2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

The 10th anniversary :)

Website: http://www.mdfirst.org/programs/firs...-regional.html will be updated as information is released.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

We, the RoboBees, are eagerly looking forward to being back at our home regional this year!

We can't wait to see old friends and meet new ones in the Inner Harbor of Bal'mer, Hon!

Best regards,

Steve

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

2068 is looking to make our first trip up to Chesapeake, we usually hit DC or VA. Looking over the team lists we see some familiar numbers and a bunch of new people to meet.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Some big moves today (or actually yesterday now). It is almost like the NFL draft of College signing day.

Welcom teams 27 and 217 to Chesapeake. Look forward to working with such great teams.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Teams representing 9 states and DC now registered.
Another year with a nice mix of repeat teams and new friends.
Some slots still available.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

The Baltimore Area Alliance will be hosting the annual “Back to Build” mentor dinner on Friday January 13, 2012 at Owings Mills High School.

Adult mentors from the Chesapeake FRC teams are invited and the dinner is provided by the BAA. This year the Chesapeake Regional Head Ref, Lead Robot Inspector, and the Judge Advisor will be available for a Q & A. This format has worked well in the past, and there has been a lot of information clarified. There will also be a brief info session on FAB LAB opportunities.

This evening is a great networking and info swapping opportunity.
All the Maryland teams will be receiving an invite. Send me a PM if you need more information or want an invite.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

The regional planning committee is looking for photos from the past 10 years at the Chesapeake Regional, especially for the early years. Do you have any you would like to share?

PM me and I will give you the address to send them to.

Thanks.

62 teams from 11 states and DC will be in the house.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Our first time out of state in a long time. Can't wait to attend! Good luck to all the teams at the regional. We are very interested in how the regional system works cause in Michigan, we are so used to the district system. None of our team have attended a regional before and are very excited!

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Likewise, none of our teams have attended a district tournament. Chesapeake has one of the best robotics atmosphere out there (or at least to the events I have attended, not counting Champs and IRI). The staff is great and welcome anybody. We want to make you feel at home.

Some of the differences though, Thursday is a practice day (all day). You have to get inspected to go out on the field for your matches. Once inspected you can also fill in for other non-inspected teams if they can't make it. Friday and Saturday morning are qualification matches and each team usually gets between 9-10 matches per regional. Although with the speed up of scoring and penalties, I wouldn't be surprised if they try to squeeze in more matches. Saturday afternoon is the eliminations and awards ceremony.

Hope this helps. Let us know if you have any venue specific or area (Baltimore) specific questions. Good luck and safe travels!

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

The Senior Mentor/RD should be soon adding to the info flow out to the registered teams. Team social (need to get food counts-already have 100+ signed up), student ambassadors being recruited (will be trained on Thursday), students to join the group sing of the National Anthem needed (welcoming students from any team to participate is a proud Chesapeake tradition), things to do in the area when you are not in the convention center and interested in donating to the welcome bag?

Volunteer Coordinator is still recruiting for many of the non-lead positions. This is a fun event with great volunteers. Encourage folks you know to sign up in the VIMS.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Reminders:

Planning on joining the 20+ teams coming to the team social (includes a meal)?
Does your team want to participate in the Team Showcase on Thursday?
Do you need an official invite to send out to your supporters?
Do you want to participate in the Alumni Mingle, the JCPenney Team Mingle and/or the informal District Model Roundtable?
Do you have students who want to be trained as Ambassadors and/or participate in the Chesapeake chorus?
Do you want details on early load in on Wed from 6-8pm or Thurs. at 7:45am?
Do you want to pre-order lunch?
Do you want to help with a webcast?

These details went out to the teams from the RD on Thurs. Feb. 16.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

612 is coming back for the first time since 2007. In the great words of Bart Scott, "Can't Wait"

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Looking over the team list looks like a couple of our NOVA neighbors also decided to drive up 95 to Baltimore.

*waves at 612 and 1895*

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Detailed load-in and regional parking info: http://www.mdfirst.org/programs/firs...d-loading.html

Alumni mingle on Thurs - RSVP needed: http://www.mdfirst.org/get-involved/alumni

Invite (let Regional Director Bill Duncan know if a special VIP invite is required): http://www.mdfirst.org/images/storie...Invitation.pdf

Team social, including dinner and student performances, is pretty much filled. If you need to be added to the list, contact Senior Mentor Rose Young ASAP.

We will have a very informal roundtable discussion about the FRC District event model on Thursday, March 8, from 2-3pm in the VIP Room. One or two adult representatives from each team are welcome to attend, and we would especially like to have some representatives from the Michigan teams to talk about their experiences.

