2015 Midwest Regional

[indubitably]

No Midwest thread yet, so here it is!

2338 is excited for what looks like a very competitive event, check out the changes we've made since Wisconsin: https://youtu.be/rJN1v6aPmEg

There are 9 possible wild card opportunities created by teams:
16, 111, 1625, 1756, 2039, 2062, 2451, 2630, and 4143

Team List here: http://www.ilfirst.org/frc/events/midwest-regional/registered-teams.html

Stream available here: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/first-midwest-regional

Quick Stats of attending teams that have already competed:
Team # Qual Avg OPR
16 69.8 28.2
111 81 22.3
171 76.58 30.1
648 70.67 15.2
1625 38.2 -9.7
1675 54.89 14.1
1736 79.83 25.2
1739 67.67 14.5
1756 108.67 65.3
1781 52.33 14.9
2022 68.42 8
2039 74.17 20.8
2062 83.89 42.9
2077 95.56 55.2
2194 56.67 16.8
2338 98.44 68.4
2358 68.33 20.6
2451 104.8 62.6
2506 71.22 27.5
2630 49.4 12
2704 61 11.7
2709 49.22 3.5
2830 39.78 1.3
3061 40.2 10.2
3067 68.83 8.7
3352 50.33 20.3
4096 93.92 38.1
4143 111.33 66.2
4212 67.58 13.5
4241 59.25 13.9
4296 41.11 1.9
4655 97.89 56.4

[Sunshine]

Team C.O.R.E. 2062 looks forward to seeing our new friends on team 2338. The competition looks to be intense at Midwest. It'll be exciting to compete with old and new friends. This one will be interesting.

We have also made a few tweaks in preparation.
http://youtu.be/0QEs7GL9Bws
http://youtu.be/5SSjyFzY9Yc

[indubitably]

Team C.O.R.E. 2062 looks forward to seeing our new friends on team 2338. The competition looks to be intense at Midwest. It'll be exciting to compete with old and new friends. This one will be interesting.

We have also made a few tweaks in preparation.
http://youtu.be/0QEs7GL9Bws
http://youtu.be/5SSjyFzY9Yc

Videos are private

[avanboekel]

Midwest currently has 11 teams with a quals avg of 100 or more. This is the event to watch right now!

[Richard Wallace]

Midwest currently has 11 teams with a quals avg of 100 or more. This is the event to watch right now!

The stacks are certainly getting tall and frequent at Midwest.

Right now, Bedford has 16 teams with triple-digit QA, and four with averages greater than 150. Many of these high scoring teams have 30+ Recycle Rush matches behind them to date.

Based on Week 6, it appears that MSC, CMP, and IRI are going to be very high scoring affairs.
-------------------

edit: What's up with the Bomb Squad? They seem to be off their game -- robot issue, training new drivers, or ?

[XaulZan11]

Anyone know whats up with 2451? They didn't move their first match this morning and didn't even show for their last two. They are currently seeded 8th so I hope whatever issue they are having gets figured out.

[bkahl]

Anyone know whats up with 2451? They didn't move their first match this morning and didn't even show for their last two. They are currently seeded 8th so I hope whatever issue they are having gets figured out.

From talking to a friend, they are having RoboRio issues.

[dodar]

2451 just bit the bullet and withdrew. Sad to hear that had to happen.

[BrendanB]

Disappointing finish to the weekend for 2451 and their amazing robot. Thankfully they still will be competing in St. Louis after their win at Rock City.

[orangemoore]

Disappointing finish to the weekend for 2451 and their amazing robot. Thankfully they still will be competing in St. Louis after their win at Rock City.

I talked with 2451 during eliminations, it sounds like they figured out the issue and will continue to debug over the next couple of weeks. From what I understand the issue was isolated to the RoboRio and their code. I didn't see their robot running but they seemed confident that they solved the issue.

Congrats to 2338 for the Chairman's Award
and to the Winners 2830, 2062, 4143 for anyone who thinks this game is boring I would suggest you watch the playoff battle at Midwest it was awesome.

As for 3135 this was our best regional ever!

Ranking 10th with a Qualification Average of 98.2 (34.4 coming from noodles and Co-op)
We ended up being the 5th alliance captain after benefiting from 2451 removing themselves from eliminations.

Thanks to 1736 and 4212 for being our alliance partners. We probably built the best alliance we possible could from our standings.

Compared to last year and ranking 38 I'm sure we can get to the top spot next year.

