Introducing Game Management System

[solopilot]

Introducing Game Management System, a software suite to help manage Robotics events. GMS was used at the MAR District in 2014. It helps volunteers do their job with style and ease. Currently, it supports Robot Inspection, Judging, Queuing, Pit Administration, Game Announcement and FTAs. Each volunteer uses an Android device to help with their role. GMS continually shares status with all volunteers and keeps everyone up to date. It takes the stress out of managing a Robotics event and leaves all the fun in.

Follow it at https://www.facebook.com/gmscue or find out how you can use it at your event at http://gms.pejaver.com

Good luck all, and see you at the Champs...

--raj

[BenDSterling]

Looks cool. When will you make an iPad version?

[Gregor]

Heard a lot of good things about this from my volunteer friends in MAR, I hope this eventually gets rolled out everywhere.

[Mike Marandola]

This was fantastic last year. This was a much better way for teams to request spare parts than over the loudspeaker.

[Koko Ed]

I used the GMS at Midknight Mayhem and IRI..
It was very simple to use and understand. All my volunteers thought highly off it. It needs alot of improvements (it is not able to work with four team alliances during elims)
I am very excited for it's potential. What I envision a system that not only lets you know where a team is located (the system will let you know if a team is in the pits, on the way to the field or at the field)but I would like it to communicate to team when to come to the field. The system currently allows you to see a teams schedule as well. I would like it if it had team results and standing as well as other team information. I think it would be a huge help at the championships where there will be six to eight divisions in action.

[adammiller3122]

It looks very nice. I am going to take it for a test drive at some point. It does have some great potential though! ::rtm::

[DonRotolo]

I used it last year at Mount Olive for Robot Inspection and found it very useful. It makes the inspection manager's life much easier too.

There is a learning curve, which takes a little getting used to, and for inspections it assumes you are using the workflow generally suggested by FIRST. It makes it a LOT easier to keep track of teams, where they are (in the pits), where they are (in the process), and what each team still needs to pass final inspection. In this respect, it is somewhat better than paper.

In a different respect, it is far superior: Communicating. When the LRI on the field sees something, they snap a photo and set the team to "reinspect". Before the team even makes it back to the pits, an inspector is waiting for them, and knows exactly what to look at and help the team work through. Everything is stored, and can be referred to later.

Also, photos at weigh-in are proof of what was and wasn't on the robot. If a gizmo was added but not inspected, it's hard to refute a photo.

As for an Apple version, I vote no. A decent android tablet is very inexpensive compared to the least expensive iPad. Not worth the time and red tape, IMHO. At MAR events it is not BYO, the tablets are provided to volunteer staff. Standard hardware simplifies things.

[Koko Ed]

I used it last year at Mount Olive for Robot Inspection and found it very useful. It makes the inspection manager's life much easier too.

There is a learning curve, which takes a little getting used to, and for inspections it assumes you are using the workflow generally suggested by FIRST. It makes it a LOT easier to keep track of teams, where they are (in the pits), where they are (in the process), and what each team still needs to pass final inspection. In this respect, it is somewhat better than paper.

In a different respect, it is far superior: Communicating. When the LRI on the field sees something, they snap a photo and set the team to "reinspect". Before the team even makes it back to the pits, an inspector is waiting for them, and knows exactly what to look at and help the team work through. Everything is stored, and can be referred to later.

Also, photos at weigh-in are proof of what was and wasn't on the robot. If a gizmo was added but not inspected, it's hard to refute a photo.

As for an Apple version, I vote no. A decent android tablet is very inexpensive compared to the least expensive iPad. Not worth the time and red tape, IMHO. At MAR events it is not BYO, the tablets are provided to volunteer staff. Standard hardware simplifies things.
They were giving out Nexus Tablets for us to use. I am highly against "renting out' expensive tablets to volunteers as they have a high probability of walking during the event. Give out the program to use on their own devices of find a less expensive alternative.

