2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Surprised nobody's started this thread yet--I know there are quite a few Georgia teams floating around ChiefDelphi.

This will be 2815's first trip to Peachtree (and my first since a day trip in 2006). After coming up short to 1771 and 2415 in the Palmetto finals in 2009, we're eager to try and return the favor. ;)

Who else is coming? Any crazy plans developing?

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

3573 will be there! This will the first Peachtree regional for both the team and for me so I am definitely looking forward to it.

We've gotten sneak peeks of 1771 and 2415 here on CD. I can't wait to see what 2815 will be putting out this year.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

1771 will be ready to rumble.

Our team consists of mostly freshman this year, save me and 2 other members, so it will be exciting for them.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

One thing's for sure: it's been an interesting year for 2815. For all our struggles this year*, I think this robot has come together quite nicely. It's not quite as shiny as its predecessors, and we still have a few things to work out, but I think it'll hang with the best of them (in both senses of the word) at our events this year.

I'm reminded of a restaurant just across the street from USC's historic Horseshoe, a little sandwich shop with about six tables in it called Beezer's. A staple of any Gamecock's diet since they stay open until 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning, their restaurant is lined with various sports quotes. One of them: "Adversity causes some men to break...others to break records!" We're aiming for the latter, and might've hit it; no arm I've had this much of a hand in designing has worked this well! (That little factoid scared our head college student.)

I don't have a photo of the robot yet, but hopefully I can get a couple of good snaps before we crate up tomorrow night.

*New faculty advisor, new lead college student, our outreach projects coordinator left mid-build, limited shop access, limited purchasing card availability...oh, and our lead mechanical designers are a sophomore computer engineering undergrad and a guy with a marketing degree.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

1379 will be there again, and from what I've seen of photos and videos, should be another good year.

Good Luck to everyone at Peachtree!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

If that's the case, then records should fall at Peachtree!

1771 lost Mike Reilly (the team faculty sponsor, and the one person most responsible for the team's success) to a new high school in the area. Sean Cantrell, a college mentor and drive-train expert, decided to mentor a school closer to Ga Tech, our sponsor that has done our laser cutting in the past got behind due to the snow storm and was unable to cut our material (which we found out in week 3), the new faculty sponsor assigned to us by the school hasn't been seen since kickoff, parts got ordered so late that some have not shown up yet as of the day before ship, our team consists of three dedicated students that show up every day, two college mentors, a parent mentor, and myself.

I watched the Robo-Wranglers video with envy, not for the great bot they created, but for the room full of kids working in every shot I saw. If I had that many kids working, learning and excited about engineering, I would consider it a success regardless of the resulting robot.

After some scrambling, we found another laser cutter that would burn our stuff for us (thanks Lasercraft), and we have to make calls and beg every time we want to get into the school and work, but we seem to be working through the issues. I am proud of what the students have been able to accomplish in spite of the adversity, and expect to have a decent bot at Peachtree. I sure hope the Banebots parts show up this week, but even if they show up today, we won't be able to ship the manipulator. We will have to bring it with us and install it on Thursday (I always hate having to do that, it never turns out as well as taking our time at the school).

I think I have aged a few years in the past 6 weeks, but I also believe the kids (and myself) have learned a lot. Whatever happens, I plan to have fun at Peachtree, and look forward to another great competition. Good luck to all the teams!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

All I can say is that this year will be one hell of a ride at Peachtree. Usually the field at Peachtree doesn't go too far. There are about 3-5 top tier bots, and then it falls off from there.

But there are some very veteran teams like 2415, 832, iHot, SOUP, 1002, Kell, Forsyth, 1771, and more, who not only have mechanical experience to pull off excellent designs, but they also pull from 2007 experience.

With that knowledge alone, I expect the field at P'tree to be deeper than ever before, and finals will be one hell of a ride.

- Sunny

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

We feel into the same situation because Sean also made that connection with said cuting company who had to initially back out due to snowmageddon. this led to me personally calling over 100 machine shop in georgia as well as Alabama and south carolina.
When none of that worked, the kids did a complete redesign of the robot and we built 2 of them only to have the initial laser cutter offer to do the parts in week six. We got the parts this past Friday and went all out and assembled and got the whole thing working in 23 hours.

Thank god for these dedicated kids.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

This is team 2415 working at scrimmage at Kimberly Clark.
This was the first time the drivers drove it and they were on 4 hrs of sleep since Friday morning. this was Sunday evening. Also our drivetrain was stuck at 16fps. Not conducive manueverability.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN_TCM8zj0A

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

@santosh

You guys really did well at Kimberly Clark; I was surprised at the speed for you to put up the game pieces, and the ingenuity of the arm & drive train. Amazing work.

