2010 Palmetto Regional
 

MiM is psyched to be attending in our back yard!

I guess you could call it Spark's house since it's in their county, so I'll call it our back yard.

Who else is all in?

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

1261 got approved from Motorola to attend the Palmetto Regional, so we're there again.

I hope to have our usual teams like 1676, 343, 342, 1771, 1746, 1311, etc. Those are just the teams I remember off the top of my head.

But I think P'tree regional will be a slight precursor to how the Palmetto Regional will be.

Who else?

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

1319 is currently signed up for Peachtree and the World Championships. However when registration opens up for second events we will be registering for Palmetto. Wouldn't miss it. Aside from the teams mentioned above hopefully we will also see our friends 2815 and 832.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Team 1249 and 337 have not decided yet on our second region. The new NC region is closer, but we have enjoyed the Palmetto the last couple of years and have made some great friends.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

That is a tough one. With the new N.C. regional, Palmetto may loose a couple of the regulars, but I'm glad to see a new regional too.:D

Rumor-ville alert: 2815 and 1398 will be teaming up this year, and we all know how well Los Pollos Locos jumped out of the gate last year as a rookie team. If your not familiar with 1398, the Robo-Raiders, they have been good for a few Chairman's awards in the past, and are one of the most spirited teams in the state. The dedication to community, combined with the long-time mentoring of Don Griffith will make these two teams ones to watch. They are currently signed up for the Bayou regional in week 1.

Actually this isn't too much of a rumor if you look at Billfred's profile.:yikes:

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

342 is signed up for Palmetto and can't wait. We plan to sign up for Peachtree when sign up opens again.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Anyone here looking into the Tarheel Regional? I think it's the week directly after Palmetto, so it's all together possible...

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

We have this thing about back-to-back regionals. I wouldn't mind it too much, but the school's principal thinks the kids don't need to be out that many days close together. We really thought about something in week 3 too, but scraped the idea for the same reason. The convienience of the regional being 5 min from home has it's drawbacks in the fact that you feel you have to go for the cost savings. But of course we would most likely attend Palmetto anyway! I wish we could support the Tarheel regional, but maybe next year.:D

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

It's true, it's true. 1398 and 2815 will be combining a lot of operations over this season. Los Pollos Locos can pick up a lot of tricks from one of the oldest (and certainly the most decorated) team in town, while the Robo-Raiders are looking forward to a shot in the arm in the robot department. And, of course, there is some room for cost savings to be realized by doubling up on some things.

Both will be signing up for Palmetto once second event registration opens--we weren't sure about how quickly Bayou would fill, while Palmetto always fills up either during second event or even during open registration.

(For those wondering, 1618 is out for 2010--with well over half of the 2009 traveling team graduating, the school decided to pursue other engineering competition opportunities. The team may return for 2011--and students can join Los Pollos Locos in the interim until the day comes.)

We scratched the Tarheel Regional explicitly because it's the week after Palmetto. There were a lot of burned out folks after two weeks back-to-back on the road. (Bayou was Week 4 last year, Palmetto was Week 5. How I attended both and remained employed, I don't entirely know.)

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

This sounds like a stong showing of force. Will there perhaps be twins?

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Well four can play that game(...starts emailing Mike Bryan:p ).

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Yeah..well five can play at that game of four.

(Thinks about emailing mentors of 1771, 1746, 1379, and GSMST)

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

If I remember right that was part of the rumor, but I've slept since then, so I forgot....

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

M'aiken Magic will heading to the backyard comp LAWL, hopefully this year we can really compete we aren't focising on the Inspiration award as we have in the past so it'll be intresting.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Would that be a shot in the Robot Arm?
Pity. 1618 was one highly determined team, and last year (from what I saw at Palmetto) they were actually getting their act together everywhere it counted. Just a few more years....

1676 can't travel the distance to SC this year, but Palmetto is the only regional (aside from NJ) we've gone to twice, and we've been awfully well-treated both times. We'll be back someday.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Are you implying that in the past you haven't been "really" competing?

