Minnesota regional!
 

hey!, i was wondering about the Minnesota regional in general... whats the average temperature supposed to be (i'm from Florida... its 82 deg. here right now...), or how the duel regional worked... also a good place to say what teams are excited about going!

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Hi! It should warm up a bit by then, right now I'm comfortable wearing a sweatshirt. It's not so bad.

Essentially, they run the regionals as seperate regionals. Each is it's own regional similiar to any other regional. I'm pretty excited for it, it should be fun.

-Vivek

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

The two regionals will be run as two completely separate events. However, if you want to go check out the robots over at the other event the two venues are right across the street from each other.

The average High for Minneapolis in the first week of April is about 50 degrees. You guys are lucky the regional is the very last week, today it is 30 and snowing like crazy here on campus!

Team 2175 is excited for the Northstar Regional!

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

avg hi 50
avg lo 30
record hi 80
record lo 9

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Yea I would guess High 40s to Low 50s but being minnesota it may conveniently snow a ton. It is snowing now and jeans and a fleece are adequate for short trips outside. If you don't care for colder weather, pack a pair of jeans to wear to the regional and bring a light jacket to wear (I would sometimes wear mine at competition too).

The regionals are effectively two regionals as has already been said and I am pumped to go.

10000 Lakes for me.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I'm excited, its North Star for Patrick and me.

you can find out more here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrCJJ2JHnEU, also this thread should probably merge with the other Minnesota Regional thread.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

so theres a chance for snow?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

In early April, there is a chance of anything. But usually it is quite nice.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Minnesota weather is unpredicatble..umm snow tonight? Crazy!
But usually a sweatshirt or light jacket and then jeans or something like that should be fine for going outside at all times.
Umm...one of the funnest things about Minneosta is the FIRST (haha get it) annual Robotics Shindig sponsored by the Robettes. Hope you all signed up and we will for sure be having an amazing time at the MOA!

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

The weather has been great recently, and I am fine with a light sweatshirt. I've actually grabbed the mail in a tshirt a few times.

However, it is very unpredictable. We had record lows all winter, then numerous melts followed by numerous snowstorms. Definitely expect 40-50s for early April though.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

You aren't kidding, was going to head to a robotics meeting 2 miles away tonight. Weather conditions are so bad im skipping it tonight.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

as the saying goes, wait five minutes and the weather will change.

During the competition you will be inside and it will get warm in there most likely. But a sweatshirt with a t-shirt underneath should be fine, with maybe a light jacket. You can always take off layers, but you never know what the weather will be. As long as you have what is suggest above you should be fine, for outdoors (but that is the minnesotan in me).

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Just in case anyone not from MN is wondering, it's gonna be about -8 today (but plenty of sun!!)

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I know, I was going to go to something tonight too but I had to stay home cause it was to slippery to drive...absolute craziness!

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

The worst is innocent rain in the morning... then you see snow and then start swearing your head off because you know by the time school is over, it is going to take you 20 min just to pry the door open. ;) And then another 40 min to scrape the wind shield and get the car started.

Little bit of exaggeration but not a large stretch by any means.

But by competition time, things shouldn't be that bad.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Patrick,
Minnesota is one of those places where you don't want to listen to the locals talk about the weather. You are from Florida so it will be cold. Don't plan on walking a long distance after dark in your team tshirt, you'll turn into a popsicle. It is common practice for Minnesotans to wear shorts and sandals whenever the sun shines and it is above 45 degrees in late March or April. If someone tells you it's a little chilly, take your parka. In Minnesota, Girl Scouts stop selling cookies outside the Walmart when the temp gets below -20F (and start selling hot chocolate).
Temperature aside, be prepared for a great regional. Minnesota teams know how to throw a party. If you look at the team list and think you are going to have it easy with the large number of rookies, you are in for a big surprise. First year teams are immersed in First before their first regional. They build quality robots and great teams. Watch out for my personal favorite the Robettes, they were awesome last year and one of the most exuberant teams I have ever worked with. Mendotta Heights is just south of Minneapolis. If you are flying, you will likely pass right over it on final approach just before you cross the river.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Al is right, at 50F we put on shorts and talk about how nice and warm the weather is. If you're from Florida, you know people put on parkas as soon as some one says the low temperature will approach 50F. We've had snow storms that dump a foot of snow on April 16.

