2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Time to get the discussion going about one of the best event in the Northeast!

(I've been waiting forever to see this thread started, so decided I might as well do it)

Some info:

WHEN
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011


WHERE
Connecticut Convention Center
Hartford, CT

CT First Site: http://www.ctfirst.org/first-ct-prog...ional-Home.cfm

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I'll be at the Connecticut Regional as a volunteer!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Oh man. Im so pumped to attend hartford. Its always super exciting and so much fun.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Make sure your bagged robot has ventilation. Wouldn't want it to explode from being so pumped!:D

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Good for you. Thanks. There's a engineering school in Cambridge, isn't there? :rolleyes: {RPI sometime last century}

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

On behalf of 2168, we can't wait to put what we've built onto the field and compete with all of you this year!

On a personal note, I'm happy to be returning to the event as a mentor for a local team, I haven't been on a competing team at CT since being a driver for Aces High in 2006.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Those dirty rag-tag out-of-towners from the North will be back to throw a monkey wrench in alliance selection once again!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

1073 will be there again!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Team 2067 Apple Pi will be there!

We placed 8th at WPI and were picked by the 6th seeded team in allience selection. Were pumped to get to Hartford and go all the way!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Can't wait for Hartford, it always brings out the best. Competition is going to be absolutely fierce this year, especially given that something like 58 teams are attending. There are a lot of veterans in that field.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

unfortunately 1501 wont be making the trip up from indiana like we did last year, but we sure did have a blast with you guys! Good Luck everyone! It was definitely the funnest regional Ive been to!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

1124 will be there, ready to compete. In my experience (however small), Hartford has always been great

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

571 will be there, we were 15 then moved up to the 8th seed at WPI. :D

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Team 126 Gael Force will be at Hartford once again! We have a few surprises as well ;). See everyone there and good luck!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I will be there as your friendly neighborhood robot inspector(feel free to send and bribes straight to my inbox).

I will also be there as a mentor to a rookie team. The Aluminati, FIRST team 3555, from Storrs, CT.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Is EO Smith still competing? Will you be in Hartford?:) :)

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

EOSmith has a new team(all new members and mentors, except me of course, but I was a student on the old team - 1373)

yes, we will be at Hartford this year. Please feel free to come say hi

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Best team name ever!!! It makes me smile every time I read it! Best of luck to you in Hartford! I'll be sure to stop by and visit your pit.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Looking forward to seeing everyone soon!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I can't wait to volunteer in Hartford. I love being down on the field with all those extremely energetic students. :D

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Thanks for the support! I'm sure the students would love to meet new people and explain our story!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Buzz Robotics will be there Hartford always seems to out do the GSR (as far as competition goes), well at least in my mind.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

HYPER's gonna be there too! We haven't been done there in a while, so it'll be interesting to see what it's like. From what we've heard, it's sometimes more intense than GSR, which we thought was pretty intense to begin with. We're excited to come down!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

You have no idea how intense Hartford is. The term "New England Defense" goes to an extreme at the Hartford Regional.

Can't wait. Only two more weeks.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I just got back from the Chesapeake Regional with 1124 and I'm more excited than ever for the CT Regional now! I'll be there as a volunteer, and hopefully I'll get the chance to interact with a lot of teams. Will anyone be attending the CTFAN lunch on Saturday?

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I will be! What's your volunteer job? I'll be inspecting at least Thursday and probably get dropped on crowd control or safety glasses for the rest.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I haven't gotten a volunteer assignment yet.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

oh really? when did you sign up in VIMS?

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Hey teams! We're one of the few Regionals left that offer teams a way to decompress at the end of a long day of competition. So don't forget to sign up for our Team Social - more details on our website: www.ctfirst.org/ctr

Volunteers can sign up, too!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I wanted to apologize for a previous miswording I made in a previous post. I would've edited my post if I could figure out how :confused: . The Aluminati, 3555 is -NOT- and EOSmith team, it is a regional 4-H team that happens to include students from EOSmith.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I think we're all caught up on volunteers now - thanks for mentioning!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

not to hijack the thread, but how's the volunteer list coming for St. Louis Jess?

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I've counted at least 17 awards earned by teams coming to Connecticut so far this season; should make for an exciting Regional!