1002 is ready to do some work. Had a bit of trouble due to Snowmageddon, but we're good to go. In terms of crazy plans, I'm treating the game like we're playing NBA basketball; plays, hardcore training & conditioning, and some other stuff up our sleeves. Really savoring matches against 2415, 1771, and 2974 (for school rivalry's sake) :D . Can't wait to see everyone there.

Also, would anyone be willing to collaborate with me and some of the CircuitRunners Robotics members on a large-scale scouting database for Peachtree teams to use? We're planning to integrate it with the CyberCenter that we bring with us, along with some other equipment.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

2655 is really looking forward to Peachtree!
I can't wait to see what some teams have!

I'll ask my team about that and I'm sure we'd be glad to help! We are trying to reduce the amount of paper we use and the stress of having our smallish team scout. Your offer sounds awesome!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Awesome! Just PM me here on Chief Delphi, or find me on Facebook (Kyle J. Fender), and we can discuss it more in detail.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Our robot's in the crate and ready for p'tree. Can't wait, we think this may be our best bot yet.

Good luck to all!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Team 122 with be there

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Finishing up the code for our bot right now. Can't wait to face off some great teams this year. I'm glad this got moved out of a week one regional, hopefully the extra time for FIRST to work out the game's quirks will help better showcase Georgia and the rest of the southeast's teams.

Peachtree Regional
 

Just curious, who are noted to be the top teams to watch for at the Peachtree Regional? We're a second year team, so I'm just curious as to who all is there that we should keep an eye on. We did have to scramble in the last two and a half weeks to get the robot together and we were still modifying right up until ship. Still have to make some changes when we get to the competition. But with that being said, we came a long way in an EXTREMELY short amount of time, and we are planning on (hopefully) taking the Regional. :D

Re: Peachtree Regional
 

You might want to check out this thread:

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ight=peachtree

Although new to the region myself, I would expect 122, 832, 1261, 1311, 1746, 1771, 1848, 2415 and 2815 to all have robots that are solid contenders at a minimum.

Note: This is the typical guess based on past performance. I fully expect other teams can and will show up with some great robots.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

3329 will be there again to chomp some competition! It's our second year, and I must say that for having only 5-7 people actually build and work on the bot out of an over 20 man team, we did pretty good! still some adjustments to make, but wth?
GOOD LUCK EVERYONE AT THE PEACHTREE REGIONAL! C YA THERE!

Re: Peachtree Regional
 

Great! guess i'l see you all there!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Hi.
Cordova High School Team #3227

We have some programming problems.
The program was working fine, but stopped working properly 2 days before ship date. We are currently using Labview, are robot is using Mecanum Cartesian Drive.

Will anybody be willing to help us get our program running at Peachtree?

Re: Peachtree Regional
 

Hi.
Cordova High School Team #3227

We have some programming problems.
The program was working fine, but stopped working properly 2 days before ship date. We are currently using Labview, are robot is using Mecanum Cartesian Drive.

Will anybody be willing to help us get our program running at Peachtree?

Re: Peachtree Regional
 

I'll give it a shot, although I'm not that good at labVIEW (I use Java), but I've done some labVIEW so i may be of assistance. just find me at team 1002's pits (Wheeler CircuitRunners)

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

I can't wait, although we still have a lot to do. Peachtree this year will be awesome. Team 1002 is ready to run some circuits!

Re: Peachtree Regional
 

I know close to nothing about programming, however, my brother has been our head programmer for two years running now. We would be more than happy to help you out if you run by 3329's pit area on Thursday. PM me and I'll put you in contact with him.

Re: Peachtree Regional
 

Moderation heads-up: I merged the thread that was erroneously started in General Forum with the pre-existing one in the Regional Competitions forum.

We now continue our regularly scheduled hyping up for Peachtree. :)

Re: Peachtree Regional
 

2415 is excited for Peachtree after a good showing in week 1 at Alamo. It will be nice to see some old friends and see how we stack up.

Come by our pits if you're still having issues once you uncrate, I'm sure one of our coders could take a look at it.

Re: Peachtree Regional
 

832
1002
1261
1379
1683
1771
2415
2815

Two teams I usually classify as the Powerhouses of the South, but all others improve every year at a great rate per year. You should have a great regional here. Highlighted are teams I expect to play in the finals.

P.S- This short list is not a slight to any of the other Georgia teams, I just don't know the others well.

Re: Peachtree Regional
 

i completly agree with this patkish.

