2011 FRC Season dates

[Bethie42]

Originally Posted by Foster

Just wait for the two control system posts and then it will be a complete CD thread:

• Event Dates and which regionals are better
• Building skills
• Gracious professionalism and coopertition
• Robot design
• Bag and tag vs crates
• Control systems - Labview vs java and how the IFI controller was better

HAWW!

Oh hallelujah and raise a shout for a Week Four AOR! We've struggled through field errors for years...although the AOR is really well run, in my and my team's opinion. But static shutting the whole field down during finals during Lunacy...when I hear that problem got fixed pretty easily in later regionals...well we've all been there and done that

On the Seattle regional: If we [and most Oregon teams, I assume] try to go to a second regional, Seattle is probably going to be it, since it looks like Davis is going to be a Week Four event also [?]
When and where can we find more info on Seattle?

Thanks all, very helpful thread! My iCal is getting updated as we speak....

[Lisa Perez]

Originally Posted by Bethie42

HAWW!

Oh hallelujah and raise a shout for a Week Four AOR! We've struggled through field errors for years...although the AOR is really well run, in my and my team's opinion. But static shutting the whole field down during finals during Lunacy...when I hear that problem got fixed pretty easily in later regionals...well we've all been there and done that

On the Seattle regional: If we [and most Oregon teams, I assume] try to go to a second regional, Seattle is probably going to be it, since it looks like Davis is going to be a Week Four event also [?]
When and where can we find more info on Seattle?

Thanks all, very helpful thread! My iCal is getting updated as we speak....

Pre-FIRST releasing event dates, you will probably get your best indication of when an event may actually be based on the venue's schedule (sometimes posted on its website), since that more or less shows that the planning committee has already made a contract with it for the next year.

[Ed Law]

Originally Posted by IKE

What was this thread about?

I just asked a simple question and got a great deal of wonderful discussion on what is the purpose of life and everything in between.

I think reading in between the posts, it is most probably going to be 6 weeks of build, 1 week break, 6 weeks of competition, 2 weeks break and then FIRST Championship. At least this is what I hoped. I can't survive more than 6 weeks of build. We pretty much stop new development after ship date even if we get "inspired" by other teams. It is also good for teams that make it to championship at Week 6 to have more time to raise money and plan for the FIRST Championship. Without Team 33's help the last 2 years, we would not have been able to get our robot shipped out in such short notice after making the World Championship in Week 6 (5 last year)

[hg273]

I talked with our FRC Regional Director today, and it sounds like Seattle will be a week 3 event with two fields and up to 140 teams. Right now they're at the behest of Quest Field (Home of the Seattle Seahawks) to confirm.

[Dale]

If Seattle is indeed a week 3 event that will make it hard to do Portland as a second play since it's a week 4 event. You can do back to back events but shipping gets expensive and time management gets tricky. There is typically a lot of interaction between Washington and Oregon teams but this would cut down the number that do both events.

[NickE]

Originally Posted by hg273

I talked with our FRC Regional Director today, and it sounds like Seattle will be a week 3 event with two fields and up to 140 teams.

Woah mega regional!

Originally Posted by rick.oliver

I like the concept expressed by Collin Fultz earlier this year. No Bag&Tag nor shipping to Regional events. Teams are able repair and modify their robots throughout the Competition season.

This would be great for some teams, but is totally impractical for others who travel long distances to regionals. Plus, it would pretty much prevent Hawaii teams from competing on the mainland (besides the Championship) and vice-versa.

[Bethie42]

Originally Posted by hg273

I talked with our FRC Regional Director today, and it sounds like Seattle will be a week 3 event with two fields and up to 140 teams. Right now they're at the behest of Quest Field (Home of the Seattle Seahawks) to confirm.

This is going to be a tricky situation for OR and WA teams wishing to attend a second regional. I assume we'll have a smaller overall competition, which I personally will regret... Easier on scouts though I've heard AOR has run out of room in past years [62 teams last year, I believe], so we might see more teams from farther afield.

