2012 Fingerlakes Regional

[Koko Ed]

To those who are interested in Lasertag. Meet me at the front of team queing after the awards ceremony is over.

[ahollenbach]

Originally Posted by Koko Ed

To those who are interested in Lasertag. Meet me at the front of team queing after the awards ceremony is over.

Is that open to volunteers, too?

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by ahollenbach

Is that open to volunteers, too?

Yeah.
I haven't been on all day or I would have hooked up with you to go.
I'm sorry.

[reymac]

Does anyone know when they are going update the team scores for match 56 on the FIRST website? The score was 12 to 17 (with blue alliance winning) they have it as 12 to 7 (with the red alliance winning).

[coreyjon]

best guess is first thing in the morning.

[GoSparx]

Has everyone noticed and bought their two pencil designs robo towels from Alex? They have numerous uses like cleaning up your pits, all while sporting your team number!

[DarkFlame145]

Any update on alliance selections?

[Grim Tuesday]

First (no pun intended), I would like to thank all the volunteer, and field staff. The inspection crew was amazingly efficient, and worked to help teams get their robot to pass, not just to call them on rules. The Referees were great, as well. There were no calls that I noticed that were questionable. And our MC was fabulous as well (That's why we do the math!), not to mention the sultry sound of the Announcer's voice. There is not a single regional that has volunteers as good as FLR.

Thanks to our alliance partners 843 and 3003!

3003-You guys were on our picklist from the very start. Originally, we were looking to form a scoring based alliance, but as soon as a couple of teams were picked from our scoring chart, we moved to the balancing one, of which you were the top of. It was a pleasure to work with you.

843-Thanks for being the only team from Canada to ditch GTR and come hang with the cool cats at FLR. As soon as we picked 3003, we decided to move to the 'go big or go home' strategy and move forward with a triple balance alliance. We were stunned that you didn't get picked until the second draft, and snapped on a fantastic alliance partner.

Both of you guys: It was a pleasure to work with you both. Fantastic alliance partners, and congrats for entering the elite club that is the Triple Balancers. I hope we can work together again in the future, and would like to keep in touch. If any of you are on Chief Delphi, shoot me a PM and we can work something out.

Here's a video of the only triple balance (in eliminations--we managed it twice on the practice field) at FLR 2012:
http://youtu.be/nNPPihOZ1K0?hd=1&t=50s

2172, 250, 1518-You guys were great to play against, and a victory over you means a lot. You guys stayed professional and gracious through our quarterfinals, as well as having some nice robots. Good Game.

340, 3015, 4124-It is an honor to be eliminated by such good opponents. From the second I watched 340's reveal video here on Chief, I knew they would go far this year, and they did not disappoint. The simplicity and elegance of your dumping mechanism is a feat of engineering. The thing it does that other robots can't do is keep the center of gravity low, while still allowing for 100% shots into the second basket. We had our eyes on 3015 from the very beginning, and were on the very top of our pick list. In fact, we had made a pre-selections agreement to choose them, and when 340 noticed as well, and chose them, our scouting setup was in quite the predicament of rearranging our list. Your shooting skills were paralleled by very few at the regional. Finally, 4124, the almost-rookie. As the counterpart to Division by Zero, we expected a lot of this rookie team, and they didn't disappoint. How they were left in the third draft for the second seed is a testament to the quality of teams at Fingerlakes.

1507, 191, 3951-It was clear from the beginning that 1507 deserved to win this regional. They were simply a head and shoulders better than much of the competition, and it showed. Congrats on the well deserved win, guys. Not to underplay the influence of 191, the eternal X-Cats. If there was one team we were to look up to, it would be the Cats. You guys exemplify everything we would like to be as a team, and manage to produce a winning robot regularly. This is you first regional win in a few years, right? It also shows how important those Thursday practice matches can be: If you have a working robot the second you show up, you can practice your drivers on the real field, something not to be underestimated. Finally, 3951, another great rookie to enter into the Fingerlakes community.

Special shutout to 191 again, for helping us with our bridge manipulator. Though we didn't get it on there in time for Elims today, we will have it at DC and maybe you'll get to see your effect at Champs. Thanks!


