Palmetto Regional

[roborat]

congrats to 832, 342, and 1319, you guys played the game and won. You combined the scoring arms with the ramps. That was the way it was designed to be played. We enjoyed playing the game this weekend against you. It was a completely different game than in pittsburgh were all we had was a few arms and a lot of ramps. Thanks to 2237 and 337 for allowing us to form the west virginia alliance. Also congrats to 2237 for the rookie all star and to 337 for engineering inspiration awards. We are proud to call you both our friends and good luck in Atlanta, we will be watching, To all other teams in Palmetto, thanks for a great weekend of competition, See ya next year, Team 1249, RoboRats will be back riding in the Rat Moble.

[Feisty_one]

Congratulations to 342, 832, and 1319 as 2007 Palmetto Champions. Great strategy, scoring, and defense. And what an awesome ramp. I swear there were a couple of F15's from Shaw that were in pattern for a landing on that thing.

Also, many, many thanks to 1251 and 1626 for including 1758 in the alliance and then helping us to get our robot going again after the semis. We broke the mounts on our "wrist" motor (a window motor, too) and had to mount the spare between rounds. We broke one of the mounts on the spare during repairs, but that's why we have tie wraps and hose clamps.

That was a lot fun, just watching you guys fill up the rack.

Really sorry that 1626 (and 1758) won't be making the trip to Atlanta, but GO Techtigers! We'll be pulling for you guys.

[hipsterjr]

Originally Posted by Feisty_one

Congratulations to 342, 832, and 1319 as 2007 Palmetto Champions. Great strategy, scoring, and defense. And what an awesome ramp. I swear there were a couple of F15's from Shaw that were in pattern for a landing on that thing.

Also, many, many thanks to 1251 and 1626 for including 1758 in the alliance and then helping us to get our robot going again after the semis. We broke the mounts on our "wrist" motor (a window motor, too) and had to mount the spare between rounds. We broke one of the mounts on the spare during repairs, but that's why we have tie wraps and hose clamps.

That was a lot fun, just watching you guys fill up the rack.

Really sorry that 1626 (and 1758) won't be making the trip to Atlanta, but GO Techtigers! We'll be pulling for you guys.

Sorry to hear about the motor. I was wondering what the problem was, but I was afriad to ask. You guys had us nervous as we watched you assasainate the #8 allience in the quarters. Great game!

[Feisty_one]

CJ, thanks. It's all good, because we were having a blast. Being in the finals was new territory for 1758.

We're pulling for you guys and 1319, too. You are great representatives for SC.

Good luck in Atlanta.

[ICE MAN]

Congrats to everyone on 832. As a mentor I am proud to have worked with these select few. They have all come a long way from where I met them. I am though sad that I was unable to make the trip. Also congrats to 342 and 1319. Thank both of you for being such great partners and for picking us and giving us a chance to compete. I hope to see all of you at champs.

-Cory

[Ian S.]

Congratulations to 342, 832, and 1319 from team 1522. Your alliance really showed that a perfect team is not ramps, nor scoring alone, but a beautifull combination of the two for a well played competition.

Although my team's robot was having trouble throughout the regional, I enjoyed it to it's full extent.

Also 2237, your a rookie team and I was totally amazed by your robot this year, that was truly a beautiful robot, good luck in the future.

[JulieB]

Congratulations to 342, 832, and 1319.

342 Your drive train rocks.

832 We have competed with you guys for the past four years at Peachtree and you always have a great robot I’m glad to see you WIN.

1319 We play a few matches with you guy this past weekend and you all were super nice.

I also would like to thank teams 386 and 665 for join our alliance

386 The easy button is still cracking me up with its awesome function and scoring in auto everything made even better. On that last match you got on the ramp in 2 sec. it rock.

665 Your drive train was also really cool. Thank for taking off one your bumpers to make it easier for you get up our ramps and the drivers truly know how to drive the robot well.

We can I say chain break and stuff doesn’t always go you way. You GUYS were a great alliance partners.

Billfred also bust me at Palmetto for not having safety glass on in the pits.

[TheFuhr]

I would like to post a thank you to team538 (Dragon Slayers) for choosing us for your alliance.
We have had a few hard years since the last time we didn't have to box up starting at lunch.

We really enjoyed the entire regional, especially the privalege of defending with this years far-improved drive train.
NOTE: Even with 4 CIMs, a 4 pneumatic wheel tank drive does not turn well. (Last year)

Thanks also to 386 (Voltage) for those awesome Easy Buttons.
Sorry our mentor hit your sensor while we were practicing ramping up. Hehe...

Even though we only made it to the quarter-finals, I feel our alliance was definately good enough to advance to the semis.
But, Murphy's Law struck and both our bot and 538's lost drive chains in different matches.
We look forward to another year of improvement for the 2008 season.

