New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Well, here we go again! :)

As we are so well received every year, we keep coming back! :rolleyes: Who is going? What to expect? As some of you might have noticed there are more brazilian teams coming this year, and almost all of them to Jersey! How does that sound? :)

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Originally, Team 237 was going to attend the Rochester regional and the Philadelphia regional. This was decided with a team vote.

Then due to conflicts with Easter weekend, Philly was dropped, and Trenton was added.

It makes sense too. We'll be back in Jersey defending our 2004 title. Hope to see you all there and good luck to all teams!

(I just hope we show up to NJ a little earlier than 10am on Thursday this year) :ahh:

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Count on #1382...and as gian said, expect several more foreigners as well...
(to reduce airfare & hotel costs hehehe)...
Who else on CD is going to NJ? Can't wait to meet everyone in person...
in 2004 our team competed at that regional but i didn't really get a chance to walk around and get acquainted...and besides, i wasn't a chiefdelphi.com addict last year.. :yikes:

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Well, as I wasn't there last year, several health problems kept me away, this year I hope to meet with everyone again! I hope 237 can make to Jersey sooner this season :D Who else is coming? Where are you staying?

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Team 637 from Montville, NJ will be there. Can't wait to see all you guys(and gals). Good luck and cya March 17

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I'm sorry to say TJ will not be there... :( I really wish we were... This is our first year of not going to the New Jersey Regional since we started... I really wish we could be there... I hope you guys have a lot of fun... I'm going to miss some of the great teams that we spent a lot of time with there last year including 1156, 365, and 173... See you at Nationals!!! (hopefully we qualify)

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

as always team 25 will be there ready for anything, and i will be hiding somewhere volunteering :)

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

You can bet on 1089. It wouldn't make sense not to go. Of course, you can't miss our bright silver :)

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I look forward to seeing all my old friends at the NJ regional! Team 75 has been there from the start, and we wouldn't miss it for the world!

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Team 303 will be at NJ this year. looking for some fun i know NJ will be fun it always is.

one other thing that is coming to NJ this year is the ECDU for all who do not know what it is that is the East Coast Drivers Union. for all drivers that want to know what it is about it is a drivers union where driver talk to other drivers. if you want to know more contact me on aim at HempGod303
or you can visit the forum in this forum. or you can contact Corey from team 25.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

team 11 is going

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

As always.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I'm very sad to say that Team 007 will not be attending the New Jersey Regional this year! =( Unfortunately, FIRST decided to be evil (haha not really, sorta) and put NJ and Chesapeake during the same week.
This is our second year in 3 years we have not gone, but we do hope to come back to NJ for the 2006 season!

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Cybersonics Technology Team 103 will most definitely be there! Gotta love the NJ Regional and all the great teams that compete there! So sad to hear that some of you won't be coming, but oh well. NJ's gonna rock this year!

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Team 716 will be at the New Jersey regional this year!

Last year we were finalists, and we hope to do as well, if not better this year!
Those were some exciting finals matches last year... I will never forget watching us lift two other robots with us onto the bar in the final match -- there were already two other robots on the bar, 237 and our alliance partner -- and we drove up underneath them and lifted them, as well as us, for the 50 points! :ahh: It was intense!

Can't wait to see you all there!

-- Jaine

[edit] It's soo sad that teams 88 and 365 are not coming... we are losing some of the best, the loudest and the brightest! :(

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

1403 is gonna go to the NJ regional again!!! Last year was so awesome that the NJ regional is always gonna be our first pick.



GO 1403!!!

2004 NJ Rookie All Stars
2004 NJ Highest Seeded Rookie Team
2004 Xerox Creativity
2004 Newton Field Rookie Highest Seeded Team

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Sadly, 365 will not be attending the NJ regional this year. [It is team preference not to do back to back weekends] So we are going to Pittsburg and Philadelphia. [I have already put my name down to do queueing at both regionals... and nationals.]

I already foresee the easter weekend competitions being rough though... since most people will be home/away with family [except me]. That will put quite a dent in the attendance... and prob. the # of volunteers running the event. [Which will also does not bode well because that is the weekend FIRST is having the most competitions. [7 in all.]]

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

last time i checked it was an all New Jersey Team regional but that may have changed. Looks like its gonna be a really good competition, so back your robots work so its competitive, but not good enough to beat ours.

Oh 1403 will be there.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

NJ is always a greeeeeeaaaaaaaatttttt competition... Man I wish we were going... The FIRST year since our team started that we are not going... Tis a sad time for me... :(

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Team 1676 will be attending the NJ Regional. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you guys.

