Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Mark your calendars for:

Southern California Fall Classic

Saturday, September 27th, 2008

Held this year at John Muir High School in Pasadena, CA.

Let us know that you're interested and we'll get you registration information as soon as it becomes available. One day competition using the same rules as IRI.

Organized by SCRRF, Team 2404, and Team 980.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

973 is considering either the Fall Classic or Calgames.

What will the cost be? That's the main factor.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

The Fall Classic Committee will be meeting this week and this is one of the things we will be discussing. We needed some more information on costs before setting the entry fee.

As of our last meeting, we were thinking in the $100-200 range. We want it to be as low as possible and still cover costs.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Registration for the Fall Classic is now available on robotevents.com

Registration fee is $150, if registered by Sept. 12. The fee increases to $200 for registration between Sept. 13 and Sept. 20. After Sept. 20, the registration fee is $250.

Please sign up early!

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

we were going to go but didnt have money

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

CalGames is $450 (with a $100 volunteer-support deposit). More about registration here.

Its a big event (30 teams) and there are typically two gyms (one for the competition and one for the pits). BBQ, and totally awesome awards (engraved silicon wafers) included!

Sry to get off topic. I'd like to attend the Fall Classic, but I'm not sure if my team will be willing to drive that far.

Yeah.... Ontario is a bit far from LA.......

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

hmmmmm:rolleyes:

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Yeah, I already knew the calgames cost, and with the confirmed cost of $150 for fall classic, it's a no brainer as to which I'm recommending my team to attend.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Two great choices for off season events in CA...are there any others planned for Oct. or Nov. in southern CA???

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Go to both :cool:

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Yes, that's what Team 980 is planning to do.

If there's a "Battle at the Border" (San Diego), we might do that too!

We really like to get good use out of our robots. These off-season events provide our new drivers with opportunities to get more competition experience, allows us to invite prospective students, mentors and sponsors to events and gives current mentors excuses for not getting household projects completed!:P

BTW, please feel free to ask any questions about the Fall Classic and/or indicate whether your team will be attending in this thread...

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Hmm, nice entry fee and VERY convenient location. I don't know if my team's planning to attend any off-season events, but if we do this'll probably be the one. :D

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

973 will be attending and bringing two robots; Our 2008 competition bot, and a prototype 6 wheel to exhibit/possibly fill in for missing teams (if the event organizers allow it).

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

For those that have not heard, there won't be a Battle at the Border this year. Maybe next year.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

FRC 1726 from Sierra Vista, AZ, is planning on making the trip with 3 vans full of new members :); we're basically attending our first offseason event specifically to draw students in until build season, at least, where they will succumb to the greatness of FIRST!

Hope to see everyone there!

PS: Is there a rough count of teams signed up so far?

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Remember to sign up today at:
http://www.robotevents.com/event.php?eid=1011
(Registration fees are NOT needed at the time you sign up)

Hotel information if needed can be found at:
http://sites.google.com/site/frc2404/fall-classic

I don't have access to what teams are registered, but will follow up with those that do.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

968 will be attending with new students driving/operating. :)

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

The Holy Cows will be coming up with an improved Daisy II and a new set of drivers. :cool:

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

We currently have 11 teams signed up for the Fall Classic. They include some of the finest teams on the West Coast. It will definitely be difficult to call this one in advance. The teams registered as of yesterday are:

294 Beach Cities Robotics - 2001 World Champs
330 BeachBots - 2005 World Champs
692 Fembots - One of the best all-girl teams around
968 RAWC - part of a famous collaboration with the Cheesy Poofs, they have an awesome machine, as always
973 Greyhound Revolutionary Robotics - They supposedly have a new mechanism designed to compete with the best. Will it work? come and find out
980 Thunderbots - Their ball placement aparatus didn't work out so well during the season, but they played pretty impressive defense. They have been working over the summer. What have they been up to?
981 Snowbotics - Always a unique robot
1070 Royal Robotrons - another all-girl team, they have become more competitive in the past couple of years
1538 Holy Cows - The best robot from the San Diego area. They always have a solid reliable robot that looks really nice. They have also been working over the summer, improving a machine that was already pretty good.
2150 Wicked Wobotics - an up and coming sophmore team
2404 TNT - These guys and girls are committed (or maybe they should be?) Not every rookie team starts off with a holonomic drive and then goes on to host an off-season event. Definitely a team to watch.

Disagree with any of the above? bring a robot out and prove your point! Better yet bring two, the second one is half price. If your team is a 2009 rookie please contact me and we will try and hook you up with a spare robot, FREE!