[Sunshine]

Thank you teams 4143 and 2830! You were amazing alliance partners and fun to work with. And of course a nice job to the 1756, 2338 and 171 alliance. There were certainly some tense moments in playoffs, and everyone played great. A special shoutout to Gear It Forward! You are fierce competitors, so happy to see you win the chairman's award. Our team can't wait for St. Louis.

[RyanShoff]

4143 Mars/Wars would like to thank 2062 C.O.R.E and 2830 RoboTigers for joining our winning alliance. We formed a reliable alliance with a plan to make 4 capped six stacks and executed it. No cheesecake was needed.

It was our first ever regional win and the first time we earned a spot to the Championship since getting the rookie pass in 2012.

We also look forward to seeing our friends Cheese Curd Hurd and Argos at the Championships.

I was really hoping to see us and Pwnage form a #teamswerve or Bombsquad and us form a #teamslipring, but one blue banner reminds me that #teamNOtether was the way to go.


A couple of notes:

During the eliminations, the practice field was full of teams cheesecaking canburgulars.

During F-1, automode executed twice for at least our alliance. It cost us the robot set and nearly damaged our forks when we collided with the landfill. We won the match so we didn't make a big deal about it. I haven't seen video, so I don't know if it happened to the other side too.

During F-2, our 4th capped six stack was not counted because we were touching it. I feel we were clearly not supporting it, and it should have counted.

During F-3, we were surprised when all 4 bins were finally stolen from us. Our litter thrower made up the difference.

The FIRST API still has not spit out F-3.
The last two matches on Friday did not show up until Saturday.

Did I mention our noodle thrower was really good in the finals?

[avanboekel]

Thank you team 1756 Argos, and 171 Cheese Curd Herd for being incredible alliance partners. Both of you were a pleasure to work with, and we look forward to playing together in the future.

To 2062, 4143, and 2830: You all put together an amazing alliance and were well deserving of the win. We figured we'd need to try something big in finals 3 to give ourselves a shot. 4143 didn't go straight for the cans all elims, so we took a chance. It would have payed off too if it wasn't for your amazing human player. 2062, we'll be sure not to make the same mistake 3 times this year ;). Congratulations, and we look forward to seeing you all at champs!

During F-1, automode executed twice for at least our alliance. It cost us the robot set and nearly damaged our forks when we collided with the landfill. We won the match so we didn't make a big deal about it. I haven't seen video, so I don't know if it happened to the other side too.
We did not have this issue. Was it all 3 teams on red?


Mrs. C, congrats on volunteer of the year award! Very well deserved, and I'm proud to have called you my mentor.

Neil, extremely deserving of Dean's List Finalist. You've done an amazing job leading Ctrl-Z, and your team is quickly becoming an Illinois powerhouse. If you need a team to hang out with at champs, you know who to talk to :D.

The 2015 Midwest Regional has been by far the most exciting in recent memory. 2338 had a blast, and looks forward to seeing all these great teams again next year.

Also, does anyone know if the stream will be archived somewhere?

[RyanShoff]

We did not have this issue. Was it all 3 teams on red?


All three teams concluded that auto ran twice on the field. But that was after just winning our first finals match, so emotions are high and there is a lot going on. I'm going to check the driver station logs to look for anything funny. Hopefully a video will get posted. I would really like to know if it was something with the FMS or with our robot. We script autonomous movement from the DS so our bot isn't a typical case.

I really thought you had us once you switched strategy to get all the bins.

[BigJ]

All three teams concluded that auto ran twice on the field. But that was after just winning our first finals match, so emotions are high and there is a lot going on. I'm going to check the driver station logs to look for anything funny. Hopefully a video will get posted. I would really like to know if it was something with the FMS or with our robot. We script autonomous movement from the DS so our bot isn't a typical case.

I really thought you had us once you switched strategy to get all the bins.

Not sure if related (new control system and all), but a similar thing was happening last year - see http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1373180&postcount=4 and related thread

[bigbeezy]

We did not have this issue. Was it all 3 teams on red?

Actually we saw this as well. After we pulled the cans in auto the bot stopped as it normally did. Then started driving again for no reason and caused us to bump into 171. No damage caused and we didn't think much of it at the time.

[XaulZan11]

Our litter thrower made up the difference.


