Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

FIRST Community,
I would like to formally announce the inaugural year of the Robo Showdown - an Offseason Competition hosted by National Instruments during our annual user conference, NI Week, in beautiful Austin, Texas.


Details:

• $300
• August 5-6
• Austin Convention Center
• Hotel rooms for $99/night (sleeps 4)
• T-shirts
• Rule changes TBD but will definitely include longer Autonomous or higher point values during Autonomous
• ~10 matches per team plus finals
• No team count limit (we have an entire room in the convention center)

AND as part of attending you will be able to go to the Exhibition Hall to see other types of robots, vision applications, and lots of other fun demos for free! Mentors will be able to pay an extra fee to attend the technical training sessions (cost TBD). Attendees will also be encouraged to watch the Keynote Thursday morning by Dr. David Barrett from Olin College on robotics.

Email me with questions or to pre-register! More info to come soon!

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

Team 1429 is planning on coming. We have a complete flooring (regolith) if you need it.

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

Hey Steph,

Team 2468 is excited to be coming.

Did the carpet and Regolith get here? I know they was some discussion about us storing some of it.

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

We will be using the Regolith from the Dallas regional - thanks though Paul!

Norm - Lockheed is holding on to it for us still and haven't followed up yet about storage so I'll let you guys know soon. Thanks!

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

Thank you for posting the thread, Steph. I am really looking forward to having an off-season in Texas and it's really cool that it is being sponsored by National Instruments during NI Week. Thank you to NI and thank you to all the folks who are planning (and will plan) to volunteer to help make this a fantastic and successful off-season event to participate in.

This might be a fun and helpful website to browse for more information about Austin, in general. (Please don't let this confuse you readers regarding the info/website that will be put up at a later date specifically developed for the Robo Showdown. It's just meant to give you a little view into our world here in Austin.)

Jane

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

Is there a registration deadline? Maybe team 842 might head there.

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

That would be cool to have a HOF team there!

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

We would be honored to have 842!!!

Registration will be up from May 18 - June 24th ( I just checked with our events guy) but again no limit to the number of teams that can come so no huge rush to sign up day 1!

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

Team #2585 will be there.

Are you going to need any volunteers?

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

I can definitely say yes to that. If Stephanie answers just consider my 'yes' a strong 2nd! :) We are still organizing that aspect of it but if you know you are interested in volunteering, let the committee know through Stephanie for now.

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

Team 418 is definitely going to be there. We can't wait to have an offseason in our own backyard!

-Danny

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

I vote for purple polos. That way I can find you guys. (I lost everyone in the stands on gray tee-shirt day. Not that I'm complaining....*cough*)

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

Yeah, I kept wondering who those gray guys were on alliance selection at LSR...

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

1477 will be there.

REGISTRATION NOW OPEN for Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

Hi teams!
You can now register for Robo Showdown! Details are below or checkour the webpage (still a work in progress) at ni.com/roboshowdown!

Registration:
1. Go to www.ni.com/niweek and click on "Registration Page". Then click on "Sign Up Now".
2. Fill out contact information
3. When prompted for a registration code enter FRCleader
4. Complete registration
Registration options for Leaders and Team:
1. Team only (no leader at the showdown): $300.00
2. Leader only (full conference access): $300.00
3. Team and Leader with Robo Showdown access only: $300.00
4. Team and Leader (leader with full conference access): $500.00

5. A confirmation email will be sent to you after registering.
6. Instructions for your team registration will be included in the confirmation email. Please forward to your team.

Can't wait to see you there! Email us at roboshowdown@ni.com with any questions!

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

Team 2158 will be attending and we are looking forward to it! Have there been any other forms of advertisement to FRC teams about this event besides this post? I know flyers were passed out at the Dallas and Lone Star regionals, but I'm sure they could have easily been lost by teams. To make sure that everyone is aware of how to register, it would probably be a good idea to contact the area team sponsors directly.

Also, is there a publicly available list of the teams who have signed up already? I'm very curious to see all the teams that are planning on coming.

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

We don't have the list of teams attending yet but it'll go up soon.
As for advertising, emails have gone out to every team in Texas, LA, Mexico, NM, CO, OK, and maybe another state... Any other suggestions?

Registration deadline has been formally set at JULY 1!

It also looks like NI and THSP might be jointly sponsoring teams to compete (i.e. pay for the registration fees) - more to come soon or email me with any questions!

Robo Showdown

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

Unfortunately it sounds like 148 will be unable to attend. It isn't really feasible for our team to attend both this event and IRI due to their close scheduling. Even though this event is muuuuuuuuuch closer, our students put a lot of pressure on us to attend IRI, so that is where we'll be.

Hopefully a few of us will be able to stop down and see how it turns out!
-John

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

Yeah, I wondered about that after reading that you guys are attending IRI. I'm glad the team is attending IRI this year, though, and hope you all have a great time and help stir up some great competition!

It would be awesome if some of you could come stop by. The teams that participate in the Showdown would love that, I'm sure.

--
It's difficult to get a new off season off the ground in an area of the country that doesn't typically do off seasons. I'm sure in a few years, we'll all look back at this effort as a huge learning curve for the teams and for a corporate sponsor that is daring to jump on in and take this on, esp. in the middle of NI Week.

If anyone wants to volunteer and would like to know some of the positions we have available, please feel free to contact me via pm. We'd love to have you on board.

Jane

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

I'm SO excited for Robo Showdown! :]

If you're anywhere remotely close to Texas, you should come compete because A- this competition is going to rule, and B- there's so much fun stuff to do in Austin!