We're a rookie team from Bergen County, mentored and heavily funded by Mercedes-Benz USA. We have a website at www.teampioneers.com if you want to check us out, and we have a lot of info if you're interested.

Feel free to drop me a line at mhayon@pascack.k12.nj.us.

Thanks,
Matt

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

wow why is team 88 not coming to nj? and why did moe go to phily instead of nj?

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

team 1626 is on its way

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

MOE considers Philly our home regional, one we can all attend without having to spend the night. We'll miss NJ - last year we had a great time there and met lots of great people!

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

It better not be. Teams 237 (mine) and 716 (maybe more?) are driving down from DA CUTTT to compete in Jersey! I hope we are on the list!! :ahh: :ahh:

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

This is turning into anything but an all NJ team regional

we have

5 Teams from Pennsylvania (103, 272, 486, 528, 834)
4 Teams From New York (369, 375, 694, 1688 )
3 Teams From Conneticut (237, 716, 1699)
2 Teams From Brazil (1156, 1382)
1 Team from Massachusetts (1152)
and
1 Team from Puerto Rico (1144)

as well as all the NJ teams 11,25,41,56,75,102,136,219,223,224,293,303,381,550 ,613,
637,714,752,869,896,1089,1187,1228,1279,1302,1366, 1367,1384,
1403,1412,1563,1616,1617,1626,1672,1676,and 1689


Looks like a tough bunch this year

Good luck to all the teams

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Don't mind him.... he's just a noob. He'll learn soon enough.


GO 1403!!!

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Well it's official, I'll be the man behind the mic in Trenton. Kevin Nolan (the volunteer coordinator for Trenton) emailed me and said that I'd be the Game Announcer for the regional. I've taken the online training course and I'm going to place my announcing skills to the test (I've announced at PARC, First Frenzy Finale and several state lego tournaments). I can't wait. I'll be around on thursday to talk to all the teams...I'll see you all then.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

486 will be at NJ for the first time ever. Sadly we will not be attending Philly as it falls on spring break. unfortunately all our mentors/teachers are going away that week.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Team 293 will be there, we are one of the many BMS teams that consider this our home regional. You can find me as our team's HP or up by the concession stands with a latop, protable HD, camera and speakers for scouting. We are going to record every single match so if you are our alliance partner be sure to check with our scouting crew for video of the opposing alliance robots. We are going to have 7 full time scouts this year:)

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

<tangent>

Congratulations and Good luck!!!
The best advice I can give to you is to learn everyone's team names but also see if any have another name they go by to spice things up. (Like us :cool: )

Good luck announcing, and Congratulations on your first FIRST Regional announcing job. :)
That makes at least 2 new FIRST Regional announcers in 2 weeks.

</tangent>

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I couldn't be more pumped for trenton. 3 days!
:ahh:

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Any info on a NJ webcast?

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

They don't usually webcast NJ, but I wish they did, I'd offer up my camera to help support a webcast if someone can provide bandwidth and a media player of some sort.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I only wish if I was there...

... Where is my plain ticket brat, corey, alex?

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I'm staying in my nice warm bed :D ( we drive down each day )

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

W00t, Trenton is only 15 hours away

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Team 716 is coming to the New Jersey Regional!

We did well in Hartford (3rd seed, quarter finalists, Judge's Award), but we are hoping to improve our team's ability to communicate so that we can do even better this time around. We are also going to work on improving our strategy. Last year, we came very close to winning the New Jersey Regional, but we lost in the finals to teams 56, 237, and 303.... all very amazing robots. I can't wait to see what they have in store for us this year!

The regional looks like it has a good mix of rookies and veterans...more rookies than were at the UTC regional. Also, I think there are a few Brazilian teams going (2 or 3?). It looks like there will be some veteran powerhouse teams as well.. such as team 25... just looking at the pictures of their robot makes me feel nervous!

I like the way that New Jersey was set up last year... there was always a good view from the stands, as compared to UTC where the view isn't quite as good. It also wasn't a ridiculously long distance between the stands and the pits, although slightly long. I liked how they had a screen last year in the pit area so that you could watch matches without having to go to the stands in the first place. That was helpful for the pit crew in finals was we needed to be on standby for battery changes and repairs.

This year, as well as last year and the year before, we are staying at our former principal's summer home in Tom's River, NJ. Even though it is about an hour away from Trenton, and the house is extremely small with only one bathroom, it is free.... and therefore we are taking the opportunity to stay there!

Good luck to all teams in New Jersey...hope to see you all there!