In addition to the litter, two things that stood out to me were 2830's contribution and 2062's driving. Having them able to create a capped stack of 6 with 4143 (by building the bottom stack of 4), really maximized the contribution of all three robots. Unlike at some events this year, the third robot played a critical role in the alliance. It also clear 2062 has a ton of driver practice. Watching them strafe a semicircle around a tipped over RC bin to pick it up from the bottom was extremely impressive and saved them a lot of time.

This was probably the deepest, most competitive Midwest since 08/09.

[RyanShoff]

Actually we saw this as well. After we pulled the cans in auto the bot stopped as it normally did. Then started driving again for no reason and caused us to bump into 171. No damage caused and we didn't think much of it at the time.

Good to know. I guess we'll add a latch in the code so auto will only run once.

[bigbeezy]

Thank you Midwest for once again being an exciting and thrilling regional. We are incredibly honored to receive the Regional Chairman's Award. Thank you 1756 and 171 for being awesome alliance partners. We definitely had to dig ourselves out of some big holes but when we needed to we came through. 2062, 4143, and 2830 y'all were an amazing alliance and :ahh: your human player... man he's good.

Thank you Bomb Squad for covering for us when we fell over. Wish we could have run together.

I hope PWNAGE is able to figure out and fix the issue they were experiencing. I was sad to see them forced to back out of playoffs like that.

See y'all at Champs!

[Alan2338]

Definitely one of the best Midwest Regionals to date. I'd felt like Midwest had become a rather dull competition the last few years with not enough competition. 2015 blew that out of the water.
Thank you to 1756 Argos and 171 Cheese Curd Herd for taking us to the finals, and we'll see the both of you in St. Louis.
Congrats to 4143, 2062, and 2830 on an amazing win. Some of the most synergy I've seen from an alliance.
I wasn't really a part of 2338 this year, so congrats to them on the Chairman's win, it's been a long time coming.
I'd like to congratulate the 2338 Seniors on making it to Champs and the Chairman's win. I know my senior year didn't turn out so well and everyone was a bit choked-up in the pits this year.

A final congratulation to my mother, Diane Cabiness, for winning the Volunteer of the Year Award as a first year FSM.

Hope to see everyone at champs. Thanks for a great competition.

[the programmer]

Thanks to everyone for making this such an amazing event, this is only my second time at the event but the difference in the level of play from last year was incredible. Thank you to 4143 and 2062 for being such an amazing alliance and to 2338, 1756 and 171 for putting up a great fight in the finals, I'm still amazed that we were able to win the third match! Finally, congratulations to 2062 on their first multiple win season, this is an impressive milestone and being able to team up with my old team to help them accomplish this was an amazing experience.

[Eagleeyedan]

Did I mention our noodle thrower was really good in the finals?

Indeed, he made almost every throw all the way across and did a great job muddling up the ramps for our opponents! We were watching in awe from the stands!

[JeremyLansing]

First off, a huge shout-out to our partners 2338 and 1756 for picking us. We had a blast playing with you guys, righting recycle cans is something we only spent a small amount of our practice time on, thank you for putting your faith in us.

4143, 2062, and 2830, you guys were awesome. I was sure once 2338 grabbed all the center cans in Finals Match 3 we had it in the bag, and you guys still came storming back.

Additional congratulations to Team 2338 for winning Chairman's and to Team 2630 for winning Engineering Inspiration.

This will be Team 171's first trip to Championships since 2010 and we are super excited to have that opportunity, and I couldn't think of a more exciting way to do it than at Midwest, there were lots of super exciting matches all weekend.

[tStano]

During F-1, automode executed twice for at least our alliance. It cost us the robot set and nearly damaged our forks when we collided with the landfill. We won the match so we didn't make a big deal about it. I haven't seen video, so I don't know if it happened to the other side too.



This happened to us in either our last or second last qualification match. We picked up our totes, didn't drive back quite all the way, and then kinda twitched forward and backwards lifting our totes some more. Nothing bad happened, and we had other things to fix after the match, so we didn't talk to an FTA, but I'm pretty sure auto ran twice. This was an issue last year as well. I was really hoping it was fixed.

[Sunshine]

John,
Thanks for the kind words about our drivers. You are correct, lots and lots of driving practice. This year was the easiest game to coach IMHO. The predictability of the game made anticipating possible scenarios simple.

