2016 Minnesota Robotics Invitational

[jajabinx124]

Looks like this year's MRI (http://firebears.org/?page_id=375) will be on October 15th.

36 teams are attending this year:
1816
2052
2129
2169
2175
2177
2472
2491
2498
2500
2502
2531
2574
2606
2823
2846
2847
2855
2957
2987
3042
3081
3082
3130
3184
3244
3407
3883
3926
4215
4511
4536
4607
4624
4778
4859

Rule changes:
-Four teams will be on each alliance in the playoffs.
-Alliance selection is 1-4, 1-4, 4-1.
-Alliance captains cannot choose among themselves. i.e. Number 1 Alliance captain cannot choose Number 2 alliance captain to join the Number 1 Alliance.
-No extra backup teams are needed, since each alliance has its own backup. -There is no requirement to play the backup team.
-NO TIME OUTS! Since teams have a back-up, there are no time-outs in the finals.
-Lower seeded alliance must declare robots first.
-+5 pound weight allowance. All other first robot rules apply. Honor system.
-For the purposes of training student drive team coaches, an experienced drive team coach will be allowed in the arena with a team’s drive team during a match.
-Additional gameplay rule changes will be announced closer to the competition.

Can't wait for the event- I'll be there as a volunteer. I'm currently experiencing symptoms of FIRST withdrawal here and there in college. I doubt an off-season event will cure it, but it'll probably help. :D

[Chief Hedgehog]

Looks like a great bunch of teams - this will be a fun tournament!

[hutchMN]

Looks like a great event with some of the top teams from MN attending. I might create a prescouting spreadsheet this weekend if I have enough time.

[Jardanium]

I visited last year as a spectator, and am super excited to actually be competing this year! Looks like a great list of teams, can't wait for it!

[hutchMN]

Here is a quick prescouting spreadsheet I just made. I will slowly be adding data to it leading up to the event. I will be getting all of my data from the last official event a team attended. I hope some teams find this useful.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V4xSHJImSsNg2Tg4xCHGt5Da2WYuDWC9u9cqp5rL_LE/edit?usp=sharing

[jajabinx124]

PM me if anyone is interested in trading for a medium golden KnightKrawler shirt (I have 3 duplicates, so I can do 3 trades) at MRI.

I'm willing to trade for any other medium shirt from any team, but would prefer shirts from: 2169, 2175, 2502, 3042, 3130, 3184, 4536, and 4607.

[Brian Maher]

I have a question about MRI and the state championship: why play with only four alliances, despite having more than enough teams for 8 four-team alliances?

[Caleb Sykes]

I have a question about MRI and the state championship: why play with only four alliances, despite having more than enough teams for 8 four-team alliances?

I don't know why MRI does this, but the state championship only has 30 teams, which would not be large enough for 8 4-team alliances.

[nickbrickmaster]

PM me if anyone is interested in trading for a medium golden KnightKrawler shirt (I have 3 duplicates, so I can do 3 trades) at MRI.

I'm willing to trade for any other medium shirt from any team, but would prefer shirts from: 2169, 2175, 2502, 3042, 3130, 3184, 4536, and 4607.

I would love a 2052 shirt! I have a medium old-style 3184 shirt to trade.

[Caleb Sykes]

I think I'm going to start getting into the t-shirt trading game also, I have large 4536 shirts. My preferred list is basically the same as Kshitij's. PM me if you are interested.

[Jon Stratis]

I have a question about MRI and the state championship: why play with only four alliances, despite having more than enough teams for 8 four-team alliances?

8 alliances is 24 teams + backups, or 32 if you do 4 team alliances. Should everyone present make it into the playoffs? Plus, the more teams you have in the playoffs, the longer they take. A 4-team playoff takes, 6-9 matches. Make it an 8-team playoff, and you add another 8-12 possible matches, more than doubling the length of time for the playoffs. Doing that means you can fit in fewer qualification matches - and I think most people would agree, they want more qualification matches where they can get them, especially at off-season events!

[Chief Hedgehog]

PM me if anyone is interested in trading for a medium golden KnightKrawler shirt (I have 3 duplicates, so I can do 3 trades) at MRI.

I'm willing to trade for any other medium shirt from any team, but would prefer shirts from: 2169, 2175, 2502, 3042, 3130, 3184, 4536, and 4607.

Got you covered - I will bring a few of our shirts so you can choose which one you want! ~I may even have a couple 'orange' ones left~

[RoboRaiders4054]

How is it decided who attends this?

[Caleb Sykes]

How is it decided who attends this?

It is an open registration. The "invitational" in the name doesn't mean anything.

[jajabinx124]

I would love a 2052 shirt! I have a medium old-style 3184 shirt to trade.

Sweet, I'm down to trade for a 3184 medium shirt.

Got you covered - I will bring a few of our shirts so you can choose which one you want! ~I may even have a couple 'orange' ones left~

Thanks Chief Hedgehog! I appreciate it. :D

[jvriezen]

It is an open registration. The "invitational" in the name doesn't mean anything.

Or it means all are invited?

[Caleb Sykes]

Or it means all are invited?