Thanks again to all and congratulations to 342, 832, and 1319.

PS: Sorry to our opposition for going kinda hard on your bots. Hopefully we didn't hurt them [too bad]. Hehehe...

[Snappel328]

Wow, I had no idea this topic was even going on.

After about a day of R&R, I just want to say that Palmetto was definetly Peachtree on steroids. And being one of Otto's drivers, I really have to give a huge congratulations to the winning alliance. You guys had more ringers up on the rack before I could realize what was going on .

[hipsterjr]

Originally Posted by TheFuhr

Thanks again to all and congratulations to 342, 832, and 1319.

PS: Sorry to our opposition for going kinda hard on your bots. Hopefully we didn't hurt them [too bad]. Hehehe...

No, it's ok. Just some scratches in the panels, but they add character see you next year

[team1102a]

First of all I want to thank all the teams for making my job as announcer so easy. When there are good robots being supported by gracious teams, it is easy to be able to say something good about everybody. Combine the awesome play and competitive action, and it adds up to the best regional anyplace.

There were some remarks earlier on the forum by people viewing the webcast about the refs blowing calls or changing scores. That is not true. I was present at the scoring table at the end of every match when Terrell checked in and the scores were tallied. There were a few cases where the scores were posted and announced before the distant refs came to the table with penalties. Also, most of Friday, the computer was not displaying the correct numbers at the bottom. When the announced scores were not the final scores, a second announcement was made; not a “changed” score, but the “correct” score.

One that was changed involved an arm from a robot on a ramp that was sticking over the front side of the field rail at the end of the game. The ref at that corner did not recognize it as “out of the endzone” when the score was posted. The Tyrell recognized the error and the score was adjusted downward.

Another score change resulted from a tube being thrown on the field during a field malfunction between autonomous and teleoperated mode. We had a 3 minute delay, all teams agreed to proceed rather than reset the field, and the refs ruled that the penalty would not be assessed due to the confusion.

The yellow card for Team 900 was not retracted. I announced that there was no penalty (meaning point deduction) for a yellow card, thus the score would not be changed. The warning stayed with them until all the qualifying matches were over.

There were 2 other matches in which team captains graciously and rightfully questioned a call and the call was reversed, and in at least one case, the opposing alliance agreed and supported the change.

And ask Flash (1319) about what constitutes “robot is supported” and interpretation of the rules. In an early elimination match, they preliminarily were not awarded 60 points because their arm (as the ramp robot) was touching the wall, but neither robot on top was touching. The refs went back and forth and read the rules and could only find a mention of loss of points if the “scoring” robots were “supported” by the playing field. The points were awarded because the elevated robots met the conditions of G56. There was nothing said about the ramp robot and contact with the field.

But then just 2 matches later, 1319’s ramp came down on a tube, compressing it about 2 inches. Chimera was on the ramp that was compressing the game piece and the points were not awarded because there was obviously a load (indicating support) on the compressed tube.

This ruling was consistent with all the other regionals.

<G56> ROBOTS in HOME ZONE - ROBOTS score bonus points at the end of the match if they are entirely in their HOME ZONE, not in contact with any element of the field (carpet, alliance station, goal, etc.), not supported by a GAME PIECE, and the lowest point of the ROBOT is higher than 4 inches and/or 12 inches above the carpeted field surface.

[hipsterjr]

The refs at the Palmetto Regional made great calls while being presented with difficult rulings all weekend. After one of their rulings in the quarterfinals, I even ran up a hugged one (much to his confusion). But any way, all their rulings were fair and they should be praised for their work. The next time you want to yell at a ref, just remember, they are all volunteers and we are lucky to have such devoted people around us.

[JulieB]

Originally Posted by Snappel328

Wow, I had no idea this topic was even going on.

After about a day of R&R, I just want to say that Palmetto was definetly Peachtree on steroids. And being one of Otto's drivers, I really have to give a huge congratulations to the winning alliance. You guys had more ringers up on the rack before I could realize what was going on .

I totally agree with Chris.

1746 I was so happy hear we neighbor in the pits on Thursday and we had nothing to with switching you tools around. I love you Guys.

I also forget a HUGE thank you 34 for put up with all our crap on the way home LOL.
You never know the real meaning of a FIRST Competition until you have to ride back home with a team you just defend in a match. We had so much fun with you guys.

[team1102a]

This is part of the reason that 1319 was so successful. Photo from a match Saturday morning.

[firebelly]

Heh, I just had surgery today. Even though I am all doped up, I still can't stop thinking about Saturday. What a blast! I can't wait for nationals to start; I just love FIRST!