Since everyone is giving their favorite moments, here's mine. We had just finished doing a 6 stack with RC and noodle during the last match. I had been preaching zero risk play to all alliance partners during elims. While working on the second stack, our first two totes came out of the chute crooked. I told drivers 5, do 5, meaning a 5 stack with noodle and RC. While we were getting the 4th tote I looked up at the score board and we were behind by something like 48 points (not sure, didn't have the time to do the math in the 1/2 second I needed to make a decision). I hollered out: "6, do 6, we have to go for the win!" The drivers reacted in time, somehow straightened the stack and delivered. That one tote gave us the win versus a tie. If it had been a tie, the other alliance would have won the tie breaker.

Now, I do not tell this story to boast or gloat. Quite the contrary. I know that had we gone for the 5 stack I would be beating myself up for a very, I mean very very long time. Not sure if I would actually ever forgive myself for letting the kids down.

I'm sure others on both sides have thought about how we/they/them/us either contributed to get those 6 points or missed out.......... Like our great 4 point autonomous and a great noodle thrower :yikes:

[The_Marmot]

The Midwest finals were as intense as last year's. This year also had as much teamwork as last year (remember, 171?).
Robotigers, thanks for making a reliable 4 stack. You guys were great and followed the plan exactly. The extra totes in the last match helped greatly.
CORE, to be honest, you surprised me with your robot. I knew you were good, but WOW. Special thanks to Mr. Sunshine (2062) who kept up the motivation and planning. And thanks to the rest of our drive team (Mr. G, Jordan, and Jarrett). Everyone contributed.

2338 and 1756, you guys were worthy opponents. Going into eliminations, we knew alliance #1 would be hard to beat with two great chute/landfill bots (and barrel snatchers). My chest collapsed when I saw the barrels being pulled in the last match.

Note: In finals match 2, our anti-slip device for the totes worked too well...

Finally, there was a sense of irony at Midwest:
1) 1756 and us switched places between CIR and Midwest. (winner vs. finalist and Excellence in Engineering)
2) 1756 and 2338 helped us reach rank 3 in our last qualification matches...
3) 171, we were with you last year, and against you this year. Congrats on going to the Championship.
Thanks for an exciting competition!

[AutodeskGeek]

For everyone who wants to review videos, a parent on our team took videos of our matches, including playoffs. The videos are slightly biased toward focusing on our alliance sometimes, as it was not an official tournament video.

Hopefully we can get the videos up sometime this week, and I'll try to post the links. That said, is there a link to an archived stream of the full tournament somewhere?

[Sunshine]

The last match........
http://youtu.be/MAB9Li4zmmE

[Alan2338]

My heart sunk all over again...
Good win for the red alliance.
If even one of those 4 cans we stole would have been standing up, it might be a different story.

[Sunshine]

Highest score of the regional.
http://youtu.be/LSe-7hu8F3w

[shhrz]

On behalf of team 2630, we want to thank the entire planning committee as well as the judges, volunteers and staff that made this a really fun event! This was our 2nd Regional outside of Israel (the other being the DC Regional in 2013), and it was a blast!

Much congratulations are in order - first, to team 2338 on their Chairman's Award! Well done!! Secondly to the winning alliance - 4143, 2062, and 2830 - you guys played fantastic during the entire playoffs! A special kudos to 4143's HP, who was AMAZING! The guy is responsible for at least 200 points during the playoffs, I think!

The finalist alliance - 2338, 1756 and 171 - also played extermely well! The finals were absolutely nail-biting, and we are happy to know that the entire alliance will be making it to Champs!! Congratulations!

Wanted to mention 2451 - their withdrawal was a display of true GP, and not something easy to do. The guy on the field looked bummed-out, and I was really glad that the entire stadium rose to their feet to appreicate them. Glad to know they will be competing in STL as well.

As for us - first of all we want to thank our alliance partners - 3067 and 1675. Never easy being the #8 alliance, and we were just half a point from the semi-finals! We hoped to go further than that, but we bowed out respectfully :)

We are very excited to win the EI! It's a very meaningful award that serves as another milestone and a sign for us that we are on the right path! It is a great honor for us. We wish to thank and send our appreciation to our amazing community and all those involved with our team that support us through every step of the way!

[thehotsauceman]

Team 16, The Bomb Squad, is happy to say that we had a great time at Midwest this year! Thank you 2194 for picking us for eliminations and for 2358 for rounding out our awesome 3rd seed alliance. We made a great run at it and had a LOT of fun in the pits during eliminations. Probably one of the most memorable eliminations we've had.

All of the videos from Friday and some from Saturday (we had some camera issues) have been posted to our YouTube account, Baxter BombSquad https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGHNP9gSn0jzhVO17r29Btg

The videos have been sent to the Blue Alliance.

