Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I have been asked many times in the past few months if Florida’s Mayhem will be back again or not. I am proud to say that we will be returning this year once again with:

Mission Mayhem

The offseason competition is going to be hosted at DeVry University (Miramar, Florida) on June 2nd and 3rd 9th and 10th, 2006 (fri and sat). We will have a lot of workshops, FLL, and VEX. The social for the event will be on Friday evening.

The registration fee for the event is $250.

As I get together with the committee and get updates about ...

- Website
- Team Social
- Hotel information
- Agenda

... I will come back in this thread and update all the teams.

We would like to invite all the teams in FIRST to come join us. Please contact me for more information at arefin.bari@gmail.com

I also can be reached with aim (mechman108) or googletalk or my number (please pm).

... I look forward to work with all of you and see what we have got to offer to the students.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Very nice. Congratulations Arefin and his gang.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

108 will be there for sure, I'll get whomever you need to help out!
Go Arefin!
I'm looking forward to another great Mayhem!

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

cause were Gangsta's!

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I was taking serious thought into using a free airline ticket to fly down to my aunts and go to this....but....my SAT's are on the 3rd....grrrr...maybe next year.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

you know that PINK will be there.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

thats my prom and graduation weekend :cool:

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I'll be there for sure. 1390 most likely again... and I'll work on raising the money for 1604 to get there as well. We'll talk later. No getting hit in the head with lexan this time, okay?

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

1345 is there. As am I. BRING IT!

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Good luck with this event to the Florida FIRST crew down south. I'm sure it'll be fun but I won't be around to see it.

Let the games once again begin :)

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I'll help out! But, not at MODS this year? Why?

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

FIRST Field + Outside + Storm + Water + Robots = Dangerous.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Lets see...

this time it is...

FIRST field + Outside + HUGE tent + some water + Robots = MAYHEM.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

huricane + lexan + barry = barry getting hit in the face with a piece of lexan that got blown by a gust. Hows that for ebaumsworld

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

It's being held outside again?


**Ding**

Round 2.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

alright ... lets get back on the topic.

Lets work together to get this Mayhem as many teams as possible. Tell your team mates. Tell the teams in the area. Get others involved.

... I will update everyone as soon as the committee figures out everything... where we are putting the field, what we are doing both days, what workshops we are going to have, how many volunteers we would need etc.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Wow... congratulations Arefin for getting this started once again. I am sure it will be a huge success this year, as it was last year. The addition of the workshops should be nice. If there is anything I can do to help you this year, don't hesitate to ask (I really enjoyed doing the T-shirt design last year). I am definitely willing to provide any materials you might like for the FLL workshops... over the years I have done many presentations and lessons and if you need any advice at all, I am always here.

Now, lets see if I can convince my team to miss a bunch of school so that we can come down. :)

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Well well well...

It seems that June 2nd and 3rd dont exactly work out too well with my two teams. Both of my teams will still be in school friday. Even worse most of the people who could come will be taking the SAT's on the 3rd, as some other people in this same post have stated as reasons why they cant come.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Thats right Tytus were Ganstas' lol 1251 crew reporting for duty. We will of course be bringing t21V.3 to defend our mayhem title. Rd 2 indeed ;)

-Drew

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Sounds like fun. I'll be there.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Questions

1. seince Orange County Public School lets our seniors out on May 10th, while Dade County doesn't have graduation untill middle-late june, are our seniors still considered high school students in this off season event, because, if we can't use our seniors, then neather should the other teams, so it can be fair.

ill try to get 1402, and 945 down there.

any hotel info, how far is it from downtown miami, and how far is this place from the Don Shula hotel, (i know miami lakes area very well.)

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I think as it goes with all offseason events its up to your team how you want to handle that.

Remeber that offseason events are a great way to get new drivers trained and allow people who have never been on stage get to go, I know in the past most teams will have a different set of drivers for each match just to spread the love.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

While the date fits the Broward country public schools, it does not fit many others. It seems to be a problem and hopefully will be changed. June 3rd being SAT's and being that it is the biggest SAT day of the year, and every junior is almost forced to go, many teams will not be in full attendance or may not be attending at all.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Time for some updates…

The dates for the
Mission Mayhem have been changed to:
June 9th and 10th due to June 3rd being a SAT day.

Registration info will be out very soon as soon as we get few confirmations from the teams.

An URL for Mission Mayhem will also be posted here soon.