Re: Peachtree Regional
 

I must warn though, every year there's at least one team that builds a robot that no one expects.

I wouldn't say the team above is a rookie team, but it's a team that has been dormant for a couple of years and just has this year's game figured out.

From my memory and experience, I think the following teams definitely have a chance at making a solid run. The list is a little long, but there are so many solid teams.
1002
1311
1379
1414
1648
1683
1746
1771
1848
2415
2815

Some of the teams in the list have already been mentioned but some of the other teams either had extremely strong robots in 2007 or have made great improvements. If they even glance at an image of their '07 bots, then I think that we'll see a strong showing at P'tree.

- Sunny

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Is anyone planning on streaming Peachtree?

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

I'm pretty sure NASA is doing an official webcast, if not providing the source to an unofficial one. You can look at Nasa's site:http://robotics.arc.nasa.gov/events/...rcwebcasts.php

Otherwise Ustream is our friend.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

In addition, I was looking at bringing a Flip camera to get a hard shot of the full field. No guarantees about being able to share that during the day, but we should be able to share that afterward on YouTube or TBA* without too much fuss.

*I know TBA prefers the big-screen feed...but hey, we've got what we've got.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

How many of you are going to come to the Peachtree Social this year?

- Sunny

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

I might, depending on my advisors. When is the social, Thursday night or Friday night?

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

The usual Friday night.

We're trying to get more inflatables this year.

- Sunny

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

what is the social? I just might come!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Being around in 2007 really won't be that big of an advantage. In 2007 Andrew and I were on 1002 as seniors in high-school. Since then, we helped to start and now help mentor 2415. Most kids and many mentors from 07 are not even doing FRC anymore. chiefdelphi is the great equalizer bc it allows everyone to look at old designs. All in all, being in first in 07 will not give older teams nearly as much of an advantage over younger teams as people think.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Your team mentor / teacher should be getting emails from GeorgiaFIRST about the social. He needs to respond this week !!! with the headcount and other information.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Of course if a team doesn't have anyone from 2007 around, then they might not have an advantage as if a team that has a mentor/student that was around in 07.

And saying that being in FIRST in 07 gives you no advantage this year is wrong. Teams like 148, 254, etc have just gone back and appended onto their design, as has our team. A lot of people went back to '07 and said that wall slot loading isn't important, you won't need to worry about popped tubes, etc. Are you saying that being around in '07 wouldn't have helped in these determinations?

Of course, this in no way excludes teams that don't have any '07 experience. There is no limit to innovation.

- Sunny

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Just 3 more days!

Time to get those trailers loaded and ready to go!

Glad we aren't a week 1 this year!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

I don't know, I kind of liked being a week 1 event. That gave us a lot more time between our first and second event, but I suppose this is fine. :D

And 1261 is ready for the most part. Just polishing somethings, and figuring somethings out and we should be good to go come Friday morning.

- Sunny

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

We did the Week 1 thing last year at Bayou. The excruciating technical difficulties, combined with our own robot issues, made me wonder what the Creole term for "train wreck" was.

We've got a few things to knock out on Thursday. Our minibot deployment system needs refinement, especially considering we lost last week to USC spring break. (The minibot itself needs a little bit of finishing work...but that doesn't faze me since it will need a couple of tweaks to play nice with our deployment system anyway.)

After that, we just need to pimp our ride robot with some color and our school/sponsor decals, all of which will be in hand to get us looking good and matching the shirts...or so the plan goes. (No, we're not living on the edge at all scheduling things to arrive the day we leave. :))

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

So Tuesday is upon us, and only two days away until the festivities begin, 1.5 for those of you that are traveling, and I think EVERYONE is wondering...will there be a webcast?

- Sunny

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Who did it last year? We talked about it, but we really don't have enough team members to to take it on, not to mention a lack of a suitable laptop. How about you guys at Peachtree Ridge? We do have an expert that would be glad to help you set it up if you have a laptop (or desktop) you can devote that has video in capability.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

I can't wait until Thursday morning. Really looking forward to P'tree this year and the first chance to play Logomotion.

That's the best way to do things!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Gonna be at the Regional around 10-11 oclock thursday! have to travel 5-6 hrs to get there by bus! Also have to give the team a debrief as a lot of them haven't even seen the bot! Super excited though, and its gonna be fun working with Circuit Runners, Kell, Walton, and the Flying Platipy on the Peachtree Scouting Alliance!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

This would be up to the team. I'm at Tech, so I can't really commit anything from my end.

