FRC New York City Regional 2013

[RoboTigers1796]

Congrats to the regional winning alliance and to all those who won awards.

Thanks to those of you who watched our webcast and to any of you who missed it or want to relive your matches for memories they can be found below.
We had a member at the AV desk both days cutting and splitting matches as they happened so anyone could easily go back and find their match in the videos section on the right of the website. Sorry if we missed any but I'm pretty sure we got 99% of them.
Link to archived matches: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/29861992

Again congrats to the winning alliance and I'm sure we will see some of you in a few weeks at SBPLI.

[jblay]

I haven't had the chance to read through all the madness on ChiefDelphi or in my email after yesterday since I woke up about 30 minutes ago and am currently consuming every food item at my parents house, but just some initial thanks and comments.

I heard there was some drama about our human player removing the slot, when we were told this was okay by the ref staff, I found it a little odd, but figured it was just something I hadn't thought about before and especially since those slots came off so easily it made sense that you were allowed to remove them.

In terms of the craziness with the field, I still don't know exactly what happened, I understand why teams were forced to lose their camera, because we wouldn't be able to play otherwise. 3137 basically couldn't score in teleop in the elimination rounds as a result of this and it was a huge blow to our alliance. As soon as I heard about this I walked over to the FTA to see if anything could be done, admittedly I would probably not have done this so eagerly if it didn't effect our partners, but I was informed that nothing could be done and I had to accept it. We modified our strategy as a result of this and rolled with the punches. I'm not saying this series of events was fair to anyone, because we all had to deal with them, but they existed so we dealt with them. I do appreciate the time that was put in especially in the semifinals to try and get everyone at full operation and the recognition that the #1 alliance deserved a replay in the semis despite the fact that we argued the call because that is always the initial response once you've won a match that is about to be replayed.

With regards to penalty calls, this game has extreme penalties and you have to develop strategies around them. We worked hard to make sure all our partners always understand the rules with regards to fouls and that made us walk out of the qualification matches with only 3 foul points on our alliances. This was a big reason that despite all our mechanical troubles during the first 2 days, we ended up in the top 5. Different refs have different interpretations of the rules, especially in early weeks while the game is still evolving and we emphasized understanding how the game was going to go at the regional, not how we thought it should go.

Now some shout outs:
375, you guys are the epitome of gracious professionalism, you just get what FIRST is all about, it's because of that, that you guys have so many wins and awards under your belt, you guys are the team I looked up to as a student and still learn from to this day. It was great getting to play a match with you despite the loss, and those elimination rounds against you were the craziest that I have ever been a part of.

334, you had the best robot at the event without a doubt, you were the first team on our pick list, no offense to our partners. Great job this weekend and really just proving yourself to be a force if not the force at NYC going forward, it is wild to think how much your team has grown in the last 2 years, I have a feeling Brooklyn Tech will be back with a vengeance next year.

3137, such a consistent auto and climb, and that was exactly what we needed. You guys have a great group and it was amazing getting to work with you. Your ability to just flip your strategy and just be the perfect teammate was unreal. A huge part of the reason our alliance won was that we weren't 3 teams operating on the same field, we were one unit playing towards one goal. It was an honor getting to work with you guys for the first and hopefully not the last time.

4797, showing everyone why you should not hesitate to pick rookies. We picked you guys cause you were consistently worth 20 points a match. 10 from the auto and 10 from the climb every time. What we didn't realize was that once we were with you and were able to help with some of your electrical issues you were able to be an awesome defender. Aldo, I hope I'm spelling that right, you were an awesome driver and seriously slowed down the best robots at the event while not committing penalties or slowing down our scoring. I hope you guys can get the money together in time and make it to St. Louis, we will try to help you get the sponsorship and fundraising you need.

To the finalists, it was awesome to see 1660 make it so far and pick up the chairman's award, I know you guys have been waiting a long time to qualify for the championship. 4122, just consistently solid all weekend, if you guys weren't scooped up we would have been facing a very rough decision between you and 4797. 3171, it was great to see you recover from that fall off the pyramid in the late matches of qualifications and still put together a finals run as an alliance captain, I hope we get to cross paths again in the future.

To all the teams that were at the competition this weekend, the volunteers, the judges, thanks for helping make this NYC regional what it was and hopefully next year will be even better.

[Tico2415]

Originally Posted by slijin

And the same to you. Watching your defense was excruciatingly suspenseful; you guys definitely made us pull out our A-game and get our act together. I guarantee that everyone on our team found semis to be as intense and exhilarating as you found it - it was most certainly among the highlights of our day, if not the highlight.

