First Time in Atlanta

[Phil Ross]

Originally Posted by Overyourhead

I suggest your father stay in the stands and scout. When you compete he can come down and coach or take pictures.

I would actually suggest having your father be your coach. It will be very difficult for you by yourself to make everything go right and you will probably need the extra hand at some point. If your father is the coach he will have access to help you if something goes wrong ON the field and it will be much easier for him to get between the stadium and the pits accompanying you.

hope this helps

[basicxman]

He usually guards our belongings and takes pictures while I play my match XD He can help with strategy and the robot after the match so we can discuss what went wrong, how to avoid it happening again, etc...

[Jared Russell]

If your team consists of one student and one adult, there is no way that you can drive and have a payload specialist at the same time...?

[amariealbrecht]

You are a very inspiring story..I hope you rock it out in Atlanta..way to go!!

[crake]

Originally Posted by Jared341

If your team consists of one student and one adult, there is no way that you can drive and have a payload specialist at the same time...?

They're a FTC team. So it's probably not an issue

Congrats on the trip to Atlanta... its a really amazing time and place.

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by crake

They're a FTC team. So it's probably not an issue

Congrats on the trip to Atlanta... its a really amazing time and place.

Oh.

I was gonna say, how can you even lift a robot with one person?!

I'm gonna go learn to read now...

[Overyourhead]

Originally Posted by Phil Ross

I would actually suggest having your father be your coach. It will be very difficult for you by yourself to make everything go right and you will probably need the extra hand at some point. If your father is the coach he will have access to help you if something goes wrong ON the field and it will be much easier for him to get between the stadium and the pits accompanying you.

hope this helps

Sorry if I was not understood correctly. I was suggesting that your farther coach and scout at the same time. when you have a match coming up you could call him and he can walk down. There are stair cases around the Dome and it is not very hard to get to the Dome floor. Sometimes there are movable steps where you can walk straight from the bleachers to the field.This is an awesome time in your life, your dad should be there with you. I wish my father had an interest in robotics and would participate with me. You're pretty lucky.

I wouldn't worry completely about your pit. I feel very comfortable leaving leaving my laptop and camera in the pit with nobody there. You will find that teams leave laptops playing videos in their pit while they are gone. We sometimes ask both teams on the sides of our pit to watch our stuff. It's a very safe place, I've never heard of anything getting stolen in Atlanta.

[basicxman]

Originally Posted by amariealbrecht

You are a very inspiring story..I hope you rock it out in Atlanta..way to go!!

I'd hardly consider myself inspiring XD Although I guess counting the sponsors I've gotten, overcoming depression/psychosis, making it to Atlanta myself...IDK lol XD But thanks for the well wishes!

Originally Posted by crake

They're a FTC team. So it's probably not an issue

Congrats on the trip to Atlanta... its a really amazing time and place.

Thank you, yes I'm an FTC team, my robot is defensive and only requires one driver. The robot I'll estimate at 10-15 pounds (I'm a bad estimator though) but as stated before, after a while that will feel like a million pounds. By the very helpful captain of team overdrive, I've been recommended to get one of these: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...temnumber=5770

Originally Posted by Overyourhead

Sorry if I was not understood correctly. I was suggesting that your farther coach and scout at the same time. when you have a match coming up you could call him and he can walk down. There are stair cases around the Dome and it is not very hard to get to the Dome floor. Sometimes there are movable steps where you can walk straight from the bleachers to the field.This is an awesome time in your life, your dad should be there with you. I wish my father had an interest in robotics and would participate with me. You're pretty lucky.

I wouldn't worry completely about your pit. I feel very comfortable leaving leaving my laptop and camera in the pit with nobody there. You will find that teams leave laptops playing videos in their pit while they are gone. We sometimes ask both teams on the sides of our pit to watch our stuff. It's a very safe place, I've never heard of anything getting stolen in Atlanta.

Lucky perhaps, a lot of people would say I've payed greatly for my luck though

I'd carry my all-useful ipod in my pocket for referencing rules and such, as for camera, father would have, and laptop one of us can just wear it around our shoulder in a case, even while driving. That's all I'm really worried about losing ><

---
Thanks everybody! We should keep this thread going for future references to other Atlanta newbies!

[Rick TYler]

I just re-read my post -- sounded really negative. It was a great experience -- mostly (for me) in getting to meet other competitors. The long walk is a drag, but it's fun to see our medium-sized robots in the big arena. Have a great time!