There is a video going around the Internet called UFFDAMINNESOTA that shows Minnesotans out playing in the snow. It's pretty much true. Two weeks ago I was at a sled dog race and the temperature at the start of the race was -24F, just a little chilly for Minnesotans. BTW, It was -8F this morning when I left for work. Expect the ground to still be frozen during the regionals.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Yes, but it is a dry cold!

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

LOL

At -8F it's always a dry cold.

But in April it's usually damp from the snow melt.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

He is not kidding we spent close to 15 minutes de-icing the front window of my van (granted it is bigger than most cars) but still, it wasn't a fun experience.

Did that today, twas very comfortable.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

So there will possibly be snow? I Love the snow and the cold, guess I live in the wrong place.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I guess you never know for sure...today its quite pleasent out...tommorow who knows...i would dress for the cold and then bring like mittens and stuff like that...snow is always a possibility. :)

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Ahh! yay! I get to have more use out of my warm clothes now :)

It's such a waste when I use it for a week in Florida and then when I go up to Indiana.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

haha ya for sure bring your warm clothes...today was like a heat wave...almost 60 degrees

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

How will it be inside the Arena? I doubt you heat it enough to satisfy us, but how is it?

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

It's usually sweltering in the Arena. So.. like 70?

-Vivek

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

It will be a nice warm 70ish in the arena. We have learned to deal with the cold, but that doesn't mean we like it.
It also cannot be said enough that the weather could be just about anything that time of year. watch the weather channel a few days in advance.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Everyone talking about the temperature inside the arena was at the Minnesota regional last year in Williams Arena (a basketball arena). Team 79 will be joining us in the Northstar Regional in Mariucci Arena which is a hockey arena.

The temperature should be comparable to other regionals in hockey arenas such as Milwaukee.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

So, it's going to be cold like a hockey arena?

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Nah, even during a hockey game it will get warm. Warm enough to be comfortable, I'm sure... even for people from Florida. :)

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Ha. Well I love the cold, But it's different for other people on my team. In the middle of finals at the Florida regional, we had to go and get sweatshirts for all the drivers.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Milwaukee isn't a hockey arena, it is a soccer field. The Milwaukee Wave play at the Cellular arena, Admirals play at the Bradley Center.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Whoops, that's what I get for being really sick all weekend the year we went. It felt like a hockey arena to me ;)

It will likely be cooler than something like a basketball or soccer arena, so ig your driver's needed sweatshirts at FL they will definitely want to bring them up here.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

People always forget that indoor soccer fields look alot like hockey rinks because of the boarder walls. With the concrete floor it is hard to tell the difference.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Typical for Minnesota, the weather is unpredictable. It was just over 60F yesterday. They are predicting 59F today but the weather people here have a hard time predicting the sun rise here. (Sorry to those that are meteorologist). You almost never see better than an 80% chance of anything so we have an 80% that the sun will rise tomorrow. LOL

With the 60F yesterday and above freezing predicted (80% chance) the rest of the week, America's icebox is thawing. You'll have to watch the weather the night before the regional to have any idea of what the weather will be like at the regional.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

And there's only about a 50% chance that will be accurate :)

If you are coming by bus from Florida, bring a good assortment of clothes. If you are flying, at least bring a sweatshirt!

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

It is warm enough where you will be comfortable in a T - Shirt and it will be too hot for a sweatshirt. It usually gets warm inside the arena because of all of the people attending.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Also, remember to watch your step if you walk anywhere with puddles from snow melting, especially after dark. There is a tendency for these puddles to be partially frozen, or to freeze at night when it gets cooler, and it's quite slippery if you're not expecting it. I know the sidewalks at the U of M are very puddle-y and slippery right now. This might not be much of a problem in April, as a lot of the snow is melting now, but you never know. We've had snowstorms in late March and April (and May...) before.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Thanks! I guess I just have to bring clothes for warm and cold weather!