Shouts out to 1660, 3171, and 4122 as well; PRIDE's level 2 climber and 1660's accuracy made us very nervous, and competing against you guys was fantastic.

#frcnyc2013

Man Thanks Congrats to you guy, it was a great match! And you guys all played well, I'd like to thank 3171 and 4122 we was great team and had a great run!

[Rlin]

Did anyone find a Navy Blue North Face Recon yesterday? The last place I saw it was on the stands on the side of the scoring table, horizontal middle, vertical top. I left it with my team while I went to do something else. Inside is a clipboard with stickers from Autodesk, VEXpro, Con Edison, Bronx Science Robotics, and Nvidia. My name, Richard Lin and Team 1155 is written on the back of the clipboard. There is also a frisbee with a Bronx Science logo on it. I'd appreciate any information that you may have. Thanks!

[JABianchi]

Originally Posted by jblay

To the finalists, it was awesome to see 1660 make it so far and pick up the chairman's award, I know you guys have been waiting a long time to qualify for the championship. 4122, just consistently solid all weekend, if you guys weren't scooped up we would have been facing a very rough decision between you and 4797. 3171, it was great to see you recover from that fall off the pyramid in the late matches of qualifications and still put together a finals run as an alliance captain, I hope we get to cross paths again in the future.

Thanks Joe, winning the Chairman's definitely takes the sting out losing in the Finals. You guys really earned that win. Besides the solid shooter, your team showed great foresight on the importance of avoiding defenders with quick trips through the pyramids, and it looked like you made a great strategy adjustment during semifinals with double defenders. (3137 & 4797 looked like they could score, but were willing to play some very tough D to get a regional win.) Good luck at the Championship, and let us know if you have any advice for a Championship rookie.

Shout out to P.R.I.D.E. (3171) for picking a great #7 alliance. We loved playing with you guys and O-bots (4122)!

[bakerjohn42]

Originally Posted by JABianchi

Thanks Joe, winning the Chairman's definitely takes the sting out losing in the Finals. You guys really earned that win. Besides the solid shooter, your team showed great foresight on the importance of avoiding defenders with quick trips through the pyramids, and it looked like you made a great strategy adjustment during semifinals with double defenders. (3137 & 4797 looked like they could score, but were willing to play some very tough D to get a regional win.) Good luck at the Championship, and let us know if you have any advice for a Championship rookie.

Shout out to P.R.I.D.E. (3171) for picking a great #7 alliance. We loved playing with you guys and O-bots (4122)!

FIRST Team 3171, Hurricane P.R.I.D.E. would like to thank and congratulate our #7 alliance partners, The Harlem Knights (1660) and The O-bots (4122) on a great run all the way through to finals. Congratulations to Team 1660 on their Chairman's Award win, and congratulations to 4122 on the Inspiration In Engineering Award. We wish you both the best in St. Louis. Congrats to 694, 3137, and 4797 on their win, with a huge thank you to 3137 for helping us with our bot. We can't wait to compete with you guys at SBPLI. We'd like to thank Team 353 for their support and friendship. Finally, it was great working with Team 4713 in getting their robot ready for their next match! Good Luck Teams! On a final note, we hope Team 694 has an easy time with getting their photon cannon reset! - By the way, we love it.

[mom1155]

Originally Posted by Rlin

Did anyone find a Navy Blue North Face Recon yesterday? The last place I saw it was on the stands on the side of the scoring table, horizontal middle, vertical top. I left it with my team while I went to do something else. Inside is a clipboard with stickers from Autodesk, VEXpro, Con Edison, Bronx Science Robotics, and Nvidia. My name, Richard Lin and Team 1155 is written on the back of the clipboard. There is also a frisbee with a Bronx Science logo on it. I'd appreciate any information that you may have. Thanks!

Richard,
All of the lost items were sent back to Manchester in the crate. There was a backpack, but we didn't look inside of it. There were also jackets, pants, hats. It amazes us what you guys lose...

[pr3ciousangel21]

I would just like to say we had a great time at the NYC Regional and it was so nice to meet so many amazing people and teams. It was so interesting to see how each robot was unique in its own way.
Thank you to everyone and Good Luck to all teams

- From Team 375

[Spatel7793]

Originally Posted by mom1155

Richard,
All of the lost items were sent back to Manchester in the crate. There was a backpack, but we didn't look inside of it. There were also jackets, pants, hats. It amazes us what you guys lose...

Haha! How could someone lose their pants?! I mean I know its an exciting event, but come on...that's a little too much.

