Year 12.
We are excited by the new venue at the University of Maryland College Park!
Welcome to the rookies registered so far, as well as all the great teams, including the two international teams.
I’m curious as to how the facilities will work. Will the field be in the main arena with the pits in the secondary gymnasium, or will it all be in the gymnasium, or will it be something else entirely?
1 Like
The pits and field will all be in the same location, on the floor of the Comcast Center.
I believe the Comcast Center is around the same size as the Patriot Center at GMU, that is larger in seating capacity than the Siegel Center at VCU but still a multipurpose college fieldhouse. I suspect that the field/pit layout will not change too much from, but I may be incorrect on that.
Sadly we are not making the trip up to Chesapeake this year to see the new venue.
The Chesapeake filled today with some slots held in reserve. We are delighted to welcome back lots of old friends, as well as some new teams. A nice balance of veterans, newer teams, and rookies from up and down the East Coast. And Canada. And England.
We are on that waitlist. We are really hoping to make it into Chesapeake’s field. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with ya’ll last year.
Red Alert Robotics is excited to make the trip out from Indiana this year!
And Indiana!
We are starting to make assignments for volunteers at the event this year. If you are interested in volunteering and haven’t signed up yet in the VIMS - do it soon. Visit VIMS at https://my.usfirst.org/VIMS
We will have lots more info coming about the FIRST Stop visitor program, and will have a very active student ambassador program. More info to come on how to get involved.
Team 329 is looking forward to returning to the great Chesapeake Regional again this year. Of the 4 regionals we’ve competed in, it was by far, the best. Of course, being lucky enough to win it might have influenced that opinion.
I know this is somewhat early to be asking this so specific a question, but does anyone know if this venue will provide for a true 10’ X 10’ pit area? The reason I ask is that we’ve spent 3 months and about 1500 man hours building a completely new pit this year and would like to not make unnecessary modifications. We’re a couple of inches shy in each dimension, but could build new cabinets, making us 9’ X 9’.
The event will know more late in Feb. after receiving pit layout drawings.
The Chesapeake Regional has been fortunate to have terrific Master of Ceremonies/Game Announcers over the years.
We are very excited to announce that the fabulous Jeff Seaton will be returning to the event as Master of Ceremonies this year!
RE: volunteers. We have a great lineup of volunteers again this year. We are making an effort to train more local folks in the key roles as we are expanding our volunteer base, including engaging many FIRST alums as well as local groups.
We will be starting to make assignments outside of the lead roles later this month. Please get your info in the VIMS asap if you want to volunteer.
Register to Volunteer at an FRC Event (VIMS)
http://www.usfirst.org/community/volunteers/frc-volunteer-event-positions
Team 1547 - Where’s Waldo? is ecstatic to be attending the Chesapeake Regional for the first time in our ten years as a team! We are coming all of the way from Whitby, Ontario to attend this event. We’re looking forward to working with teams that we have never had the chance to work with before. Look for us in our red and white stripes!
Hi…
Team 1610 is looking forward to visiting the Chesapeake regional for the first time. Seeing that Jeff will be MC will make it all the better for teams from Virginia (he MC’s VCU too) I’m actually from that area (born and raised in the Baltimore area , i used to work in DC and my dad used to own a house in Laurel for a while and later lived in New Carrolton ) So i know the area well. Wish they
had First there when i lived in Maryland. I’m hoping to be able to invite some family to come see the competition and our team.
As a heads up, high school/university students can now attend BOTH UMD’s Bitcamp Hackathon AND the Chesapeake Regionals. Bitcamp will provide showers, endless food, and a sleeping area if you choose to attend the hackathon - and as a bonus you’ll be able to check out cool tech like Oculus Rifts and Google Glass since it runs overnight Friday-Saturday and ends Sunday.
It is definitely a great opportunity for programmers and beginners alike to get noticed for that they do and they’ll get a chance to build a really cool product in under 24 hours. A hackathon is worth the experience: https://medium.com/hackathons-anonymous/3d5413601c05
Take a look at this thread for more info: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=127113
Pit footprints will be 10’ x 10’.
We will be running our terrific Visitor Program again this year - FIRST Stop.
To register: http://www.mdfirst.org/firststop.html
Encourage your visitors to sign up. The Ambassadors will make sure they find your team.
We are excited that the Chesapeake Regional will be hosting a team social on Friday at the Comcast Center. More details to come on registering, times and food. We will be charging $5/pp for dinner.
From the Senior Mentor Newsletter:
We are still looking for volunteers for the Chesapeake Regional on April 3-5. Specifically we are still looking for:
- Safety Advisors
- Field Reset/Repair (specifically for Thursday)
- Team queuing
- Crowd control
- Safety Glasses Attendant
If you know anyone who may be interested, please have them sign up in the VIMS.
**Student Ambassadors: ** The Chesapeake Regional is recruiting Student Ambassadors to be gracious hosts to visitors to our FRC Regional competition. If you have students who enjoy meeting and talking with folks and sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm for FIRST robotics, we would lover to have them as Student Ambassadors for our FIRST Stop program! No experience required - we will have a short training session on Thursday of competition and students may sign up for a time slot on either Friday or Saturday or both.
**Student singers: **The Chesapeake Regional will be continuing its long standing tradition to have a group of students from many of the represented teams sing the National Anthem during opening ceremonies on both Friday and Saturday. The group will have several practices on Thursday to prepare.
Email went out to all team leaders containing lots of info about the event, including Team Social, Student Ambassadors, Chesapeake Chorus, Team Showcase, Event Schedule - including early load in hours, lunch pre-orders, and our awesome visitor program - FIRST Stop - which makes every visitor a VIP.