Greater Kansas City Regional 2016

I was looking at the list of teams attending the Greater Kansas City Regional on the FIRST website and there are only 55 teams listed but everything we have received says there are 60 teams attending. Does anyone know who the extra 5 teams are?

We just got in Thursday. Looks like we are at 59 at the moment, but expect 1 more to cap at 60.

https://my.usfirst.org/myarea/index.lasso?page=teamlist&event_type=FRC&sort_teams=number&year=2016&event=mokc

They were at the max until deposits were due. At that point teams on the wait list were accepted. You will not get a final list until all teams have paid.

Our team cleared the wait list and paid last week. Looks like we are one of two non-KS and MO teams. See you there.

Glad to see that you guys made it off the wait list! I was starting to wonder.

Kansas City has an amazing streak where one of the winners from the previous year always appears on the winning alliance the next year. That streak survived an inprobable continuation last year where only 1 winning team member returned to GKC for 2015 and had to square off against a juggernaut alliance in the finals which included perennial powerhouses 1730 and 1806. All I can say is congrats to 1723, and don’t mess with the streak.

[strike]2007 Winners: 0935, 1775, 1997[/strike]
2008 Winners: 0476, 1806, 1802
2009 Winners: 1806, 1208, 0931
2010 Winners: 2345, 0525, 0931
2011 Winners: 0525, 1730, 1984 (replaced by 3784)
2012 Winners: 1986, 0016, 3784
2013 Winners: 1986, 1806, 2389
2014 Winners: 0118, 1986, 1723
2015 Winners: 1785, 1723, 1710

1710 does not appear to be playing in GKC this year. Expect 1785 and 1723 to be hot commodities come alliance selection time.

1710 will be there, but not to compete! We will be representing the midwest along with 1986 and 1785 at the Smoky Mtn Regional in Knoxville. Can’t wait to see what our KC community will do!

So we never had a shot last year in the finals. If we could have pulled off a 2014 win we wouldn’t have been doomed by the GKC curse.

In general, how is the Team Social on Friday night?

I went to the team social last year with one other member from my team. There’s certainly people to talk to, music, etc. There’s food. Not everyone is entirely social; some people got together outside and worked on their code. I bet if it’s warm enough there’ll be lots of Ultimate Frisbee.

Wanted to pass along an invitation that was e-mailed by our regional director 2 days ago.

We know that many teams do not have the resources to build all of the field elements themselves and we hope this day will help to level the playing field for all KC area teams.

Coaches,

The R7 Alliance (1730, 1986, and 1987) is excited to announce our 5th annual scrimmage event on Saturday February 20th from 8 am - 3 pm! Location is Lee’s Summit High School B gym. Entrance is on Browning St on the west side of campus.

We plan to have inspectors from the Kansas City Regional on hand for any teams that want to go through a mock inspection before the actual event.

We are asking that teams bring their own extension cord/power strip to charge their batteries and as many game pieces as possible so that we may be able to simulate matches on the field. Teams should also bring any tools you may need as there will not be a tool shop available. We have been asked to make sure that teams do not drive robots on the uncarpeted areas of the gym floor to avoid making marks.

Field Access: Matches will run every 15 minutes beginning at 8:30 am, with a total of 10 minutes of field access for teams. For the first two and a half minutes, a match timer will run for teams to practice autonomous and match timing. Teams can use the remainder of the 10 minutes of field time for any additional testing.

To ease field reset and to maximize field time, we plan to set up one of each defense from each category on the field. The red side will contain the Portcullis, Moat, Drawbridge, and Rock Wall. The blue side will contain Cheval de Frise, Ramparts, Sally Port, and Rough Terrain. You will have the opportunity to select alliance color when signing up for matches.

Concessions: New, this year we’ve expanded our concessions from the previous years. We will be serving a pancake breakfast and coffee, and hot dog and pulled pork meals for lunch along with the typical snacks that we’ve had. We will provide a menu with pricing to any teams attending.

This year’s game is tough, but an added challenge has been building a practice field with all of the elements that can be used. It was a major monetary and labor intensive work effort - to help us offset this we hope that teams will support our efforts by purchasing from the expanded concession stand. We appreciate your support of these concessions to continue to fund the elements for use at the scrimmage and the KC regional practice field.

If you are planning to attend, please RSVP to Hillary Griffith (e-mail redacted).

Drop me a PM if you need Hillary’s contact information.

Any webcast link?

Anyone else still waiting for volunteer confirmation? Applied in January, never heard back…

I got my confirmation a few weeks ago for field reset and tear down at the end of the weekend along with some others from 1710. There were a few people who didn’t hear back yet and a common thread among them was that they were under the age of 18. Everyone that was emailed confirmation was 18 or older. That may be intentional or a complete coincidence.

Weird. I’m 21 and previously volunteered at GKC in the same role that I applied for, so I have no idea. Know if the volunteer coordinator is still Janell Peterson?

Yes she still is. Her email is petersonj@kcstem.org

Guess I’ll shoot an email over later. Woo 1 week hype.

I applied for Ref in Late January, when out team was able to register, and never heard back. A few weeks later, I added RI, and still did not hear back. A week or two later, I added Field Reset, and heard back within a few days.

Is anyone planning to record the matches and post them to YouTube? It is a bummer when you can’t go back and watch matches after the Regional is over.

Kansas City only has a few matches from last year posted on TBA.

This year, autonomous is really important for doing well. At the regional, I can help any teams that need help with Java programming. Just ask for Joey with team 1939. Is there someone else that could provide help with LabView or C++?

Gregg Rupp is a CSA and pretty handy with C++