We hope to see you there. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me: arefin.bari@gmail.com.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

1345 will still be there. Hope others can make it.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I was just curious is there going to be anything involving a mini-VEX competition? I know a few people (including myself) that have built vew robots capable of capping tetras and I would love to see them all in action.

Just a suggestion...

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

i will talk to the team but im pretty sure ComBBAT would be able to attend

Hotel Information
 

MISSION MAYHEM Hotel Information (updated as it comes)

DeVry University is located in Miramar, Florida. You can get a map of it here.

Here are two options you may like:

1. The three closest Hotels to DeVry University in Miramar (where competition is held)

2. Special Rates for Friday June 9th thanks to DeVry

-- Hilton Garden Inn: $99.00/room/night
2300 SW 145th Ave
Miramar, Fl 33027
(954) 499-9642

Notes: Total Distance: 0.8 mi // Estimated Time: 0:01:00.
Each guest makes reservation directly, identify yourself as "DeVry University Group", deadline is May 18, 2006.

-- Ramada Inn Miami Airport North: $52.00/room/night
1950 West 49th Street
Hialeah, FL 33012
(305) 823-2000

Notes: Total Distance: 10.70 mi // Estimated Time: 0:16:18.
Give the Master code # P65321 and that will get the rate. You can then give credit card to hold your specific room.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I'll be there saturday helping out and possibly Friday night for the team social (unless Motorola lets me get off work Friday too) Arefin I'd love to help reffing again so you can count me in for that. As for 710, not sure if they are going.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Hey Abe, glad to hear that you will be back. I talked to your dad at nationals and he told me that 710 is ready to register. Can't wait for another mayhem.

Re: Hotel Information
 

How far is the Don Shula Hotel and Miami Lakes Main Street from this location.

THanks

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

It's great to see another off season event in FL. Unfortunately I probably wont be able to go :( but I'll see if anyone from my team wants to go and rep with the blinged swerve drive.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

why is the "mayhem" happening so far south? wouldnt it be kinda hard to get a good number of teams from out of state as opposed to one in more central florida?

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

There used to be an offseason event in the orlando area but not anymore. As far as getting teams from out of state, we try our best but its pretty tough sometimes even if its in central florida.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Like Abe said, the former Orlando offseasons only brought in central florida teams anyhow. Since Mr. Burke and Arefin to all of the planning and venue-finding for the mayhem event, it ends up being in South Florida due to their location. Mayhem started up again as a seperate offseason from the Robot Rodeo (which unfortunatly did not occur last year, and idk what is up with this year). I don't think that a Central Florida offseason is out've the question for future years, but I know that with the success of Mayhem from last year that continuing to strengthen that offseason can still bring people to a fun vacation spot as well as help to secure a permanent offseason event that maybe one day will become as big as something such as IRI. Of course, this is just me talking, but I know that with the great success last year even with all of nature's fury, the competition showed excellent potential and to not continue pursuit there would be foolish since members of the community down there seem to be very supportive of this event.

Re: Hotel Information
 

Total Distance: 8.2 Miles // Estimated Time: 00:16:00
I also have directions for you.
----
I updated the hotel information post with a map of DeVry University. You can also get it here.
----
Note to hoorayforpink: Our offseason, Mission Mayhem, is separate from Robot Rodeo. If the Committee for Robot Rodeo decides to host the Offseason again, you will have an offseason in Central Florida.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

ok thats cool i might be going depending on carpooling, whos going, that sort of thing for us it would be a three hour drive :ahh:

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

The Robot Rodeo unfortuneitly did not happen last due to shippment of the feild. As you may remember, hevay rains in Mass. and NH caused shipping delays. Therefore it did not happen last year, our school was going to host it on Oct 22, but as i said, the feild didn't show. so we didn't bother.

As for this year,.... im not sure anymore about the future of the Robot Rodeo or team 1402

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Our WEBSITE is up. Click for the most recent information including directions, hotel information, foodvenues, and the agenda.

Arefin has sent an e-mail to all teams that have shown interest about registration information. Please forward any questions to him: arefin dot bari at gmail dot com.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

The Mayhem site has been down this past weekend. But it is up and running now. Few people were there by my side and helped me fix this site to give it a new look... Neha Batra (frc1345) - contents of the website, Sam Lipscomb (frc 230 ... talk about gracious professionalism? She knows nothing about this offseason, she just met me this past championship, but she offered her help to get the site up and running), she just did some amazing work in one night, made this site look a lot better than it was at one point of time, and Victor Marmol (frc1029) who made the entrance page of the website.