But a webcast would be awesome. Good way to breeze through classes on Thursday and Friday. :D

- Sunny

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Hey, is anyone picking up (or willing to pick up) a will-call order from McMaster-Carr? We need a couple of shafts and odd bits, and with us on the move tomorrow shipping things will be a little hairy.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Couldn't you have it shipped to the Hotel? And then inform the hotel that you'll be expecting a package and it might arrive before you do... :D

- Sunny

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

That's the backup plan--but I've been on the losing end of hotel logistics in the past. Figured it was a shot. :)

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

One more day!

Anyways, just some stuff from 2415:

1) This announcement was in the team email, but just a reminder: if you guys have any old tools (that still work of course), please bring them to Peachtree for our tool drive! These tools will be used to help rookie teams get started next year so we'd really appreciate it. We'll have some sort of box or crate hopefully near pit admin for them.

Also, bring your batteries and other recyclables! As always.

2) For the second year, we will be launching our Internship Linking Service, after some technical difficulties last year. Sorry out-of-state teams, it's only for Georgia kids right now, but to any Georgia kids: if you're interested in having a STEM-related internship over the summer, sign up on one of our computers which will be at the Technology Associates of Georgia (which consists of over 50 companies) table near Scholarship Row. We will have people there to explain more details and flyers and whatnot, but just a heads up. It doesn't take long at all for the initial sign-up, and we'll follow up with interested kids after Peachtree.

3) Don't forget about our Adopt-a-Tree program! We have new applications and our trees have arrived, so offset your carbon emissions and join the Green Alliance (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...reen+alliance), all by planting some trees :)

Best of luck! See you guys at the competition! :D

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Does this apply only to FIRST students or is it open to team alumni as well? :D

So about 24 hours to go. I think 1261 got our deployment mechanism pat yesterday. All I can say is ::safety::.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Some new video of 2415 from the Alamo regional: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJyzZ_qUd4Y

See you all tomorrow!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Nice.

I really dig the tension system you guys have for the energy chains for the wires. :D

- Sunny

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Do old, dead, robot batteries count?

Re: 2415 Alamo Video
 

Nicely done video. Good to see 2415 in competitive action.
Dave

Re: 2415 Alamo Video
 

I'm up and running here after an....enlightening....night at the hotel. Time for some robots!

Re: 2415 Alamo Video
 

Hello Everyone,

For those of searching for a webcast, the link is here.

But it doesn't start till tomorrow so awesome stuff.

Enjoy,
Sunny

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

So I'm NOT liking the so called "practice field".

~1/4th of a full field, one set of peg racks, none of the pegs have reflexite (we had to add 2 of our own reflexite strips to test our autonomous) and it doesn't even have a full plated aluminum backing (for sonar sensor reflection). And it is so tiny that you can only fit 1 robot at a time.

Other than that, it has been going great so far. Only saw a few field connection issues, but they seemed to have been solved by lunch time.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

0_o What are they doing with all of that open space then?

- Sunny

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Practice day seemed to run pretty smoothly from the bits and pieces I saw.

3573 was a little ugly in our practice matches, but we dialed in our arm automation in the last hour or so of pit time which should allow much better floor pickup and hopefully bring us from 1-2 tubes to 3+.

Our minibot is getting a complete overhaul and will hopefully up and running in the morning.

Looking forward to seeing everybody bright and early tomorrow morning.

Also a huge thanks to NASA MSFC for the webcast!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Hoo boy, nothing like a day like today to shake any rust out of you. (I think taking last season off from coaching made me a little soft!)

Props to the inspectors for a reasonably painless process, as well as the field crew for staying late to ensure that everyone hooked up with the field.

We didn't get to practice today, as we were chasing a few minor programming bugs, making a go/no-go decision on the minibot (currently a no-go...darn Tetrix motors...) and replacing the axles on our arm. Some dimwit with a business degree thought it was a good idea to use threaded rod there :rolleyes:. Of course, the replacement axles that arrived today at lunchtime were a touch oversized and obnoxious to try to take down (sorry, NASA machine shop!). Our hybrid axles (one obnoxious steel axle, one threaded rod axle for our shoulder sprocket, and two big fat 350-pounds-tensile-strength zip ties in between) seem to be holding up decently, so we'll run with them tomorrow and see what happens.

And for those who asked us about the shirts: Tomorrow. :)

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Would anyone happen to be able to get up a match schedule for those of us watching from home? I'm stuck at Georgia Tech until around 2, and would like to ignore my professors a bit better!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Sorry I couldn't be with you all this year. The good news is I'm employed again after 9 months of unemployment. The bad news is I'm employed now with no time off built up. See ya' next year!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

The practice field is said to have been cut because Scholarship Row got moved into the pit area rather than outside in the hall.

