FRC Northeast Utilities FIRST CT Regional: For Spectators
Not competing. Visiting a team? Just stopping by to check it out? This is for you!
About the FIRST Robotics Competition
The FIRST Robotics Competition is an exciting event that is part science fair, part sporting event, and part rock concert.
To make things exciting, every year FIRST creates a new game that generally includes a challenge unlike anything the teams have ever seen or experienced in previous years.
The 2011 FIRST Robotics Competition game was revealed to teams on January 8th. In this year's game, LOGO MOTION, two alliances of three teams will compete on a 27-by-54-foot field. Alliances compete to hang as many inflated plastic shapes (triangles, circles, and squares) on their grids as they can during a 2 minute and 15 second match. The higher the teams hang their game pieces on their scoring grid, the more points their alliance receives.
The match begins with one 15-second Autonomous Period in which robots operate independently of driver controls and must hang yellow "Ubertubes" to score extra points. For the rest of the match, drivers control robots and try to maximize their alliance score by hanging as many logo pieces as possible. Any logo piece hung on the same peg as an Ubertube receives double points. If teams assemble the logo pieces on their scoring grids to form the FIRST logo (triangle, circle, square, in a horizontal row in that order), the points for the entire row are doubled.
The match ends with robots deploying "minibots," small robots that are independent of their bigger host robot, onto vertical poles. The minibots race to the top of the pole to trigger a sensor and earn additional bonus points.
2011 Northeast Utilities FIRST Connecticut Regional Schedule
| Day | Time | What's Going On? |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday March 31, 2011 |
8:00a - 5:00p |
Load-in and Practice Day Teams arrive in the morning, unpack their robots and set-up their pits (the area where they can work on their robot). All robots are inspected to ensure they meet the competition rules. Teams have an opportunity to test and drive their robot for practice before the start of Qualification Matches on Friday. |
| Friday April 1, 2011 |
8:45a - 5:00p |
Competition Day 1 - Qualification Matches After opening ceremonies in the morning, teams get all fired up for a long full day of competition in Qualification Matches. The day ends with an award ceremony recognizing teams for various accomplishments. |
| Saturday April 2, 2011 |
8:45a - 12:00p 12:30p - 4:00p |
Morning: Competition Day 2 - Qualification Matches Qualification Matches continue in the morning, as teams compete to make it into the top eight. Right before we break for lunch, the top eight teams get to pick their alliance partners for the afternoon's Elimination Matches. Afternoon: Elimination Matches The newly formed alliances will compete in a bracket-style elimination (think of typical sports tournament brackets). Alliances must defeat their opponents twice in order to move on to the next level The day ends with an alliance of three teams being named Regional Champion at the afternoon's award ceremonies. Additional awards will also be presented. |
| Schedule subject to change. All times are estimated based on flow of rounds. Detailed schedule available. Please see Pit Administration table for updated times. |
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Location
The Northeast Utilities FIRST Connecticut Regional is held in downtown Hartford at the Connecticut Convention Center on Friday and Saturday, April 1st and 2nd. Directions to the Convention Center can be found here.
Parking
Parking is available in the Connecticut Convention Center parking garage, or at any of the near-by parking lots. To find a near-by parking lot, take a look at the Greater Hartford Convention & Visitors Bureau's parking map. On the map, the Convention Center's parking garage is Number 17 and can be found on the far right side of the map, right near the Founders Bridge.
CT FIRST is Connecticut’s planning and operating organization for FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).