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

no, we did alot of extra-curricular community events to add for the Inspiration award. this year we won't be doing much of that at all. I joined the Tech team last year and we took it to nationals while our FRC team didn't make it. Really what i'm saying is our main focus this year is going to be the robot.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

After a bit of a scare with the district, D5 did secure funding for Palmetto.

Heres to another fantastic regional.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

That's nice to hear.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Yeah, i'm just wonderng at this point the game entails.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Looks like Palmetto filled up thanks in part to 5 teams from Newark NJ.:)

I wonder if Don on 1676 had anything to do with that? Maybe he talked about what a great time we have here in Clemson.

Is anybody on a waiting list for Palmetto? I see other regionals have lists.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

hmmm, 5 NJ teams. Well instead of the GA vs SC we could have North vs South. It likely won't happen because of the way things got shot down last year, but is still a cool idea

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Last year,

The GA vs. SC carried a bit of hostility, or at least others thought it did. I think that if we portrayed our little South vs. North competition more as a friendly square-off, there wouldn't be so much controversy surround it.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

GA v.s SC compete with each other for EVERYTHING, the North vs South thing sounds funny though. Think about it Final match...two teams from the North and two from the South... EPIC BATTLE :cool:

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

2? Why not 4?

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

There are always practice rounds where you just show up in Queuing with your "friends"....

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

I meant Alliances not teams

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

We 343 make another attempt to use the t-shirt cannon this year? Brent promised I could fire it.:cool:

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

I'll see what we can arrange. Other things like doing our best at the regional usually take center stage that weekend.:)

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

I'm preety sure we did that last year LAWL.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

I think I saw your back-pack cannon ( looked like a proton-pack to me lol), 343 had a robot with 10 cannons (correct me if I'm wrong). We ran into issues with the event cordinators when we tried to use it.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

OH yeah the robot i forgot XD, yeah the backpack cannon was heavier that a mother but it worked preety well (Proton Pack LAWL). 8 cannons, haha they said UNACEPTABLE!! lol

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Can't wait for Palmetto! We have our bot tuned in and ready to go after Peachtree. Looking forward to a great event!

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

1261 got our sucker working really good Saturday morning and got up to 5 goals a match, but I think that there's more change in the air for Palmetto.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

We couldn't leave things alone either. We have created some options for the drive team this weekend. We will also try to learn some new things down in Florida. Hoping things go well, so Palmetto will be smooth. I liked coming by your pits Friday and seeing what you had. I talked to one of the team moms. Good looking robot.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Only 33 teams and only 2 rookie teams. Get your scouts ready, Palmetto this year should be interesting. I can say after playing week one, the game plays nothing like what I expected. Baisc bots that can simplly move play a big part in this game unlike pass years. A good drivetrain, ball control, and driver experience are vital this year.

Any one hanging? Only saw 3 that even tried at Peachtree.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

1379 will be joining everyone at Palmetto :)

we're making some changes too

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional Staff
 

The Palmetto Regional is being supported by much of the staff than has made it great for the past 7 years. Frank Landford is the co-chair again and Carla Rickenbaker is the Volunteer Coordinator as she has been for many years.

Terrel Burch is the Head Ref, and I (Barry Hudson) will be back as the game announcer.

All 21 SC teams will be there. The social will be at the dining hall and Edgar's bowling, pool, and ping-pong.

We have a surprise for the MC, and I'll see if Frank wants to announce it before the event. He is a well-known personality in the upstate of SC.

The official Regional website is at
http://www.ces.clemson.edu/main/FRC/index.html

Again, I encourage anybody considering Clemson to try to take a tour of the campus while you are there. If you cannot make the scheduled tour, I will pesonally walk you around after the Thursday or Friday competition.

http://www.clemson.edu/ces/psu/tour.html

I will try to get details about wireless networking.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional Staff
 

Yay we got the M'aiken Magic annoucer!!! >.<

We're going to to be ready for palmetto the kicker in Florida Failed epically, we plan on a redesigned better, kicker ready by the end of this week. Similar to paddle wheel technology used in our tech bots.

The Tank is COMING FOR YOU!!

