Does anyone know where the official regionals will be held for next year?
I believe there at the same locations as last year considering every year ive been in first its always at the same place 
Venues do change in FIRST; UTC moved theirs this season.
That said, every indication I’ve heard is that FVC Orangeburg will be back at SC State University. It was a great time judging that event; despite the field problems (the Hatch system never worked at the event) and some early jitters typical to a new event and competition, it was a grand old time.
Well, I mean the general areas & states.
My team is in southern California and we enter an unnoffical vex regional (by the same rules) hosted by SCRRF (southern california regional robotics federation) but I’m sure everyone would prefer if there was a real regional.
Since vex is growing, does anyone know if their are additional regionals planned. They aren’t posted online at usfirst.org yet
i have no idea. my team doesnt even compete in vex we just use it for training freshman :]
In general, because Vex is steadily becoming more popular; this year I think we can expect there to be several more “regional” competitions that follow all the formal FIRST FVC Rules & Regs, and that are able to award teams berths at the Championships.
I think we can also expect a much more even widespread geographic distribution of these Regionals (probably more densely packed in states/regions where there are large populations of FRC and FLL teams) .
But - Right now the plans are still being made and as you obviously know, few if any public commitments have been made about when and where these Regionals will occur.
Until the announcements are made, use your best judgment.
Blake
The Vex regionals that were combined with FRC events will be separated this coming year, I’m told. So those events will likely be in new venues or at least different dates. FIRST is trying to get FVC regional events tied in with universities, more closely similar to FLL events.
I’ve also heard that FIRST is planning (hoping?) for something like 35 regionals for this coming season. :yikes:
I don’t know if I’m ready to completely accept that number yet. It takes a LOT of resources, money, and work to ramp up to 35 regionals from last year’s pilot 7 regionals. I’m not saying it can’t or won’t happen, just that this will be a major undertaking which will require a lot of corporate or university sponsorship, and a huge number of new volunteers. Just adding two FRC regionals was a major undertaking last season, imagine adding 28 regionals!!! I’m sure the number of FVC teams will jump rapidly this year. I can’t imagine why every FRC team wouldn’t start at least one FVC team. Hint. Hint.
That all said, I’ll bet you FIRSTers on the West Coast will have local FVC regionals this coming year. I’ll be surprised if there’s still a mileage radius this year, but depending on the number of teams and regionals, there could be a limit of one regional per team like FLL.
Can’t wait for Kickoff!
I can believe that number for FVC. Going by my experience with FVC Orangeburg, which wasn’t with any FRC or FLL event, a standalone FVC event takes about the manpower and space of a decent-sized FRC off-season event.
Besides, the competition field is far cheaper to create than an FRC field, and doesn’t require an 18-wheeler to move. I’ve been told from a reliable source that the Half-Pipe Hustle field, minus the ramps, fits in a two-door Chevy Blazer. Assuming the field doesn’t grow drastically, FIRST could literally put an FVC event anywhere from the Georgia Dome to the front steps of Swearingen Engineering Center. (And yes, the latter has happened, for those who missed the Palmetto team social this year. ;))
It’ll take a lot of committments from colleges and sponsors, and a whole lot of manpower, but I think that FVC is built for this sort of setup. Any college with a basketball arena, PE center, or a large ballroom (or one nearby) can hold one of these events, and that covers about 99% of colleges in the United States. They may not hit 35 this season, but it’s gonna grow in regionals faster than FRC has as of late.
Just to give you an idea of where the process is, the way I understand it…
Official events will be run by “FVC Affiliate Partners”. Currently, there is interest from well over 30 Affiliate Partners (including several from the west coast) and the plan is for a minimum of 25 official events. It is very possible that number will be higher.
FIRST is in process of signing up those partners and providing them with information, etc. Official notification of dates/locations would be the logical next step.
As a team right now, while you are waiting on locations and dates, you should register interest to participate here: https://my.usfirst.org/fvc/
The list of event locations and dates, full team registration system, and the 2006-07 game itself are all in the works and will be forthcoming very soon. Many folks are working very hard to meet aggressive deadlines (remember, FVC was only given to go ahead to continue by the board of directors at the Championship). Just be patient a little while longer, from what I can tell, people will be very pleased.