Contacts and all these details went out in an email March 1 from the RD. Also included was info about team photographers, Chesapeake Chorus, Student Ambassadors and Team Showcase table.

Webcast info to come.

Pre-ordered convention center lunches - info attached.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

FIRST team 2849 ursa major is so pumped for our yearly backyard regional.Our bot can shoot very accuratley from who knows where guess you gotta come see us compete and balance. Cant wait for alumni on the team to watch them on their spring break .::safety::

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

FIRST team 2866, Phoenix Robotics, is hoping to make a comeback this year as compared to years past. If any of you saw us at Play Day in DC, then expect an improved version of that to be competing at Chesapeake!

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Forecast is warming weather into the 60's on Wed and Thurs and then back to the 50's. Probably sounds chilly to our friends from Calif, but pretty good to everyone else.
Bring a raincoat for Friday, but clearing on Sat. Travel safe everyone.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Last week the high's in Palo Alto were in the 50's. I do appreciate your concern. The team is looking forward to Baltimore. This should be a great regional. The chance to go to an event that one has never been to is always interesting and a great chance to meet new people.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

And because I just got a question about parking, here again is the link.
http://www.mdfirst.org/programs/firs...d-loading.html

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Team 53, and I'd guesstimate the majority of teams are in the same boat with you. We would all love to improve on our performance from last year.

For my rookie FLL team, I gave them increasingly difficult goals that resulted in pizza and then ice cream (still pending) parties after they (surprisingly) won the regional and then (shockingly) won an award at the state championships.

Maybe it will work at the FRC level... So I'm sponsoring a Most Improved Team award and pizza party. Should Team 53 happen to win, I'll invite the 2nd place team to join us. I assume there are no "rules" against this.

Shall we use the final qualification rankings as the measure, with w/l record as a tie breaker? Or what is a fair way to measure improvement? I'm not worried about the top 10 teams not being in the running for the award... I hope they will cheer us on to join them at the top (just behind them, of course).

FYI, we went from 49/50 in 2010 to 32/60 in 2011. While we had some critical problems with key mechanisms, we had a perfect drivetrain and pretty decent minibot. My goal is for our team to crack the top 20 this year.

George
Coach, Alien Cow Abductors

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Team 714 here and we're excited to see everyone at the competitions again, and we are coming back for first place this year. Good Luck to everyone!

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

We're always happy to have our friends from 714 at the Chesapeake Regional. We look forward to working with you again!

Safe travels! We'll see you in a couple of days!

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Team 217 is pretty pumped to come to Chesapeake for the first time in our team history. I will be flying in from Dallas Thursday morning and the rest of the team will be coming late Wednesday on a bus from Michigan.

We are really excited to meet a lot of teams we never get to compete with or against each year.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

NEMO mingle has been added. Rose Young, Maryland's Senior Mentor, has been working hard assembling packets for all the teams on the various activities and special events going on off the field.

It will be fun. See you in inspections!

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Paul, we are thrilled to have several teams coming from Michigan this year! Please let us know if there is anything we can do to make your stay in our city an enjoyable one! If you need anything, tools, parts, etc... please don't hesitate to grab one of our RAP (RoboBees Assistance Program) Team members. You will see them with our RAP Team vests on in the Pit area.

Safe travels! See you in a couple of days!

Steve

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Looking forward to seeing you and the Divas in the Pits! :)

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Good luck to you guys, but we dont mean just last year. These past two years we were consistently in the bottom quarter of the rankings (both is FRC and Vex). Ironically, The only year we did well was our rookie year, 2009. This year, we are hoping to rebuild and so far we have done exceedingly well. Both vex competitions we went to we won, the first undefeated, the second losing to the #1 ranked team. We hope to bring new life to our team, Phoenix Robotics, and bring it out of the ashes (pun intended).

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

I will be meeting the team members that are going to Baltimore 5:30 AM tomorrow to fly out there. If the regional is half as good as the volunteers that we have corresponded with it will be a GREAT regional.:) Looking forward to seeing you there. Good luck to all of you.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

From the RD:
webcast via NASA TV servers. Watch on:
http://robotics.arc.nasa.gov/events/...s.php#webcasts

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Taking the idea from Koko Ed's thread 2068 is being an extra robot cart and a movers dolly, if you notice any team without a cart please send them over.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

We won't be there as REX 1727 but as 1719 Umbrella Corp. =)
<3

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Team 27, Team RUSH boarded our bus from Michigan at ~11:30 this morning, and we are all so excited! This is our first non-Michigan regional in years, and none of our current members have been to anything out of state except Atlanta and St. Louis.