The link to the site is www.floridarobotics.org

We are hoping to see the teams rock south florida on June 9th and 10th. Don't forget that the registration is still open and we need you to register by May 20th. Thank you.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Some people may have heard that the mayhem is being cancelled. ...No, this is not true, we are alive and running and ready to...well...cause some mayhem.

We have many teams on the list already, if you want any information, you can visit our site here.

We also have a few treats for you guys
- A radio station in miami (103.5 - The Beat) will be broadcasting us
- Local TV and Newspaper coverage
- Live band for the social
- Corporate sponsors and VIPs are attending and looking forward to a good time

So please join us, it will be enjoyable as a competitor, volunteer, and spectator.
If you need anything, give Arefin Bari or me a PM.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Arefin,

I'll volunteer, but if you make me the ball-prodding person, I'll take that length of PVC and impale you with it. :)

KTHX

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

only two weeks away!!

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Team 11 would like to wish everyone good luck!!! We're sorrryyy we couldn't make it down to Florida (believe me I would jump on a plane in a heartbeat if I could), but unfortunately us kids from the North still have school till June 23rd!!

A special GOOD LUCK to TECHTIGERS 1251, I LOVE and MISS you guys like CRAZY. Let me know how everything turns out! Bring home another win!

Lots of love <3.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

OMG, a school that get's out later than us!?!!?!?! :ahh: (we get out June 20th)

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

So a radio station is going to be there? Does that mean I get to stream the bumpin dj feed live all day long? :-P

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Yea...its Mount Olive for ya.

This year we started Sept 12th...and next year they'll be starting Sept 20th! Due to stupid construction all over our school...What's your school's excuse?

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

We've got you beat... here in North Brunswick the last day of school is June 27th. :ahh:

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

anyone know why team 79 (krunch) and 86 (resistance) aren't listed in the teams anymore and/or y they arent goin?

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

If I'm not mistaken, those two teams don't participate in offseason events.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

oo ok I was just wondering because they used to be listed on the mayhem website and now they arent so ya whatever

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I've got my train ticket to Florida--this one's going to be pretty awesome.

Should we interpret the updated (and regrettably Krunch/Resistance/S.P.A.M.-free) team listing on the website as official?

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Yes sir.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

yet another reason i wish i didnt have to miss it.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

pretty much awesome is usually a good thing :D

and its a week away in one minute!!

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Do you mentor Florida teams, yet live in another state (*cough* Andrew Rudolph)... have you not had enough fill of Aim High for the season... do you really really wanna go to Mission Mayhem but parents/work won't let you?

Well, thanks to an effort between Devry , myself, and Dave Flowerday/Team 111 (who deserve an extra hand for helping us out last minute to find the bandwidth needed to get this to work, once again showing off why they won Chairman's!) ... you can be there with us (almost)! Mission Mayhem is going to be coming to you live via webfeed. Keep a close eye on CD in the coming days, and check out the Agenda for the event. I'll be updating the website as well as starting a webcast thread Friday morning.

Through that thread you'll be able to not just watch the event, but even be part of it. We're going to be playing a little announcer game, which you may have seen before, in which announcers are given interesting words/phrases that they must incorporate into their announcing for a match. You're going to get to contribute to make them work to hold on to that microphone! :) So, start thinking and get ready to post your ideas (creativity and appropriateness is a must!) and during the event I will stay on top of that thread from the scoring/webcast table to choose phrases to pass onto the announcers (as well as to keep up-to-date in the case that the webfeed goes Oink! Oink! BOOM!).

Mission Mayhem, and a last chance to Aim High just became a little closer for all of you! See ya in a few days!

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

So will those of us joining the event live and in person be able to slip our notes along as well? ;)

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

if us that are going can drop a line, well i can only hope they will sing the praises of chinese food

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Is the webcast going to be archived somewhere?

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

On behalf of myself and the rest of the Perotti family, I would like to wish good luck to Arefin and the rest of the Mayhem crew. We will all be thinking about you today. I know you have been working so hard, and today and tomorrow I know it's going to all pay off. Dreams are always better when they are made a reality, and I applaud you for getting there. It's a wonderful accomplishment and I admire you for it.

-- Jaine

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Hey y'all. I know the site's working, but how's the webcast? Can't wait to see opening ceremonies tomorrow! I'm going to the SW Relay for Life tonight, but I should be home around 8:30 tomorrow morning, just in time to click in and watch before I go to work at 9:00! :D

Will a link be posted soonish?