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Joey,
I think he is referring to it's original design criteria.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Wow, I can not wait. I hate having to wait till the last week =P

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

So about Minnesota and its really unpredictable weather...

All through today from morning till sunset, it was gloomy and rainy and really moist. That "Spring time" feeling.

Guess what. It's snowing again. Pretty heavily too.

You Floridans, pack your jackets ;)

Keehun
Team 2502

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

You guys should throw a snow ball fight social for us. I lived in Missouri until I was eight and I miss the snow.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

so, I understand that this is a hockey arena. But I've seen both of these options:
1.) Ice is melted, and the pits and field are set up on the concrete floor.
2.) The ice is NOT melted. Instead a flexible, movable, over floor is placed on top of the ice. The pits and field are placed atop it. People walking on this floor cause it to shift, but where heavy objects are (heavy crate walls, or the FRC Field) the floor does not move.

Do we know which option we will be doing? I hope....HOPE....it is the melted Ice and everything set up on the regular concrete option. I've had to deal with the movable over floor option a few years in my past and it's nothing but a pain, especially in the pits. Also, a wrench left on the over floor gets just as cold as the wrench left on the ice. At least it seemed that way.

Again, there isn't much point asking now since we're leaving tomorrow, but I just thought I'd ask and see if anyone knew.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I sent an email to the regional director. I'll post as soon as I get an answer.
My initial guess is that it will be flushed and there will not be anything that can melt.
PITs I think will be set up somewhere else than the rink. The rink is a perfect size for the arena, judges, media, etc.

Good luck at the regional! My team will be attending the other one across the street ;)

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I would definately pack a nice assortment of cool weather and warm weather clothes and probably bring a light jacket to the competition incase the weather fluctuates a lot between walking in at morning and leaving at night.

Im on spring break right now, and this is the only thing I have thought about nearly the whole time.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I know someone who works in the athletic maintnence department at Marriucci and I believe he has said that the ice is going to be melted. That is what I knew last talking to him, but stuff changes.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Yes. I've just confirmed it with the regional director:

Ice will be melted, and 1/3rds of the rink will be used for the field.
Other 2/3rds will be the pit area. Each team will get the standard 10'x10' and there will be a large black drape disconnecting the two sides.

Wow, looks really convenient to me for transportation reasons and really inconvenient for noise level when trying to work/rest in the pits.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Earplugs FTW

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I've been to a lot of regionals that use the "arena" arrangement with the drape, and the sound level in the pits is not that significant. The speaker arrays point away from the pits, and the drape also kills a lot of the sound level. I can't recall ever even being aware of the sound from the field, even when our pit was on the end right by the drape.

It's not as inconvenient as trying to get your robot from the pits to the field and back, across the street at Williams Arena. I hope everyone coming to 10,000 Lakes has a good cart.

And it's snowing again :(

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I have to agree with Jeff on this one. Midwest, Boilermaker, and Wisconsin have all used this setup forever and I've never considered noise to be a problem. I'm happy to hear that we'll be getting the full 10x10 in the pits and not 9x9 smaller like you tend to get at some other events.

We'll be leaving at 4pm tomorrow for our 6 hour trip. I hope everyone else manages to travel safely.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Mariuchi is an Olympic size rink (200' x 100') as opposed to an NHL rink which is only 200' x 85', so there is more room for full 10x10 pit spaces than at some of the other venues.

Have a safe trip. The snow is supposed to stop by around 1PM tomorrow. It's sticking to the grass at my house, but is not expected to stick to the roads in the southern part of the state.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I don't think we have to cross a street with our robots, at least I hope not. This is from the Minnesota FIRST website.

Directly connected to Williams Arena, the “pits” for the 10,000 Lakes Regional will be housed in the Sports Pavilion. Just a couple minutes walk from the arena; teams will be able to transport their robots quickly and efficiently between the “pits” and the playing field via a designated corridor. Special Note: All robot carts must be less than 34” wide to fit through the connecting corridor.

