2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

After 2 years in Boston, 121 is returning to the GSR. With 1 regional win and 1 second place finish at the GSR, we return to compete with some truly impressive teams.

An interesting note, at 12:45 on 10/1, BAE had 27 teams signed up while Boston and UTC had a combined 20! BAE will be a great time!


https://my.usfirst.org/myarea/index....false&event=nh

Teams I would like to note so far...
131
175
190
501
1058
1100

Re: 2008 BAE Granite State Regional
 

Nice to see you guys will be back at GSR this year. Looking forward to seeing everyone there!

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Yeah BAE Regional! My favorite year was definately last year's so hopefully this one will be just as good if not better.

And I was not expecting Bedford to have a team so quickly. Their high school is brand new this year. Students from Bedford used to go to team 501's school in Manchester.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

811 Will be There!!!

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

172 was signed up as of 12:02 today!

Look forward to seeing you all there!

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

ok i lied we have been wait listed.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

I still wear my BAE SYSTEMS red wristband every day (wearing it right now).

Can't wait to see you guys this year!

Jacob

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

GSR looks like it will be a great regional again.

Two other notable teams that apparently registered after Rick's post
40
126

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Team 58 is going to be there, though I will be there as a volunteer this time around (I hope as a ref! *crosses fingers*). I'm gonna miss being on the field team.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Yeah GSR!! I'm coming back home just for this regional :-)

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1519's signed up and totally looking forward to competing!

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

To start the posting of GSR bots; Here's a video of our speed racer, Mach 6, completing a couple laps. A total of 10 laps in 60 seconds. So you all know, we understand it didn't have the flag pole and that it was on an empty field with no obstructions...

http://www.mechanicalmayhem.org/teamvideos.asp

Hopefully we'll also get some video up with the Mach 6 on a full field and performing during autonomous. Also, we should publish some video of our other robot... * dun, dun, dun... *

See you all at GSR!

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Any teams staying at the Radisson across the street?

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

For those of you who look forward to standing outside of the Verizon Center in the early morning waiting for someone to hand you 3 red bracelets, this year looks to be about on par with last year, with a temperature of about 20 degrees (Fahrenheit) and 15mph winds. :rolleyes:

Does anyone know if they're doing the extra practice matches by waiting in a queue? Or if Benge is the head ref?

From what I've seen this far, it appears as though 190 has a good robot up their sleeve, and we know the perennial powerhouses 121 and 126 do. 1519 has done amazing things, and the Chop Shop will be gliding around the field just like they were last year. Also, from what I've seen from the Maine teams, it looks like collectively some of the most solid robots we've fielded. And this year has fielded such different robots doing the same thing, I can't wait to see what everyone else has done.

See you Thursday!

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

1824 will be there.

Looking for another good year. There look to be so many good robots this year, it looks like a lot of fun.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

My dad will be a volunteer again this year, and he has talked to these people.
Yes Benge Ambrogi is again scheduled to be the head referee, with Kari Karwedsky as his backup. And Field Manager Randy Bohannan's stated intention is to have a "singles line" for robots to fill otherwise unused practice slots on Thursday.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Alright! That's what I like to hear. :cool:

Also, does anyone have any pictures from BAE's Unveiling?

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Not sure but some robot pictures have been posted on the event site through Flickr

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Dang, I knew that's what I forgot! A camera! :rolleyes:

Someone on our team videotaped the whole thing. I could talk to him about it to see if we could get it uploaded somewhere.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Looks like WGIR has stepped up to the plate and will be broadcasting play-by-play of the finals on Saturday! More information can be found here: http://www.baesystemsfirst.org/regional/

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

so let's hear about the practise rounds, how is everything going in Manchester?

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

The practice matches... Well, in many ways they were sad to watch, but it helps me to remember that the practice matches are never as impressive as the qualifiers and finals.

My general take on the practice matches was that essentially all teams are hurdlers (only a handful designed differently) and that most of these still have a long way to go before reaching their potential. Also the matches seemed much more "slow-paced" than I anticipated. Part of it might be that you have a hard time traveling faster than the slowest bot on the track or part of it might be the relatively quiet music. ;) However, I think that only says that average-sized robots with tank drive have a harder time racking up the laps.