I'll be in charge of organizing and collecting info on whether we want to attend a second regional: our team is from Oregon and we've done a second regional [Davis] a few times in the past, quite a few years ago.
What are some opinions of teams in the PNW who've had experience with second regionals? I'll try to find out more info on Davis, although I'm not keen on their probable 2-day schedule, and somebody had said it would likely be the week of AOR...

[Doug G]

Originally Posted by Bethie42

I'll be in charge of organizing and collecting info on whether we want to attend a second regional: our team is from Oregon and we've done a second regional [Davis] a few times in the past, quite a few years ago.
What are some opinions of teams in the PNW who've had experience with second regionals? I'll try to find out more info on Davis, although I'm not keen on their probable 2-day schedule, and somebody had said it would likely be the week of AOR...

We'd love to have you back at Davis again. I haven't heard any official word on the dates for Davis. I checked the ARC Pavillion calendar and the only thing on it is some event on Thursday 4/7 and Friday 4/8, but nothing reserved for Saturday. This could the two day FRC event or it could be something completely different - hard to tell.

[Bethie42]

Originally Posted by Doug G

We'd love to have you back at Davis again. I haven't heard any official word on the dates for Davis. I checked the ARC Pavillion calendar and the only thing on it is some event on Thursday 4/7 and Friday 4/8, but nothing reserved for Saturday. This could the two day FRC event or it could be something completely different - hard to tell.

And we'd love to come back! I was talking a few days ago with some other local teams and they [having been to Davis more recently..and took first place...one of the few teams from Oregon to EVER win two regionals...Team 997, I love 'em, gotta do a promo ] said they really liked the area, campus and so on.
I have a personal fondness for Davis, because I went down there with the team [my dad is a mentor] in 2006, a really good year for our team [semi-finals and Xerox Creativity Award]. I was about 13, still in junior high, hated math, never thought I'd come to love technology and so on. Well I went to the competition and I loved it...was cheering for our team the whole time...the seeds for my current FIRST-obsession were sown It was two years until I actually became involved again, but I like to think back to the early days in a stadium in California, a shy adolescent was developing her insane dedication to promoting engineering.... *sigh* When observing the turn-off for Davis on a recent trip to Cal, I actually exclaimed 'Ah! Dear old Davis!' in reference to that year...

All this verbage to say that I really hope Davis works out for our second regional, assuming we get one! And probably 997 will be with us, flush from this year's trip to Championships...our two teams love each other

[Mark McLeod]

The SBPLI Regional will be March 24-26

[smurfgirl]

Do any insiders have an idea of when the Boston and Connecticut Regionals will fall? Or you just can plan them to be at both ends of MIT's spring break so I can volunteer at them both. I'll probably find a way to make it to Boston no matter when it is because it's so nearby, but I'll be sad if I can't make it to my home regional this year.

[Josh Drake]

The Palmetto regional will be "in late March", so I would assume that is the 24th like last year. The venue has changed.... Closer for the Florida teams

[kjolana1124]

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

I don't "KNOW", but I can speculate that we will have 6 weeks of build.

That's crazy talk right there. Next thing you know we'll have watergames! And kids will actually start liking math and science and spend countless hours building robots because they actually find it fun and inspiring. Scary thoughts.

Originally Posted by smurfgirl

Do any insiders have an idea of when the Boston and Connecticut Regionals will fall?

I'm currently at BU and am now incredibly tempted to find out. Incredibly.

[smurfgirl]

Originally Posted by kjolana1124

I'm currently at BU and am now incredibly tempted to find out. Incredibly.

Can you also convince the team to sign up for the Boston Regional this year? It's really fantastic (not that I don't love CTR too!)

[Shmee]

Originally Posted by DRAKE343

The Palmetto regional will be "in late March", so I would assume that is the 24th like last year. The venue has changed.... Closer for the Florida teams

Not Clemson anymore? Where's Palmetto being held then?