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional Staff
 

If I heard it right, I think you guys got a bad deal in Florida. What was with that bumper rule?:ahh: I've seem others with one continuous bumper.:confused:
Are you refering to the type of kicker team 86 had?
Good luck in the home state.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional Staff
 

@ DRAKE343
Yes we did the bumpers we had were a solid wraparound, but apprently they had to be in 4 peices BUT WAIT 118, and 408 had solid wraparound bumpers as well. so we have no idea what was wrong with ours. someone just did ours at the wrong time of the morning...they didnt get their coffee yet >.<

The paddle wheel yeah it is simiar, I made a prototype a while back doing the same thing. Now i've seen one work we hope to implement one. It would work to our robots advantage alot!! If anything we got paired with some preety sad teams as well because the 2nd day we won all our matchs I beilieve. Looking forward to competiting with you guys, ya'll had a solid bot we wished you guys made it all the way, but that just makes Palmetto even better.

Good luck as well.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

945 will be there, we had the most hanging points during qualifiactions at the Florida Regional.

correct me if im wrong, but wern't 118's 4 peices stuck together with either the bumper fabric or glue on the back panels?

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Yeah, the the were mounted on one solid mount to be removed in one piece.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Any information about internet at the stadium? Our scouting plan sorta depends on it.

Team 1261 had a relatively strong showing at P'tree with being the first pick of the fourth alliance and being able to score 4-5 points with a mediocre ball possession mechanism.

Well, we've beefed up for Palmetto. The our possession mech. now holds the ball like no one's business, and our autonomous can clear the zone of balls and score (maybe).

We're working hard to make sure we don't have to work as hard on Thursday, and hopefully we can hit the practice field hard and often.

- ttl

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

343 had a semi-finalist showing in florida, and ended quals as the number seven seeded team (ended up being the number four alliance however) but next thursday we plan to do a lot of testing with autonomous and our new ball magnet and making our lifting mechanism faster. hoping that all goes well with that :D

cant wait for next week!

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Hahhaa, got rid of the vacs?

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

haven't gotten rid of it yet, just seeing if the ball magnet works a little better :D

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

We got rid of ours when we got our magnets working. It takes almost no lining up, and after we have the ball, we can drive it like we stole it, and the ball doesn't come out.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

thats the hope of what will happen to us:) b/c the vacuum worked well... but only when we are perfectly in line with the ball... so, im hoping that this will give us the little extra edge we need in the driving of the robot:D

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

You and me both. :cool:

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

I think we were getting a good suction on Thursday and into Friday, but come Saturday the balls seemed to have a lot of scratches and cuts on them. That may have contributed to the lack of suction. The magnet should solve that and the lining up issue our vacuum has. We also have a couple of other things up our sleve as Zig mentioned. Thursday will be go go go. At least my bed is 10min. away:D

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

By Saturday at Peachtree we completely ditched our elaborite auger and roller system. We are using that weight to make some mods to our arm to function like 4.................................................. ...................
...............................

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

With 34 teams attending 17 of them will have Palmetto as their first event 16 will be attending Palmetto as their 2nd event and team 49 from MI will make this their third. No winners yet of previous events yet so everybody will be hungry. Coupled with all the talk about upgrades and this is certainly shaping up to be a competive and interesting event. I know that 1319 will also be showing up with a few improvements in mind as well. I am looking forward to the gameplay and seeing all of our old friends and meeting some new ones as well. Good Luck to all.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

469!:eek: OH NO WE'VE LOST ONE THE DARK SIDE! I imagine other teams may do the same. Good luck with that.:D

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Wow...a 469 copy? *really*?

We'll have to see if it is really that effective come Palmetto.

- Sunny

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Now did I say 469? There you go assuming things. Lets just say, week 1 scouting information will definatly need to be updated for many teams. Aside, you are right, I do expect to see a lot of teams try to copy 469. But there is a big flaw in the stratagy you most account for in your design.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional Internet Access
 

From last year's positngs... I have verifed it.
VISITOR INTERNET ACCESS:

I just talked to the IT helpdesk at Clemson.

Here is the procedure.

Search for wireless networks. You will see a "Clemson Guest" network.

