2008 West Michigan Regional

[Chris Fultz]

234 will be there and is looking forward to an exciting competition.

[proegssilb]

Why the USB cam? Can't use the video drop provided?

[Pat McCarthy]

Originally Posted by proegssilb

Why the USB cam? Can't use the video drop provided?

Not a USB webcam.
Something like this device: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815100112

And actually, I can probably get a laptop from the engineering department, I just haven't asked yet if I can get one for that purpose. So, all I really need to get this regional webcasted is the video capture device.

Do me a favor and ask people you know if they have what I need to get this event online!

If all else fails, I have a webcam I can use with my laptop that I'll set up at the scorers table pointed at the field.

[proegssilb]

Originally Posted by Pat McCarthy

Not a USB webcam.
Something like this device: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815100112

OK, and a desktop computer with video-in and WiFi would be too hard to work with, maybe even not fit well in the limited space next to the video drop.

[Pat McCarthy]

Originally Posted by proegssilb

OK, and a desktop computer with video-in and WiFi would be too hard to work with, maybe even not fit well in the limited space next to the video drop.

If that is all I can get, I'm sure we can make that work.

[vince2171]

Team 2171 is looking forward to competing with everyone this weekend. Please travel safely.

[Kyle Love]

Im considering driving up Friday, hopefully by about 2 or 3 Friday. I've never been to this regional before, what are the good things about this regional?

[Vikesrock]

Originally Posted by Kyle Love

Im considering driving up Friday, hopefully by about 2 or 3 Friday. I've never been to this regional before, what are the good things about this regional?

*looks at team list*

That's why I'm driving 10 hours from MN.

[Pat McCarthy]

Originally Posted by Kyle Love

Im considering driving up Friday, hopefully by about 2 or 3 Friday. I've never been to this regional before, what are the good things about this regional?

1. "Pound-per-pound the most competitive regional." - Dave Verbrugge (Backed up by numbers, every year he'll give a little speech about that.)
2. 53 Teams and holy cow, check out which ones: https://my.usfirst.org/myarea/index....I&sort=teamnum
3. The campus food. Widely acclaimed as the best you'll find, also I like it a lot as well. Try Fresh Food Company or River Landing in the basement of Kirchof Center.

[johnr]

Just wondering what /size practice field you might have set-up this year? This is alittle late, but maybe block that set of doors by last years practice field and make a bigger one,but maybe fire marshall wouldn't like it.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Warning about streaming video on the wireless, I occasionally stream stuff from Kettering on the wireless and the bandwidth is less than I would like. I would talk to the IT department and see if you could get them to run some cable for you. Also, I will look into getting a USB video capture device tonight, if I can come by 397's pits and I will hook you up with my Mac Book Pro. (assuming you don't mind using a mac and haven't already found a laptop)

Oh, I'm looking forward to this regional. I wanna see a match in which we beat Midwest's score so we can cross their score out on the bottom of the carpet

[Mark Pierce]

This years WMR looks to be a little different than past years for lots of reasons:

No team 67!!!!! They've been there every year that we've been a regional, and attended the off season events before that. It will not be the same without you!

This should be a real demonstration of the Kettering event's results: All seven rookie teams attended the rookie only event. There are also 9 second year teams.

We have more untested machines (23) than ever before.

23 teams have one previous regional event this year with 6 regionals represented. Their results this year are impressive:
4 have seeded in the top 8, 13 seeded in the top half
3 Finalists, 4 Semifinalists, 8 Quarter finalists
12 teams brought home judged awards. These include:
2 Chairmans, 1 Rookie All-star, 3 Entrepreneur and 1 Judges. Others are Quality, Innov. in Controls, Creativity, Imagery, and Spirit.

Although this the eighth regional, there were 5 unofficial competitions before then. Some of us remember all of them. I've written before about why West Michigan is special, but it's home to me. Maybe the team to ask is 888 from Maryland who is making their third appearance here.

We've always been a week 5 regional so maybe GLR will have more exciting matches this year, but I doubt if it will be boring. I've seen 70, 288, and 494 and read the reports on many others, The competition for on the field results will be intense. The judges, who typically are an amazing group of people, will also have some tough calls for the other awards.

I'm looking forward to a great week. I hope everyone has safe travel. Let us know if we can do anything to help you.

[Beth Sweet]

Just tossed this together for my team's trivia and thought some of you might find it interesting.

WMR 2008 features:
-participants with 40 combined regional wins
-participants with 38 combined regional finals appearances
-participants with 10 combined regional and championship Chairman's wins

Whew! Talk about a field! Looking forward to bringin' it!

[Herodotus]

I'm definitely looking forward to this competition. It'll be intense and I know it will be tough, but that's what makes it fun. Can't wait to compete with and against everyone. This will be the first official FIRST competition I'm driving in(I've only driven at off season events) , and I'm looking forward to it. I'm also looking forward to seeing how our robot will finally compete against some of the top dogs.

It'll be awesome. See you all there.

[mark johnson]

910 FOLEY FREEZE will be there and cant wait. Its agony waiting until the forth week to compete while watching three weeks of exciting regional action.So we are definately ready ,hopefully the robot didnt forget anything .It will be weird with out our friends the HOT TEAM not being at WMR.