Mentors, don't forget to visit our mentor lounge if you need a quiet place to make a phone call, take a break, etc. :)

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

The anticipation for the event is driving me insane. Everyone on my team is going crazy! It's going to be a Fantastic weekend and event!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

What a great idea and perk for the mentors attending!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

So who is actually taking advantage of being able to bring your stuff on Wednesday? I know I am. See many of you tomorrow night, and the rest on Thursday morning.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

My team is bringing some things down tomorrow actually, it is a great idea if you want to be able to get right to work on Thursday.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Yale College Undergraduate Admissions will be in the house on Friday. Send me a PM if you'd like us to drop by.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

You can only bring things in. There is no setup on Wednesday night. You can't unbag the robot or plug in batteries. You can only drop off the robot and equipment.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I won't personally be up tomorrow night, but I know some delegates will be heading up.

Who's planning on going to the Social Friday night?

I was going to say Party...but then I realized really all weekend could count as that. :P

I love this Regional

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

We're hoping our minibot will be strong enough to complete the tournament. However, we also have a spare deployment shelf for customization in case there's someone who can offer a minibot for deployment. Or for someone who is having deployment trouble. If you're interested or offering, send me a PM, It's not like the tournaments aren't complicated enough already, right? We should try more twists and turns.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

This weekend at the Connecticut Regional, all teams will have a chance to help Gael Force help others. We will be collecting donations for My Sister's Place, a shelter for women and children in the north end of Hartford, Connecticut. Each team will recieve this same flyer on Thursday, but I just wanted to give teams a heads up and a chance to get donations ready if you're interested in helping. This flyer includes a small description of My Sister's Place and a list of items that will be accepted as donations. We will have bins in our pit area to collect any and all donations and we would love it if you could help us help them. Hope to see you all and good luck during competition!

Items that can be donated:
-paper goods (toilet paper, paper towels, tissues)
-cleaning products
-thermometers
-store gift cards
-arts and craft supplies
-umbrellas
-sheets
-pillows
-blankets
-towels
-pillows
-first aid kits
-personal care lotion
-laundry detergent
-baby wipes, bottles, diapers

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

It's going to snow on Thursday and Friday, could the competition be postponed?

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Doubtful. There are contracts in place with the facility and too many logistical issues involved to move an event last minute.

We had some pretty bad storms in 2007 and there were no delays so expect things to go forward no matter what unless there is an issue with the facility itself.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Aces High is going!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

1124 will be there

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I'll be arriving at the competition Friday. Yes, I know my MANY ADORING FANS will miss me. :P

A skeleton crew of 2791 will be arriving on Thursday morning for the usual "get inspected, get some practice" stuff. We plan on bringing a more reliable minibot in the 1.5-2 second range to CT. We also plan on playing more than 4 of our qualification matches this time.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Good luck Uber! See you in Hartford

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

On behalf of Team 126, Gael Force, I would like to wish everyone good luck in tommorrow's competition. We looking forward to seeing everyone (:

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

It's Thursday!! It's finally here!

I wish everyone great success at the competition, and can't wait to see all of you up there!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Does anyone know if this will be webcast?

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

check the red alliance website. Probably won't start until tomorrow when the Elims start. Here's the link. Look for the Connecticut button for the webcast tomorrow.

http://www.theredalliance.com/

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

As far as I know, it's running right now!
http://www.shsrobotics.org/webcast.html

Jacob

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Jacob,
Great job getting the matches to run smoothly today. Also, great job inspectors for getting all 58 robots inspected in a short amount of time.

Quals start tomorrow... Oh boy!!!!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I'm looking for a great turn around tomorrow. Jacob did a fantastic job today. We had no fields issues today & just minor robot/driverstation issues. It should be a lot of fun for everybody tomorrow & Saturday.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Would anyone happen to have the match schedule for qualifications in like a PDF or spreadsheet or anything?

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I don't think they will have a match schedule until tomorrow morning. It's not posted now, but when it is, it will be here: http://www2.usfirst.org/2011comp/eve...chresults.html

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Actually it was there, there's a link in the top right-ish of that table. Thanks!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I'd just like to say that all the teams who had the pleasure of practice matches today were very professional. Not once did I hear a complaint. Their were some teams that had some minor problems, but took it all in stride. Tomorrow should be a fun & exciting time for all.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

It was so much fun talking with all of you yesterday! Looking forward to a great day today! Stop by our scholarship table, check out the two legacy team robots from the orginal season...

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I apologize if I missed this earlier, but it appears that there is no webcast for this event? I checked the NASA page, and there was no link. I really want to watch my old team play. :(

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

The webcast is once again hosted by FRC230 here. It is done for today but opening ceremonies tomorrow I believe start at 9.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Thank you so much! I will be watching tomorrow!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Jaine, we have to get you back up here to volunteer and attend our CT FIRST Alumni Network Reunion one of these years!