-- Jaine

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Meh.. look what that bad luck brought us last year. Very good luck on the field. :cool:

Anywho.. The team is leaving at about 5:30 tonight to drive to Jersey and staying overnight.

So... unless the bus is more than 12 hours late in picking them up, I would say that we should be on time. (knock on wood). :p

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Webcast?????????

Just wondering if anyone knew if there was going to be a webcast of the NJ regional anywhere?? I know sometimes even if NASA doesn't do it teams will step up and provide a webcast.

Thanks for any info,

Justin

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Only 17 hours till the doors open to the pits!! I know I'm excited. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go get ready to head over to the volunteer meet and greet. Later chitlings.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

wow everyone, great round today. at first it didn't look like anyone was doing so well but as the day went on, the robots got better and better. What did everyone think of the round where the red alliance got a 110 points of penalties. that was probably the biggest news all day.

Teams that stood out:
237 (probably best overall robot)
103 (quick on the ground, and quick capping-bonus points for their pit)
1688 (probably best rookie team all day, don't cap, they dump tetras on the bottom)
57 (strong capper)

Autonomous is somewhat rare, but we'll see more of that tommorow, and nobody has gotten the vision tetras in autonomous, but several teams are in the hunt.

Organization of the regional is smooth and the handout about the penalty definitions and clarifications was really helpful. Props to the judges and organizers for that. The safety award seems to be going well and is a pretty intresting set up.

good job everyone!

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Just to clarify the 110 pt penalty. It was actually 20 pts worth of penalties. John, the head referee marked down two lines on the score card under penalties box. The scorekeeper Josh read that as 11 instead of two tally marks, and assessed penalties as such.

On another note. I say by far the best team at the competition is 56. Everytime I would turn around they would be back at the human player loading station and a goal would be capped. I'm sensing that 56 and 237 are teaming up again to take home the NJ Regional Championship.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

-In case the other thread gets covered up-

Well today, alot of teams were feeling out there robots, and alot were not ready to go until 2 o'clock. Past that, the usual suspects were pretty darn good, 56, 237, 303, 11, cough 25 cough(have to drop it in), and 103.

56 and 237 have been tops so far, with 56 being able to cap the most in a round(8). 237 is close to getting a vision, but not close enough, everytime they have picked it up, they dont catch it at the right angle, and drop it too early, or it just slides off.

The match of the day, of what i saw, was between us and 56. I dont remember the alliances exactly, but it was 2 on 2. each team got their home row, and each had one side goal capped. The center was a battle at the end, We had first capped it early, and had left it untouched. With about 15 seconds left, both opponents head to it. Seeing this, we dropped ours and went off to block. Successfully holding off both teams, we still lost the match by one point(sigh). But, with a penalty on 56's alliance, we took the win by 9. Was very exciting to myself, and from what i saw, the crowd thought it too. Ill try to upload a video of it tonite, and ill post a link of it later.

I also stood on the human player zone for a missing team during a 237 round, and was very impressed with their efficiency. Was quite good. Never dropped a tet or missed a cap.

But Penalties, unprepared robots, and lack of driver training have ruled the day. Look for much better competition tomorrow.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I'll add a few teams which impressed me today: 1279, 1228, 869 & 293
Plus the usual suspects: 25, 56, 102, 103* & 237
* when on all fours

Robbe was clearly the most consistent scorer today. 25 dared anyone to try to push them around (no takers that I saw) and after spending most of practice scoring tetras, 102 showed a brief glimpse of awesome defensive play late in the day.

Things started out pretty slowly, but most teams seemed to be getting their acts together in the afternoon. Turnaround wasn't as quick as it should be, though that got better later in the day, too. At the end of practice we were still working the bugs out of real-time scoring - hopefully it will be working for tomorrows matches.

Wayne's Tiki looks safe so far.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Hey, thanks...we were really dissappointed with our performance today :( :(

We hit EVERY LITTLE problem along the way and in the end were a little bit better....Tomorrow we will be back to our good old selves ( at least our drive train kicked some booty )

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

56, 103 & 237 seemed to stand out in my mind. I think we're in for a really competitive regional. The robots look terrific.

Good luck to everyone tomorrow!

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I'll quote you on that one. Every single problem you could emagine happened with our end effector. Drive train is sick. We gotta fix some bugs and we should be stacking tetras tomorrow :)

237 and 25 stick out in my mind.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I'm not telling anyone what I think of any robots untill I get my sombrero back!!!!!! who steals another mans sombrero!

P.S.
stop stealing our award just because it says sacramento.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

The FIRST site isn't able to report match scores :( Who out there has an update on the NJ Regional?

