reason to get pumped up and do well. I can't think of anything off of the top of my head - still exhausted, but I know this isnt the only thing that sort of "degrades" rookies.

Ah well, we still did really well considering our hardships -- and we had fun so that's all that really counts :D

As far as pit layout goes, having worked several regionals the past few years(and having my first for this season coming up next week,) I have a little bit of insight as to how things are done:

1. In many cases, the judges have specifically requested that the pits be laid out in numerical order, to make their job easier in finding a particular team.
2. At more and more event sites, the growth in teams exceeds the original planned pit space, so a "split pit" is necessary, meaning that some teams are going to be in a different location than the others.

Believe me, it's nothing against the rookies, just the way the logistics work out at many of the event sites. I've never heard of a split for as few as 4 teams, however, so I'm glad it didn't come to that...

Re: Re: Regional Updates?????
 

Go team 173, 467, 28!! Great job. I hate that battlebot, they took all four of aour whels off the ground twice in one match. They should have been DQ'd.

On the contrary. good ball bots are the best. We can get 20 balls in the goal, and always have control of the goal. No robot there could push us. 20 balls and the goal in our zone counteracts the other teams 2 goals and a robot in the endzone. I think the best pairing would be a robot like 230 that always got 2 goals and NOBODY moved them, witha ball machine like us or 224. 224 can't let go of the goal once they're on it. Thats a huge downfall.

i bet we could have pushed you, but i don't think we were ever up against you. we couldn't be pushed by anyone, even after the 60 amp breaker blew. :D sitting there, dead, in the middle of the field, on the wheels, and the other robot could not get by us, and was stuck in our homezone, netting us 10 points. we won that round. :D good job on 173 though. awesome robot, although it seemed prone to tipping if the ball grabber was full and you lifted it up. still, nice design.