Match list is up on usfirst.org (http://www2.usfirst.org/2011comp/eve...edulequal.html)

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Hoo boy, what a day!

We've been run through the wringer on the field, mostly control system glitches. Just as important, it's never been the same glitch twice:

1) Bridge spontaneously disconnected (we've rechecked all the connections)
2) Joysticks got unhooked (we've taped them into the USB hub
3) Plain wouldn't talk to the FMS (only happened once)
4) Digital sidecar lost power (everything has been replugged)
5) Bypassed right before our bridge connected up (happened before the field crew started having us power up earlier)
6) Banged up our claw at the end of the day (we've got the parts to fix it in the morning)

(Yes, that's six robot mishaps in seven matches. It has been a long, long, long day. :))

We believe (hope?) we've shaken out most of the bugs now--we'll see which is the more correct word choice in the morning. Thanks to all the teams who've been helping us out along the way!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Did no one submit an animation?

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Those were some epic (and mostly lopsided) elimination matches (until the finals). It was totally worth waking up at 6:30 this morning to go see this (even though my own team failed to connect to the field in several matches :facepalm: ). Congrats to both of the top 2 alliances (2415, 1771, 2815) and (3149, 1261, 1648), and good luck at St. Louis.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Who won?

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

2415, 1771, and 2815. They also set a high score of 128-0.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

First off, Thanks to teams 3149 and 1648 for being excellent alliance partners. We gelled really well, and if we hadn't hit those technical snags, I'm sure that we would've given the wining alliance an even better get for their money.

Our Friday started out rough, but we figured some things out, and made a strong showing on Saturday.

We're content with the finalist medals, but I'm sure we'll be even hungrier at Knoxville.

As for the winning alliance, 2415 and 1771 were pure beasts and 2815 didn't let anyone push them around. I'm glad that our alliance lost to those three teams.

As for the predictions, 2415, 1771, 2815, and 1261 were mentioned in this thread and ended up playing in the finals.

- Sunny

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

One of the highlights for me today was seeing Billford jumping up and down with excitement when FRC #2815 (Los Pollos Locos) was the last team selected to the Sat afternoon playoffs. Oh yeah, 2815 was selected by the #1 alliance and they won the competition finals. Congratulations to 2415, 1771, and 2815. It was a great Peachtree Regional.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

I heard him yelling from across the stands. It was intense.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

I have to say. From the point I heard that 2815 was selected, to the finals, I was on the edge of my seat the entire time. It was awesome to see a team that went through the trenches and back, but still managed to capture the title as winner. I love FIRST :D .

Congrats to 2415, 1771, and 2815!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Do not underestimate 2815's contribution to our alliance. Without them funneling us tubes so well, we never would have been able to hang enough for those 100+ point matches. Thanks to their great drivers and Billfred being an absolutely fantastic coach and person to hang around.

(and of course, thank you 1771 for helping us score score score!)

It was a fantastic regional, topped off by our very own captain Rick Shanor winning Dean's List. Very well run and a great experience as my final Peachtree Regional.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

lets be honest here guys.... it was all about the billfred effect....:D

THANK YOU 1771 and 2815 for being AWESOME! We almost filled the rack...!!!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

It was a great regional. We were EXTREMELY nervous when our minibot broke right before the first match of the Finals against Peachtree Ridge.

Luckily 2815 played some EXTREMELY good defense, absolutely stunning.
Of course 2415 and our autonomous both scoring an ubertube really helped the scores.

I'm glad that we won to such an awesome opposing alliance. 1261, 1648, and 3149 absolutely rocked.

1648- Those pneumatic tires, oh my. Absolutely amazing stopping power.

To all teams- It was a great regional, hope to see y'all next year!

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

As a recent transplant here to Georgia, this was my first Peachtree Regional. I have to say, y'all run a pretty great event (did I use that right? ;) ). A huge thank you to all the volunteers who kept the weekend running smoothly. We got a little behind on Friday night, but we made up the time on Saturday morning and had alliance selections pretty darn close to on time. Thanks especially to Head Inspector and 3573 mentor Bob Tate, Head Ref Jan Spurlin and the FTA whose name I embarrassingly didn't catch.

3573 wants to send out a HUGE thank you to team 122 for sharing your minibot and putting in a ton of work trying to help us get it up the pole. We wish we could have gotten it up there for you more than the one time.

We also want to thank our alliance partners 2420 and 122(again!) for a great run in the eliminations. It was great to work with both of you guys!