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I just spoke with my team mom at Mission Mayhem and she says that the field is under about 3 inches of water from the monsoon that is happening right now. I wouldn't expect any webcast (or much of anything) for today.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Duh Chuckie

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/25102

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I made my post at the EXACT same time as the pics were posted! :P :)

Anyway, you gotta love that Florida weather! Not a cloud in the sky one minute, then a torrential rain storm the next.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Is there going to be a competition still?

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

you are mistaken. team 79 does go to off-season events. we just could not get things organized well enough to make it to this one. but stand by....

jerry w

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I'd highly suggest you check out Billfred's post that he'll be making shortly. Let's just say that Mr. Burke (the head of the planning committee) called me to find a "backup" idea so teams could earn awards for day 2, but it had to be indoors in the small pit area... ya know, something like an obstacle course or something. However, I went a little bit crazy. Thus, the unofficial FIRST 2006.5 Game Design Committee convened for 3 hours and will be bringing you it's new game live via webfeed tommorow... it's definitly gonna be interesting. I promise you that. We're taking it old school in some areas. Stay tuned... :)

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I had a nicer post, but I lost it. Here's the short version:

-The field was flooded on one side with about four inches of water shortly before the start of matches. No robots were harmed.

-No matches happened today.

-We are currently bringing the field into the former pits, and tomorrow will be playing a modified version of AIM HIGH, dubbed AIM (well, kinda) HIGH. This was developed within the span of about four hours with the collaborative help of several great folks from about a half-dozen teams in Florida, plus one nutjob from South Carolina.

-This momentus butchering of one of the best FRC games in recent memory will be webcast courtesy of those crazy tie-dyed keepers of the clock we know as WildStang. Mike Walker will post the details tomorrow in a new thread.

-After we get everything together, we'll be posting our revised rules here on CD for everyone to see and enjoy. Dave Lavery will either be ecstatic or I'll never hear from him again. But here's a hint: We're keeping it old-school.

UPDATE: The field is just a few zip ties away from being fully assembled inside. All that's left now is field electronics; for this, we've got Mike Walker on a RadioShack run as I type this. We'll be ready.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Overall, the day was a big disappointment, but it wasn't a total waste.

-We had a speed racing competition, where robots had to move around the field knocking over 5 balls off of cones and return to the starting position.
-We had a driver's meeting.
-We had some bots battling in the pit area.
-We had our social.
-We had a big game of dogeball.

But...Hopefully everything will work out for tomorrow.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

86 spends the offseason working on side projects. A local college teams up with the machine shop for use in rocketry.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I just wanted to point out that many of the teams today showed up and were a GREAT help. We were faced with some setbacks (rain) that we could not control and most of the people reacted in a mature and helpful manner. Many people stepped up and gave us much needed assistance. Moreover, as we put together a new field, I noticed how so many teams were working together. You could see the shirts of 233, 1251, 108, 1345, and 1029 working hard to put a new field together; making tomorrow's game become a reality. Props to all the members, I wish I had a camera to take a picture of a true moment of teamwork beauty.

If there is anything I can say to explain the day that all of us will not forget, it is "you had to be there." I think it is amazing that we took what we had and adjusted accordingly. I'm sure many people would have normally run away and dropped the offseason altogether but we didn't take no for an answer.

Thus, we have a new game, a new field, and a new adventure waiting for tomorrow.
bring it!

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I have some lovely videos (without sound though) of one of the dodgeball matches and of some of the robot uh, battling I guess, that occured inside.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luLk70Pw3hM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbXI-TiYdQ4

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Hey I call any leftover trophies.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

And for everyone's enjoyment, I present "AIM...well, kinda high"

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/papers/1844?

If you've ever wondered what this game would be like in the olden days, this is probably close to it.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Well since I can't get the feed and have made myself snarfy today - I've been walking around thinking -
It does not surprise me a bit that this has turned into such an amazing can-do event. All of the founders' encouragements and long range thinking, the mentors' teachings and role modeling, the sheer tenacity and imagination of FIRST teams have come into play here. Adversity is one of the parts that comes in the kits. Accomplishment and success are in there as well. This weekend is an amazing success for all of the teams, volunteers, and supporters of robotics and of FIRST. And I know each person involved is having a total blast, hairy, but total.
Wishing I was there - wonder if Wendy has any voice left. I doubt it.
Jane

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

If anyone can get any pictures of the field, that would be awesome!