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

I think 1726 signed up about 9:30 PM yesterday! Hope to see you all there.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

That was after the latest report we have, so I'm glad to hear it. Maybe you can get Kingman or 39 to come too?

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

We'll also be competing with two robots :rolleyes:

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

woah thatll be nice, sorry i cant go. Will it be broadcasted for the travel challenged?

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

I can't think of a single time offhand that an SCRRF event has been webcasted. I'm sure that if it is, the info will be posted here. I'd like a webcast too...

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Unfortunately, there is no internet available in the main gymnasium. The building is somewhat remote from the main campus buildings. No webcast this year :( .

I would have liked to have MorTorq (1515, Beverly Hills HS) do the webcast production. Their off-field antics can be pretty entertaining.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Some of the members of team 4 will be attending and we were wondering if you have need of some volunteers. If so can someone link me the page to sign people up to it? Thanks and best of luck to everyone.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Arthur,

We would love to have Team 4 attend. While you are welcome as volunteers, we would really like to have you compete as well. If money is an issue let me know, a limited number of "scholarships" are available. If getting your robot there is a problem, let us know that too. We might be able to make arrangements to bring it with the field. We might even be able to help with "administration" issues with enough notice.

To volunteer, contact our volunteer co-ordinator Lauren Halatek, at halatekl@yahoo.com.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Thanks so much for the offer, and if it was up to me i would gladly accept, ill see if i can set anything up and ill be sure to get back to you, but i'm not sure because right now we are trying to recruit as many freshmen as we can, and seeing as our school has about 300 people (120 or so freshman, yea its a lot for us:) ), we are trying to get as many people as we can, so we are really trying to focus on recruiting. Thank you for the offer, and team 4 members will definitely be there.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Off-season competitions are a great way to introduce new team members to FIRST.

We can add another team to the list. The well traveled 1138, who went to Hawaii and NZ this summer helping them get up to speed, signed up earlier this week. I just found out this morning.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Classical Academy High School is starting a team this year. It would be GREAT to get them up there for this even even just to watch! But to actually use a robot?! What do we have to do for this?

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

We will try and find a team that has a spare robot you can use for the day. It can be a previous year's robot as long as it will interface properly with the field control system. For this game all you have to do is be able to drive in an oval to contribute. Most robots can do that.

Any teams reading this that are willing to volunteer a robot? This is a great chance to practice your Gracious Professionalism. I think any robot with an RC and OI later than 2004 will work. (subject to correction by those more knowledgable)

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

I would recommend contacting 294. Their 2007 robot is still functional, and with enough notice they may be able to modify to hurdle similar to 330.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Here is the current list of teams attending:

4
294
330
599
692
968
973 a
973 b
980
981
1070
1138
1538
1726
2150
2404
Pre-Rookie

That makes 17 robots. The schedule will work much better with another robot or two. Any volunteers? Remember 2nd robots are half price.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Oh Come on, some of you teams with a practice robot should enter it just for the sake of getting more robots in for a better schedule.... I'm looking at you 330/968/1538/1726.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

We might be able to bring the base of the 2007 robot (Ring-O)....hmmm....

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

330 is hoping the new control system will be installed in our 08 practice bot by then and we are planning to support a pre-rookie with 07. So we will already have 3 there.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

We would bring another robot with us, but out '08 practice robot was scrapped for parts before we left for Atlanta. Our '07 practice robot has been disassembled for some time and our '07 robot would need _a lot_ of work to get in competition shape.

However, our 2008 robot should be in prime condition... :cool:

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

I asked today at the meeting if they wanted to take the 07 robot, didn't get any interest. Oh well.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Team 1160 is coming. I'm still hoping at least Teams 207 and 2429 will come, but all teams still are welcome!

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

We just received the control system and will be putting it together on a breadboard and answering questions at the classic.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Update on the Fall Classic:

There will be at least 18 robots in the competition. Walk-in registration may increase this number.

We're using the official FIRST overpass and lane divider field elements, thanks to FIRST and the WRRF (CalGames organizers.) The WRRF is also providing the field control system.

In addition to Champion and Finalist awards, we'll be giving awards for the Best Hybrid Mode, Highest Scorer, Toughest Defender and "Coolest" robots. The Coolest Robot will be a peer award - based on votes from the teams. We will also have Team Spirit and a Judges' Award.

The host teams (FRC 2404, FRC 980) and SCRRF are honored to welcome teams traveling from well outside of the Los Angeles basin:

FRC 1726, NERDS of Sierra Vista, AZ (550 miles)
FRC 692, Fembots of Sacramento, CA (375 miles)
FRC 973, Greyhound Robotics, Atascadero, CA (225 miles)
FRC 1538, Holy Cows, San Diego, CA (125 miles)

More top-notch competitors to watch: FRC 294 (Beach City Robotics), FRC 330 (BeachBots), FRC 968 (RAWC), FRC 1138 (Eagle Robotics).