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I just recieved a call from my dad saying that 237 has scored a vision tetra on the side goal in autonomous!!!

Great job, guys! :D

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

WOW!, we all knew they could do it, and they did it, i wana watch the video!!! :D

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

They were successful and the refs were not sure what to do. However they lost that match because of excellent play by the other alliance who capped 6 goals.

We have had a fairly successful day despite some alliance parings that often had us flying solo or with one working partner. In our first 4 matches we had at least one alliance partner not function, and out of the 6 matches we had we had too play solo twice! During our solo rounds we won once, but lost the other because our alliance partner de-scored our back row. I must say the robots this year at NJ are not as strong as they used to be, the difference between the top teams and the middle and bottom teams is very pronounced. Hopefully things will improve for some teams who are having problems with their arms or DTs.
Can't wait till tomorrow.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I'm suffering from serious lack of info here.. :ahh:

Can anyone post the Fri NJ awards and the top 8 teams? There may be Krispy Kremes in it for you...

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

look what i found!

Imagery........272

Radio Shack Innovation in Control...................................237

Xerox Creativity........................................ ..................716

Delphi Drive Tommorows Technology...............................25

Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers (entrepreneurship).......103

Judge's Award............................................. ..............136

Website........................................... ........................752

Autodesk Visualization..................................... ............75


trying to find my match results. i have it somewhere

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

25 winning Delph? Not surprised, they always do great.

Anyone at the scoring table tomorrow? Say hi to my dad, he looks like me and should have a Sparky hat on.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Number 1 seed is 56 (big surprise) they're 6-0. NOt sure who the other ones are but i think that 1089 is in there 272 is in there somewhere. I'd like to put myself up to the test. How am I doing calling the play by play? It's my first FIRST regional doing this and I'd like to get your feedback. I'll keep track of more stuff for you all tomorrow.

Later

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

56 is just.. awesome. Great job.

237 seemed to have some unfortunate alliance pairings, so they are little low in the rankings. I think they could easily win all three of their matches tomorrow and climb into the top 8.. or at least get picked first round.

103 and 25 are still two of the top teams in my opinion. Tomorrow will be competitive... good luck to everyone!!

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

anyone see any good rookie teams out there?

My favorite rookie bot, 1688. these guys are the preachers of KISS (keep it simple stupid) went with an absurdly simple bot and used most kit parts and came out with one of the most effective bots on the field. they decided not to build an arm and they go with a dump truck style bot and dump tetras underneath, they maybe only one point, but they all count. 1689 (whatever the green bot was) also looked pretty advanced for a rookie team.

Rookie Inspiration:1626, It's kinda sad, they got all the stuff a veteran team has, it makes us look real bad being an older team and not having all the team propoganda that they had. But 1626 is a team to watch for in the future, and definetly a future chairman's candidate. These guys look really bright

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Team 219 is having a few issues but were making our way through them. We had a small gear welded to the CIKM shafts(x2 motors). We modified an old gear box design. Unfortunitly(sp) the teeth are too small and stated to shear off yesterday. Now we are down to one motor, since we didnt take broken gears into account for spare parts. Our stupid mistake.

Overall im not too happy with our performance thus far, our drivers do not have a good handle on the system. Except the arm, which works now. The later in the day we got, the better things went. I am really impressed with other teams this year. Working well together and have great, working deisgns. We went with a simple cross grabber to keep the weight down at the end of the arm. There are alot of teams with pneumatic mechs and many other things. Im really supprised simplicity was not a key factor this year.

See you tomorrow, good luck.

Rememer us for the finals, we drive really defencivly. :D

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I'm still sticking by my guns, team 56 and 237 are going to be 2 of the 3 (or 4) teams taking home the championship. Other than that I think that 25 and 1382 are definately going to be in the mix for tomorrows race to the finish. But with 24 teams going to elims, 8 teams being set aside for standby and only 53 teams at the event that makes only 21 teams that won't be picked. So here's the best of luck to everyone tomorrow. I'll be acting "as the voice of God" or so they say. I'm taking your comments and putting them into my act, I'll try to make this the best regional ever.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Rich,

56 is definitely first
637 is up there along with 25, and 1403, i think?
1089 was #1 for a while, but now we're like...13th or something, maybe lower.
237 isn't as high as i expected them to be.
1279 is somewhere in the top eight, but i can't remember where.

don't remember the top eight unfortunately X___x but i hope that helps a little!