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I am sure someone took pictures of the field. Question is will they post it on cd? M.A.R.S. always seem to get many pictures at any events they are at. I will ask them if they can email me pictures from the event.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

i have several pics of the feild, and will post 'em when i get back to Tampa tommorrow.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Rain once again covered the Mayhem field (2 years in a row now) but the game they designed was the single greatest FIRST game I've ever seen... Watching the 1-2 flipping robots per match was fun (except ours which broke on ever floor impact) and the random shots that nailed the projector that hung from the ceiling about 4 feet left of blue high goal was sweet. All in all, considering the flood that was Friday, and the competition that was Saturday, the Mayhem crew pulled off an awesome job.
I'm glad I got to help, although, there was the occasional need for driving penalties..... Oh well
Good Stuff!
Can't wait till next years Mayhem
108 w00t w00t

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

I definitely had fun with MISSION MAYHEM.
I think I definitely had a greater adrenaline rush watching these matches as the defense was SO intense. There was so much action going on and there seemed to be a fair amount of offense and defense. Of course, some robots had clear advantages over others but hey, that's part of what made it so exciting.
Once again, I saw great teamwork as we helped breakdown the field. Women, men, teams of all cities, adults, kids, everyone was helping. We are all tired now but I think we definitely gave teamwork a good name.

I just want to thank everyone that worked so hard to put this together and keep it going. I had so much fun volunteering and I can't wait to see what's in store next year!
EDIT: Is the webcast being archived?

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

for an immediate fix my picture will suffice, but i would still check for some high resolution ones/different angle shots

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/25113?

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Post pictures and videos PLEASE

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Kudos to all for the fantastic, impromptu problem-solving that led to one incredible, memorable event. The organizers, refs, judges, volunteers and Devry University were fantastic and our team sends sincere thanks for everyone's hard work. We'll post pics/video when we get organized, now that MARS has arrived back home in Jupiter.
Personal memorable moments: the deluge (of course!), Mr. Cross leading the crowd in "Yellow Submarine" while our robot "danced" (until it tripped and fell on the ramp), and a mad dash to Home Depot when our axle later broke.
We loved the madness!

Additional favorite memory: Thanks to all the workshop presenters! I wanted to specifically thank Neha Batra for her power point on "Getting at the Roots: Engineering Children's Interests". Scheduled for 1:30 -2pm (some of the strongest downpour of rain occurred at the same time :ahh: ), the presenter was obviously busy elsewhere (trying to save the field, etc.). Some mentors from MARS & Children of the Swamp self -served ourselves to the computer and looked thru her presentation on our own. Sorry we didn't get to hear you, but we discussed the workshop topic and your key points and appreciated your efforts.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

mission mayhem was awesome,lots of action, sweet dodgeball games,uniques strategies, and all the teams pulling together to make a new game and field and thanks to teams 1345 and 710 for helping make us the 2006 mission mayhem champions!


also too bad none took advantage of the 'hit arefin and recieve 1,000,000
and if you get a head shot you got a 5x multiplier!(it was one of the original ideas)

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Wow, what a great competition and game, the part I find most amazing is how the work at mayhem mirrors one of the views of FIRST:

Problem - the flood

Idea - a new game (its really funny how pink got on the GDC, mike just kinda walked up in the middle of the downpour and asked...."hey, we're making a new game, wanna come?")

Design - the fruits of this effort are found with the Aim, Well, Kinda High documentation

Implementation - The new field was created overnight thanks to help from alot of teams wanting this competition to happen as much as the people running it.

Resolve - The game was a "smash" hit with everyone, appealing to the audience and a fun new challenge for the teams

Dean and Woodie would be proud

Interesting moments for me:

- 233 was in the second match, so while in que i looked down the corridor to get a peek at the first ever match of this brand new game, saw 21 with its front end 2 ft in the air, come crashing down and another robot line-drive him out of sight....i was like.....wow this game is intense

- after finally getting in the groove of driving (my first comp on the sticks), i got the robot up the ramp, turned 90 deg to block others getting on and watched for the last 12 seconds of the game 1902 try to get up while pushing us....i just folded my arms up and watched their drivers increasing frustration....nice try bacon, but pink wasnt moving that time...