[Gregor]

They were giving out Nexus Tablets for us to use. I am highly against "renting out' expensive tablets to volunteers as they have a high probability of walking during the event. Give out the program to use on their own devices of find a less expensive alternative.

Sticker on the back, sign out sheet, if it's not there at the end of the day you cough up the money?

[Koko Ed]

Sticker on the back, sign out sheet, if it's not there at the end of the day you cough up the money?

Most of my volunteers are broke college kids. There is no way they are paying up for a lost tablet.

[solopilot]

I used the GMS at Midknight Mayhem and IRI..
It was very simple to use and understand. All my volunteers thought highly off it. It needs alot of improvements (it is not able to work with four team alliances during elims)
I am very excited for it's potential. What I envision a system that not only lets you know where a team is located (the system will let you know if a team is in the pits, on the way to the field or at the field)but I would like it to communicate to team when to come to the field. The system currently allows you to see a teams schedule as well. I would like it if it had team results and standing as well as other team information. I think it would be a huge help at the championships where there will be six to eight divisions in action.

Thanks Ed. Team results & scores have been added. The 4th alliance team in Elims is a bit hard because (last year) FMS did not include them in the exported schedule. Lets see if FIRST changed things this year...

[solopilot]

Most of my volunteers are broke college kids. There is no way they are paying up for a lost tablet.

I hear you... We (MAR) were fortunate to have nice tablets. At Ruckus, I was expecting your Queuers to use their own phones. People seem to take better care of their own property...

Give out the program to use on their own devices of find a less expensive alternative.

GMS can be downloaded for free on most Android devices. Prices are dropping for Android devices. If you are buying tablets, just make sure the battery is good for a full day's operation.

--raj

[solopilot]

It looks very nice. I am going to take it for a test drive at some point. It does have some great potential though! ::rtm::

Adam, GMS will support a Team role soon. The code is in there but I need to write the documentation before I can announce it :(. The key features will be Scouting and access to Pit Admin announcements & other GMS data.

Team mode does not need a GMS server but it needs Internet access. To try it, login to the Android app using your name and password and select the Team role. Select the "Duel on the Delaware" event. Other events will get activated the day before the event starts.

For now, you'll have to figure out how to use it. Hint, swipe screens horizontally and long-press things for more options. Have fun...

--raj

[Libby K]

This was fantastic last year. This was a much better way for teams to request spare parts than over the loudspeaker.

The less-than-stellar thing about it was that we had to dedicate someone's personal device to it all day... not to mention that god-awful notification noise in the middle of matches/music. *whirrrrrr* Message for you, sir! still makes me twitch.

Personally, I'd rather stick with the loudspeaker requests - because then everyone's going to hear it instead of having to actively check the website. That definitely wouldn't have worked, though, in MARCMP's all-in-one-room venue.

If there were a way to 'subscribe' to the event's notifications (think FRCMega-style) I'd be all over it, but the way it was implemented at MARCMP wasn't very helpful at all. I know we had to give up on it because logging into it from people's personal cell phones ended up locking them out of all other data traffic on their device (something with the specific wi-fi network, IIRC). Not good when kids' parents were trying to reach us.

[solopilot]

The less-than-stellar thing about it was that we had to dedicate someone's personal device to it all day... not to mention that god-awful notification noise in the middle of matches/music. *whirrrrrr* Message for you, sir! still makes me twitch.

Personally, I'd rather stick with the loudspeaker requests - because then everyone's going to hear it instead of having to actively check the website. That definitely wouldn't have worked, though, in MARCMP's all-in-one-room venue.

If there were a way to 'subscribe' to the event's notifications (think FRCMega-style) I'd be all over it, but the way it was implemented at MARCMP wasn't very helpful at all. I know we had to give up on it because logging into it from people's personal cell phones ended up locking them out of all other data traffic on their device (something with the specific wi-fi network, IIRC). Not good when kids' parents were trying to reach us.

Hi Libby & Mike, perhaps you are commenting on something else, not GMS. GMS was not used for Pit Administration last year.

