What to Expect at Nationals

[KathieK]

Originally Posted by Steve W

What are Nationals? I've heard of Regionals and Championships.

Ah, yes, Steve is reminding us all that the FRC event in Atlanta is known as the FIRST Robotics Competition Championship ("nationals" is an incorrect term in that FIRST is a multinational organization).

In addition to the FRC event, held concurrently are the FIRST Vex Challenge World Championship, the FIRST LEGO League World Festival, the FIRST Robotics Conference (which I highly recommend rookie teams attend) and several other small unofficial events (including the Chief Delphi Web Hug, the NEMO Annual Meeting, a meeting for rookie teams is usually organized and the Robot Chicks Union also meets - I am sure there are others that I'm not aware of). Altogether over 500 robots will be competing on 6 fields. If you have some time while there, be sure to visit the FLL and FVC pits and competitions on Thursday and Friday... FRC is not the only game in town in Atlanta!

If you look through the threads in the Championship Event forum on CD you will find LOTS of information to help your team prepare for Atlanta.

[RoboMom]

It is a good 10 minute walk from the pits to the playing fields. There will be a lot of time waiting in line. There will only be 4 people allowed to make that walk. You need to have a plan for working on your robot, while standing in line.

It is an even longer walk from the pits to the stands, depending on the escalators and the number of people. You may have team members who end up never going to the Dome, but stay in the pit.

The scale of everything there is so much bigger, and teams need to plan a bit.