Cowtown Throwdown 2014

[holygrail]

Thought I would start the thread for this year's Cowtown Throwdown. As usual it looks like it is going to be a great group of teams. Thanks to Teams 1730 - Team Driven, and 2001 HERMES for putting on the event.

I'm curious as to what FMS we will be using at Cowtown this year. Any chance we might use Cheesy Arena? I've heard so many good things about it.

Here is the team list according to the event website: http://cttd-robotics.com/

44 Teams are signed up. Usually they have a capacity of 48.

Team # Team Name - School Name
16 Bomb Squad - Mountain Home High School
938 Team Botman - Central Heights High School
967 Iron Lions - Linn-Mar High School
1094 Channel Cats - River City Robots
1108 Panther Robotics - Paola High School
1444 Lightning Lancers - Engineering and Technology for Lutheran Youth
1619 Up-A-Creek Robotics - Career Development Center
1723 "The FBI" - Independence School District
1730 Team Driven - Lee's Summit High School
1764 Liberty Robotics - Liberty Public Schools
1769 Digital Hawks - J.C. Harmon High School
1775 Tiger Bytes - Lincoln College Preparatory
1777 Viking Robotics - Shawnee Mission West High School
1785 United Robocats - Blue Springs School District
1802 Team Stealth - Piper Robotics
1806 S.W.A.T. - Smithville High School
1810 Jaguar Robotics - Mill Valley High School
1825 Metro Homeschool Robotics - Metro Homeschool
1939 The Kuhnigits - The Barstow School
1982 Cougar Robotics - Shawnee Mission Northwest
1984 Raider Revolution Robotics - Shawnee Mission South
1985 Robohawks - Hazelwood Central High School
1986 Team Titanium - Lee's Summit West High School
1987 Broncobots - Lee's Summit North High School
1997 STAGrobotics - Bishop Miege
2001 HERMES - Ruskin High School
2335 Sargon - Shawnee Mission East
2345 Animal Control - Kearney High School
2346 Cel-Techs - Archbishop O'Hara High School
2410 Metal Mustang Robotics - Blue Valley CAPS Center
2874 Eagles - Grain Valley High School
3284 Camdenton 4H LASER - Camdenton High School
3397 Robolions - University City High School
3485 Cyclone Robotics - Bishop Ward High School
3528 Up Next! - KC Northland Homeschool
3612 GearHogs - Springdale High School
3792 Army Ants - Columbia Area Career Center
3928 FIRST Team Neutrino - Ames High School
3931 Cockadoodle Dominators - Chickasha High School
4329 Lutheran Roboteers - Lutheran High School St. Charles
4522 Team SCREAM - Smith-Cotton High School
4455 The Burger Bots - Warrensburg High School
5006 Apophis - Haas Hall Academy
6001 Rocky Balboabots - Booneville High School

[Alpha Beta]

Much more than a local tournament. It looks like we will have teams from Kansas and Missouri (Both sides of the State), plus Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, and Oklahoma.

Originally Posted by holygrail

44 Teams are signed up. Usually they have a capacity of 48.

Edit: Website confirms 48 team capacity

Cerner Corporation and Lee's Summit High School Team Driven #1730, along with Team 2001 HERMES from Ruskin High School, are proud to bring you a premier off-season FRC event. This event is open to all high school robotics teams who wish to compete with their robots in a friendly, fun atmosphere. Space is limited to 48 teams, so sign up fast!

I wonder how many local teams will end up on a wait-list? Does KC need a 2nd offseason event?

[hrench]

Kind of a bummer that it's on Halloween...

[treffk]

It's fallen on Halloween before and it was a blast having everyone dress up in costumes.

[Pretzel]

Last year Cowtown Throwdown was the day after Halloween, which just gave our team (from Colorado) an excuse to eat lots of candy on the car ride over. I think it'd be pretty cool this year if teams brought candy to go trick-or-treating in the pits with while checking out the other robots.

[Meredith Novak]

4 Arkansas teams! 4 years ago, we didn't even have 4 teams total! Cool to see Championship Rookie All-Star 5006 and pre-rookie "6001" on the list. Rocky Balboabots will have competed 3 times before their first season even begins. They were on the finalist alliance at the Ozark Mountain Brawl and will be at the Gateway Robotics Challenge this coming Saturday.

[rbrown1]

Cow town ThrowDown planning team is hard at work getting ready for this years event. As mentioned we have a full slate of teams from 6 states with others on the wait list. So please have your payments in by Oct. 1st. If payment is not received the team will be moved to the bottom of the wait list. To answer the question on FMS we will be using the FIRST FMS system.

We will also again have the FLL scrimmage going on Saturday. Presently 10 teams are registered with an opening for 6 more teams.

Stay tuned for more information on events taking place during the 7th annual CTTD.