- some people came back to me to say that this was the most epic battle on the ramp of the entire competition(i pray for a video of it, cause i want to see this again), i had gone up, turned myself parallel to the centerline, and one offensive robot came up and started to slowly, but surely, back up, ram, move us an inch, rinse and repeat, until we were about 4 inches away from the edge, i swung the robot around, just as their other robot attempted to climb up the same way the other had, so i was there with one robot on the left-front half of the robot, and one on the right-front half, holding the one robot not quite on the ramp at bay while holding the other robot from pushing roccobot off the other side, the match ended, with the second robot rolling off, actually winning us the match right there.

Good times, can't wait for IRI, hope to see a few there too.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

The worst part had to have been when we were (pointlessly) trying to hold up the edge of the plastic to try and keep the water off the top of the field (with a few inches of water now around our feet). And nobody had the bright idea to cut power to the playing field, so we all almost got electrocuted.

LOLOLOLOLOLOL OMG NOOB HAX

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Ask and ye shall receive. :D

Photos: http://www.marsbot.org/gallery/gallery/?g2_itemId=8495

Video: http://marsbot.org/mm06 (YouTube)

Thanks to everyone who came out! I think everyone there had a blast, and the improvisions turned out as good or better than the normal game. Fighting over the ramp was a very dramatic and exciting moment, where the low-cg bots had a huge advantage (e.g.: Dumpers pwned).

EDIT: Forgot to mention that there will be more photos coming. The ones up currently are only from my family. Some members still use film, so I will have those within the week :).

EDIT 2: The video is online now, but I did not have much video to work with. It is focused around our team (I do not have video of any other team's robot dances :( ). Sorry!

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

congrats to duke for awesome driving

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Just an interesting note: If you thought Friday was a lot of rain, check out the news, we have a Tropical Depression heading our way!

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

you gotta love florida :D

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

great i have a test on tuesday, hopefully this postpones it....

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Well, yesterday was quite interesting... and I had so much fun driving well....shooting for 108..... and basically killing both of hands in the span of 24 hours....taking apart, put back together the field.....and working on our robot....watch the videos....108 had one heck of a day yesterday...our poor baby......but oh how fun it was too when we twice accidentally had our controllers on the opposite side of our robots on the field.....got two announcers confused with that one....and Tropical Storm Alberto hit today. That was lovely.
Hope everyone got home safe from this weekend!!!! And hope you had a lot of fun!

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

while we were waiting for our match we were right in front of the filed in the hallway next to the ramp and we saw 108 just get tipped and heard it crash we were well to say the least a little sorry for the machine

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Mission Mayhem 2006 was yet the most risk taking but the most fun off season I have ever seen/worked on. Just a little background… On Thursday, the committee and bunch of other volunteer shows up at DeVry at 9 in the morning to setup. Tent went up by 3 p.m. Then the field. We were there till about midnight working on the field. Next day (Friday) we show up there around 7 in the morning to get the field up an running to start the event at 10 a.m. Everything was going smooth. We even ran the fun competitions outside under the tent. Then we had lunch. During lunch it started raining. Knowing the mayhem crew, they all go run out to the field and try to keep it dry. In about 10 minutes one side of the field was floating on water (about 3 inches off of the ground). It was a mess. I was to a point when I was about to cry to see this situation. Mayhem crew didn’t give up. While many people from other team and I were outside was there to make sure that the field is fine. Mike walker led up a committee with team 233 and came up with a new game while Mr. John Burke was talking to DeVry people to see what can be done. In about two hours, Mike and Billfred present us with a new game. All the plans change and we start moving inside. Crew was there till 1 in the morning getting the new field ready. Saturday was a new day. The competition ran very smooth and it was very exciting. Thanks to all teams for coming and sticking with us.

Now few people that I need to thank…


Mike Walker – It has been two years that you came down and took care of the field. You didn’t let any of us complain.


David Ellich – You have been a great mentor to team 1251 and a great friend to broward country teams. Anytime we have an event here, you always help.


Kent Stolley – You were only there to compete, but when the rain came down, you were the first one to go out there and tried to protect the field.


Billfred – You came down all the way from South Carolina to ref for us. South Florida FIRST committee appreciates you.


Andrew Rudolph and Tytus Gerrish – You two have done a great job getting the trophies done. Andrew is the man when it comes to make trophies. Not only that you helped for Mayhem, you have always offered your help for ANY teams in Florida. The state of Florida teams misses you.


Neha Batra – You have been by my side ever since I started working on Mayhem.


Dan Richardson – Thanks for coming out again and DJ for us both days. I don’t think I ever had complains about the music you play.