Connect to it and browse. You will get a screen that ask for you to create a username and then you enter an email address or a cell phone number.

Click 'submit'

The "Clemson Guest" system will send you a confirmation email or text message (to your phone) with password.

Then enter your username and password and you are on the net.

There is no charge.

Good Luck.

Clemson IT Helpdesk - 864 656 3494

The exact wording from an internal Clemson page is

Clemson now has a guest wireless solution
(broadcasted as "clemsonguest") for all campus
guests to have Internet access while visiting.
The guest solution is a provisioned based
solution meaning that a USER ID and Password
have to be generated in order to gain access.
The guest can go to the self-provisioning page
linked off the Clemsonguest portal page and
provision a USERID. They must provide either a
valid email address or cell phone for SMS text
messaging in order to receive their password.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

In my design? Or in 469's design? Regardless, care to elaborate?

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Sorry, let me be clearer. Many teams will try to do what 469 does, but many will do it poorly because there is a flaw in the "God bot" strategy that 469 addressed in their design and worked around. I will leave it to the imitators to figure that one out.

@ ttldomination, hope that clears it up.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

I was planning on bringing my trackball (giant 40" exercise ball for the rookies) for an extreme kickball game during the team social. Any one up for it?

Also, does anyone have a decent sized compressor? Plan B will have to be to take 5 robots and use their compressors together to pump it up:p .

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

im not sure where there would be a good place to play this extreme kickball... and that is very extreme... like broken bones extreme ;)

idk about the compressor... since we are so close, if you ask one of our mentors, im sure someone could hook you up

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

There is a big field next to the building where the team social is held.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

you must be using big very loosely... there is a big hill in front of the union. and there is bowman field, which is rather large... but i would hate to see the lawsuits that come about from that trackball getting onto the highway ;)

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

hahaha, at the Peachtree Social, my friends and I played around with the trackballs and conservation of momentum. (We basically ran at each other with the ball between us).

I think if you let one compressor run, then you'd definitely fill one up alright. And since most teams are using pneumos this year, you wouldn't have to go very far to find a couple of spares.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

any chances of coverage being on usteam like dallas and midwest?

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

I have an email in to Clemson's IT folks at the support address listed from last year's stream. Hopefully they'll email me back. (Probably should've left off my USC affiliation to grease the wheels...)

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Team 343 will be hosting a blood drive at the Palmetto Regional on Saturday from 9am to 2pm. This is a benefit blood drive for one of our students, Jordan Hawkins. The blood mobile will be parked outside the coliseum for those interested in helping out. If you are 16 and would like to give, you can with parental permission. The consent form is attached. Hope to see lots of people from the CD community there.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

A quick heads up if you are unloading pits/tools tomorrow morning. The Avenue of Champions will be one-way from East to West (same as before). The directions on the Palmetto site have people turning down Perimeter road. That's fine for parking, but for unloading trailers it would be best to turn a block earlier onto Centenial Blvd. and then right onto the Avenue of Champions. See you soon.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17mQ-ZEo-yc <--- My response to this idea

I would like to know this as well.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

We Will be on USTREAM :D I am hosting the webcast from my HATCAM :D (IPHONE) Look for the guy wearing a large green leprechaun hat :D

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

ARE YOU READY TO RUMBLE?!?!?

Well, team 1261 is. :P

We're settled into our rooms and full from the delicious barrel, and now we can't wait for tomorrow.

We'll be there in the wee hours of the morning in hopes of getting a good jump on the changes. I would REALLY like to run at least one practice match tomorrow, but all of that depends on how long our changes take. :P

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

We set up the practice field today; it's indoors this year!

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

WOOHOO! Hauling 1618's robot up the ramp and covering it with a trash bag for the run through the rain was a bit rough last year.

As for the webcast crowd, the webcast page has been updated to say it'll be running Friday and Saturday.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

yup, im ready :D but like you, im not sure how much we will be running tomorrow b/c of our changes...