:ahh: Carts on a diet?

BTW, it's still snowing right now.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Here at the U of M it is snowing right now, but so far it's melting as soon as it hits the ground. It's supposed to be below freezing tonight, so watch out for ice on the roads and sidewalks tomorrow morning! The forecast says that the high temperatures should be in the mid-40s this weekend though, so it should be fairly nice. :)

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I was refering to the other regional across the street, not having to cross the street with the robot. The pits are in the same building :). They just are not in the same room as the field. And there are ramps, it's not a flat walk. Thankfully it's nothing like the walk from the pits to the fields in Atlanta.

Snowing here, too :( Hope it quits soon.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Snow has stopped here and is beginning to melt to some degree.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I hope everyone's been having fun, I came back to MN from Purdue and I'm SO happy I did! If any of you are on a drive team at North Star come say hi to me, I'll be scoring all weekend! The weather is looking to be pretty nice and I've been pretty impressed with a lot of bots so far.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Yeah, Good practice rounds to all teams. Very fun to watch a lot of different designs compete. I know our team is very excited for the next couple of days and we hope all of you guys are as well. Good luck to all teams in both regionals during the next few days!

PS: I hope team 79 from FL are enjoying the 30 degree mornings. =P

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I am enjoying the weather. The teams here are very great and I am looking forward to playing with them.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Were lovin em' :D feels goooood

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I would imagine a few 30 degree mornings doesn't bother someone who knows he's going home to Florida in a couple days.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Our team had a great start, first match of the day and...

Robot: *sits still*
Other robots: *moves about*
Me (in the stands): ...Why isn't our robot moving?
Mom (in a different spot): MOVE! MOVE! MOVE! (quietly)

Thankfully, our alliance still won (regardless of how the opposing team got lots of points on our bot). Our robot apparently ran the night before, and we fixed the issue easily.

Aside from that, we lost some, won some, had a tie, will hopefully do better tomorrow (*coughweneedtowinsomecough*).

I got to see pretty much every 10,000 Lakes design. There was a wide variety. I remember how some people at the beginning of the build season said they would all be the same, and I got to see with my own eyes how wrong they were. The annoying thing is how great lots of the bots are. >_>; Even the rookie teams mostly have good bots. I've only seen one box, and most of the robots have a pick-up mechanism and a way to shoot those, but they had lots of different ways of doing it. 'Course, our simple robot was 'EH!' in comparison, but we still cheered our heart out and had an embarra- I mean, cool dance.

Before I forgot, congrats to the teams who won awards so far, but I think the best hand-out were the bows from the Robettes (sp?). I still have mine on. ;P Sure, there were apples and balls, but nothing beats a bow! (This team also won the Judge's award; I blame the bows)

I hope tomorrow is just as good. I wonder why our only Freshman isn't here? (Yes, we only have one Freshman... kind of sad). I think I'll cross the street and meet the people who aren't used to this weather! :D Oh, and the current weather is short weather for us. Yes, we are mentally insane that way.

That said, it was fun, especially the lunch lines. Roughly 100 teams trying to get lunch at about the same time? Win!

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Can anyone explain why 10,000 Lakes, with 51 teams, has 77 qual matches and started today's competition at 8:30 whereas North Star, which also has 51 teams, has only 60 matches , which is far fewer than other regionals with a similar size (WI and IL both had 53 teams and ran 71 matches, even VCU with 60 teams ran 70 matches)?

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I was trying to watch the webcast for this regional, but it kept stopping and freezing up on both webcasts provided by the teams... was anyone else having this problem or is it just me?

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

So we managed to finish about an hour ahead of schedule over at Northstar today so I just wanted go give a huge shout out to all our amazing volunteers!

Our robot had some issues that caused it to stop moving in two matches and based on the Driver's Station, dashboard and signal light I knew our robot was at fault. The volunteers still came over, and told us exactly what they were seeing on the control software to make sure that it wasn't a field problem. They were all doing an amazing job.

