I know this might be overshadowed by the other regionals happening this week, but I’m way too excited for this event right now! I also have got to say that I love the location for this event (I live on campus… it’s a < 5 minute walk).
Considering the regional is still fairly small (although it has grown from last year), with 29 teams, the lineup is fantastic! I can’t wait to see what 68 and 1305 have in store to defend their title (1241 went to Arizona this year instead), and I from what I heard about the Great Lakes Regional last weekend, NiagaraFIRST has spawned some pretty mean bots this year! It’s great to see 5.5 American teams (1596 is comprised of both Canadian and American students) making it out this year as well.
It’ll be great to have 188, 772, and 1901 at the same event for the second time this year as well :). I could keep listing off teams I guess, but they’re all listed on the FIRST website anyways!
I can’t wait either! It looks like it’s going to be pretty good, but it’s going to be smaller. I guess I just like the bigger crowds. Hopefully we do good in it, but I heard all of the GM triplets are going to the Waterloo regional, so we might have a little competition
A little competition! Watch out for those triplets they are one mean bunch (not mean as in angry but mean as is sweet!). Definatey they will rock that comp like they did GLR. Just hope they dont all get on the same alliance for finals.
Haha, I guess it was hard to sence my sarcasm when I said ‘little competition’.
Now, at the GLR, they had two of the GM robots on one team in the finals, not all of them. I think that they had to have a different robot, so their team could have some variance in defence and offence. A team with three identical robots is a little easy to predict.
Well, I only saw one game with a team score higher then 100.
THe two GM robots would try to score, but by the third day, the other teams got smart, and for their autonomous mode, they would just ram into the GM bots, preventing them from scoring.
The triplets were definitely a dominating force at the Great Lakes Regional this past weekend. When the better two of the three teamed up in elimination they were for sure one of the best powerhouse alliances I have seen this competition season.
I actually think there was 2 or 3 matches at GLR that had a score over 100. In match Q57 I know that 1114 and 451 were the main scores. And in the semi-finals against the 4th alliance (us). The first match of the semi-finals against us we did lined up to turn both 1114 and 1503 of course from hitting the 3 point goal with little success. Shortly there after a battery cable came undone from our bot (68) and our other alliance partner tipped over. Leaving just team 66 to try to score and run defense (having to be the back bot because of where both of the other robots were). I know that this match ended with a score of well over a hundred.
The biggest problem with “ramming” as you describe is that it is up to the head ref to make the call if it is high speed ramming. At GLR the head ref made it clear that high speed ramming would not be allowed in auton, which made it difficult to have a defensive strategy during auton which hit robots attempting the 3 point shots. The triplets also made it difficult having some of the best traction I have seen this year.
Well, you did see the triplets weakness, didn’t you? Hopefully they have the same problem at the Waterloo Regional. If they do, they might not do that good.
Some teams got away with tipping over robots, which I think was compeltely unfair. A good example is when we were playing, a robot rammed us on the ramp, then backed out, leaving us to fall. We knew the team did it deliberately. Oh well, we still gave it a great effort to win.
I hope they have a reliable scoring system at the Waterloo Regional, then at the GLR. The digital scoring, and rankings at the beginning of day three were completely wrong. Wierd.
It’s unlikely, but from the contacts page on the event’s website, it looks like you should contact Karthik about this if you’re actually considering it. Or wait for him to read/reply to this thread. I’m sure anyone else listed on the website would be able to put you in the right direction.
I guess if you have the ability to get your robot here before next Thursday and pay the entrance fee, I don’t really see that it would be a problem. But then again I’m not really qualified to answer something like this properly.
Best of luck if you guys actually want to come though :).
It’s not 229, but a Friend of mine on 1930 was asking me about it. I would love to see them go to another regional since they can’t qualify for champs. Karthik, get back with info.
Unfortunately, Steve should also have said that he isn’t in a position to answer properly.
It’s real late to be adding a team: we’re actually already at 30 teams (a nice multiple of 6) and the pit layout is done (and looking very cramped). But if 1930 is really serious and has the money, I can see what I can do. Definitely I’d say the chances are slim though.
If someone from 1930 is really serious about this, please contact me ASAP at rbgorbet@uwaterloo.ca.
Looking forward to seeing you all at the event!
Rob.
The weakness with the “Triplets” is currently being accessed and worked on, some changes will probally will be made by the time the waterloo regional comes up (although I have no clue what they are).
I also am looking forward to the Waterloo Regional, I personally had a great time last year and am hoping it will be even better this year. From what I have seen so far this year there will be some pretty strong teams and robots on that field there, making it a difficult regional.
The 931 bus departs St. Louis 6 am tomorrow morning bound for the great North Country, land of Tim Horton’s coffee (Toujours Frais)!
My day job requires me to be at a couple of meetings tomorrow, but then I ‘just happen’ to have a work related reason to go to Waterloo, so I catch a 5 pm flight to Detroit and a connection to Waterloo arriving YKF about 10 pm. Catch up with the team at the Comfort Inn Kitchener Wednesday night, inspect robots all day on Thursday, work related meetings on Friday, enjoy the competition on Saturday, the take the bus back to St. Louis with the team.
It is nice to be able to mix work with FIRST on the same trip!