Congratulations to the winners 2415, 1771, and 2815. I'm hoping we gave you at least a tiny scare in that first semifinal match when we had the lead for a bit :yikes: . 3 great robots, you guys certainly deserved it.

Congrats as well to Chairman's winner 122, Rookie All-Star winner 3694, WFFA recipient Joanne Talmadge and Dean's list finalist recipients Alex Epstein and Rick Shanor.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Eh heh...

Anyone who's read this thread over the past few days knows how god-awful our Friday was. This morning was no exception, with our comms going in and out during our first matchup and our digital sidecar getting unhooked during our final qualification match. I'd been talking with folks on both 1771 and 2415 through the days, mostly in the can-you-believe-our-rotten-luck sense. (A 30% run-the-whole-two-minutes rate at a regional is not usually picking material.)

Our second match this morning with 2415--one of those rare clean runs for us--they asked if we could play some defense along the middle. Having beat up our claw at the end of yesterday and not having much time to refine our driving, we agreed. We were encouraged by a good run, but even I (the resident eternal optimist) was kinda shifting into wait-'til-next-week mode.

Seeded 38th of 48th, I snuck up to the stands to watch alliance selections. As soon as I saw 2415 pick 1771, I said to myself "Good game"--these two were very in my eyes the best teams at the event (and if they weren't, nobody was getting two teams that could top them). The first round of picking went by without much fanfare--no way we'd get picked ahead of those guys--and even our representative (Stacy, our junior programmer genious responsible for even giving us a glimmer of ubertube hope) was about to turn towards the pits when 2415 called our number. I was a little enthused, as noted.

I have no idea how we managed to go six matches in a row without any major flubs--the closest we came was a weaker battery in Finals 2 (which is why we slowed down so much towards the end). Everything was clicking--we played our position as hard as we could, blocked hard, shoved as many tubes as we could, and only broke out the claw to pull tubes off the wall and deliver them (or during the last few seconds when we had little else to do, as our minibot aspirations were dashed on Thursday). I have no idea how this managed to work so effectively against three different tough alliances, but even through the rougher parts of finals we managed to hold it together and bring out a win. Once again, I was a little enthused--this was 2815's first ever regional win, and my first in eight seasons of competing in FRC across three different teams.

To 2415 and 1771, I can not thank you guys enough for taking the gamble on our team. No alliance I've ever worked with has been more relaxed, more prepared, and more able to adapt to challenges--I hope our kids were taking notes. (If nothing else, I know they took notes about minibots--we're definitely working on that for Palmetto.)

Thank you to the volunteers and crew for running a very smooth event. When running a little bit late is the worst thing you have to say about an event, it's a very good event.

Thank you to all the teams that helped us with little bits and pieces. I should've known we'd be in for a long three days when we realized our toolbox wouldn't fit on the bus.

Thank you to the NASA machine shop...and sorry about those axle shafts. :o

Thank you to the millions (plus or minus 99.99%) of 2815ers watching at home that called, tweeted, Facebooked, and texted us through eliminations, and to the parents and USC mentors that welcomed us home to the machine shop tonight. Also thanks to all the non-2815ers who've passed their congratulations along.

And finally, thanks to my teammates. Thanks to a surprise exam, we lost our USC mentors for Peachtree and had just eleven people making the trip--nine kids, one teacher, and me. Their experience, never-say-die attitude, and ability to work through all our many gremlins is the only way any of this could even be possible. We're graduating an exceptional group of seniors, and they've certainly set the bar high for our underclassmen. Cameron, Will, Christian, Stacy, Manoel, George, Aaron, Lizzie, Meg, and Chris--thank you all for a wild ride.

Now to fix up that arm....

(PS to 2415 and 1771: When I said after the photos we've got to do this again on Einstein, I meant it! :D)

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

The term "Billfred effect" has already entered into our team's vernacular. Actually :cool:

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

The Peachtree Regional was great this year and I had a really fun time!

My team would like to thank #1261 The RoboLions for having and allowing us to use the 2011 Driver Station re-imaging key. Without that we probably would not have been able to compete.

We'd also like to thank our amazing alliance partners.
#2967 IronWorks for picking us and showing amazing Gracious Professionalism during and after the elimination rounds. Your enthusiasm and team spirit made us feel like winners.

#1848 SOUP. I always look out for your team during Peachtree and being in alliance with you was a great experience.

Congratulations to the winning alliance 1771, 2415, 2815. You dominated the playing field and it was fun to see such high scoring games.