He believe we have located the issues and had no problem even after a collision in our last match (the trigger to failure in the previous matches).

I also wanted to congratulate Mark Lawrence on winning the Woodie Flowers award. I hope having Woodie there to present it to you himself was as awesome as it seemed.

EDIT: Kevin, I was actually just wondering the same thing myself

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I just want to give a quick congratulations to Mark Lawrence, the 2009 MN North Star WFA winner. For those of you who haven't yet had the chance to meet Mark, all I can say is try to! To be able to watch his face as he realized it was him who won and then to have the chance to see Woodie Flowers himself present the award was an honor in itself.

I've known Mark since our rookie year, when he was the only mentor we really had and we were building out of our team captain's kitchen. He has always believed in us and has always made me want to be the kind of person who would make him proud. When we won the Wisconsin regional with 111 and 1625 our rookie year, he was right there filling out the paperwork for us to go to Atlanta, never doubting for a second that we'd be able to find the funds.

As he saw what this program did, he got us really involved in trying to spread FIRST in Minnesota. Last year I saw a few questions about the sudden explosion of FIRST in Minnesota... and I can tell you that Mark Lawrence is a major factor in all of that. His passion and drive and sheer energy have really inspired so many other teams, and I know he has always been a rock for 1816.

Not only has he done all of this for Minnesota, he is always willing to make time for the students on the team. Our senior year of high school my friend and I did a final project using a hydrogen fuel cell to power a VEX bot, and Mark offered to be our project liason with the school. As I've gone on to college and have come back to the team as an alum he has always been excited to hear about what we're doing with our lives, never being too busy to have a quick chat.

He has shared his house with us, his life with us (thanks also to his wife for sharing him! :) ), and I truly don't think the award could have gone to a better candidate. If you happen to be at the regional tomorrow and you see Mark, give him a pat on the back and thank him. He is an inspiration and a model for all of us to follow.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I would be very interested to know if other people have been experiencing this problem. Other than some internet issues during the middle of the day (that weren't in our control, yay viruses!) we think we were up and running fine for most of the day. If this isn't the case we would like to know so we can try and fix it tomorrow.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

My understanding is that North Star is only running 7 matches per team and 10K Lakes is running 9 matches per team. Why the difference? I do not know.

This results in 8 min/match scheduled at North Star and 6 min/match at 10K Lakes. Because of this, North Star ran ahead by a lot and 10K Lakes trailed. It worked out well for awards though from my understanding.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I think this deserves another post than the one above.
I just want to echo Lauren's statements about Mark though from a different perspective. He is a great assist to Minnesota and FIRST. I could say a lot of things about Mark and my experiences with him. However, I think what might be the best thing I can say is that he is the type of mentor I hope one day to be. I wish I would have had more time to mentor with him over my last two years of college, because I know there is a whole lot more that I could have learned.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I was having this problem as well. I was supposed to come home for the competition but a blizzard is keeping me here is Rapid City :'( . Either way, the web cast kept cutting in and out and sometimes it wouldn't even open. I was trying to watch the award ceremony to see if my old mentor Kurt won the Woodie Flowers Award (which he did!!!!) and the award ceremony finally came in on the web cast when the Robettes were going up for the Judges award so nice timing for me! I hope everything is running smoothly tomorrow because I plan on watching it the whole day.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

One of my friends said it's been freezing up all day too. It's a pretty common problem.

So far the 10,000 Lakes regional is a blast. There are so many fun and cool teams to work with and we're getting a ton of games in, I love it. There are a fair number of strong alliances here from the strangest teams; Highest Rookie Seed at this event could be #1 (sup Wave).

Congratulations to the Robette's mentor on the Woodie Flower's Award!

Good luck to all teams today as we finish up the regional!

(I have a bit of a theory about the number of matches at each regional; I think that was done so that people could talk at one regional, walk across the street, and do the other?)

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

The 10,000 lakes regional was able to have more matches due to Mark Koors. Both regionals have a lot of young volunteers (in terms of experience).