Congratulations to Mike Gentry, Volunteer of the Year!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Keep up the awesome work 2791 and 3125!!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I would love to, unfortunately that probably won't be possible until after I graduate. Although there are a lot of reasons why I love being here in Florida, the downside is rarely being able to visit my family and team back home.

Thanks for the invite though, and as soon as I get the chance, I will be there! :)

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

I had a great time volunteering at this year's Connecticut Regional - it has so much energy! Thanks to the Regional Planning Committee for planning a fantastic event and taking such amazing care of the volunteers. Thanks also to all of the wonderful teams I got to meet while queuing. Additionally, I thought the team social was great - I had never been to the new Science Center before and I really enjoyed both the FIRST exhibit and pretty much everything else in it.

I have a few other messages that I'd like to give:

Team 1923 - thanks for joining us in CT - you played incredibly well all weekend and you definitely deserved your regional win. Even though my team was an alliance captain, I might have been rooting for you through the eliminations ;) I think your Gracious Professionalism Award also speaks for how much we liked having you around - you should definitely consider returning to CTR next year.

Team 195 - thanks for inviting 1124 to practice with you last weekend, I heard that everyone had a great time! And of course, congratulations on winning the regional and the Quality Award!

Team 177 - congratulations on being regional finalists and on your Industrial Design Award. Here's to your sixth year of being division champions - we all know it's coming!

Team 2836 - I'm so glad you won the Imagery Award. The rug in your pits and your overall team image always puts a smile on my face.

Team 181 - your spirit is contagious, so the fact that you won the spirit award was no surprise. You had me singing your 181 cheer between most of the matches I queued.

Team 3654 - you were a pleasure to work with throughout the competition. You have an amazing group of young women and I was thrilled to see you win the Rookie Inspiration Award - you're going to continue to blossom and I'm looking forward to working with you again in the future. Thanks for joining up with 1124's scouting team, I know they enjoyed working with you. You should also get a prize for being early to every match.

Team 1124 - the distance you've come since Chesapeake just two weeks ago is incredible. We've overcome a lot of obstacles this season, so it was great to see the improvement over the course of the season. I know how hard you worked to update the website so that we could be a contender for this year's Website Award, so I was really proud to see you taking home a trophy for it!

Thank you again to everyone who made the 2011 Connecticut Regional such a wonderful event to be at. :)

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

FIRST Team 195 The Cyber Knights would like to graciously thank our alliance partners 1923 the Midnight Inventors and Team 155 The Techno-Nuts for an awesome NU Connecticut Regional win this year!

What a privilege it was working with your team members and mentors! Hope to see you both in St. Louis this year!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

A big shout out to The TechnoNuts, Team 155 from Berlin Connecticut.
This was there first Regional win in 18 years!
A long time coming and well deserved.

They also had three Woodie Flowers winners on the field for this years WFA award.

Keep up your great work.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Team 558 had tons of fun! Team Max 1071, thanks for selecting us for your alliance, and thanks Team 237 for playing so strongly with us! Also, congrats to teams 1923, 195, and 155 for your win!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

On behalf of team 1923 I would like to say thank you to everyone for making the Connecticut Regional an amazing event. We would especially like to thank teams 195 and 155 for being amazing alliance partners all the way through to the end. :) We are hoping to see all of our new Connecticut in St. Louis!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Congrats to 1923, 195 and 155! You guys were outstanding. Thanks to our alliance partners 177 and 1073, we put up a good fight! Hope to see most of you in St. Louis, it's gonna sweet! :cool:

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Team 195 would like to thank Team 1923 and 155 for their gracious teamwork. We loved working with you guys.

Teams 177, 175, and 1073. Thanks for two exciting matches. Your bots are awesome this year. What an honor to compete with you all!

Congrats to Chairman award winner Team 694. Keep up the great work!

Thanks to all for a wonderful Regional and we are so glad we will see most of you in St. Louis.

Also kudos to Brazil! So glad you came out again this year!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Huge thanks to 1923 and 195, the two best scoring robots at the event. The last match was a clear indication how great your robots really are. It was an honor to play with you.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Congrats to teams 195, 1923, and 155 for such a great win!

Also thanks so much to 230 and 1027 for being such great alliance partners. We fought well and did great. Great job to all, HYPER had a great time in CT.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Thanks 195 :D we were really excited to you, 155, and 1923 in the finals - especially after we heard about what happened to 1923 at another regional.