Sam Lipscomb – You don’t even live in Florida, but you never hesitated to help with the website even if I imed you or called you at midnight. Thank you.


Jaine Perotti – Your logo has become the official logo for Mayhem. Thank you.


James Payne – The Woodie Flower’s award winning mentor showed up to Mayhem and helped with putting the field together as well as taking it down. I have never seen this man sit down and breathe for the past 3 days. He also ran the concession stand.


Team 1251 crew – You guys have been involved with FIRST only for 3 years. Whenever I needed something, you guys never said no to me. Thanks for sticking with us this past weekend.

It was great to see all the teams come together and say that it was their competition and they want to compete. Teams made it possible. They stayed late, helped taking down the real field and making the new field. Team 233 worked with the game committee and came up with the new game. We have gotten a lot of feedback about this game and everyone seems to love it. I was always told that we are crazy (Florida people). I would have to agree with that after this event. We all worked as a team to come out with all the possibilities possible and still had a great event.

p.s. – I am very worn out from Mayhem. I am sure I have missed many people on my list. I will come back and edit this post if I need to add anyone else on the list.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Mission Mayhem was in the Miami Herald Newspaper . Check it out!

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

What, just because I created a 1,000,000 point bonus for hitting you and a 5x multiplier for in the head for the new game exempts me from the list? sheesh, the things I do for FIRST.

Haha, but seriously, the event was AWESOME. All those people on that list deserve more thanks than anyone can give them.

All Hail Mike Walker, Robot Lifeguard. Always on duty, ready to jump in and save robots anytime, anywhere, and from anything. Whether its a fire or a flood, Mike will be there. Mike, I dub thee the official Robot Lifeguard.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Told you that I forget people on my list...

Jim was there Friday and Saturday planning for the new game and help make the new field. He also reffed both days.

By the way, Mike Walker scored the highest point EVER in FIRST history yesterday. =)

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Mike Walker also received the most penalties of anyone at the event, five points for every time he didn't click the right button on his own software. ;) (I'm being serious about the penalties thing; thirty matches plus elimination rounds, and the refs didn't throw a single flag on teams. I loved it.)

For all the props I've been getting about the rules to Aim, well, Kinda High, I have to note that I did very little in the way of the game concept. By the time I entered the room with the GDC, just about everything but scoring had been hammered out. My main contribution was to write it into a manual, which surprisingly fit onto one sheet. (Alright, so I did contribute the tournament rules on abolishing the serpentine draft, team rotation, and threatening a Poof ball attack on anyone who graciously accepted. But that was it, I swear.)

I've got a few folks to thank:

Every single team who stuck it out and ran on Saturday. These teams were competing about every three or four matches on about an eight-minute match cycle. They were flexible, too; 1592 left after Friday, and with everything else we just didn't have the time to crank out a new match listing. So the six or so teams affected were given a solution to keep the matches reasonably fair: pick a partner, any partner, which we also extended to robots who were broken down for one reason or another. We always had four robots on the field, with some teams even running back-to-back matches just to accomplish this goal. Teams that made the finals were playing over a dozen matches by the end of the day. Talk all you want about how hardcore your team might be, but these teams played quite literally through hell and high water for the love of the game.

Mike Walker for letting me get a crack at the Hatch scoring software. ;) (I somehow succeeded in beating the software into submission, making it generate the 2v2 matches we had planned elsewhere without crashing.) Mike also developed the awesome RTS system you saw on the big screen, complete with a clicker system made from momentary switches and a hacked-up USB keyboard. It was a thing of ghettofabbed beauty.

Arefin Bari for letting me crash with him, and for helping organize the whole shebang.

All of the folks who tuned in on the web feed, for letting us know what you thought of the game. We're glad you liked it as much as we did.

Everybody from DeVry for bending over backwards to help us. With all of the game design going on, we were going on a lot of assumptions; when the idea was pitched to the DeVry staff, they asked all of the questions that needed to be asked, particularly involving safety to robots, people, and building alike. (If you looked carefully on the webcast, you would've seen that we protected the walls near the ramp with the lexan from the deleted player stations and corner goals.) And when the manual was ready, they got me to a printer and copier within minutes to get enough copies for everyone involved. These folks are a class act.

The FIRST GDC for creating a game that lent itself to close-quarters-friendly robots and a field that assembles in odd configurations so well that if the FIRST logos on the ramps hadn't been chopped off, you'd swear that the Aim, well, Kinda High field was the way that it was supposed to be.

