2012-2013 Northern California FIRST Tech Challenge Championship Tournament

Take Mowry Avenue exit off I-880 and turn towards bay.   Turn left onto Cedar (2nd light).   School is on the right.   The main entrance is at the intersection of Cedar and S Magazine Drive  (there is a traffic light at the intersection).    

• Your robot  – only one … no backup robots
• Your smile, patience and Gracious Professionalism!
• Fully charged batteries and charger
• Your Engineering Notebook (PLEASE make sure it has team name & number on the front)
• Spare parts
• Tools- NOTE no power tools are allowed inside
• SAFETY GLASSES
• laptop computer and power supply
• Signed liability waivers for each team member, mentor, or coach- yes, i know that you turned these in to each qualifier already.   We need “fresh” ones
• A powerstrip and  extension cord for use in the pits
• Bring food or money for lunch.  We expect there to be a FRC team there selling pizza, snacks, beverages as a fundraiser for their team!

ON SATURDAY:    We expect to start setting up the pit areas very late – estimate from the school is past 9pm, possibly as late as 11pm!     Starting at 5pm, we will start robot inspections and possibly judging if we have available teams IN THE CAFETERIA

ON SUNDAY:   Team pits open at 7:30am.  The early morning will be spent:

• checking in – go directly upstairs to the SOUTH mezzanine area to PIT ADMIN  – turn left and go upstairs 
• final robot inspection – on the competition floor
• judging interviews  (if you did not have your judging interview on Saturday)

All teams are expected to be signed in at pit admin no later than 8am!

For those teams that did not pass inspection on Saturday night,   all HW/SW and field inspection will be on the competition floor.

THERE ARE 2 PIT AREAS.   P The pit areas have uncovered GYM FLOORS and

NO food/drink will be allowed in your pit area.  If you can not abide by this,  your pit team will be removed and you will be banished to the cafeteria – well, not banished exactly.   But we are serious about this.   Also, please take care not to damage the floor as much as possible.

There will be a practice field in each pit area. These are shared fields.  Make sure everyone has equal opportunity to practice!  

In the pits, each team will have a 6 or 8 foot table with 2 chairs for their use during the tournament.

We will have a brief opening ceremony at ~10am, followed immediately by the beginning of the qualification rounds.  The qualifying rounds will finish in the early afternoon, after a short lunch break. Our goal is to finish all qualifying rounds no later than 3pm – we need your help to make this happen  [Did you read my last year’s message on how to do this and what impact your attention has on the entire day ?]!

Once qualifying matches are complete, we will hold alliance selection.  We will have 4 Alliance Captains that will each select 2 partners.    Alliance Selection will be followed by a short break, and then the elimination rounds.

It would be good to plan for alliance selection. If you are not familiar with the alliance selection process, make sure to read the Game Manual

We will ask ALL teams to clear out of the pit area immediately after alliance selection.  The 4 alliances (and their partners) that are in the semifinals will MOVE to pit tables physically on the competition floor itself.  We want to be able to completely clear out the upstairs pit areas before the final rounds.  

The end of the elimination rounds will be followed by the presentation of awards, and the closing ceremony.   We would really like to be all done by 6pm but we need your help to do that.

There is a very big cafeteria (look for large letters on building with curved roof) – Cougar Commons.   Please eat in the cafeteria!

We expect a FRC team will be present to sell pizza, snacks, beverages as a fundraiser for their team!