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

we had most our gremlins at Peachtree, so we are expecting a lot more practice tomorrow that we simply didn't get in week 1. So yeah, we are ready:cool:

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

HOLY @%^$ We're ready!!!! compared to Florida it's gonna be a blast for those who were on the practice feild when we had the eureka moment sorry for hitting you with about 20 balls xD.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

wow! it was great regional, and i am so happy that we came out with a win!:D thank you thank you thank you to 1261 and 1398! you guys were great and we all worked so well together. even through adversity, we stuck to the game plan and worked through it! i was so proud to win with you guys!

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Thank you to everyone that came out to 342's animation/ inventor / summer pygames workshop. Hopefully every one got something out of it. We would like feedback for any improvements for next year.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Couple of shout-outs and thank-yous are in order from team 1261 and me:

343: Thanks for picking us with your first selection as the number one seed even though our ranking wasn't all too great. It was a pleasure working with you guys in the elims! You guys have a killer robot and some awesome drivers. Even though that DQ scared all of us a little in the finals, we pulled through and got it! Congratulations on the win! We hope to see you guys in Atlanta.

1398: I have absolutely no idea how you lasted all the way through the first round, much less the second to us. You were at the very top of our scout list! You guys had a great robot that scored very well. Thanks for changing your autonomous mode when I asked you to. How about those four balls in auto mode, eh? Congratulations on the well-deserved and long-awaited win! We hope to see you guys in Atlanta too!

342: Congratulations on the RCA! The Summer Pygames seem to be an amazing thing to the community. Thanks for reminding us all that FIRST isn't all about robots.

1379: Thank you so much for letting us collaborate with you guys on the scouting this year. There's absolutely no way we would have gotten it done this year without your help.

1959 (I think): Thanks so much for the Spike Relay and the ensuing advice about them! We really appreciated it when you guys ran to our pit approximately one minute after we asked the pit admin to announce that team 1261 needed a new Spike!

2815: You guys have a very, very nice robot and some great drivers. It was awesome seeing you guys score 8 balls alone in a match! We're sorry that you and your alliance got bit a little in the eliminations, though...

To everybody else: Thanks for the amazing regional experience!

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I'll probably have some more once I get some rest and wake up tomorrow morning.

-Logan
(Coach/Vice-President of Team 1261)

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Wow - not sure what to say, but that was fantastic and fun!

Considering our team hasn't won a regional in 4 years (sadly) working with 343 and 1398 in a beautiful, swell strategy just made things absolutely fantastic.

Like, I don't know what to say. I'm happy and bewildered. We all rocked!

-Tanner

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

What an amazing regional! I had a blast, and the finals kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time.

Thanks to Clemson for putting on another awesome regional.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

We won the regional, and then I was like "Huh...so we won..."

First off, thanks to 343, it was great to get together in the finals and take this tournament. I know we had been talking about getting into finals since Friday afternoon, but it was sweet to see how everything fell into place.

1398 played the most strategic defense in the close zone that I have *ever* seen. We(1261/343) would take 80% of our shots from the middle zone, and when we felt like the close zone needed to be swept, we(1261 or 343) would come over into the close zone and clean up. 1398 set up *the best* screens, and the best part about it was that they communicated that they are blocking the bot and that we can score. An absolute pleasure to work with an awesome sleeper.

I want to give props to 1772 for offensively carrying their alliance through the finals. I know that the communication barrier gave them the short end of the stick during the finals selection, but they did the best with what they had, and they are a great group of guys.

Major props to 1379. Not only for collaborating with us for scouting, but also for making second seed alliance captains.

It was a great regional, and we're ecstatic that we came away with the win, and working on the robot for worlds will be a little bit sweeter.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Congrats to you again for winning Dean's List.

Anyone know if this regional was archived or "saved"? FIRSTWiki doesn't have anyone down for it and as far as I know the stream doesn't do any saving, though someone mentioned something about UStream?

-Tanner

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

re: I want to give props to 1772 for offensively carrying their alliance through the finals. I know that the communication barrier gave them the short end of the stick during the finals selection, but they did the best with what they had, and they are a great group of guys.

As the game announcer, I spoke to 1772 about their selection process concerns, and I know a little bit about their 1102 links.

