2014 Greater DC Regional

[Mr B]

Originally Posted by Andrew Rudolph

Can't believe there's no webcast!

Agreed. I hope that someone at least gets some video of the finals.

[KevinG]

The view is definitely problematic. From the sides you can see the field but really struggle to see the board, and from the front you can see the board but most of the field is cut off. Hopefully next year they'll put the judge's table on the other side of the field and slide the whole thing further away so we can all see.

[Oblarg]

Rough game this year; 4464's roller arm is currently out of commission (the shafts of the PG188's we were using to actuate it both sheared clean in two following an impact in one of our matches), but we're enjoying playing hard defense while we work to get it operational again. That match against team 56 was exhilarating! The front of our AM14U also has a nice curve now, as well; no idea when that happened or what actually caused it.

[Piecemaker96]

Thanks to everyone who helped put this event together. I know our team (612, Chantilly Robotics) had a fantastic time, and I was really impressed with everyone's enthusiasm and energy. A quick shoutout to our alliance partners 2912 and 4541 as well as teams 3419, 587, and 56 who joined us for food and company. This is the first time our team has gotten to Championship in living memory, and we are super pumped to be going. See you guys in St. Louis.

[mikewagar]

Originally Posted by bearbot

Is their a webcast of the event

goo.gl/8Fizga

[Safety Sophie]

The obscured view was definitely something I heard many complaints about. Otherwise, it was a great regional! I saw more defense being played here than at the NC Regional. We actually switched out our drive train(designed to be an easy and quick swap between mecanum and 2 2" traction wheels/2 omni wheels) to give us more traction because of all the defense being played against our bot.

[Oblarg]

4464 had a fantastic time at the Greater DC regional. A few things we'd like to say:

Firstly, a huge thank-you to teams 449 and 1915; without your generosity over the course of build season and at competition we would not have had a working robot on the field. Thanks, as well, to teams 4456 and 1885, and any other team that donated parts during the emergency rebuild of our roller arm after our 4th match (and to the NASA machine shop guys for all the work they did). The support and generosity of everyone we approached for help was astounding, and we are indebted to you all.

To teams 225 and 1731: That was amazing; I have not had so much fun on an alliance ever before in FIRST - see you at St. Louis!

To teams 1885, 1418, and 2537: Those finals were a nail-biter, and could have gone either way; you played great.

[JesseK]

This was a fun event.

Thank You 1418 & 2537 for your amazing partnership. It was truly an all-around effort with 3 very versatile robots. 1418's bot was the key to how well offense in the Finals went. The strategy ideas both of you had in order to win Finals is what made them so much fun.

To 1731 & 225: I am now a believer of the 2-bot assist cycle. The speed at which you two could complete a single cycle was unparalleled. I came to the realization that the only way to come close to a win was to slow everything down. To you and 4464, congrats on your win! We will see you in St. Louis.

Some tidbits:
- The 3 northern Virginia teams in the finals were the 3 teams who were up and running great at the Chantilly Week 0 event.
- 1885 drove all of Saturday on 3 CIMs. We noticed we were sluggish but couldn't figure out why until the timeout between F-2 & F-3 when we noticed a cold CIM. This is why we couldn't fight through what had been pretty easy-to-get-around defense.
- After the event we found that the left rear drive train talon was dead. That's our first dead talon in 7 events.
- Big shout out to Silu Tang, who's amazing 'drive straight' routines kept our 1-ball autonomous going magnificently, even with the initial swerve of a 'dead' wheel on the left side. She's our lead student programmer and one of our Chairman's speakers.
- If your robot is shiny, it will be a defense magnet. In our match replay sessions, teams would defend us even though another bot was putting the ball up in the high goal.