Barry Bonzack for the lift to the train station and the lively wake-up. (You know you're lost when you get directions from a deputy that include "If anybody approaches your car, run that stop sign.")

Tytus Gerrish for the lift from the train station, and for putting up with all of our Michael Jackson jokes.

If I think of anybody else, I'll edit.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

Now that I'm back in town and passed the exam I had to take (yay for time to study this weekend, eh? :-p), I've got a pretty big list of people to thank. There were so many people (and if I forget anyone, yell at me, because I'm still recovering on sleep).

John Burke - I can't count the number of times I've been on the phone with that guy in the past several weeks. He's been at the heart of this competition and has been an incredible coordinator.

David Ellich and the rest of the committee - They did such a good job in the planning phases with getting things in line that I rarely needed to talk with them to keep things going, even when everything turned into Mayhem. They organized the sponsors/venue/volunteers so incredibly well that in crisis the support groups were completly in place.

Arefin Bari - Mr. Burke's right-hand man. The two of them together did an incredible job organizing the volunteers/sponsors/venue/etc.

DeVry - I have never seen such an excited sponsor/venue. The entire community became part of FIRST for the days we were there. The IT guys were so amazing, everytime I had a problem/request I got 10x what I asked for in return... and with a large smile. After all of the problems on Friday when I talked with several of the higher-ups they just smiled and said "Hey, this is all part of how it goes... you guys will figure something out." to coming in Saturday and them loving the final product.

A personal moment that really, really made my weekend was when I came in at 6:30 Saturday morning and it was just Billfred and I with the security guard opening the door for us. Then when he started singing I just went "Wow, you have an incredible voice..." and I listened to him sing the national anthem. He later was invited and changed out of his security clothes into dress clothes and sang the national anthem for our opening ceremonies and was so incredibly proud to be part of what we were doing. It was really cool to see how happy he was both to be able to sing in front of all of these people as well as join in with all the work he had been watching over the past few days.

Jim Martz - I'd almost consider Jim my twin, even though we look nothing alike. Since we worked on Battlebots IQ early last year, it's been great working with Jim because he's always on the same page as me and is always there to help out without even having to tell him what the situation is.

Everybody in the GDC room - Wow! You guys made for one of the most exciting and incredible 3 hours of my life. When Mike from DeVry came into the room at one point he talked to me on the side and I just said "If you want to see a miracle happen, sit in this room for 10 minutes." and he just smiled. Great job to everybody in there.

Billfred - A long trip, an even longer weekend. Between helping finalize the game rules, and then working with the refs and teams to get everybody on the same page very quickly was great.

Kevin from 1251 - Without Kevin, the field would not have run. Plain and simple. He spent the day helping to keep our manual-field-control going by manually setting each team's radio frequency every match. After the first few matches he had gotten so good at it that we didn't even have to check with him to make sure everybody's radios were set properly. Between that and his help with John on the RTS USB Keyboard setup, he was a key member to the functioning competition. He also built the final modified 3-pt goals used to fit below the roof and also integrate with the field. I'm really glad he'll be coming to UCF in the fall, I look forward to getting to work with him more in the upcoming year.

John from 1251 - The video guy. He helped me out incredibly much when I was starting to figure out issues with the webfeed on Thursday. He stuck with it all day until we had it working that night and then ran the video and kept the webfeed going for the competition.

Everyone that built that field - There were alot of hurting backs after all the field movement between building, takedown, moving, rebuild, takedown, pack, ship. We couldn't have done it without the reliable members that helped out with the entire process.

George Wallace and Neha - Their in-game announcing was incredibly fun and made for a very fun competition.

The FIRST GDC - Although the modular field was probably not designed for something like this, its' adaptability was incredible. I have found even more respect for the GDC group after the events of this past weekend... you guys do an amazing job creating these games, and when we met to even try to creating something of that quality was such a challenge. Thank you for everything that you do.

Re: Florida offseason event, Mission Mayhem
 

This is for all the great people who put on Mission Mayhem, Exploding Bacons very first off season event. THANKs!!!!!!

We had so much fun and we were able to be successful even though you stole all of our mentors. Thanks also to Mars for picking us again even though we were missing a wheel, we love partnering with you guys.

Pink did an awesome job once again.

I personally had lots of fun and was able to talk to many of the other mentors I hadn't met.

Can't wait for next year....somewhere inside