However, GMS does have a new Team Notification function that addresses your valid concern. It will not lock out data traffic from cell phones and it does not require team members to connect to an event WiFi. It gets its data from the Internet. This feature was initially tested at your MidKnight Mayhem, though I did not publicize it.

A description is at: http://gms.pejaver.com/UserGuide-TeamNotification

--raj

[markmcgary]

*whirrrrrr* Message for you, sir! still makes me twitch.

Monty Python? (http://youtu.be/3SwNXQMoNps)

[John Retkowski]

not to mention that god-awful notification noise in the middle of matches/music. *whirrrrrr* Message for you, sir! still makes me twitch.


Yay I'm not the only one!

[Libby K]

This feature was initially tested at your MidKnight Mayhem, though I did not publicize it.

In fact, you didn't even tell the Event Coordinator about it! :) (Granted, I was a little busy...)

I kid - but that's a really good solution. Thanks for explaining the separation there.

[Mike Marandola]

Hi Libby & Mike, perhaps you are commenting on something else, not GMS. GMS was not used for Pit Administration last year.

However, GMS does have a new Team Notification function that addresses your valid concern. It will not lock out data traffic from cell phones and it does not require team members to connect to an event WiFi. It gets its data from the Internet. This feature was initially tested at your MidKnight Mayhem, though I did not publicize it.

A description is at: http://gms.pejaver.com/UserGuide-TeamNotification

--raj

Ah, now that I think about it, the app I am talking about is called "Pit Helper" I believe.

[Brandon_L]

Having used this for queuing all last season, it's absolutely fantastic. No more scribbled notes and messy match schedules. It shows us queuers if the team is on the way to the field or not or already there, or if they've been given a warning to get their butts out there. It just makes the process a whole lot smother.



Personally, I'd rather stick with the loudspeaker requests - because then everyone's going to hear it instead of having to actively check the website.

I'd have to agree with this, I'd be more likely to hear a part request over the pit loudspeaker and just grab it and walk over to the team rather then be constantly checking my phone (which I don't have a smartphone anyway sooo...)

Edit:
Ah, now that I think about it, the app I am talking about is called "Pit Helper" I believe.

Welp, nevermind then. Let's just not use whatever it was again ::ouch::

Keep up the awesome work, Raj

[Mike Marandola]

I'd have to agree with this, I'd be more likely to hear a part request over the pit loudspeaker and just grab it and walk over to the team rather then be constantly checking my phone (which I don't have a smartphone anyway sooo...)

Ideally they would do both. Not that it matters but it is a web app so you could use a laptop as well.

[solopilot]

As for an Apple version, I vote no. A decent android tablet is very inexpensive compared to the least expensive iPad. Not worth the time and red tape, IMHO. At MAR events it is not BYO, the tablets are provided to volunteer staff. Standard hardware simplifies things.

You are right, but I was considering an IOS version for people that bring their own devices. Not every region/district would supply their volunteers with tablets. MAR is unusual in that it actually cares about the volunteers having a positive experience during the event.

Strangely, though 80% of the world uses Android, 80% of the FIRST community seems to use Apple. Wonder what that implies...

--raj

[DonRotolo]

*whirrrrrr* Message for you, sir!Yes, monty python. That "whirr" is an arrow (with a note on it) embedding itself into the character speaking. Strangely, though 80% of the world uses Android, 80% of the FIRST community seems to use Apple. Wonder what that implies...We have too much money here in the Northeast Mid-Atlantic?

[Ken Best]

As an inspector at The MAR Mt Olive event, the GMS allowed our process to work much quicker and allowed any inspector to follow up on any teams inspection at any time. The ability to visit any pit and have everything with us helped alot. Knowing which team was ready, in process of, or being completely inspected was shown on the pit map on the tablet. The information available and having the game manual in the tablet also helped. There were a few teams with major inspections items were the information in the tablet was essential, yet wasn't overwhelming. It's amazing how many teams do not have a game manual with them. The queuing system also worked great from what I have heard. Looking forward to using it again, Thanks Raj