Schedule:
Thursday: Meet at Del Mar Arena (Del Mar Fairgrounds) at 8:30 am. Fix arm, complete inspection of robot, practice and coding. Day ends around 8 pm
Friday: Meet at Fine’s to carpool at 7:00 am or at Del Mar Fairgrounds at 8:00 am. All day tournament rounds. Day ends around 8 pm.
Saturday: Meet at Fine’s to carpool at 7:00 am or at Del Mar Fairgrounds at 8:00 am. Morning competition. If we make it to Quarterfinals, these happen after lunch. Ends around 5 :30pm
From FIRST:
10th Annual San Diego Regional FIRST Robotics Competition
March 2nd – 5th, 2016
Letter of Welcome for Teams
On behalf of the San Diego Regional Planning Committee it is my great pleasure to welcome all teams and volunteers to the Week One FIRST Robotics Competition: Stronghold, our 10th Annual San Diego Regional! The committee has been hard at work to ensure you have a safe, fun, highly competitive and successful event.
Our event will be at the Del Mar Arena on the Del Mar Fairgrounds. The general entrance for load-in and the public will be the Main Gate located on Jimmy Durante Blvd. just off Interstate 5 and Via De La Valle.
To get a map of the area, search for Del Mar Fairgrounds. The site address is
2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd, Del Mar, CA 92014
Check out the full agenda and other event information at our website sandiegoregional.com
Let’s review some of the major highlights of our event and venue.
Parking:
Parking will be free for everyone on Wednesday and Thursday in the main parking lot. (Zone 3 on the Evacuation Map.) On Friday and Saturday there will be a $10 parking fee charged, per vehicle per entry by the venue.
We were able to negotiate a limited number of discounted parking passes for teams. These team parking passes will be $10 each and limited to 2 per team. They will be good for both Friday and Saturday and will allow in and out access. These parking passes must be purchased in advance on Thursday from Pit Admin. To use these special passes teams will need to enter through the Solana gate (off Via De La Valle ½ mile west of Jimmy Durante Blvd.,) on the North end of the fair grounds. For dropping off and picking up team members there will be a designated area at the Main Entrance.
There will be an area to park equipment trailers (no RV’s or camping trailers) on the fair grounds. Details on this will be available at the event on Wednesday and Thursday.
Venue Food Policy:
No team food will be allowed in the facility and no parking lot “tailgating” is allowed by the venue. Individuals may bring personal snacks and lunch and teams will be allowed to load water into the pits during load in. Food may not be delivered into to the venue from outside. Venue operated concessions will be available Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
To make feeding your teams easier there will be pre-order box lunches available for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. If you are interested in purchase pre-order lunches for your team please complete the attached order form and submit it no later than Monday, 2/29. Information on vouchers and box lunch pick up will be available at pit admin.
Load In:
Pit load in will be available Wednesday from 6PM to 8PM and Thursday from 7:45AM to 8:30AM. This year pit setup will be allowed during load in. As always, teams are limited to five (5) team members in proper safety attire (Safety glasses, closed toed shoes, hair secured, etc.) Teams may enter through the Main Gate off Jimmy Durante Blvd. and will be directed where to go.
From Our Lead Robot Inspector, Mr. Sisk:
Welcome to the San Diego Regional. We have a great team of inspectors at the regional whose number one goal is to get your team on the field with a safe and legal robot.
All robots will need to pass a safety inspection before their first practice match (3.4.1 Safety Rules) and be fully inspected before qualification matches (G7-A). Bumpers are back this year, every team must have red and blue bumpers in order to compete. Carefully review 4.7 Bumper Rules in the game manual, pay special attention to R19 and how it describes each corner of the robot must be protected by an 8-inch bumper segment. Be sure to bring documentation for any unusual parts so the inspectors can determine their legality. Documentation also includes a Bill of Materials and your Robot Lockup form.
Singers!
Any singers that would like to represent your team? Would they like to lead us in singing the National Anthem at our opening ceremonies on Friday and Saturday? Tryouts will be held on Thursday at 11:00AM in the Chairman’s/Deans list rooms. Acapella only please, soloists and small groups welcome.
Women In Engineering event: We are partnering with the Society for Women Engineers to host a Women in Engineering event on Friday at 1:30. Please see the attached flyer and encourage your female team members to attend.
Student Ambassador:
We would invite 2 members of your team to take a shift in our Student Ambassador program. They will escort a variety of folks that sign up for tours of our event. Sign up at Pit Admin.
Safety First:
FIRST Teams are always prepared! Please review with your teams the attached evacuation map. Our competition will be in Zone 2 while most of the public parking will be in Zone 3. Of course we don’t anticipate any event but please be familiar with the map and know the venue procedures.
The entire San Diego Planning Committee welcomes you and if there is anything we can do to make your event more enjoyable, please let us know.
Dan Glenn
Chairman, San Diego Regional Planning Committee