During selection, they were concerned that they were no longer being allowed to be captains after having deined the invitation to join alliance 5. They were happy to be captains and had their teams pre-selected.

Last year when 1772 came to Palmetto, they were broke and basically homeless with 2 weeks to kill until the Championships. Many teams at Palmetto adopted them, took them to their hotels, gave them cash, and bought them food. After Palmetto, 1102 brought them to Aiken and put them up in student and mentor housing for about a week. They have stayed in touch all year.

1772 wanted 1102 for their defense (and perhaps also as an expression of thanks). And the climber (2751 Spark) to round out all their scoring oppotunities.

But the #1 alliance beath them fair and square despite the unusual double-DQs. I still have loose ties to 1102 (as my 2 sons have both graduated). I can tell you that they went home quite happy, despite being so close they could taste it. Perhaps John will give a student perspective on the events.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

I wanted to summarize my feelings as Game Announcer for Palmetto 2010.
AWESOME!!!!

Every year gets better. The bots, the GP, and especially the strategy improves every year.

We announcers are always looking for items to add drama to the event. We had it all. Dead robots coming back as contenders in the semi-finals. A robot succeding in a hang in their 11th match after making incremental improvements each round (including a partial hang from the wrong tower). 2 Cinderella Rookie teams, including one as an alliance Captain. I heard about so many acts of GP in the pits, I was just floored. In my brief visits, I often saw robots in other's pits being worked on or 5 different teams shirts in a pit helping a team on the skids.

In the end everyone has a success story to take home.

I kept a stats sheet, but misplaced it. I recall the highest seeding score in a match was 23. High individual score was 9 in the Elims (and a lot of 8s in the Quals), and high combined was 13 in the Quals in 16 in the Elims.

There were 23 elevations in the Quals (including 3 matches with Red/Blue hangs and nearly a triple on the Red Tower one time), and about 9 in the Elims.

Then 3 ties in a row in the Semis, and on and on as the drama unfolded.

I loved working with JDew as our new MC, and everyone was great in keeping up the energy during the 2 length field delays on Saturday.

Only 363 days to go till 2011.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Ah..from the stands, it looked to me like 1772 wanted to accept team 49's invitation after they had already declined another team's invitation, but I'm glad that 1772 got to execute their finals plan.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Wow, what a regional. Between Qualifications, us and 2815 jumping back in forth between #1 and #2, then suddenly being overtaken in the end by 343, it was pretty intense.

On behalf of our team..

I'd like to thank 2815 and 1293 for being awesome alliance partners, it was great working with you guys and we hope to see you again in the future!

Congratulations to 343, 1261, and 1398, you deserved the win.

Thanks to 1261 for collaborating with us on scouting! It was a lot of work, but we managed :)

Congratulations to 945 on the Industrial Design Award, that was actually the one we were going for but, you snuck away with the win :p

And a final congrats to my own team for working well together, making it to being the #2 seed, to semis, and on the judges award. It's been a great season so far, now let's see what we can do at championships! :D

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

You are correct. I forgot about that. That is what happend. They did try to Accept 49's offer after declining one a couple of alliances back. But they did have a list with them with team numbers listed, but I did not see the numbers. Actually 49 + 1772 + anyone might have been a winner.

But their scared look was mostly about being afraid they would not get to PLAY at all because of declining.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional Photos
 

Here are a few shots I got of some teams.
Flash Elevated.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Hello All!

we chose 1102 because it could shoot 3 balls in the autonomous and defend, and 2751 because it could hang and defend,

thanks team 1102 for your defense and autonomous!
and thanks team 2751 for your hard work and your hang in the semi final 1

thanks all Teams!

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Alright, I've mostly recovered from Palmetto now. My roughly-annual list of thank-yous and shout-outs:

1379: We were slugging it out with them and 343 for the number one seed, and were more than happy to join up with them for the elimination rounds. The team kept their cool (probably better than I could) even through four grueling quarterfinal rounds, ran hard, and left all out on the field. Can't ask for anything more (and I love that topper).