Most of the robots that impressed me today are from teams we expected it from; 121 (Rhode Warriors), 126 (Gael Force), 175 (Buzz Robotics)... Although that certainly isn't to say there weren't any other proficient hurdlers. For robots that were not designed to hurdle 58 (Riot Crew) and 1519 (Mechanical Mayhem) both come to mind. 58 is a full size robot capable of cleanly collecting the ball and reliably driving around the track to score the 4 pt. lap, I didn't time its laps, but it rarely had to pause. 1519's speed racer (Mach 6) was demonstrating its aversion to balls by shunning all things spherical. Once it earned 24 pts. in auto by driving past 6 lines, before (spectacularly) colliding with one of those pesky walls... Also, as a note, 190 managed to keep their potential Ace robot up their sleeves (it didn't see a practice match...)

So, to restate, the practice matches here in Manchester were interesting to watch, but I found them slightly more slow-paced and with fewer operational hurdlers than I had hoped for... I'm eager to see/compete in the next two days' matches!


Nathan
Head Scout
Mechanical Mayhem #1519

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Any word on how it's going down there?

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Does any one know what 121's judges award was for?

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Does anyone have match video up yet?

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

I think it was for helping a team that was far away.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Does anyone know what 190 does? One of our alumni goes to WPI and all he has been telling us is that 190 has an awesome robot and strategy (but he won't tell us about the robot). I am really curious to figure out what they are doing...

Thanks, Travis

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

They use what appears to be a suction cup on a crane like device to pick up the ball. They also have a side wheel that drops down and allows them to drive sideways.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

I picture is worth a thousand words. I wish i had a picture to post. I think the strategy is: pick up the ball, and swing it round and round over the middle support of the overpass, getting 8 points each time. It is VERY complicated. I haven't figured it out completely, but i know it has 10 victors, a suction cup, an extending crane tower, an up down cable, and a confusing drive base. A significant amount of it is not done, and so it doesn't really work. They are currently ranked 44 out of 48 I think. So, bottom line: In a few weeks of time they could be so good that they might win every match. Until then, their not much of a threat.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Thanks! Definitely sounds interesting... I am especially curious how they deal with having the ball touch the ground or another robot before they touch it again... Hopefully they will have it working by SVR (their second regional).

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I will be uploading it to the blue alliance soon

Edit: OK well it may have to be this weekend. The hotel upload bandwidth is slow.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Wow. According to our scouts, there have been 6352 points scored at BAE so far...

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

We went from 40 something all the way to 12th, then to 18th when i left. Thats how it usually works, we're terrible in the beginning, but we get everything worked out and start kicking...butt(can u say the "a" word, i'm new...brand new). I gotta say 190 is a bit dissapointing. I think everyone was expecting a lot more. But i think it's just to hard to line up their suction cup. Good concept, but not that practical. is there going to be any streaming live video feed thing? and let me know when videos are up on blue alliance. Good luck to you all, wish i could go tomorrow. Freaking snow :mad:

God i have no tansition to my posts

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

The team I mentor (Team 95) appears to be in 31st place.

It's hard being out of town during BAE....

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

This year has restored my faith in the alliance randomizer, althoug some robots are still hiding at the edge of the curve. Additionally, autonomous is important in this game, and we have a few robots who're putting the points away in autonomous. Scores in this game are far higher than I expected them to be, and number of hurdles is higher than I'd thought. There are teams averaging more than 2 hurdles per match, but as we see it good robots are averaging between 1 and 2.

Tommorrow will be very, very interesting as the elimination tournament unfolds.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

In response to Travis, after we've swung the ball over the opponent's finish line, we pick a position, lower the line so the ball is just above the floor, then shut the suction off. Immediately after the ball is released, we turn the suction back on so we can pick the ball up on the bounce. Unfortunately, we haven't gotten that far yet, but we hope to be working by SVR (although it would be really, really nice if we could get it by the end of tomorrow's qualification matches!)

In response to Jake (acdcfan), our operator was driving the arm under full manual control, which requires several starts and stops to make sure that the suction cup is at the right height relative to our arm. Once we get the operator assists correct, he won't have to control the suction cup winch separately from the elevator height adjustment or the extender. (One advantage of having your main programmer being your operator is he knows what he's telling it to do both on the stick and in the code).
By the way, if our robot were practical, I think quite a few people would check the team number again.

It was absolutely wonderful to get the Rockwell Automation Innovation in Control award today (we made our own high-powered slip rings for our continuous-turn turret, as well as several doodads to get proper feedback). We just hope we can back it up with on-field performance as soon as possible.