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Here's the standings after Friday's play:

1 - 56 (6-0)
2- 272 (5-1-1)
3 - 637 (5-1)
4 - 1626 (5-1)
5 - 75 (5-1)
6 - 223 (5-2)
7 - 869 (5-2)
8 - 528 (5-2)
9 - 486 (5-1)
10 - 752 (4-1-1)
11 - 25 (4-2-1)
12 - 1688 (4-3)
13 - 293 (4-2)
14 - 1403 (4-2)
15 - 11 (4-3)
16 - 224 (4-3)

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

We're currently #25. A disappointing ref call and two bad rounds took us from 1st to 25th pretty quickly. Such is the way qualifying rounds go. I just hope we push back tomorrow.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Some teams have been remarkably lucky, we were reviewing tape last night and some of the top 8 were very lucky with alliance pairings. I think today the top 15 will change quite a bit since many teams are within striking distance of the top 8.
We should have been 5-1 but one of our alliance partners touched our back home row and de-scored it, the worst part about that is that we were missing a robot and we could not get the 10 points for being in the home zone so it was de-scored for no reason. Well we will be back today:)

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Results

http://www2.usfirst.org/2005comp/Events/NJ/awards.html

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

congratulations to team 11 for winning chairmans. they're a great team and well-deserving of recognition :)

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

The regional was superb, everyone. Those finals matches were amazing. 237, 56, and 103 were definitely the top tier of teams at this regional. Congrats to Team 11 MORT on their well-deserved chairman's entry. A special thanks to our alliance partners 869 and 1214 for putting up such a valiant effort. We just ended up one point too short.

So who's going to Atlanta?

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

So I hear that there was a bomb threat at the arena after the competition?!?

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Well I was almost right. 237 and 56 were in the finals. And in all my years of FIRST that was the best final round I've ever had the pleasure of seeing. Now I can start recoooperating for next week at NYC! Congrats to teams 1279 103 and 375 on their win...and of course 11! They definately deserved that Chairmans Award...

On another note. 2 things. I'd like feedback on my play by play announcing. What did I do well, and what can I improve upon. I'm doing back up play by play in NYC and Randy Schaeffer and Don Bowers were so impressed they're trying to get me a volunteer job in Atlanta. SO PLEASE GIVE ME SOME FEEDBACK!

Awesome competition and I'll see you all in Atlanta (hopefully)

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Who were the regional Winners for the NJ Regional ?

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Why was there a rematch in the final round?

I wish there was a fifth game. Yes, it would have been unprecedented, but also unprecedented in excitement and suspense.

IMO, all regional finals should be best of five. What do you think?

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

well, there was a replayed match in the finals because one team claimed to be having communication issues with the field. The match decision was a tough one to call and they decided it on gracious professionalism. The scoring and field controll computer was also having some problems during the quarter finals up to the end. all the numbers had to be manual typed into the system and still showed up wrong on the screen when scores where shown. the refs. really do have their work cut out for them this year. my big question is what are the going by, the time on the clock or the sounds being played. there was always a switch and some teams got penalties for touching controls b4 the buzzer but the clock was claimed to be at 120. it was a long day!

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

[quote=Bluesky55J]well, there was a replayed match in the finals because one team claimed to be having communication issues with the field. The match decision was a tough one to call and they decided it on gracious professionalism.[quote]

I was rooting for the 1279 alliance, but I didn't think the way the regional ended was particularly fair. IMO, gracious professionalism should have nixed the fourth match and given the alliances and the fans a fifth for all the marbles.

Communications issues were a big problem in this regional. We had problems controlling our arm both in and out of autonomous that never manifested when we tested the robot on tether and then showed up randomly when we were playing. Then there was red human player pad #2, which caused us a bit trouble, and caused match #37 on Friday to be postponed. Did anybody else have these types of problems during the regional? I suspect the answer is yes.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Same problem in L.I. Regional. The scorekeeper almost pulled his hair out during quarter finals when everyone kept yelling at him. :ahh:

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

No way, it would be way too hard on the machines, and FIRST's schedule to run 5 matches in the finals.

Sounds can, and have repeatedly messed up. I have yet to see the clock fail.

Referees should be going by the clock, not the sounds.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

[quote=sw293][quote=Bluesky55J]well, there was a replayed match in the finals because one team claimed to be having communication issues with the field. The match decision was a tough one to call and they decided it on gracious professionalism.I think that the replay was totally fair. They were not getting signal to their bot, so they could not control it, that it being Firsts problem, and not the teams. Also, if there was no replay...there wouldn't have been all that excitement of the 103 alliance coming to win it all :)

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Yes there was a bomb threat, apperntly someone made decided to pull a prank and called it in from a payphone in the in the Soverign Bank Arena
everyone calmly evacuated the building and we waited outside, Trenton Police Searched the Building but to be completly safe, the NJ State Police came and conducted their own search, after about 3 hours, Teams were allowed to finish packing up, and first started feild take down.