Oh, yeah: the new FRC control system breadboard will be rolled out by the 330-led consortium.

One thing I can say for sure: the Fall Classic is going to be HOT!!

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

ooh! ooh! we get the long distance award!

Anyways, 2 of 3 vans are here, the other will be soon....we're not used to having more than 2 lanes of freeway....

See you'all in the morning!

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

The field is setup and looks good, the pit area is setup with carpet in the center, practically the size of the field and pits surround the parameter. This event is going to fun! :P

Hey if anyone is 551+ miles, you can trump the NERDS. Just throw a robot in the back of a truck and a couple of freshman to hold down the robot and make your way to Pasadena - you'll win the long distance award.

1726 - We're very excited that you made the trip to the land of many lanes. :)

See you in morning!

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

What fun! We had a blast at the event, especially showing all of the new members how to drive and fix broken robot parts. It was cool to see all the great teams that came out and all of their robots, I think everyone on our team would enjoy coming next year as well. Special thanks to 2404 for hosting the event, and all of the other teams that helped set it up and get it running.

Now I can't wait for the new season to begin!

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Yea, that was a lot of fun, great competition, great people, great fun. I congratulate everyone on a very good job. Thanks for having team 4 as volunteers. We will be sure to come next year, and maybe this time we might bring our robot:).

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Any pics of 973's new design?

How'ed the cRIO look on the Beachbot :cool: ?

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

A source at the event says that the cRIO was not on any Beach 'Bot. However, it was on a breadboard and functional.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

I took a bunch of pictures of 973's awesome new drivetrain, I hope they don't mind if I post a picture. It's the best swerve set up that I've seen and looks like a lot of fun to play with.

The cRIO was set up on a board, not on the bot unfortunately. It also looks like a lot of fun to play with...

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Yet another top quality SCRRF event. I highly recommend other teams coming out to it next year. Let's double it's size! I hope this event can become the "IRI" of the west coast. We had a blast!

Recognition goes to team 1726 for coming all the way from Arizona, team 692 for coming all the way from Sacramento.

Special thanks to Joseph Vanderway, Chris Hussman, David Brinza, Terry (last name?), and Teams 2404 and 980, and all the other planners and organizers for this fantastic event. I look forward to it next year!

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

The SCRRFF did a great job organizing this event. It was very enjoyable as usual and team 2404 were great hosts.
Also, congratulations to 968's first seeded alliance 968, 330A, 980, and 1160 for winning the competition.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Nobody keeps secrets from us. :cool:

Very cool looking, although I don't think its going anywhere (if you know what I mean ;))

How much does it weigh? Speeds? vids? :D

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

We had some hardware delays that were killing us, so we didn't really get a chance to try to tune the control loops until friday night and then at the event today.

We will get it running, and videos will be coming soon. \

With no electrical board or associated fasteners, it weighs 47 pounds. None of the sprockets or gears are modified for weight, and we can remove and additional pound or so (been a while since we tallied the exact amount) by trimming weight, or switching to all aluminum sprockets.

What do you mean by not going anywhere?

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

lol its just the picture. The wheels are pointed everywhere. :D

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

The Fall Classic was indeed a blast. The finals were classic indeed, as a third match was needed to decide the outcome. Many teams gave new drivers a "baptism by fire" in this event. Some first-time spectators were amazed at the level of performance exhibited throughout the event.

Here's the list of award winners:

Best Hybrid: RAWC (968) for consistently crossing 5 lines and taking down a trackball

Toughest Defender: ThunderBots (980) for "keep away" trackball denial by trapping or knocking scored trackballs back into the opponents homestretch

Highest Scorer: Holy Cows (1538). Effective driving, ball capture and reliable elevator made this team a consistent offensive powerhouse

Coolest Robot: BeachBots (330A). This award was determined by ballot of the Fall Classic teams. Even in the hands of new drivers, 330's robot was most effective.

Team Spirit: RoboDox (599) for not only their high-energy presence in Overdrive competition, but also conducting a VEX mini-tournament that capture a lot the attention from younger spectators.

Judges Award: N.E.R.D.S (1726) made the trek across the desert and was ready to play. Fully acclimated to the stifling conditions in the gym, their team tested new drivers with the full support of their contingent.

Finalists: Eagle Engineering (1138, #2 seed), NERDS (1726), GRR (973), Holy Cows (1538) and Reseda Regents Robotics (2548) pulled off a stunning first-match victory in the finals, but couldn't hold off the...

