We’re starting a new team in the United Arab Emirates and very excited! Our schedule limits us to a Week 6 Regional. So, help us choose between: Silicon Valley, Colorado, South Florida, Midwest, Las Vegas, Bayou, Chesapeake, New York and Lone Star.
Which Regionals are amazing? Which are consistently very tough competition? Which Regionals have the friendliest teams? 
It will be some of our students first experience in the U.S., so think about what the city has to offer in terms of sightseeing. Thanks for any input!
Hi and I am glad you are embarking on this wonderful adventure of starting a FIRST team. As for which regional, all the regional information is not let released so making a decision on current is all subject to change.
That being said there is not regional that isn’t fun TBH. The embodiment of FIRST is about Gracious Professionalism which is in a nutshell helping others to be at there best because i’m not at my best if you are not. This honestly transcends the competition itself. Many different teams would be very friendly if not all.
All the regional listed are amazing regional it really just comes down to which one you want to travel to, and which is in the budget for your team.
Hope that helps and GOOD LUCK!
In my opinion/experience:
Which Regionals are amazing?
All of them are great regionals.
Which are consistently very tough competition?
Silicon Valley seemed stacked last year. Midwest is always a tough competition. Vegas always has a perennially great team or two. Lone Star is a pretty tough competition.
Here is a neat way to visualize how competitive a regional is. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1261860&postcount=21
Based on this, the best regionals on your list are Silicon Valley, South Florida, Las Vegas, and Chesapeake.
I sent you a Private Message, but some teams from abroad have partnered with a US team. This can be a big help in getting parts, advice, and some logistics – for example, it can be a big pain to transport batteries and a team that doesn’t have to fly has an easier time. In any event, I’m sure there are lots of teams that would be happy to help, whether you meet them at an event or find such a team in advance and arrange to attend the same event.
One thing to consider is it will be closer to fly to events on the East coast, also there will be fewer time zones to cross this way.
I’ll vouch for the Chesapeake regional given that its my home regional.
The teams are all extremly friendly and all the teams are extremly helpful to rookie teams especially. Everybody is willing to lend a hand to get you on the feild. The competition will not be as tough as some of the other regionals that you have mentioned, but it will provide a much more relaxed atmosphere for your first regional. The stadium atmosphere will also be much more intimate and close than a regional in a convention center.
Plus, with the regional taking place at the University of Maryland, you will be a 20 minute drive to the capital (like the building not just the DC border) and there are a ton of things to do in DC and around the area.
TL;DR If you want a lower key regional with a lot of friendly people who want you to suceed along with great sightseeing, Chesapeake is for you.
I think it depends on what you wanna get out of you first year. I would say Silicon Valley or lonestar as those are two very prominent regionals
From a flight logistics stand point, if you are flying to the US by way of Europe do you want to fly across the US as well? The only event I can personally vouch for is Chesapeake, the people were awesome last time we visited.
There always seems to be atleast one international team at Midwest each year due to the international airport and Chicago being such a good city for sightseeing. With teams like 71 and 111 attending every year, there is also plenty of experienced teams willing to help. Midwest is the only regional from that list that I’ve attended, but would certainly recommend it.
There are often teams from Mexico and Brazil at Silicon Valley, so if you went there you would not be the only international team.
I will mention that the NY City regional is competitive, has a great group of teams, and is in New York City.
The advantage of NYC is that everyone in the world knows about it, it has some of the most famous sights in the country. And no matter your language, there is a whole community here that speaks it. Plus, being s diverse, people tend to be extra helpful to visitors.
The disadvantage is that NYC is not a general representation of ‘typical America’ - it is a large city, with all that implies. America is mostly rural, and theres not much like that for many miles from NYC. Plus, folks from the UAE might be surprised that NYC can be very cold in March. Snow, for example. (Being a large city, the snow isn’t necessarily white…).
Please let us know where you end up choosing, because I am sure many people would love to meet your team!
We would be very happy to have you at Lone Star, please let me know if you have any questions or if we can help in any way.
Honestly you picked a great week for a regional. I can personally vouch for Lone Star and Bayou as being great events. Awesome teams, that will go out of their way to help you any way they can. I haven’t been to others but I have heard great things. All of them are in or very close to large US cities so you can extend your trip a bit and see a few sites.
I’ll add that Houston has Johnson Space Center one of the best engineering related tourist attractions in the US. There are also direct flights from Dubai to Houston.
Lone Star and New York are Fri-Sun events so that might make a difference in flight costs and other considerations.
Yeah, Bayou and Lone Star are both great regionals that I can personally attest to, but I’m sure any of the regionals you listed will be just as friendly and inviting. Consistently I think the most competitive regionals that week are Silicon Valley and Lone Star, but keep in mind this is Week 6 so at any regional the robots will be near the prime of their competitiveness.
Silicon Valley is a party. Amazing regional, amazing teams, and while the competition is tough, you’ll definitely learn something from the experience.
I also recommend Chesapeake…we attended for the first time last year and were truly met with a friendly, fun bunch of teams. My team enjoyed it so much they would rather go there than our “home” regional.
Welcome to FIRST and FRC! Every Regional has local planning committees and takes much pride in adding local “flavor” to their events. It’s hard work putting on these events and most involve 100+ volunteers.
Thank you for all the kind words above re: the Chesapeake Regional. For 11 years the planning committee has worked hard to make it a fun and friendly event for all the constituents - both the teams and the volunteers. I can’t speak to the “toughness” of the event this year. With the district system in many of the states to our north, we will have to see which teams sign up.
We are very excited to be hosting the event this year at the Comcast Center on the University of Maryland campus. We will miss Baltimore, but are happy with the opportunities at the new venue. The event will be a little smaller this year (54 rather than 64 teams) so teams will get more matches. We are working on the feasibility of a team social.
We have hosted international teams at our event before, and as was mentioned, could arrange “partners” for you here. There would be many local teams who would be delighted to help you with the logistics.
Depending on your flights, you have the choice of Dulles for direct flights from Dubai or switching in NY to arrive at BWI. Both airports are about 45 minutes away from College Park, Maryland.
Washington DC is accessible by public transport from College Park and I would highly recommend that if you come to Chesapeake that you add on a couple of days of sightseeing in the area. There is so much to see just in Washington DC and lots to also see in Maryland, depending on your time frame.
The Chesapeake Regional Planning Committee would be happy to talk to your team advisors. I have sent you my email if you would like to follow-up.
Thank you to all for your great advice. After much debate, we’ve decided to go with the Colorado Regional! We’re looking forward to meeting some awesome teams!
And many of our members are looking forward to their first experience with snow! On that note, if any Colorado teams could recommend Denver highlights?
Thanks so much! See you in Denver!
Congrats on your new team and good luck with your season!
Feel free to PM me with any specific questions you have. Up-A-Creek Robotics will be glad to help you out however we can. We’re celebrating our 10th Anniversary this season and will again be attending the Colorado Regional.
This is neat! Do you know if this data has been updated to include 2013 as of yet?
(Nevermind- clicked on thread link which is updated through 2012. Did not see attachment)
The data in the file is from 2013.