Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

I was there from 3 PM onwards today to help with the playing field setup (which was pretty cool), and I snapped a few quick pictures. (I think everyone at some point should help with the set-up of an entire playing field, from laying out the carpet to wiring in the field controls. I really gives a sense of how much hard work goes into getting everything running, as for most people, they just come in and everything is there. The amount of work that most people see during the three days of a regional is only 1% of the total work that goes into running a FIRST event.)

The new venue this year is huge, and even with one half of the exhibition hall closed, there is more than enough room for the FRC playing field, FRC pits, FVC playing field, and FVC pits. There is also a lot of tables and chairs in the back area near the concessions stands. Do not count on having power in the stands. They are in the middle of the exhibition hall, and running a trans-Atlantic extension cable to them probably will not be a good idea, nor will it be okay with any of the CTCC (Connecticut Convention Center) staff.

My advice to everyone - BRING HEARING PROTECTION! Between all the cheering teams and the metal bleachers, it will be VERY loud this year!







EDIT: Wow, the regional hasn't even started yet and there is already six pages of replies in this thread about it. I guess its all this New England contagious enthusiasm. :p

Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

I was there quickly today for about 10 minutes to drop off some ref shirts this morning. It did look huge, unfortunately I am stuck in school for a while longer, til about 1ish... I will be there later today and all day Friday and Saturday, I can't wait!

Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

Hey..

Does anyknow know what the site is for the webcast for this regional?

The NASA site is: http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/webc...onals_2006.php

But the New England regional is not on it. :(

Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

http://shsrobotics.org/06/webcast/

It's hosted by Team 230.

Looks like they are possibly only doing it on Friday and/or Saturday.

I'm not sure.

Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

Arggh, I got the flu and couldn't go (today anyways, maybe a miracle will happen and it will clear up soon). Anyways, I was watching the webcast and I believe a 237 alliance has broken the high score record. Not totally sure of the other teams (anybody know?) but the score at the end of the match was 156.

Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

Tis only practice, much changes from today to tomorrow.

Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

Indeed it is. Tomorrow let's go for breaking the 175, or even 200 point mark when it really counts. :D

Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

I hear from some teams up there that there are no where near as many shooters as expected. Around 40% or lower. However i have heard of some high scores coming from here and FLR. Again though, practice is much different. I expect to see some hard hitting defense tomorrow, with many low scores.

Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

I'm not too sure if that score was entirely accurate. I was standing at the scoring table all day today and I don't recall seeing any particularly high-scoring matches.

We did notice at one point that one of the corner goals (the right-hand blue one) had lost its calibration and was counting up all on its own. Other than that, the scoring system was working extremely well *knock on wood*.

Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

You know what's going to happen now that you said it. ;)

Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

i was human player during that match and there was no way the score was that high... we only got like 3 or 4 in the center goal the whole match and like 10 tops in the side goal GUS also shot a bunch in the center goal.. then we had 3 bots on the ramp at the end maybe it was like 56 not 156...

Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

I like the convention center.. it's nice and big, no worrying about space... My only suggestion would have been to make the pit aisles larger, but I think thats one of those things that expands to fill all available space. (And what team would complain if the pits were made bigger?)

The amount of space available just amazes me.

Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

To quote another team member today, "We could put another field, right over there. This could be a superregional."

Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

Is anyone else concerned about a potential lack of seating space? I've heard that each of the two bleacher banks is supposed to seat 1000 people, in theory, but it seems to me that it wouldn't be in excess if some of the extra space were occupied by another bank (at the end of the field opposite the pits, maybe).

Re: 2006 UTC New England Regional!
 

Only real problem I can see with the convention center is seating around the field. I think with the number of people in the pits working on robots, spectator seating isn't too much of an issue, but I'm thinking for the finals on Saturday. I heard someone say there's enough seating for 2000 people in those stands, but there's around 3000 students in attendance. Standing room is plentiful, but it sort of reminds me of the Championship in Epcot, with the temporary bleachers set up around the field.