Just a request, please lets not continue discussion about this, I personally do not want to see it go off in the wrong direction



Oh btw, How did i do, with my emcee training, any tips and pointers will be a great help :)

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

That's incorrect. It was a bomb threat. I was interrogated about it.

Long story, but ..

The phone that received the bomb threat was a payphone for the building. It just so happens that my bus driver used that phone to try to reach me earlier in the day, and when I called it back when we were outside to try to tell them we had to wait longer, I was told to describe what I was wearing and that someone would talk to me (they didn't identify themselves as police). I originally thought it may have been a teammate of mine's cell phone that someone got ahold of, so I went to find them. Then I called it back and said "I'm in the lot by the cop car, are you over there?" And they said yes. So they gave me a place to meet them, and I found them... as I approached them with my backpack in-hand, they said "don't move, put your bag down, and come with me".
They took me across the street, I had to give them some info, etc, while a woman searched my bag on the other side...I told them my story... and then they let me go. As I was walking back my bus driver saw me, and wanted to know the story.... so I told her what was going on, and I asked when and where she called me, and she said it was from the payphone in the building.

When we were told that it would at least be another hour, our team walked to a pizza shop. As we walked back, we saw them bringing in another set of bomb-sniffing dogs. Apparently they had to do three checks with different dogs, and that the state police was bringing two more dogs.

Man, what a day....

First, I take my first ambulance ride ever with one of my students who had a glow stick burst in his eye (another story for another time, but that's why 1089 called a time out after the first QF round).... and then I get interrogated by the police. FIRST ALWAYS promises good times!

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

that was an awsome regional guys congrats on 1279,103,and 375 on that come back after the radio problems. we ended up 1st seed went 8-1-0,we got with our good ol' friends 237, and 303 again, we got a cool pink award from 237 for best autonomous, and the Motorola Quality Award soo we made out alright maybe in philly we can get some more cool awards and maybe a win. see yall there..

P.S.
for those who care i got my sombrero back and i liked teams 237,303,25,103,224,272.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

good job 1279 , 103, 375. very good regional. We all knew u beat us in our 3rd quarterfinal match but until we watched that match i never realized that we were only 2 inches from getting back to our zone and winning the quarterfinal. it was a great match anyways and i wish u all luck at nationals.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

All in all it was a great comp, kinda bumbed about the refs decision in the finals, but what are you gonna do.. we did cap in autonomous mode using the camera! check the vid. http://www.team237.com/videos/Auto_Vision_Cap.wmv

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Thanks to everyone for congratulating us on our chairmans award win. It feels so good to get that award after 9 years of solid dedication to FIRST. We hope to make a good standing at nationals.

As for our robot, as the competition went on, we progressed in leaps and bounds We found defense to be a VERY VERY EFFECTIVE strategy and were selected for that reason. From thursday not capping one tetra, to the last match saturday, capping the opponents home zone, the middle, and two of our home zone all while playing defense was a great accomplishment for us. We go to Palmetto with a solid foundation to work from and a nice shiny new banner reading "2005 Chairmans Award Winner - New Jersey Regional"

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Anyone have video from NJ? I'd love to have some to show my manager who's thinking of contributing some money next year. If you can send it to me I'd owe you one!

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Despite the computer / communication / and other such problems congradulations to all the teams that participated in the NJ Regional. Congrads to all the award winners of the event, congrads to 1279, 103 and 375 for winning the event.


And special congrads to team 375 for bringing Staten Islands first Regional Win of 2005 ! =) Hope to see all of you at Nationals.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

We have a bunch of video from the comp, but its only of when we were on the field.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I know 1089 took a lot of video. There's probably some that isn't even our team. I will search through what we've got and post anything worth watching here XD

Congrats to everyone who won awards and to the teams that won the regional :)
Everyone put out a very competitive robot this year.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Congrats to all the winners. 103 1279 and 375, sure gave me a surprise. I had been confident enough to think that we were the only alliance that could possibly take down 303 237 56, because of our defensive background. But I was clearly wrong and incredibly surprised. Tremendous job.

To 56, 237, and 303, you guys were amazing, I never expected a loss from you three, shows how much this game can surprise you. It was an alliance made of my best friends, and made me incredibly disappointed to see you guys lose(some tears may have been shed including my own). BTW, Thanks to the three drive teams for letting me make that speech before round three.