340-Congrats on the Chairmans award. There's a reason this is the highest honor in FIRST, and you guys delivered. When we set the goal of 1250 hours community service for the team, we thought we were in Chairmans territory. Doing the math, you guys doubled us. I know our new goal for next year: Double 340. You're a role model and an inspiration to us all.

On one more subject, I would like to bring up the issue of Blue Alliance station #1. We have noticed a correlation between robots losing connection from the field and being at this station. It happened to us in a match in qualifications, and twice during eliminations to our alliance partner. I'm happy that the regional turned out the way it did, but would it be a good idea to direct an email at the FTA alerting her to check if there is indeed a problem? Does anyone know how I might finder her contact information? Have any other teams noticed this odd issue?


Finally, we won the Engineering Inspiration Award, and plan to attend Championships for the first time in 7 years. It's a pretty big deal, and we are totally out of the loop for Championship organizing. How do teams from the area usually get out to St. Louis? Bus? Plane? How much of the team do you take? I should probably start a new thread for this, but I'll ask it in here, because I want the advice of Fingerlakes region teams, since they are approximately the same distance from there that we are. Any other tips for going to champs with a big team? How do you choose who goes? Any other suggestions are welcome.

Thanks everyone for the fantastic Regional. I've been to and watched quite a few now, and nothing can compare to FLR for enthusiasm, camaraderie, gracious professionalism, and just pure awesomeness. When I'm at the Fingerlakes Regional, I feel like I'm at home.

On a last note, I had the opportunity to shake the hands of pfravield and Koko Ed in person. Nice speaking with both of you!

[Tetraman]

What an event! Quite possibly the best FLR to date, and filled with the most exciting Elimination matches. Let me get it all out:

First to team 340, for their again well deserved Regional Chairman's Award. I hope this is the year for you at the Championship. Congrats and thanks for setting the bar high for the rest of us to emulate.

Second to 639 for Engineering Inspiration award. Have fun at St. Louis, and good luck at the competition. You are very deserving of such an award and I hope you bring back some excellent memories to share for next year.

Thirdly, I have to say that at the start of this regional, we didn't believe our robot would be as successful as it was. And to see the joy on the faces of the students of 174 as our robot performed as we hoped our designs were leading us to was something I won't forget. Your final rank of 5th seed beats my senior year's rank of 6th seed - there is nothing to be discouraged by. It has been a pleasure to mentor such an amazing group of students. Your hard work was paid off. Now on to DC! (EDIT: Also, anyone interested in information of our Mule Pulley drive train should keep an eye out. I'll try to get a thread on it once I collect the CAD files and more information. PM me if you want me to send it to you sooner than later.)

On behalf of team 174, I would like to extend our complete and utter gratitude to teams 1126, SPARX and 3173, The Igknighters. I don't think we could have asked for better alliance partners. It was an honor to have our team number next to the legendary 1126, a team 174 looks up to with the greatest of respect. And to 3173, every year your robots get better and better. We picked you for your hybrid mode, but also because of your high spirit and energy that you have for your team and FIRST. I and the rest of 174 look forward to seeing both of you in future FLR competitions, and maybe we can work together for another shot at the title.

Next, to 1507, 191 and 3951. Our alliance was defeated by the best alliance, and that alliance was you. Much respect to each of you. Another moment I'm not going to forget, is when 191's Inbounder turned to me in that last match with a look of disbelief of her face and asked me if they were really going to win. I couldn't help it - I had just as big a smile and said "Congratulations" as the buzzer sounded off. To have been caught in your celebration was fun. Good luck to you all in your future events and we will see you next year.

To 340, 3015, 4127 and 3044, You played hard fought matches, and an alliance I thought wasn't going to get very far, turned me into a fool for thinking that. Good luck to each of you in your next events and future FLR competitions.

And finally - I'd like to thank all of those I have the great pleasure to know who volunteer and work at FLR. It's one large family now, and to work beside all of you is truly an honor. Here is to hoping we can get classic teams like 217, 188, 772, 365 and so on to come back to FLR to join us again. Also, big shout out to Dylan who was a great Backup MC, and I think we can all say we want him back, but with an upgraded title.

Thank you to all who make this event the best event of the year, and I'll see you all next time! It was also great to meet the famous Mike and Justin of Mike and Justin in the Morning. I'll keep making videos for your show anytime.