1293: My history with 1293 is no real secret (it goes back to the very first meeting in Dutch Fork High's auditorium), and I've rooted for them for seven straight years even as I played for other teams (Q18 notwithstanding). Through all the little mechanical snags of eliminations, these guys would not quit. Much as I wish we could've taken the gold, I'm glad we had the chance to play together in the dance.

1915: These guys were the first backup team, and we were in close contact with them as 1293 fought their gremlins (including helping them switch to their red bumpers, which used a really trick system I may have to steal myself). Through the ups and downs of having a shot at getting in the show after all, these guys were prepared and at the ready. I hope they make the return trip next year!

The DJ: I don't know who it was this year, but the DJ this year was quite possibly the best DJ I've encountered in seven years of FRC events. Perfect mix of music, and he worked in several team-related tracks (up to, and including, 2001 and USC's fight song--in our archrival's home arena!)

J Dew, our emcee: Color me impressed with his rookie outing as master of ceremonies. Aside from giving 1319 a bit of a shock over Engineering Inspiration (he announced 1329), he did a great job. Keep it up!

All the Clemson staff: Even with all of our Gamecocks chanting and occasional reference to last fall's football game, I never encountered anybody who was anything short of helpful and courteous.

FIRST President Paul Gudonis for joining us for dinner. It was an honor to have you join some of us to talk about our incubator plan, team planning, and a little bit of Team Update 16 appreciation.

The Dean family on 2430 for what might just be the first father-son WFFA/Dean's List Finalist pairing.

All the volunteers: Can't happen without y'all.

Last but not least:

1398: It's been an interesting six months working alongside the Robo-Raiders. They were down on mentors this year and sought us out to help with the robot side of things. Through the build season, us on Los Pollos Locos have met an outstanding group of people. These kids are not afraid to work hard, whether on their robot or ours, and are snappy dancers to boot. Even in the face of numerous issues over the regional (two red cards, a malfunctioning cRIO, a blown-out bearing in the transmission), a flurry of navy blue shirts (and the occasional garnet one) worked together to keep everything running well. I've loved working with them this year, and if it wasn't going to be us that wasn't hanging a banner, I'm sure as hell glad it was them.

2815's done for the season now, but this has been an amazing regional!

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Another fun regional. Thank you all for a great time!

I've never seen quite the dog fight for #1 seed so thanks for keeping it interesting.

1398, 343, 3025, 281, 1772, 1261 1379, 49 are all great teams that stick out in my mind at the moment so thanks for the great competition.

On a personal note to team 1398, watching you all make the transition from potentially shutting the team down to visiting the finals for the first time ever and winning to boot has been just awesome. I can't wait to see you all in Atlanta.

3529: 1398/2815 have set the bar awfully high for you in North Carolina so good luck next week. The near position is your friend, good luck to goalie bots in North Carolina. :)

By the way did anyone record this event?

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Stephen -- i know that the entire regional was webcasted, so i'm sure it's out there somewhere.
We also taped all of our team's matches, so if you want anything in particular, feel free to ask! :)

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

I'd like to say that this has been the best regional we've ever attended while I've been a part of the team, and that's not just because we were seeded 2nd and ended up semifinalists. It was a very well run event start to finish and knowing what it takes behind the scenes to pull one of these off, major congratulations to the Palmetto planning committee and all of their volunteers.

Especially MC, J Dew, Game Announcer Barry Hudson and the DJ, whose name I never got, all of whom stepped it up several notches when things were most likely to come undone. It's hard to believe J Dew is a first year FIRST MC.

Special props to our fellow Georgia teams, 1261 and 2974 for doing so well. We all made it into elims and showed pretty well I think. 1261 also joined our scouting combine. We hope to work with you more in the future.

I'd also like to call out to the other team staying in our hotel, 3270. Highest rookie seed and Rookie Inspiration winner. I hope our antics didn't keep you from sleeping. We enjoyed talking and working with you at the arena and at our home away from home. We were sad to have to meet you in quarterfinals.

Of course, extra thanks to our alliance partners, 2815 and 1293, for hanging in there when in match after match, it seemed as if we were trying to display a compete list of everything that could possibly go wrong. In true FIRST spirit, you never gave up. I hope we get a chance to partner again.