[bakerjohn42]

UPDATE****

FIRST Team 1796, the Robotigers picked FIRST Team 358 and us, FIRST team 3171 to be in their number 4 alliance. We won the SBPLI regional and now the following teams who competed in NYC have invitations to nationals: 694 (NYC W), 3137 (NYC W), 4797 (NYC W), 1660 (NYC F/Chairman's), 4122 (NYC F/Insp. in Engineering), 1796 (NYC G.P./SBPLI W), 3171 (NYC F/SBPLI W), and 353 (NYC SF/SBPLI Insp. in Engineering). 358 was also an SBPLI winner and winner of the regional chairman's award, but did not compete in the NYC 2013 regional.

[jblay]

Originally Posted by bakerjohn42

UPDATE****

FIRST Team 1796, the Robotigers picked FIRST Team 358 and us, FIRST team 3171 to be in their number 4 alliance. We won the SBPLI regional and now the following teams who competed in NYC have invitations to nationals: 694 (NYC W), 3137 (NYC W), 4797 (NYC W), 1660 (NYC F/Chairman's), 4122 (NYC F/Insp. in Engineering), 1796 (NYC G.P./SBPLI W), 3171 (NYC F/SBPLI W), and 353 (NYC SF/SBPLI Insp. in Engineering). 358 was also an SBPLI winner and winner of the regional chairman's award, but did not compete in the NYC 2013 regional.

Crazy how good 1796 got after not even making eliminations at NYC. We saw their potential at NYC, but they just didn't have it all together yet, was really awesome to see that they put things together and where playing to that potential. Also a shout out to 369 who was awesome at both NYC and from what I saw of SBPLI, real shame they won't be at champs, I think 369 really stepped it up this year and made an awesome machine and in my opinion their best ever.

[RoboTigers1796]

Originally Posted by jblay

Crazy how good 1796 got after not even making eliminations at NYC. We saw their potential at NYC, but they just didn't have it all together yet, was really awesome to see that they put things together and where playing to that potential. Also a shout out to 369 who was awesome at both NYC and from what I saw of SBPLI, real shame they won't be at champs, I think 369 really stepped it up this year and made an awesome machine and in my opinion their best ever.

NYC was very... frustrating for us to say the least. Qualifications 1-8 were horrible with sporadic motions by the robot, left side drive randomly dropping out, and autonomous woes. When we finally diagnosed it down to a bad Anderson power pole quick connect crimp to a drive motor, pneumatic trouble, along with some serious programming clean-up we were all set to strut our stuff in our last qualification match (a replay of a previous match) and show we were worthy of being picked. Fate said otherwise; as soon as Qual 7 rematch started auto started our shooter feeder arm snapped off with the attempt to shoot our first auto disc.
At that point we knew it was impossible to get a pick as our consistency was deplorable even though just a new aluminum tube kept us from running almost 100%. We easily replaced the arm with our back-up but with no more matches to play all we could do was pack up.
We went home with a lot of lessons learned and an itch to get our bot performing the way it should. We entered SBPLI with some upgraded code and drivers that relentlessly practiced on our skeleton-drive bot( simplified AM frame with same drive-train as our comp bot). SBPLI most definitely wasn't a flawless performance but it was relieving to see her work the way we expected her to since NY.

JBlay, thanks for noticing us in ny and even motivating us to get her working for NY by coming up to us and telling us 694 was interested in picking us if we got our stuff together for our last match (clearly we didn't in time). It really gave the students(and the mentors) a push to try to get it working by our 7th qual replay(due to field fault) knowing that teams were still looking at us.
SBPLI is always an enjoyable regional and we thank all the teams there for helping with our random parts and tool requests. It most definitely wasn't a smooth road to the finals but our awesome alliance 358 and 3171 really helped us pull it out (we were ecstatic to see both of you were still available for our two picks as you both were at the top of our list) . We played some really tough alliances but the seamless communication and tweaks made as an alliance I think is what pulled us through. Our opponents were fierce contenders and we were never confident knew who won a match until the scores went up. Thanks to the LI teams around us in the pits who made it possible and I think this season summarized a great lesson for our students that resiliency and constant persistence pays off. 1796 looks forward to seeing our alliance, and everyone else at St. Louis. I'm pretty sure we will be bus-ing it so if anyone needs anything please don't hesitate to PM me.

[mom1155]

Everyone who attended the NYC Regional is invited to participate in the NYC FIRST Photo Contest: https://www.facebook.com/nycfirst/app_292725327421649. It runs through May 10, 2013. Help us spread the word!