And of course to our tremendous alliance partners, 716 and 102. You guys were outstanding. I never would have thought that we could possibly pick you both. The defense 716 put out was amazing, no one, except centripetal force could take you down. 102 you guys were also great, a steal for a 2nd rounder. The triple play we established in the autonomous of every match was astonishing. Of course I wish the outcome would have been different, but it still feels great that we did so well together and lost to the eventual champions.

I would also like to congratulate 1676, 1626, and 1688 on their awards. We have worked with all of them this year, and have so many great things to say about them. It is really great to see young teams like this succed.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

thanks Corey. i was the one that shed a couple tears. was a difficult lose for our alliance but in the end congrats to 103 375 1279 they did a great job. thanks to 56 and 237 they are just the greatest teams we could of been with and just great. thanks Anthony and Scott and i can't forget my coach and copilot Keith and big mike(from our team). and just the whole two teams. could not of done any of this without the help from theses great teams.

Never thought our alliance could get 100 point. thanks for that guys.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

George,
Quick feedback on your play-by-play: Excellent. As a rookie mentor I can't say that I have much to compare against, but I found that the calling was absolutely an enhancement to the action. In the pits (watching the monitor) I would be able to figure out more of what was going on than just by the video. In the stands your calls helped me focus on what to look at.

You definitely were 100% professional, in sound and in the excitement you created for each match. I only realized late Friday that you weren't a paid pro brought in just for the event.

Thanks!

Don
1676 - Rookie All Stars from NJ

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Yeah, it was a tough loss. My full congrats go to 1279, 103, and 375. During the final match between that alliance and the 25 alliance, i was worried cause i knew who ever won, it was gonna be hard for us. I had a great time, oh and i really have to give props to Falcon Robotics. You guys were so official knew what you were doing for that final match with us in qualifications i didn't even realize you guys were rookies. This was one great experience.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

that was great.

Play by play was excellent-My mom told me afterword out of the blue that it was a phonominal voice performance. Great job George.

As good as 237 was in autonomous, I still think that our Brazilian Buddies at 1382 did have a better one, the knocked one of the hanging ones down and capped, that was a nice feat within itself, great job to both teams for that, its not easy as we found. we only got our's working the last day of competition, as 237 knows when we knocked them during autonomous so they couldn't cap. Sorry about it, you guys had a great accomplishment. What about the center?

3 rookie team really stood out, the All Star-Pioneers, (1676) the Highest Seed-Falcon Robotics and the Inspiration-(1688) all of you guys comprised of a strong rookie class, all 3 of you guys were in it for the rookie awards.

Very well organized, great job anyone who had anything to do with it.

but watch for 1403 at Buckeye we made some big time improvements on saturday.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I have to disagree with this one, and try not to be biased by the fact that I am on a team in the losing alliance.

I have video of the robot performing superbly (knocking off a tetra in autonomous, and playing defense to team on their side and the other side of the field, and everything) until 23 seconds remaining in the match (as called plain as day by the announcer) when they smashed into the center goal.

Now, unless they are really fast and that was a really hard knock into the center goal and the vibration from that carried all the way over to the field controllers and dislodged a wire to make it a communications error, then I would have to say that this call was one of the worst ones my team has ever had to be a recipient of and it basically cost us the regional. :(
I think it was a hard hit to their end of the bot thus being their problem, not a field problem that requires a rematch.
Did I mention that the other 2 robots on that team were knocked over in the heat of the match. But the same thing happened to 2 of our robots in the next match which was the rematch in question, so I won't go there.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

On a more positive note, I was checking out stories from NJ news papers, and found this article in The Times

Quote:

Nuts and bolts of technology

Quote:

Sunday, March 20, 2005 By MIRTA D'AMATO Staff Writer TRENTON - With the help of their human creators, high school robots battled it out during the ninth annual FIRST Robotics competition at the Sovereign Bank Arena yesterday. The two-day "Triple Play" challenge attracted teams from several local schools, including TrentonCentralHigh School, and others from as far as Puerto Rico and Brazil. "It's a competition where teams of young men and women have worked with engineering mentors from local companies or universities to build a robotic competitor," said Randy Schaeffer, FIRST regional director for New Jersey and New York City. "They compete in a game based on strategy, technical prowess and the ability of a human player." Sponsored by several local companies including Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb, the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) event kicked off at 9 a.m. with 2-minute, 15-second robotic matches on a 27-foot-by-52-foot playing field. Working together, TCHS juniors Detlev Yanez, 17, Justino Cortez, 18, and Guillermo Diaz, 16, strategically guided their 130-pound Patriot into the semifinals yesterday. "I thought I was going to mess up, but I did pretty good," said Diaz, who hustled to place tetrahedrons on their robot's claw. "I had to make sure that I didn't touch the robot at all." With skill and precision, Cortez, the team's captain and driver, strategically maneuvered the bot to place tetras on similarly shaped goals, while six other robots were doing the same. "This is my third year competing," Cortez said. "It takes a lot of teamwork and a lot of after-school hours to build it." HightstownHigh School student Ray Palmere, 15, said there are many challenges on the playing field. "It's the ongoing changing of strategies," said Palmere, team driver whose robot, Quicksilver, made it to the quarter-finals. "A lot of times you can't figure out the strategies to use, a lot of times you can. Once you can it's good." Helping to make the program a success, high school students work closely with team mentors to design and build the remote-controlled robots. "FIRST gives you six weeks to design a robot, come up with a game strategy and build a robot," said Dave Cipolloni, TCHS teacher leader for applied engineering and science. "During that six weeks, we spend at least six days a week, sometimes seven, working on the robot. We work after school until 9 or 10 p.m. and sometimes after midnight to get the job done. You have to come up with the strategy of how you are going to play the game and then come up with a concept on how you are going to design the robot to implement that strategy. Once you do that, then you have to start making your drawings so that you can fabricate the parts and make your robot." FIRST is a nonprofit organization that introduces high school students around the world to science, math, engineering and technology. "We feel strongly about the many opportunities that FIRST provides," said Curt M. Selquist, company group chairman with sponsor Johnson & Johnson. "The program builds enthusiasm for the creative engineering process, motivating young people at an ideal time in their educational careers."

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Try not to be biased because our team was the winner, but wasn't the problem that 375 was disabled by the judges on ACCIDENT when they were slammed into the center goal? That's what I thought I heard, but I could be mistaken about that. 303, 56, and 237 though, wow, you guys did fantastic. :)

The bomb scare comment doesn't really make sense though.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

Here is something I noticed during the last day of competition, quiet a few robots were pushed over, now some were legally pushed over, they were hit low and did not properly react, however the refs were not properly calling the pushing rule.
One team who will go unnamed, used their arm to tomahawk our arm when we were putting a tetra onto the center goal, they hit our arm several times and tipped us back onto two wheels. After the match I talked to the ref and he said it was "good defense" which is plainly stated as the opposite in the official FIRST rules. Later in the playoffs I saw several robots being pushed over by arms hitting high, the refs really need to pay attention and call that penalty.

I was disappointed because no one picked us despite being in the top 15 during the entire two days of competition, and of course the worst part was having to stand their on the sidelines as a standby robot hoping for someone to break so we could aid an alliance. We had some bad luck with alliance pairings and did pretty decently considering we were often paired with robots who could not drive or cap, or even show up for a match, we got pretty used to playing solo or in 2v3 situations.

Thanks to Team 272 for giving us an award for "saving their bot" we are going to find a nice home for your sword, hopefully next time you can pick us as an alliance partner;)

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

oh I had one beef with the judging, just one, and it doesn't matter really anymore.

In match Q32 with 1403, 1382, 1144 (red alliance) against 637, 237, 1617(blue alliance). you know the 10 point bonus for being behind the line. well at the end, The red alliance was all behind the line, and had video footage to prove it and such, however that wasn't counted, in the final scoring. The score ended up being 25-19 with blue winning, but it doesn't matter whats over is over. thats all.

however i think it maybe an idea to add a section in the rules next year about reviewing judged calls, as long as their is offical footage proving if something happened or not.

but it doesn't matter, whats done is done, and we're almost all volunteers

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

First off, thank you for the kind words.. :)

Second, I heard that it was a field communications error and if I have the call on video, I shall transpose word for word as to what the official call was, and post it here just so that we are all on the same page.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

I was the one who announced the call that there was a communication error. I was just saying what the head ref (John) and the feild technical director told me. They informed me that one of the teams on the blue allaince was having problems communicating with their robot throughout the match. Sometimes it would respond and other times nothing. So the refs met with each other and made the call. I'm not saying whether or not they made the right one. All I can say is that they made the decision that they thought was best. To play "devils advocate" if I may. We were having difficulties with the blue side of the field all regional. So that may have been the that they called it the way they did. I know there isn't much I can say to take away the pain of defeat but let me reassure all of you that the refs did what they thought was the best and most gracious thing to do in the situation.

Re: New Jersey Regional 2005
 

On another note, I'm looking for footage of the awards ceremony from saturday and the elimination matches. ANYONE with such footage, please contact me and we'll discuss the best way to get the footage to me. I'd appreciate all help I can get on this. THANKS