Also congratulations to 122, The NASA Knights on the Chairman's Award. Your team is really fun and inspiring!

A big THANK YOU goes to the NASA Machine Shop Guys. I'm sorry I don't know your names but the three of you really helped our team both in 2010 and 2011. I'm looking forward to seeing you at the North Carolina Regional.

Great judges, great volunteers, amazing teams, and lots of fun! This is probably the last Peachtree Regional I'll attend but I'm glad I'll remember it this way.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Excellent work by 2415. Your bot was amazing as was your minibot. That minibot inspired our all-nighter on Friday and helped us build a minibot to win our matches Saturday morning.

3344 had a long three days. After losing half the servos on our brand new roller grip during matches on Friday and changing back the our old claw, we were really pleased to see our drivers hanging tubes Saturday morning. We couldn't have been happier to make it into the elimination matches, but, between a dead power switch on our new minibot, a dead battery on the big bot, the classmate not recognizing the cypress board where our deployment switch was located, and those insane pneumatic tires on 1648's bot, we didn't have a fighting chance in quarter-finals.

Overall, Peachtree was amazing! There was some really spectacular designs, and I can't wait to see a few of you guys in St. Louis.

Peachtree Finals Video
 

I have edited and posted a finals HD video that I shot here if anyone is interested and doesn't mind the red alliance & 2415 slant of it.
Dave

Re: Peachtree Finals Video
 

Do you have any video of our 128 match?

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Those elims and finals were super fun to watch. 2415 had a blast at peachtree. I hope we have footage of that highscore quarterfinal match.

*I just wanna give a shoutout to our SCOUTERs who meticulously surveyed and compiled every single qualifying match into our database. Without them, the team would not have known to pick such great alliance partners.

Re: Peachtree Finals Video
 

One of our members got a video of it-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzc6AeoCi58

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Delurking to say that 3573 had a great time at Peachtree. A bigger practice field would have been nice but its people that make an event and Peachtree was full of great people.

Big thanks to 122. Sharing your minbot was terrific I just wish that so many little things hadn't kept us from doing more with it Congratulations on the Chairman's Award.

2420 and 122 thanks for picking us. We knew we could compete at that point (Friday morning was a different story!) but its great to feel the love from others. We didn't make the finals but it was a good run.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

one stupid tube from a full rack. :mad: our coach Andrew unfortunately made us go deploy our minibot otherwise we wouldve gotten it :)

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

haha....maybe if you guys scored a little faster...i wouldn't have had to tell you to forget the rack and go for the minibot

Re: Peachtree Finals Video
 

Wow, I must say, that by attempting to throw the tubes and prevent 1771/2415 from scoring, the other alliance's human players give them more tube. Poor strategy.

- Sunny

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

The alliance of 2415, 1771 and 2815 was ridiculous. From what my drivers told me, our alliance (8th seed) just threw in the towel after the first quarterfinal match and went out there trying to have some fun before packing up for the day (not to mention the left side of our robot didn't drive anymore, story for another day).

Congratulations to everyone who was at Peachtree!

Re: Peachtree Finals Video
 

That strategy only works if the robot has a loose grip on the tube, and the piece that you are throwing won't help them complete a logo. I did see one of 2415/1771 drop a tube ONCE due to this, but they picked up the original tube and scored it on their second try.

Note that this strategy is poor if there is a tube that is scored, but hanging by a thread, cause accidentally de-scoring it is a red-card in elims. This gave the #7 alliance one more chance to beat #2 (Although it ended up not mattering).

Re: Peachtree Finals Video
 

When I first saw human players doing this in our first seeding match on saturday I was initially mad and then quickly realized there was very little chance of knocking the tube out of our gripper and they were dropping tubes for us to score just like you said. Just about every match we played after that on saturday had human players trying to knock tubes out of our gripper and only one in eliminations was successful but then cost the team a red card. I would have to agree this is quite a poor strategy.

Re: Peachtree Finals Video
 

I agree as well. It didn't even cross our minds to do this in the semis. We went with the opposite and had our HPs hang onto all their tubes. Unfortunately for us 2815 was much better at pushing tubes towards you guys (combined with good throws from your Human Players) than 2420 and 122 were at pushing them away.

Re: Peachtree Finals Video
 

I told our human player during qualification rounds not to aim for it unless he was SURE it'd do the trick. Clearly it could work on nearly any team there, but the risk/reward tradeoff is a tough one (and one that diminished greatly as eliminations progressed).

Re: Peachtree Finals Video
 

I was on the opposing alliance at the time, but didn't see the tube get knocked down. Looking back at that point in that match from the recorded video(01:01:43 of http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13427807 ) I see how harsh of a penalty that was for a tube that could have been knocked off by the moving air from a thrown tube.