[Abra Cadabra IV]

I think the walk will be a bit better this year; last year they had to deal with tornado damage on top of everything else and I think the route we had to take from the pits to the dome was affected by it. However, it's still going to be a long walk. DEFINITELY invest in something to help you carry your robot. Last year we made that mistake and spent a couple matches hand-carrying our 20lb robot to the field and back until we found a collapsible luggage dolly (which I do NOT recommend using except as a last resort). Even if your robot's light, it's a long walk and you don't want to risk dropping it.

In regards to matches, I think last year each team got 7 or so. They also gave us 2 practice matches at the beginning of the first day, which I don't think were included in the total of 7.

Also, if the scheduling is anything like last year you might not get much time to visit the FLL pits or matches. They run on roughly the same schedule as FTC, if I remember correctly, and if queuing is the same as it was last year then you're going to spend a lot of time in the Dome waiting for your match. (Last year the matches ended up delayed by a good hour or so but teams were being queued according to the original schedule.) But even with this, you'll still have an entire day to watch FRC matches. The final matches in particular are definitely worth seeing, especially if you're lucky enough to get good seats.

Overall, Atlanta is a wonderful experience and definitely worth the trip. It sounds like you and your dad are pretty well prepared for this, but if you run into trouble other teams are usually willing to help out, lend parts, or even share scouting information. Good luck, and I'll see you there!

[rspurlin]

The configuration of the facility and the logistics could be different from previous years, but assuming no weather related massive changes ... The FTC fields will be in the Georgia Dome on either side of the fifty yardline. There will be two FRC fields on either side of you (sort of in the corners of the field/floor). I think if you look you can find typical layouts and maps online somewhere. The pits will be in the adjacent building, the Georgia World Congress Center, one of the largest exposition centers in the world. Plan to spend lots of time walking between venues. Even so, this is one of the few places in the world with such facilities adjacent to one another.

Although others have suggested that there is any easy path from the stands to the floor of the Dome, FIRST strongly discourages people from making such a move. Do not count on being able to do this. I second the recommendation that you have your father act as coach and come along with you on the walk from the pits to the field. His view will be much better also.

As FTC and FLL are mostly running simultaneously, you won't have much time to view FLL stuff. Assuming the pits are laid out as they were in previous non tornado affected years, you'll be close enough to visit their pit areas though if you have some spare time between matches.

Atlanta is a big city like most others. There are certainly parts of town that are nicer than others. I can't vouch for specific hotels where it may be safer to leave certain valuables, as I live here, but use common sense. Strangely enough, comments about laptops being safe in the pits during the event are mostly true. But I wouldn't leave a laptop bag unattended anywhere outside the venue, regardless of what city I'm in.

You should have time to visit friends, and I'll also recommend you host them in visiting the FRC events on Saturday. Maybe you'll be able to show off a trophy.

Congratulations on the invite and good luck on making the most of your trip.

[basicxman]

Thanks again everybody,

Is there open wi-fi in parts of the convention centre and dome?

[Phil Ross]

Originally Posted by basicxman

Thanks again everybody,

Is there open wi-fi in parts of the convention centre and dome?

in the past there has been. although this year I would not count on it because of the new FTC and FRC field controls. The FRC rules have said that there is to be none of that stuff. At some regionals there have been designated areas for Wi-Fi. Hopefully there will be some sort of "cyber-cafe" for people to use.

Good luck and see you in ATL!

[ManicMechanic]

I've always enjoyed this view of a walk to the pit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSjKVDgnWwY. We never quite made it in 37 seconds!

[Overyourhead]

Originally Posted by ManicMechanic

I've always enjoyed this view of a walk to the pit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSjKVDgnWwY. We never quite made it in 37 seconds!

Last years walk for FTC wasn't nearly that long. The only part we walked was starting at 20 seconds in your video. Because of the tornado last year the pits were a lot closer than previous years. I hope this year the FRC pits and the FTC pits are in the same hall again. It makes the pits a lot more interesting.

For anyone who doesn't know. A tornado hit Atlanta a few weeks before the championship. It was pretty much cleaned up by te time we got there. Alot of windows were blown out all around the city. Here is a picture of the Dome as we drove up. All the plywood should have been windows.

Also, for anyone who has never been to the Dome. Here is a short video about it. There's a lot about the Dome I didn't know.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9uBBT9EhYxU&NR=1