Spectator Information

Thinking of coming to the Palmetto Regional? Great! We'd love to have you, and figured the following information may be helpful for you:

• The event is free! Parking is even free -- bring the whole family!
• The pits are open to the public, but you must be wearing safety glasses and closed-toe shoes, such as tennis shoes or boots. The former is available at the event, the latter is not. And, obviously, don't let the little ones run around. We prefer to keep the EMTs at the event bored.
• There's no fighting in FIRST. You won't see any spinning blades of death here. The robots are built to complete tasks in a game. We don't know the game (being the webmaster doesn't qualify as a "need to know"), but for a good idea, look at some matches from 2002 and 2006.
• Thursday is the practice day. Teams play in matches to test their robots out, fix things as needed, and pass the technical inspection to be allowed to compete in the qualifying rounds. Play is more laid-back, although there are usually several teams scrambling to fix their robots up in time. Pits open up around 8:30 am and close at 8 pm, while matches tend to run from around 10 am until 5 pm.
• Friday is when business starts to pick up, with qualifying matches going on all day long. Matches run from 9:30 am until 5 pm, at which point the first group of awards are given out. Pits close around 6 pm.
• Saturday is when everything comes to a head. There are more qualifying matches in the morning, then the top 8 teams select their alliance partners for the elimination rounds, which are played out after lunch in a best-of-three format. Matches wrap up around 4 pm, followed immediately on the field by the awards ceremony.