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I was able to watch it today with no problems! thanks for webcasting it! and congrats to all those who made it!

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Congratulations to our sister school, Team 1986- Team Titanium- for winning the Chairman's Award!!
We are so excited for you!

And great job to all the teams at the Minnesota Regional. We watched the webcast, and everything seemed to move so smoothly.

See yall in Atlanta!

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Congratulations to Team Titanium! Looks like the Greater Kansas City area will be well represented "at Chairman's" in Atlanta. We look forward to seeing everyone there!

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

We had a lot of fun at the Minnesota 10,000 Lakes regional, All the teams did a great job! We look forward to seeing some of you in Georgia!

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Congrats to all of the teams that won the different awards at both regionals, and Goodluck to those going to Atlanta.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Congratulations to all the teams at 10,000 Lakes, it was an amazing regional.

Wave, oh my god... You guys were awesome. A ton of fun to work with in the stands and in matches, we were extremely excited when you picked us for your alliance. Congrats on your Rookie All-Star and Winning Alliance award, it was amazing working with you guys and we'll see you in Atlanta.

2470, you were a very helpful third partner and helped tip countless matches over the edge. You were a ton of fun to work with too. We're glad you qualified with us for Atlanta and we'll see you there!

1986... congratulations on your Chairman's Award. Your robot and finals alliance was just scary, and hearing about all the stuff you guys did it seemed like you guys were a great fit for the award. Good luck with Championship Chairmans!

I really want to go on but I'd end up thanking every team there and spending hours on this post. I especially want to thank the guys from Batavia Robotics. I never actually got to thank you guys for your support in FTC, and it was really cool to see you guys again not only in FRC, but doing _well_ in it too! You're a promising looking team and I hope to see you guys around.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

The regional was a lot of fun. I would like to thank team 93 N.E.W Apple Corps for their spare shaft. We bent our intake roller in one of the qualification rounds, and we did not have a long enough one to replace it. We would have been sunk without it.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Wow! Where do I begin?

First off a great thank you to everybody who attended both regionals, I would especially like to thank everybody at 10,000 who completed my mini-homework on Friday by bringing somebody in on Saturday. The stands had to have twice as many people and was four times as loud as Friday.

Thank you to 1714 and 2470 for being great alliance partners. 1714 was always dependent and could score really fast, and 2470 did a great job running screens to keep opponents off our backs! I really hope we get an oppertunity to play with each other at the championship!

Congrats to 1986 for winning chairman's! You team was very solid and your robot has a great strategy!

Thank you to team 93 for helping out team out with scouting! We had a limited number of students attending the competition and 93 really came through for us by combining forces!

I would like to give a personal thank you and congratulations to team 2500 for winning the engineering inspiration award. I definitely see a chairman's award in this team's future. They held a mini-social at U of M that was a blast, as well of being an extremely energetic team, and teaching the entire stadium their team dance and getting the crowd into it.

Congrats to both WFA winners as well!

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

On behalf of 1986, Team Titanium, I would like to thank everyone for the congratulations. I am still shocked we won Chairman's, but it is an honor none-the-less.

To teams 1714, 2826, and 2470: You threee were an amazing allinace and deserved to win everything. After the first match, you did a great job figuring out our strategy and kept us away from the empty cells the entire time. If we would have gotten ahold of a super cell, the outcome would have been different, but you guys had great teamwork.

2826 - Congrats on Highest Rookie Seed, and Rookie All Star. I watched you play, and was shocked to see that you were a rookie team. Your pit was also well organized, giving the sense that you had been doing this for years.

1714 - Way to go on Chairman's at Wisconsin! And your robot was outstanding too.

2515 and 2861 - We put up one heck of a fight, and it was a blast! 2515, you guys had an insane human player, and you both were great to be around. I'm surprised we hung around as long as we did, but I guess our robots complemented each other nicely.

It will be our first trip to Atlanta as a team, and I am really excited to go. My only hope is that we will be on the same field as our sister team, 1987 and 1730. Oh, and Becky (if you read this), I'm hella excited for ATL!