Despite all of our concerns, inspection was surprisingly pain-free, and we have high hopes for what is a ridiculously complicated robot.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

i hope i'm not stuck in Worcester because of the snow tomorrow...i can't wait to come up and cheer with 190!:D

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Is there any one who happens to know how alliance selections went, ie what the alliances are.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

40 134 121 vs. 1991 2648 2370
1307 126 1519 vs 131 166 1153
175 1058 1824 vs 138 1276 95
1517 58 1512 vs 501 500 2342

The top 4 seeds all advance.

121 and company beat 126, 1519, and 1307 in 4 matches
58 1512 and 1517 beat Buzz and company

121, 40 and 134 win.

It is about time 121 and 40 teamed up at a regional.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Congratulations to 121, 134, and 40 on their regional win!

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Hey, fifth time's the charm!!!

Best wishes to all the teams who competed - you all did a great job!

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

wow its perfect im posting after jess...

anyways... all i have to say is WOW... what an amazing regional... from start to finish this regional was non-stop excitement with tons of great teams and some really awesome competition...

first off i want to thank Teams 40 + 134 for being amazing partners in the Elims and helping us get to nationals =D... i said jess because she made my life easier with her and her 6 dedicated scouts so for those scouts who's names i dont know THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

2nd i want to thank 1519, 126 + 1307 for almost giving me a heart-attack during our FOUR ROUND SEMI-FINALS!!! 4 rounds in a semi-final is un-heard of and by far those were the most 4 exciting matches i have ever been apart of in FIRST so thank you guys for being such great competition...

lastly... Congrats to team 126 on the chairmans award... i think that says it all =D...

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

*sorry for the double post but i just saw this reading back...

**Yes it was for helping other teams... it was pretty much for "community out-reach" i believed they described it as... As all of you know we posted our full bot video + all in week 3 along with Mr. Joe's wonderful pictures at http://www.joemenassa.com/robotics2008.html that several teams actually contacted us asking permission or telling us to give us credit for using our teams design from what i understood

**this is just a disclaimer of what i understand and not necessarily the reason it was given to us... im just a strategy guy i don't talk to judges =P

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

The 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional was amazing!Congratulations to all the teams that participated, even through the snow. It truly was an honor to talk about designing robots to so many talented students. Marie

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Also wanted to extend a thanks to Teams 40 and 134 for teaming up with us. It was an exciting ride through the finals! Congrats to 40 too for their first regional win too!

Also wanted to congratulate Team 126 for their Chairman's Award win. An awesome team that definitely deserves the recognition. Good luck in Atlanta! :)

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Congratulations are definitely in order for the alliance of 121, 40, and 134! Your alliance was definitely the one to beat at the tournament, and those 4 matches in the semifinals were extraordinary. In all honesty, the only two matches where you didn't beat us were when all three of your robots didn't stay on their wheels for the entire match! When you had all three robots running properly we were simply overmatched.

With the incredible robot that 121 built this year, (and in only three weeks!) you definitely deserved the recognition of being the #1 seed and also the regional champions. Well done!

That said, we'd love to have that first semifinal match (the 70-70 tie) back again -- our normal 12 points in autonomous were only 4 due to just barely clipping the center wall support just after going under our overpass. Or, for that matter, if we only had 10 more seconds in the fourth and final match -- both we and Gael Force (126) had just entered the home stretch with balls ready to hurdle... (Then again, you had some misfortune, too -- your autonomous mode in that one round with the long, long delay never did seem to get scored correctly; we're pretty sure that you scored 36 points, rather than the 32 that were on the big screen.)

In any case, best regards at the Championship -- you'll represent the Granite State Regional very well. We're hoping to see you carry that representation all the way to Einstein!

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Thanks Pat! Yeah, it was a great weekend. Thanks to 1519 and 1307 for helping us give 121 such a hard time. ;) Aside from watching 125 fly up the ramp at the buzzer in Boston last year, it was some of the greatest matches I've taken part in, and it's always fun to have friends on the other side of the field.

Also, thank you very much to 166 for donating a vandoor motor to us as we were entering the finals to play THEM. We really appreciate it. gp man, gp.

Re: 2008 BAE SYSTEMS Granite State Regional
 

Is there any chance that more videos will be posted soon? I would love to see the elims matches! Thanks..