177 - We've looked up to you ever since our first year at Connecticut two years ago, and we were ecstatic to later find out the feeling was mutual.

175 - Finally we were on the same alliance for Elims, and we loved it!

Both of you - We had our strategies down and you were so easy to work with. I might be taking a risk saying this, but it is still a FIRST Robotics Competition and we felt very competitive with you two in the best possible way.

230 - The one match we had with you on Friday we could tell we really worked well together. Sorry that also had to be the first match we had CAN errors so we didn't know we had to do a physical reboot - but hey we still won. You're just one of those teams that 1073 works immediately well with so maybe if we stay with going to Connecticut you'll come up to GSR sometime ;) and we'll see you at the off-seasons... I think I remember seeing you at Battlecry often.

69 - Again, we put up a good fight together at GSR and we really liked seeing you again at Connecticut.

694 - That one match we had together was AWESOME! I remember it being one where we were matched up against teams that had the same rankings and scoring as our alliance but you're also one of those teams that is just smart and we work well with in using all of our robots' advantages in the spotlight to win. That was a huge margin we won by!

501 - Exact same as what I said for 694. The blue alliance with all blue shirts was super cool and got us pumped up :).

2836 - Wow, we can tell you really get it as just a 3-year team! Keep it up!

3719 - We LOVED taking a rookie team under our wing for a competition! :) Although we've said this many ways many times... stay with it, have fun, and please let us know if you need anything at all.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Congrats 195, 1923, and 155 on their win! It was a fun regional! Hope to see you guys in St. Louis!

Also a big thanks to Apple Pi 2067 and the Aluminum Falcons 2168, we put up a good fight in that second match of quarters!

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Congratulations to the champions and finalists. That was some very good game play. Thanks to all of the teams that helped our rookie friends from Bridgeport CT FRC3634 with their Axis camera issues.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

Thank you to everyone for supporting the alliance, we had a tough time with no amazing minibots, but we played hard and came out with pride. Thank you 1071 and 558 for picking us, 571 for lending us their minibot and others for offering, sorry if I forgot your team number, and congrats to all the winners of awards, I wish you all luck at St. Louis and any off season competitions.

Re: 2011 Northeast Utilities Connecticut Regional
 

We, as always, had a great time at Connecticut. It seems like every year the event is better run and the volume of great robots rises. The event really has a Championship feel to it with the amount of excitement and every match being interesting to watch.

We would like to thank our partners 383 and 20. It was awesome playing with both of you for the first time.

383, your robot was awesome and it was unfortunate that you had those code issues when we hit the eliminations but despite not moving for most of the second match you managed to put up your minibot and win the race because you decided to restart your robot, which while scaring the bejesus out of our coach, was a really clutch move and almost won us that match.

20, your defense in the eliminations was invaluable and your human player was the best I have seen play, every single tube he threw ended up in our scoring zone and it gave us a big advantage. It is always fun when we played with you guys on occasion in the qualification matches and I am happy we finally got to play together in the elimination rounds.

I want to give my congrats to the winners. 1923 and 195 were monstrous scorers throughout all three days and 155 you were a stone-cold sleeper that was very high on our own list and your minibot was crazy fast and your scoring was very effective.

A few side shout-outs:

1073, it was a pleasure playing along side you as well. I hope that we get to play with you again in the future. I love playing with teams in the qualification matches that look at the game and decide this is what we have to do to win this match, this is the way to put up the most points and take the idea of showing themselves off out of the equation.

173, I always love the rage machine and I was shocked to see that you guys did not play in the eliminations considering the fact that you had one of the fastest minibots out there and were excellent at herding the tubes. You guys played well and I loved that one match when we played together, I look forward to playing with you guys again in the future.

This event was one of the craziest roller coaster rides our team has ever been on. We entered the event knowing that we needed to win to get into the championship. We received a red card, that we took big issue with, early on in the event and then lost two straight matches but after that did not lose a single qualification match and found ourselves close to the top 8 and were pushed into the top 8 right before 383 selected us. We had some bad luck with 383 having code issues and lost almost immediately and it looked like our season was over. As the awards were being announced I could tell all the kids were getting upset that we would miss the Championship. As the judges reached their final award and all hope seemed to be lost, Andy Grady began to describe details about the winner of this years Chairman's award and I began to think to myself, "we did that and that and all of this." When I heard the word "pulse" on the speakers I screamed "YES" louder than I ever have in my life and that was true for everyone sitting in our section of the stands. We could not believe that we had done it two years in a row and are headed to St. Louis. I hope to see many Connecticut teams there!