Champions: RAWC (968, #1 seed), BeachBots (330A), ThunderBots (980) and San Marino (1160). Thirty penalty points cost the alliance the first match, but in spite of a failed shooter in 968 and 1160 substituting for 980, the #1 alliance toughed-out a well-deserved victory.

The event organizers were pleased by the quality of the teams. A little patience was needed as the match list was manually produced at the last minute due late changes in participating teams. The Fall Classic has a quite a way to go to reach "IRI Status". We share Sanddrag's inspirational vision of the future. We need some more teams and support from sponsors to realize this goal. We all have some homework to do.

Thanks to all of the Fall Classic volunteers and participants (all of whom came away as winners) for the success of the event. We hope to see a bigger and better Fall Classic next year.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

1538 was actually the #3 seeded alliance captain. The second alliance was 1138, 1726, 973, and 2548.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Thanks for the correction - I edited my original post.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Congrats to 968,330,980,& 1160 ! ;)
Glad to hear that all the new drivers are doing well already. I'm sure LA Regional will be a great experience with the new batch of students and a whole new venue.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

The top seeds were:

1) 968 330A 980 1160
2) 1138 1726 973 2548
3) 1538 692 981 2404
4) 330B 294 599 597

(unless I jumbled up some of the team numbers)

Tournament scores:
Semifinal 1--match 1 74-14 match 2 72-30 (between #1 & #4 seeded alliances)
Semifinal 2--match 1 62-32 match 2 42-20 (between #2 & #3 seeded alliances)
Final--match 1 36-42 match 2 52-46 match 3 50-8

The Beach Bots were amused that our B team, running our modified 2005 champion robot, beat our A team, running our 2008 machine, in the qualifications. But our A team's alliance beat the B team in the eliminations.

Also, I want to personally thank our host team for making plenty of food available at reasonable prices all day long. Yum!

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

After you finish laughing, look again closely. This is not a 'bug' but a design feature of this crab configuration. A pair of rotating wheel modules are linked and are steered by a single encoded steering unit [and you have two of these independent linked pairs]. By coming up to an opponent, stopping, and rotating in place one set [or both sets] of wheels perpendicular to opponent's intended path, this effectively maximizes the robot's blocking effort without expending motor/electrical energy to lock wheels. Quick rotation of paired units back in alignment with other pair .....and off you go.. in any direction you choose... very interesting ...

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Nah, if you look again closely, the left pair are off compared to each other. honest mistake on our part.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Pictures taken with our new [family] fancy camera of the event are going up here:

http://photos.project1726.org/thumbnails.php?album=31

Great event, we had tons of fun! Congrats to the winning alliance, the finals were amazing, and thanks to 1138 for picking us and the rest of hte gang for being awesome alliance partners :)

We'll hopefully see you all there next year!

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Thanks to "TheOtherGuy" for posting the link to his pictures. They're great!

Hopefully, we'll see some more links to photos from the event. Some of the teams didn't have photographers on hand and would like some action shots for recruiting purposes.

Regretfully, there was an oversight at the end of the event. A Team 2404 student (Natalie) hand-crafted some special awards. The "High Five Award", a clay likeness of a human hand, was given to Team 599 to accompany their "Team Spirit' award. The other award, in the form of a human figurine, I believe was presented to Team 1726, the Judges' Award winner. I do regret that Natalie wasn't on-hand to personally offer her creations to the deserving winners.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

I'm glad you like the pictures, I just finished uploading the ones that turned out the best.

Also, the three finals matches are up on our team's youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/frc1726
I'm sure more video will be put up a little later, too.

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

Slight problem: we have accidently come into possession of one of the champion plaques; we've already contacted 330, and they've assured us it's not theirs. Is 968, 980, or 1160 missing a plaque? Please contact us so we can fix this! :ahh:

Re: Fall Classic - Southern California
 

One of my favorite parts was the enthusiasm of the football team which was there. The must have been about 7th grade. I ran into two of them in the morning, looking for the football field and their game. I didn't know where their game was, but I told them about the robots. Some time in the afternoon the whole football team showed up and stayed to watch until the end. At one point just before a match they ran up to the driver's station to "get in line" to drive the robots, and just before the finals they asked if they could go out and put the balls up. I (obviously) had to keep them away from the field, but I directed them to the VEX field just outside (thanks to 599) where they were able to drive some robots. Between just about every match, the whole team would run down the stands and around the corner to the VEX field, and then come back to watch the matches. They were quite enthusiastic and asked lots of questions.