From 3344's standpoint at the time it was a glimmer of hope to get our ~2 second, one-night minibot deployed during elimination matches after running out of battery during that match (didn't have a charged one so we gambled, but the 10+ minute wait time for the techs to fix the field during the previous match must have killed the battery).

Nonetheless, the #2 alliance deserved the win, and I'm glad they pushed through to finals.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

The first person I would like to thank for ptree this year would be Mr. Jeff Rosen. Although he bad some terrible jokes as announcer he is one of the many reasons so many of the teams in Georgia exist. Without him, my former 1002 members and myself would never had made 2415. Chances are, 3091 wouldn't have had as much initial help, 1848 also got off the ground with Jeremy Roberts myself and Rosen, we also helped with getting 1746 off the ground. There are a ton of other teams that he helped to start along with over 100 fll/FRC/vex/jfll teams. You are a horrible conversationalist due to how long you talk, but you have gotten better, and have clearly been an inspiration to the mentors of 2415 (Andrew, speedbuggy76, and myself) ever since you talked us into ultimate submissions early on freshman year of hs haha. I'm glad I did not prank you this year bc I heard you brought a jack and cinder blocks this year

Kudos to the Roberts family for winning volunteers of the year award. I have known you both since the inception of 1848 6 or so years ago and it has always been a pleasure speaking with you, getting to know your family, and getting jokingly yelled at by you for being so so so late to be queued up for matches. You guys really deserve this award.

Thank you to mannie lowe, the Philips family, the spurlin family, Mr Tate, the welsch family, Mr chambliss, Connie, the folea family, Mr reece, tauhira/all the other 1002 alumni who volunteered (especially mick roper, and all the other volunteers. You guys did a great job, especially with getting us back on track when the regional initially fell behind.

Congrats to teams 1261, 3149, and my personal favorite, 1648 for doing such a great job all weekend long and giving ptree a great finals round.

Thank you president bud Peterson, sweet 6 lb 8oz baby jesus (for healing my foot and allowing me to walk again), and governess deal, for all coming to the regional.

Congrats to team 122 for the chairmans win. Your spirit, enthusiasm, and good works are all something we need to strive to attain. You guys are well deserving of the award. And Congrats to your mentor for winning the woodie flowers award.

I would also like to commend 1002 for something they did as well. not only did you and Walton (fierce ha rivals) provide scouting info for everybody, but I saw that after the event, your students were helping break down the field. Although this is the first time in 8 year that you haven't won a CA or a EI, I was so happy to see my former team up in spirits still being a role model team helping to break down.

Thank you to team 1771 and team 2815 for accepting our invitations and for putting up with us throughout the playoffs. This is the last student year for the founding students of 2415 so it was great to go out with a bang.

Thanks to troy and all of the other announces for keeping the energy high. However I did miss out on sir Charles' brief cameo which I am a little upset about. I don't even hear his catch phrase this year.

It was great seeing our old friends, alumni, and mentors from 1848, 832, 1002 , 2420, 587, 1648, 1311, 3091, 2655 and 1746.

Finally, Congrats to Alex Epstein and Rick Shanor for winning the deans list award. Especially Rick Shanor who I have had the responsibility/pain/horrific experience/privilege to work with for the past four years. This loser spent 55+ hours a week in the shop INCLUDING THE WEEKS SINCE SHIP, including his spring break. This is on top of his hundreds of hours per year of community service with the team and his mentorship of younger team members.

This was a great last peachtree as a mentor/potentially ever. I hope to catch up with many of you in north Carolina or st Louis or random off-season events.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

It was a pleasure to work with you guys yall are a amazing team and the main thing is you did get our minibot up the pole whether it was once or 200 and we hope to see you guys again at another regional

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Minor technicality: We didn't win either Chairman's or Engineering Inspiration in 2008 (Overdrive, the year after you graduated), but we were the #6 seed, and our crate got mistakenly shipped to Championships that year.

But nonetheless, great thank-you speech.

Re: 2011 Peachtree Regional
 

Santosh Thank you for the kind words.
As an educator/mentor is a true feeling of pride to be able to look out at all of the teams and volunteers and see so many of the young people that I worked with spreading the knowledge and passion for FIRST. I take pride in the success that you all achieve and know that for all the grief we put each other through was done with to help you all grow and aspire to achieve. Thank you to all of the 1002 students and Alums for upholding a standard that was the cornerstone of the CircuitRunner team. :D