Looking forward to seeing all the teams we've never played with before and participating in an awesome regional!

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

im with team 2377 aka: C company, and we're comin back to win again. but good luck to all teams though

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Team 358 is on our way to our first Baltimore regional! We'll see you all in the morning!

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Team 768 can’t wait to get our bot out there. This should be fun.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

You guys didn't win Chesapeake last year. You won DC.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Team 1111 the Power Hawks will be there!

Unveil Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx9p0...ature=youtu.be

We are excited to compete with everyone at Chesapeake and would like to welcome all the Michigan teams and others making the trip out.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Does anyone know when the webcast will be up would like to watch some of the practice?

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Will this be for practice rounds thursday to

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Congrats on your results today! I see we both started the day slow and finished strong; you won your last 4 matches and we won our last 3.

We didn't attempt autonomous shots until our last two matches, but then made 3 of 4 in the top basket. All of our mechanisms are working well and our drive team is gaining experience and confidence every match. Hope to see you in the playoff rounds!

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Many thanks to all the volunteers who worked so hard to help this event! And to all the teams - both local and those who came quite a distance to compete. It was a cheerful, friendly, respectful group of teams attending this year. What a pleasure it was to be around you all. And the elimination matches were so exciting!
Some local news stories here: http://www.mdfirst.org/

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

I'm very proud of my team for improving to 16th overall. We held on to 7th place for much of the morning on Saturday, but then dropped one point short of making the elimination rounds, and as second alternate we watched as the first alternate, team 3419 joined the winning alliance!

Now... for most improved team of the regional... (Check my math!)

Team 2377 improved from 37th to 7th for a jump of 30 positions, and most importantly they formed the winning alliance. Congrats to C Company for the strongest improvement. But not the "most"...

Team 2866 improved from 40th to 9th for a jump of 31 positions. Awesome job Phoenix Robotics! Your quarter-final match against C Company was exciting to watch.

And the most improved Chesapeake Regional team from 2011-2012 is team 1719, the Umbrella Corporation who improved from 51st to 19th, a jump of 32 positions! Congrats for making the semi-finals and being the most improved team! I'll contact you about scheduling your pizza party :)

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

There's a new Chesapeake 2012 playlist on the MarylandFIRST YouTube channel. If you've got videos, let us know and we'll link them there.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFAFBE0BC782FB4EB
www.youtube.com

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Another year and other great Chesapeake Regional. Congrats to this years winners 2337, 192, 181, and 3419. Those were some awesome quarterfinals we played against you. Also congrats to 27 for the Engineering Inspiration Award which was no surprise as you have such a great program. As for 3941 and the Techbrick organization, congratulations on the Rookie All Star. You guys have a great FLL and FTC program and it comes as no surprise that it would be the same for FRC. Welcome to the big leagues and see you in St. Louis.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

A special shout out to the Chesapeake Regional Planning Committee! Bill, Rose, and Anne, you make this a wonderful event every year! Congratulations to Steve and Anne on the newest Shade! Thank you to Steve and the amazing officiating crew for such a smooth event! To Jenny, I'm so happy the committee made you go on your errand, so they could give you the recognition you so richly deserved! You are truly our "RoboMom"! To our "Divas", you make the pits a Royal place to be!

Greg, you are an amazing emcee! You and your entire family have made the Chesapeake Regional what it is today! Thank you so much for your friendship and your encouragement over the years!

To all of our out-of-state friends, we were so thrilled to work and compete along side of you! We invite you to come back soon and enjoy the city we call home! To Team Rush, congratulations on the EI award! You are a great inspiration to all of us!

Congratulations to the winning alliance! It was a thrill to compete against you! I look forward to seeing you in DC and in St. Louis! I hope next time we can be on the same side of the glass!

To our alliance partners - Phoenix, you are rising high from the ashes, and I look forward to the next time we work with you! RoboDoves, you were a fun team to work with, let's do it again soon!

Lastly, to my PMO team, you are the best!

Best regards,

Steve

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Steve-my errand was to pick up our special guest, Dr. Woodie Flowers, at the airport. It wasn't exactly hardship duty and they didn't exactly have to twist my arm. Thank you for your shout out and congrats to your hardworking team on your well earned RCA!

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

I know it wasn't, I think anyone would be happy to go pick him up, but I'm guessing they wanted you out so they could surprise you! :)

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Team 1629 - GaCo would like to congratulate C-Company and your amazing alliance selections, you all deserved the hard fought win!!!! 836 -Robobees, congrats on your second RCA in a row, that is awesome. 27 - Rush, congrats on your EI award, it was fun competing against some stout Michigan teams!!! Now on to Buckeye, where hopefully we can qualify for Championships to compete with you all again!!! Great Regional!!!