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Haha you spelt it right, we are sooo glad that you liked the bows. A lot of team bonding to make those bows. We are so glad that as a team, we got to meet all new teams in the MN Regional. All teams did a great job and for those that we allianced with, you were all amazing.
Alicia Albrecht
Team Captain, 2177

North Star Woodie Flowers Speech
 

Did anyone tape Woodie's speech at the MN North Star Regional. There are several things he said that I would like to put into our final year video. I would like to get a version that I can edit.

Thanks in advance

Re: North Star Woodie Flowers Speech
 

I can check, but I know I didn't get all of the speech, I only got some, but i'll get ya link to it once I get it on our server.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I believe our team has a speech by him from 10,000... perhaps they are the same?

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Basically, the Woodie speech I am looking for he discussed the characteristics of a FIRST student. What sets the first students apart from the rest. What skills FIRST students learn.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

The "Take a Step Forward" speech, with the line of potential workers and stuff? Our team might have that.

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I found the speech in our archived video from Northstar.

Re: North Star Woodie Flowers Speech
 

I got it, except for the very first and last sentences, one because I wasn't fast enough, and the other because my battery died. :o

But anyway, if anyone does have a high-quality, decently centered and zoomed version of that video, I would like a digital copy please! :] Or at least a link to the video (and not to Youtube, please!)

Re: North Star Woodie Flowers Speech
 

I wouldn't exactly call the copy I have high quality, but I have what we archived from the official video stream. It is posted here as Northstar_Woodie_Speech.wmv

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Bit of a bump but I know a lot of people were looking for 10,000 Lakes videos. I finally found the NASA archive last night, so I'll be downloading and parsing the matches so we can finally have video on TBA. It'll be about Atlanta quality, but something's better than nothing.

There's so far a lot of audio sync problems, so it'll take me a really long time to get it all exported into tons of individual files, but it's worth it. ^_^

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Yay Chris!!!! I can't wait to see some of those final matches!!! *waits in anticipation and asks if there is any way he can help*

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Well, right now what I have to do is take the .mp4 files, import them into iMovie, cut and edit, then re-export as an mp4 file. This makes the already bad video a little worse. Is there some way I can just cut the ends off of a video file so I don't have to export a shorter version and further degrade it? A free or cheap Mac tool would be ideal, but I could move to a Windows machine if need be.

So basically, that's what you can do to help right now ^_^

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

Well, are you using Imovie HD, or just Imovie?

Also, other options:

VirtualDub 1.7.8
Available for: windows
VirtualDub is an open source video processor/editor. Even though it may not be able to do advanced editing like non-linear video editors - it has powerful features for processing your video clips.... http://www.virtualdub.org/
Avidemux 2.4.1
Available for: windows mac linux
Avidemux offers simple video editing for your PC, but packs many more features than that. This open source project is great for DVD/DivX converting and editing. Avidemux also has scripting support... http://avidemux.sourceforge.net/
Kino 1.3
Available for: linux
Kino is open source non-linear video editing at it's best. Easily imports DV video through IEEE-1394 (firewire) and allow detailed editing and transition effect for both video and audio. The move... http://www.kinodv.org/
Cinelerra 4.0
Available for: linux
Cinelerra is a highly advanced and professional video editing, but still remains open source. Cinelerra solves three main tasks: capturing, editing and compositing. There is virtually no limit to the... http://heroinewarrior.com/cinelerra.php

Re: Minnesota regional!
 

I found a tool that lets me trim a video file and save, but it doesn't let me adjust the desynced audio. I'll try AVIDemux and see if it willl allow me to adjust audio while trimming, while still keeping the video file in the native format so it doesn't lose quality through editing. It's not a big drop in quality, but when it starts out as bad as it is you can notice it.

I'll put up the finals on YouTube tonight, then when I have some more done I'll start sending them to TBA.

Edit: Unfortunately, AVIdemux doesn't play sound for me. I'll just use iMovie.