Thanks again to everyone for a great experience!

[kgargiulo]

Some thoughts from a 4143 mentor who couldn't be there with his team:

The video feed commercials could not have worse timing. It is possible I used inappropriate language around my children when this happened. Every time I thought about trying the "commercial free" link it seemed that you were about to come on, or a commercial came on. No more traveling during regionals.

During Finals auto I was shouting "Why are we still moving?!?!" at the screen. A question my laptop did nothing to answer, but which this thread has covered.

2338/Gear, 1756/Argos, 171/Herd: tremendous job all of you. Not only during Finals, but throughout the entire event. As it happens, I sit 3 desks away from a 1756 mentor at work, so we'll have some new stories when I get back in town.

2062/C.O.R.E and 2030/RoboTigers: With 4143 you created an exemplar of what three well-matched alliance partners can do in this game (even when cheesecake is not on the menu). You not only meshed well, but you built a great plan and executed nearly flawlessly (not complaining - I would have loved to see where we were supporting that stack in F-2). Also a huge dose of congratulations and praise to the scouting leads and scouts that created this alliance.

As Matt pointed out in his list of ironies, our seeding surely benefitted from alliances with 2338 and 1756 late in Quals.

Although the video feed, at least for me, makes it near impossible to follow litter action during the matches it was easy to tell how we did from the scores. Love the litter or hate it, life and engineering can be messy. We all have to roll with litter. Great job HP(s).

I may still be holding my breath after the can-grab in F-3. I was more than worried when I saw that. It was a great move.

Finally, to all of MARS/WARS, congratulations on our first regional win. I wish I could have been there with you. In our fourth year as a team I want to also mention how happy I am for, and proud of, the seniors that have been on the team since day 1. You, and all of the veteran members of the team, have set a high bar and I am both confident in and looking forward to seeing the younger members of the team meet and raise that standard.

Now, no more of that sappy stuff before St. Louis.

[ThePancakeMan]

Some thoughts from a 4143 mentor who couldn't be there with his team:

The video feed commercials could not have worse timing. It is possible I used inappropriate language around my children when this happened. Every time I thought about trying the "commercial free" link it seemed that you were about to come on, or a commercial came on. No more traveling during regionals.

During Finals auto I was shouting "Why are we still moving?!?!" at the screen. A question my laptop did nothing to answer, but which this thread has covered.

2338/Gear, 1756/Argos, 171/Herd: tremendous job all of you. Not only during Finals, but throughout the entire event. As it happens, I sit 3 desks away from a 1756 mentor at work, so we'll have some new stories when I get back in town.

2062/C.O.R.E and 2030/RoboTigers: With 4143 you created an exemplar of what three well-matched alliance partners can do in this game (even when cheesecake is not on the menu). You not only meshed well, but you built a great plan and executed nearly flawlessly (not complaining - I would have loved to see where we were supporting that stack in F-2). Also a huge dose of congratulations and praise to the scouting leads and scouts that created this alliance.

As Matt pointed out in his list of ironies, our seeding surely benefitted from alliances with 2338 and 1756 late in Quals.

Although the video feed, at least for me, makes it near impossible to follow litter action during the matches it was easy to tell how we did from the scores. Love the litter or hate it, life and engineering can be messy. We all have to roll with litter. Great job HP(s).

I may still be holding my breath after the can-grab in F-3. I was more than worried when I saw that. It was a great move.

Finally, to all of MARS/WARS, congratulations on our first regional win. I wish I could have been there with you. In our fourth year as a team I want to also mention how happy I am for, and proud of, the seniors that have been on the team since day 1. You, and all of the veteran members of the team, have set a high bar and I am both confident in and looking forward to seeing the younger members of the team meet and raise that standard.

Now, no more of that sappy stuff before St. Louis.

I've been wanting to say something along these lines. I was truly blown away by the effectiveness of Mars Wars alliance strategy. You guys had cooperated in such a perfect way with each other and it showed in your scores. In my eyes that is what a perfect alliance is. Instead of 1 or 2 bots that are all working on their own, instead working together to complete each other's stacks. Congrats! and shout out to 4143's AMAZING human player.

[Sunshine]

New update clarifies what happens when a team declines during aliance selection. This update would have had a great effect had Team 2451 - PWNAGE been brought in as a replacement. If I'm interpreting the update correctly, 2451 could not be first alternate after declining because their robot was not functional. FYI, we were told that they had fixed their bot and was indeed the first alternate.