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

Out of curiosity, did all teams receive an e-mail about this event?

I had one forwarded on to me by my team's main contact. As much as we'd like to attend -- and I'd love an excuse to visit Fiesta Texas and Sea World -- it's a bit too far for us. I'd feel especially bad about it, though, if we were invited over another team.

So, yeah. Just wondering...

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

[quote=Madison;865061]Out of curiosity, did all teams receive an e-mail about this event? [quote]

Yup! We aren't doing it invitational style (at least this year) so nobody would be "taking somebody else's spot". Any and everybody are more than welcome. It would be far for you but hey - maybe next year make a summer vacation out of it!

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

Hey everyone! Just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow is the FINAL DAY TO REGISTER for Robo Showdown 2009!! :ahh:

If your team wants to register, go to http://decibel.ni.com/content/groups...ion-at-ni-week. There you'll find more information about the competition, tips, and registration instructions!

Questions? Send them to nifirstrobotics@gmail.com. Hope to see you there!

Oh, and PS- there might be some funding available for teams who want to register but haven't for financial reasons. E-mail stephanie.brierty@ni.com for more information :]

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

The DiscoBots - 2587 are registered.

Will NI be publishing the list of teams attending ?

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

This is a fun link, take a look:

http://www.ni.com/niweek/summit_robotics.htm


Thanks to KathieK for calling my attention to it.
Jane

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

All - this email just went out to the registered teams. Thanks to 118, 418, 1477, 1817, 2158, 2468, 2583, 2585, 2587, 2789, and 2881 for registering!!!

Thank you for registering for the Robo Showdown. Unfortunately, we recently had to make a difficult decision to cancel the competition. While there was a lot of momentum for the event, including community support from sponsors and partners, we were unable to register the number of teams that we felt was necessary to have a high-caliber, action-packed event. Teams that previously expressed an interest in attending did not register because of scheduling or other issues. The summer months are a busy time for high school students, and many teams found that they could not travel to the event as planned.

However, we want to share our enthusiasm about the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) program with all who attend NIWeek 2009. We will continue to provide high FIRST exposure at NIWeek, including the following:



Promotion of FIRST in the Thursday conference keynote presented by Ray Almgren, Vice President of Academic Relations
A keynote delivered by Dean Kamen, the founder of FIRST, during the NIWeek Robotics Summit
A technical conference session from the NI R&D team regarding FIRST technology
FRC robots on display in the expo area
Those of you who are interested in robotics overall, can find many ways to educate yourself at NIWeek. Attend the Robotics Summit, visit the Robotics Pavilion on the expo floor, and hear Dr. David Barrett, the director of SCOPE at Olin College, present a special keynote on how robotics in industry and engineering education is poised to revolutionize the way we interact with technology in our daily lives.

While the competition is cancelled, please know you are still invited to attend NIWeek, which offers three days of interactive technical sessions, targeted summits, hands-on workshops, and exhibitions on the latest developments for design, control, automation, manufacturing, and test.


Mentors: Register for the conference sessions at a special $300 USD discounted rate. Visit ni.com/niweek to register and enter code FRCmentor. At NIWeek, you gain valuable knowledge about NI technology, network with other engineers, and attend technical sessions that may be useful in your profession or role as a FIRST mentor. You may be especially interested in the Robotics Summit featuring experts such as Dean Kamen and Ellen Purdy from the U.S. Department of Defense.

Team Members or Mentors: Register for the free Expo-Only Pass, and you can visit the expo floor to see more than 100 demos of real-world engineering using NI technology. With this pass, you can also attend the morning conference keynotes.Visit ni.com/niweek for details.
Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions regarding this change. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. All teams who registered and paid will receive a full refund. We wish you and your team continued success in the future.


Warm regards,

Stephanie Brierty
Academic Product Marketing Engineer
(512) 683-5839


So :confused: let me know if you have questions.

Thanks again for everyone's support!

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

With Robo Showdown being canceled, I'm trying to get something together. It's very short notice so you all should all be hearing from me pretty soon. If you have not replied on this thread but would like to be involved with some sort of Texas offseason, please get in touch with me.

Email: jtkellertx@gmail.com
Call/Text: 832 620 5575
IM: hjtkellertx

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

This is a message I've sent to teams

Due to Robo Showdown being canceled, I have quite a few Northside Roboteers here that are disappointed. I’m sure there are other teams out there with the same feeling. My plan is to get sort of offseason event or scrimmage planned for early August and I’m trying to get a large amount of teams to participate.

I’m asking under what conditions your team would attend this event. For example, your team may only be able to attend certain dates, if the entry fee were under a certain amount, or if it were held in the Houston area. Any sort of requirements, please list them in a reply to this message.

I’m also asking what resources you have that you could bring or contribute to this event. (Volunteers, balls, track sections, trailers, extra robots, a high school gym for a weekend, anything!) Even if you aren’t to attend the event but are willing to loan out any items, please reply to this message.

Please forward this to any teams you may know. If you have received this message and are not the team organizer/lead mentor/etc. Please forward this message to the appropriate correspondent.

ChiefDelphi PM: jtkellertx
AIM: hjtkellertx
Email: jtkellertx@gmail.com
Phone: 832 620 5575
Don't hesitate to contact me with any concerns and comments.

Thanks,
James Tonthat, Team 1477

Every year I hear “We should have a Texas offseason this year.” This year, let’s do something about it!

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

James, where are you thinking of having this event?

Re: Announcing the 1st Annual Robo Showdown in Austin, TX!
 

I'm hoping someone can provide a high school gym or caffeteria.

City-wise, where ever we get more interest.