Congratulations to 343, 1261 and 1398 for taking the banner. You earned it. See you all at championships.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Yes agreed with Brazil :D it was some heck of a reigonal.

Sorry Tony wasn't much help in picking he couldn't understand what you guys ment though i think you guys had our scouters anyway i'm not sure lol. Yeah Defence was the main factor in us being picked had Brazil not picked us I talked to 343 they were next in line to.

It was great playing with you guys, funny how i was talking to the captain of sparks the day before.

Everyone was happy, we knew that when we got to the finals it would be the hardest battle of all. Though once Sparks was knocked over in Finals 3 we knew we were finished. In a small way we are relieved already having 3 FTC teams in World adding the FRC team would be a little hard.

Props to the RoboLions, and RoboRaiders the double teaming offence really paid off we really couln't keep up.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

And yeah Barry's right they stayed with us last year. Which btw COME BACK!!!! We need more random things to do!! :D

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Every other year we seem to come up with a regional win. This being an even number year, we were hoping to keep the streak alive. Once I looked at the competition in Clemson, I had my doubts. Being week 4, Palmetto had some robots that were able to step it up and get some prior regional bugs worked out. A big thanks to 1261 and 1398.
When we jumped to the #1 seed, I thought for sure 2815 or 1379 were going to jump us in the end.
With the yellow cards 343 kept getting in the eliminations I'm sure our partners had their doubts, but things worked out.
I don't like excusses, but I'll give a little insight into what happened. When we flipped 804 in the quarter finals, we were having radio issues. The Anderson newspaper took a picture that caught that moment (attached). Chris was trying to drive on a 2+ second delay. By the time he got into 804, and tried to back out it was too late:o Sorry.
The hit that 2751 took in the first final match was 343 trying to line up to a ball and backing into them. Again, sorry.

Also as soon as I heard saw what 342 had done for the RCA I knew we were beat. Congratulations:D
Next stop Atlanta.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

BillFred and others wrote
The DJ: I don't know who it was this year, but the DJ this year was quite possibly the best DJ I've encountered in seven years of FRC events. Perfect mix of music, and he worked in several team-related tracks (up to, and including, 2001 and USC's fight song--in our archrival's home arena!)

J Dew, our emcee: Color me impressed with his rookie outing as master of ceremonies. Aside from giving 1319 a bit of a shock over Engineering Inspiration (he announced 1329), he did a great job. Keep it up!

------------------------

The same DJ has been with us for 5 years. It is a father-son team from Columbia. We anticipated the delays and he had some great suggestions including the fight songs and the "Don't Stop Believing" sing-along. When teams put song references on their Trivia Sheets we try to work them in.

Playing 2001 during a match is a Palmetto tradition I started 3 years ago to allow us to just watch the robots "dance" w/o any narration. I hoped it would work well when we had 3 elevating robots rising up in the last seconds, and it was awesome (if I may say so myself).

The committee lost a little sleep over having a Rookie MC, but he is a pro (he MC's for the Greenville Drive baseball and Clemson Basketball) and kept telling us "this is what I do". And boy he really did it! He studied the game and came in early for practice rounds. Now that he has caught the FIRST bug, he'll be back. (And I am so glad he can dance).

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Billfred-- It was a pleasure competing with you this weekend. Thanks for all of your help and the help of 2815 in dealing with our mechanical problems throughout the elimination rounds. Also, thanks for your moral support throughout the matches, "never give up hope". Once again it was great working with you and 2815 and I'll see you around.

Re: 2010 Palmetto Regional
 

Holy Crap, that's picture is funny.

I'm guessing it's a roar of extreme frustration. I honestly didn't mind playing that first quarter finals, it was a real challenge, and I kinda enjoyed it, but I knew right away that if 343 couldn't figure it out then we wouldn't stand a chance.

And honestly, I don't blame anyone for the 2571 flipping. I had a half a mind to ram then in the side at the beginning of the match. And I didn't even notice that a robot had flipped in the first quarter finals match...I guess that's what I get for focus.

EDIT: That pictures screams caption contest...very literally.