5.4 Playoff MATCHES
At the end of the Qualification MATCHES, the top eight (8) seeded Teams become the ALLIANCE Leads. The top seeded ALLIANCES are designated, in order, ALLIANCE
One, ALLIANCE Two, etc., down to ALLIANCE Eight. Using the ALLIANCE selection process described below, each ALLIANCE Lead chooses two (2) other Teams to join their ALLIANCE. If a team declines the ALLIANCE Lead position or doesn’t send a representative for ALLIANCE selection, they are ineligible to participate in the rest of the Tournament. If the declining/absent team would have been an ALLIANCE Lead, all lower ranked ALLIANCE Leads are promoted one spot. The next highest-seeded team moves up to become the ALLIANCE Eight Lead.

5.4.1 ALLIANCE Selection Process
If the Team declines, that Team is not eligible to be picked again or to be a BACKUP TEAM, and the ALLIANCE CAPTAIN extends another invitation to a different Team. If an invitation from a top eight ALLIANCE to another ALLIANCE Lead is declined, the declining Team may still invite Teams to join their ALLIANCE; however, it cannot accept invitations from other ALLIANCES.

[Jefferson]

I'd like to thank 2194 for selecting us. Y'all were one of the most consistent robots in the field. We were stoked to get with y'all.

I'd also like to throw major props out to Team 2358. These guys were extremely gracious when, as an alliance, we decided to go for the win. We couldn't out-stack the top-tier teams, but we could get those bins from the step to give us a chance. 2358 volunteered to lose serious weight (~40 lbs) to take on our ramp so that we could run our new canburgler.
What really blew me away, though, was when Brandon picked up our previous canburger and started hauling it over to 2358's pit. And I was astonished when they not only got it mounted and running, but took cans from the step during two of the semifinals matches. We hadn't kept the old system in hopes of cheesecaking it, (that's a word now, right?) but they had lost so much weight we were able to make it work.

If we had made stacks like we know we can, we would have had a fighting chance.

[Mark Holschuh]

Thanks to our alliance partners, teams 16 and 2358. I've always wanted to play in eliminations with the Bomb Squad. I can check that off of my FIRST bucket list now.

I was amazed at the accessories that the Bomb Squad had for their robot. They certainly are one of the fastest stacking teams at a feeder station, and Alliance captains at the Championship should take note of all the special options this team has to offer.

A special thanks to Bearbotics. They were able to strip down their robot and adapt it into a canburgler with Bomb Squad parts between eliminations matches. Parts were literally flying off the robot.

Our alliance certainly didn't hold anything back. It was a lot of fun!

[pwnageNick]

New update clarifies what happens when a team declines during aliance selection. This update would have had a great effect had Team 2451 - PWNAGE been brought in as a replacement. If I'm interpreting the update correctly, 2451 could not be first alternate after declining because their robot was not functional. FYI, we were told that they had fixed their bot and was indeed the first alternate.

5.4 Playoff MATCHES
At the end of the Qualification MATCHES, the top eight (8) seeded Teams become the ALLIANCE Leads. The top seeded ALLIANCES are designated, in order, ALLIANCE
One, ALLIANCE Two, etc., down to ALLIANCE Eight. Using the ALLIANCE selection process described below, each ALLIANCE Lead chooses two (2) other Teams to join their ALLIANCE. If a team declines the ALLIANCE Lead position or doesn’t send a representative for ALLIANCE selection, they are ineligible to participate in the rest of the Tournament. If the declining/absent team would have been an ALLIANCE Lead, all lower ranked ALLIANCE Leads are promoted one spot. The next highest-seeded team moves up to become the ALLIANCE Eight Lead.

5.4.1 ALLIANCE Selection Process
If the Team declines, that Team is not eligible to be picked again or to be a BACKUP TEAM, and the ALLIANCE CAPTAIN extends another invitation to a different Team. If an invitation from a top eight ALLIANCE to another ALLIANCE Lead is declined, the declining Team may still invite Teams to join their ALLIANCE; however, it cannot accept invitations from other ALLIANCES.

Yes, this rule update was the result of events that unfolded at Midwest. Under prior rules, we were still eligible to be a backup robot and were first in line due to being ranked so high. There was a worry once we got our robot working (around the end of Quarterfinal matches) that someone would call for a backup and it would put us in an awkward situation.

Hopefully this rule will stay for future FRC seasons to come so that no other teams run into this situation.