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Thank you for recognizing us. We definitely improved, not only through out the day, but also over the past year, going from near to last to 9th was an amazing improvement.

btw: Early during the competition we were ranked 53rd due to our two immediate losses.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Here is the link to the "2012 Chesapeake Preview" that was shown during the competition: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpaTeti9sGc

I plan on uploading all the videos from Saturday afternoon's award ceremony this week.

I would also like to reiterate how great the Regional was this year. Eliminations had a surprising outcome, but still exciting nonetheless. Congratulations to 181, 192, 2377, and 3419 on winning. Our matches in quarterfinals were very close and exciting.

Congratulations to Team RUSH on the Engineering Inspiration Award. It is an award well deserved. One day we hope to accomplish as much as your team has.

RoboMom (Jenny) congratulations on having the honor of picking up Woodie Flowers. Even bigger congratulations for earning the Volunteer of the Year Award. There is no one else that I feel is more deserving.

To everybody else - I had fun interacting with all of the teams and meeting a lot of first time teams to Chesapeake. Good Luck at your future Regional/District events, and we hope to see most of you at Championships!

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Congratulations to Steve and Team 836 on the Chairman's Award!
Very well deserved and a great team that has inspired us for many years.

Glenn

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Thanks, Glenn!

Our success is only due to "standing on the shoulders of giants". Teams, such as yours, that have always been there for us, mentoring us, guiding us. You are such an inspiration to us!

I'm looking forward to seeing you in St. Louis!

Steve

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4A509A0339180EBF

Some of the seeding and elimination matches.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

I would like to thank all the folks that ran the Chesapeake Regional. They were all as good as they come. Also I would like to thank the teams. While we were far from our homes we never felt like we were not at home. I hope some time in the future we can come back to this great event and the great people that run and attend it. Thank You.:)

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

To say much of the same as Seth Mallory, in the post above, Team RUSH had a great time over the weekend, and we thank the coordinators for putting together such a great regional (The first one I've ever been to!) and the teams for making it a great time!

Also, thank you for all the congratulations on the EI award. It's was definitely an honor to be recognized outside of Michigan.

My personal highlight, as I told several people, was meeting teams who I had never seen before, and talking to all the members.

I also enjoyed working with the other ambassadors Friday and Saturday, I love the opportunity to speak about FIRST to everyone I possibly can, so this was a wonderful opportunity.

Again, thanks to everyone for making it a great weekend!

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Lost and Found Items: All Lost and Found items get packed on our trucks and come back to FIRST headquarters. All lost item requests will be addressed after the Championship Event (when all trucks are back in Manchester). NOTE: most of the lost and found items at Chesapeake were clothing & tools-including some power tools.

KeatonM, we have a proud tradition of trying to involve as many students as we can in the event. The student ambassador role is a win-win for all. For the local students, we then know who to call on in a hurry for presentations and outreach on behalf of FIRST in the area. The student singers have always made us proud. We are glad you had a great weekend.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

The recap with photos from the event and of all the teams who received trophies is now posted on the mdfirst.org website: http://www.mdfirst.org/programs/firs...2-results.html

MDFIRST intends to keep adding to the collection, so please let us know if you have more photos, videos, media hits, or whatever.

Thanks all.

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

All,

I am sorry for the delay in getting up the videos from Saturday Evening's Award Ceremony. Nonetheless here they are:

Industrial Design Award
Quality Award
Gracious Professionalism Award
Team Spirit Award
Coopertition Award
Judges' Award
Rookie All Star Award
Highest Rookie Seed
Industrial Safety Award
Regional Finalists (part 1)
Regional Finalists (part 2)
Regional Finalists (part 3)
Regional Winners (part 1)
Regional Winners (part 2)
Regional Winners (part 3)
Regional Winners (part 4)
Engineering Inspiration Award
FIRST Dean's List Finalist Awards
Regional Chairman's Award

Again, sorry for the delay. However, as a bonus, I hope you all enjoy Steve Shade Dancing!

Feel free to use these for any of your teams' promotional use!

PS - Jenny, what needs to happen in order for these to be on the MD FIRST site?

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Jenny,

Here is an article on the RoboBees

http://www.thebaynet.com/news/index....story_ID/26758

Thanks!

Steve

Re: 2012 Chesapeake FRC Regional in Baltimore
 

Sorry I wasn't clear on this. Send all articles and video and photos to the Regional Director, Bill Duncan. He is responsible for spearheading content on www.marylandfirst.org site (and has done a fantastic job). Thanks.