[mott]

Cowtown Throwdown Mgmt,

In past years, some/all of the IRI Rule Changes have been used for the Throwdown. On this year’s Detailed Competition Information page, the Rules of the Game section indicates that no rule changes to the game will be made.
Is this just the initial/current position OR has the topic of incorporating IRI Rule changes been considered and declined already?

For those who attended or observed IRI this season, most felt the rule changes used there made the 2014 game far better than the “original” FRC game (as a competitor, an official and as an observer).

The elimination of the zone requirement for “Assists” and the adjustments to G12, G14 and G21 seemed to have the biggest impact on the game (and without requiring adjustment the game management software).

Please let us know if these rule changes could be considered. If not, what considerations lead to NOT incorporating these changes into this year’s Throwdown?

For other Cowtown participants who have experience with the IRI rule changes, please let us know your thoughts. Maybe the people I've heard from are a "biased" sample.

[rbrown1]

We have a meeting tonight to discuss rules for CowTown.

[Nemo]

I think the small changes from the IRI rules are great. They're unintrusive tweaks that take advantage of hindsight to improve the experience for everybody.

[Alpha Beta]

About a month away. Took a sneak peek at where our participants were registering for their first events.

Team # Team Name Regional
0016 Bomb Squad ----- Arkansas - Wk 2
0938 Team Botman ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
0967 Iron Lions ----- MN North Star - Wk 6
1094 Channel Cats ----- St. Louis - Wk 4
1108 Panther Robotics ----- Arkansas - Wk 2
1444 Lightning Lancers ----- St. Louis - Wk 4
1619 Up-A-Creek Robotics ----- Colorado - Wk 5
1710 Ravonics Revolution ----- Unregistered
1723 "The FBI" ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
1730 Team Driven ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
1764 Liberty Robotics ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
1769 Digital Hawks ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
1775 Tiger Bytes ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
1777 Viking Robotics ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
1785 United Robocats ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
1802 Team Stealth ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
1806 S.W.A.T. ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
1810 Jaguar Robotics ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
1825 Metro Homeschool Robotics ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
1847 Bulldogs ----- Unregistered
1939 The Kuh-Nig-Its ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
1982 Cougar Robotics ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
1984 Raider Revolution Robotics ----- Unregistered
1985 Robohawks ----- St. Louis - Wk 4
1986 Team Titanium ----- St. Louis - Wk 4
1987 Broncobots ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
1997 STAGrobotics ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
2001 HERMES ----- Unregistered
2335 Sargon ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
2345 Animal Control ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
2346 Cel-Techs ----- Unregistered
2410 Metal Mustang Robotics ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
2874 Eagles ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
3284 Camdenton 4H LASER ----- St. Louis - Wk 4
3397 Robolions ----- St. Louis - Wk 4
3485 Cyclone Robotics ----- Unregistered
3528 Up Next! ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
3612 GearHogs ----- Lone Star, TX - Wk 6
3792 Army Ants ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
3928 FIRST Team Neutrino ----- MN North Star - Wk 6
3931 Cockadoodle Dominators ----- Oklahoma - Wk 5
4329 Lutheran Roboteers ----- St. Louis - Wk 4
4522 Team SCREAM ----- Oklahoma - Wk 5
4455 The Burger Bots ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
4646 ASAP ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
5006 Apophis ----- Arkansas - Wk 2
5013 Trobots ----- Kansas City - Wk 3
5437 Rocky Balboabots ----- Arkansas - Wk 2

5 teams attending CTTD who are still unregistered for the season. (Or on wait-lists)

Rocky Balboabots now have an official number. Not sure if they will be using it at CowTown. Welcome aboard 5437.

[accoo72956]

Though it might be a blast to be on Halloween mentors, coaches and even some of our members have obligations to children and their trick or treat bag

[audietron]

With the rule change for allowing a 4th ball but not changing any other rules during autonomous. Would this mean that an alliance can have all three robots in shooting position with one team having a second ball? Does that ball still have to be in contact with an alliance member?

[mott]

Originally Posted by audietron

With the rule change for allowing a 4th ball but not changing any other rules during autonomous. Would this mean that an alliance can have all three robots in shooting position with one team having a second ball? Does that ball still have to be in contact with an alliance member?

The Cowtown officials will make the final call on this but I seem to recall at IRI that balls in excess of robots in the white zone starting position were essentially treated as if their "owner" was set up in the goalie zone. In other words, the 4th ball (if all 3 robots were already in contact with another ball) could be placed without contacting any robot.

This would translate to mean that if an alliance DID have a robot starting in the goalie zone, they could place 2 balls not contacting a robot for the start of auton if they desired.

[runneals]

Originally Posted by holygrail

I'm curious as to what FMS we will be using at Cowtown this year. Any chance we might use Cheesy Arena? I've heard so many good things about it.

Cheezy Arena would be pretty sweet!