2014 Smoky Mountains Regional

[matthew_martin]

This year, 4265 is starting a scouting alliance at SMR. I posted more about it in this thread: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hreadid=128133
We hope to have as many teams as possible help out!
I can't wait to see you all on Thursday!

[Alex2614]

I can't wait! Over seven years, I can honestly say that the Smoky Mountains Regional is one of the best, most well put-together, and all-around fantastic regional to attend. From a logistics and event coordination standpoint, this event truly impressed me last year.

And just as an added bonus, what better city than Knoxville?

Event choices were truly difficult for MARS this year, but I have to say, I'm happy with our decision to return. See you all on Friday!

[guniv]

The L&N STEMpunks are excited and ready to go. Best part is that we can just walk over from our school.

[Ed Sparks]

Hi Everyone,

I hope you all are doing well and ready to compete this week at the SMR.
As you may or may not know, the SMR and the Peachtree regional are being held on the same weekend this year. In the past, many of the area volunteers had worked both events so this is an especially challenging situation for the SMR in terms of experienced volunteers.

I'd like to make an appeal to those attending this regional to help out. I'm the LRI again this year and to date I only have 7 inspectors that have signed up and passed the test. If I could get 2 or 3 of you to sign up as an inspector volunteer for Thursday, we'll easily get through this.

I know other areas of the SMR are in need of volunteers too. If you can help out, volunteer for a few hours or maybe a day.

Thanks!
__________________
Ed Sparks

[sebas2mil]

Does anyone know if the regional will be webcasted?
We want to stream it to our students our school while we are there

[Rohawk1]

Originally Posted by sebas2mil

Does anyone know if the regional will be webcasted?
We want to stream it to our students our school while we are there

Usually NASA will post a webcast. Hopefully they will post it soon, but until they do, here's the link to look for it.

http://robotics.nasa.gov/events/2014...s.php#webcasts

[Gary Dillard]

Mad Rockers checked in at the Hilton, ready to rock.

[guniv]

Great practice today, everyone. Knoxville News Sentinel has an article up where they interview us (L&N STEMpunks) and Red Nation Robotics. Check it out here.

[mandrews281]

Well the regional is over and I just want to say we had a great time. This was a terrific event and we will definitely try to come back. As Ed Sparks pointed out, with the conflict with Peachtree, they were a bit short of volunteers. We put about half our team to work and were only too glad to help. Max F was responsible for fielding high goals behind the wall and I don't think I've ever seen him move that much :-).

A shout out to our alliance partners 3492 (captain) and 342. You are BOTH great and it was a pleasure to play with you. 3492 - I thought you were kidding when we walked off the field after our final qualification match and you suggested continuing the alliance in eliminations; and I still didn't realize what you'd done as #8 captain until after the selections were over. We had a chance against ANY of the other final 7 alliances and we proved it. I think the four matches of our quarter finals were some of the best of the regional (that's not a typo -- there was a replay). Congratulations on the Engineering Inspiration Award and good luck at Championships - sorry we can't be there with you.

Anyway, for those who weren't there, you missed a great event. Thanks to the organization and congratulations to all the teams.

[Sanchberry]

Your alliance in the quarterfinal was certainly impressive, and you did definitely outplay us match 1 and 4. My team (1466) had to play ten matches (4 against you all) that day, and our robot lost connection with the field for some reason at the end. In all, I am proud of how we did, and impressed by how you did in the field. You guys were fantastic, and definitely among the most competitive 8 seeded alliances I've ever seen.

[Ed Sparks]

Thanks everyone for another awsome year at the SMR. I want to tank all the volunteers for stepping up and making the SMR a success. There were many new volunteers in key roles this year but the cool thing was that you couldn't tell ...... awsome job.

Thanks to the teams for making the inspection process very smooth and a HUGE thanks to the teams that helped out with a couple rookie teams in serious need.

Looking forward to next year .......

[Alex2614]

Wow. That's all I can say after SMR. I was very impressed with each and every student, mentor, parent, volunteer, etc. at the event. Everybody truly exemplified Gracious Professionalism at its best, and honestly represented FIRST and what it is about.

I want to extend a shout-out to our alliance partners, team 4265 Secret City WildBots from Oak Ridge, TN, and 3843 MCRT RoboRacers from Murray, KY. You guys really proved that you were the best of the best, and we couldn't have asked for a better alliance. I have never seen better teamwork in the seven years I have been involved in FIRST.

A very very special shout-out goes to team 3492, Putnam Area Robotics Team (PARTS) from Winfield, WV on their Engineering Inspiration Award. What a tremendous honor, and we are proud to call you our partner. For those that don't know, these guys were caught up in the big water chemical spill mess in January in southern West Virginia, and missed 2 or 3 weeks of build season due to the lack of water across the region. Keep making West Virginia proud! We Mountaineers showed those Tennesseans how it's done! It was an honor to sing Country Roads with you and 1249 at the end of the event. We will see you in St. Louis! Montani semper liberi

[mandrews281]

Originally Posted by Sanchberry

Your alliance in the quarterfinal was certainly impressive, and you did definitely outplay us match 1 and 4. My team (1466) had to play ten matches (4 against you all) that day, and our robot lost connection with the field for some reason at the end. In all, I am proud of how we did, and impressed by how you did in the field. You guys were fantastic, and definitely among the most competitive 8 seeded alliances I've ever seen.

Sorry to hear about your connection issues. We had some at Palmetto and in a couple of our early matches. We finally tracked it down to a loose connection in a terminal block that ran power to the radio. So I can definitely sympathize.

You guys definitely outplayed us in match 2. Match 3 (the match that had to be replayed) was a real toss up. I'm kind of glad we had to replay it. I'd have hated to had it decided on a penalty or a bad call. As we were preparing for match #4, the FTA apologized to me about having to have a replay, and all I could say was something like "don't worry about it -- we're putting on a great show".

Having four really competitive matches in the quarters definitely hurt us in the semis. The replay meant we had to turn around immediately for the semis (we were in semi-final #1). We didn't get a scouting report until before semi-final match #2, and we really should have won that match (50 point pedestal penalty -- enough said). I would have loved a tie breaking match 3 and won or lost it on the field.

Has anyone posted videos any of the SMR elimination matches? I'd love to watch the matches as a spectator rather than as coach (where your mind is thinking about other things).

[1629GaCo]

Team 1629 GaCo, would like to extend our congratulations to 2614 Mars on their event win and their RCA win. You are truly an impressive team, and hopefully we will get to compete or play with you in the near future. Good luck at Championships, we hope to see you there!

[Kevin Leonard]

Does anyone have archived match video of this event? I really wanted to see what our friends on 4265 were doing in the finals.