Being invited to a wedding and paying to attend an open concert and receiving tickets for said concert are very different. Being invited to IRI and receiving a payment confirmation from MRI are just as different.

You can't be invited somewhere if no one invites you. An invitational event would be one where the participants are invited. We were not invited to MRI, so MRI is not really an invitational event.

[cpapplefamily]

Here is a quick prescouting spreadsheet I just made. I will slowly be adding data to it leading up to the event. I will be getting all of my data from the last official event a team attended. I hope some teams find this useful.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1V4xSHJImSsNg2Tg4xCHGt5Da2WYuDWC9u9cqp5rL_LE/edit?usp=sharing

Do you want data? From what events? Our 10000 lakes or Duluth Gitchi? Number of matches 3 seems low.

[Caleb Sykes]

Best-event OPR data:
team OPR subtracted tower strength
2052 57.41 5.82
3130 55.11 3.96
2823 45.27 2.71
2846 42.38 2.36
2175 42.36 3.74
2987 39.38 3.90
4778 38.68 2.82
2502 37.84 2.82
4536 37.62 2.50
3042 35.94 2.75
3883 34.93 2.12
4624 32.54 -0.21
3244 32.34 1.43
3926 32.24 0.03
4215 30.87 3.32
2169 30.33 1.95
3082 29.90 -0.10
4859 29.72 1.16
2498 28.31 2.68
2574 27.21 2.50
3184 26.12 1.26
2491 25.75 1.44
3081 24.35 0.21
2472 23.63 0.56
2855 23.62 1.33
1816 23.60 0.39
2847 22.99 2.98
4607 21.87 -0.37
2177 18.79 -0.25
3407 15.15 0.31
2606 12.11 -0.74
2531 8.80 -0.03
4511 8.35 -1.06
2500 7.36 -0.28
2129 4.88 0.41
2957 4.64 0.42


2052 and 3130 will very likely be the teams to beat.

[Ginger Power]

Best-event OPR data:
team OPR subtracted tower strength
2052 57.41 5.82
3130 55.11 3.96
2823 45.27 2.71
2846 42.38 2.36
2175 42.36 3.74
2987 39.38 3.90
4778 38.68 2.82
2502 37.84 2.82
4536 37.62 2.50
3042 35.94 2.75
3883 34.93 2.12
4624 32.54 -0.21
3244 32.34 1.43
3926 32.24 0.03
4215 30.87 3.32
2169 30.33 1.95
3082 29.90 -0.10
4859 29.72 1.16
2498 28.31 2.68
2574 27.21 2.50
3184 26.12 1.26
2491 25.75 1.44
3081 24.35 0.21
2472 23.63 0.56
2855 23.62 1.33
1816 23.60 0.39
2847 22.99 2.98
4607 21.87 -0.37
2177 18.79 -0.25
3407 15.15 0.31
2606 12.11 -0.74
2531 8.80 -0.03
4511 8.35 -1.06
2500 7.36 -0.28
2129 4.88 0.41
2957 4.64 0.42


2052 and 3130 will very likely be the teams to beat.

Do you have one for DPR :D The rules stating that you can't select another alliance captain should make things interesting. I would guess both 2052 and 3130 will be captains so that number 1 pick will be an interesting one.

[jajabinx124]

Bogus alliance selection prediction and eliminations prediction:
*alliance captains cannot inter-pick, picks are 1-4, 1-4, 4-1

1) 2175, 2052, 2169, 4778 SF
2) 4536, 2987, 2823, 2498 W
3) 3042, 2502, 1816, 3883 SF
4) 3130, 4607, 2846, 3184 F

[Caleb Sykes]

Do you have one for DPR :D

Here you go.

team Most recent DPR
3082 6.199598641
2606 8.867077112
2498 10.39980888
2169 15.35692787
3081 15.79128075
4778 18.42459679
4624 21.00867587
4215 21.5341177
4859 21.70872925
3883 22.01032066
3244 22.23286438
2491 22.91826057
2847 24.38288057
2129 24.51851559
2855 25.02788186
2531 25.79388809
2823 25.82545662
1816 26.54675535
2177 26.8806591
3407 28.12555027
4607 29.72813225
2500 29.93629261
4511 30.50482273
3042 31.37497234
2987 32.3587184
2052 32.93893623
2957 33.61294469
3184 33.90080786
2574 34.17073727
4536 35.72255039
3130 36.7064209
2846 39.61945295
3926 39.71014023
2472 40.7104702
2175 43.28810012
2502 44.29941511

DPR was not a particularly insightful metric this year for a variety of reasons.

[cpapplefamily]

Bogus alliance selection prediction and eliminations prediction:
*alliance captains cannot inter-pick, picks are 1-4, 1-4, 4-1

1) 2175, 2052, 2169, 4778 SF
2) 4536, 2987, 2823, 2498 W
3) 3042, 2502, 1816, 3883 SF
4) 3130, 4607, 2846, 3184 F

Bogus is correct. I suspect our team to be in the mix.

[cadandcookies]

Looking forward to MRI! Even though I won't be able to be there the entire day, I know we have a number of GOFIRSTers who will be training in a variety of roles (no, not as safety glass table attendants :P). I look forward to seeing many of Minnesota's premier teams take the field once more-- I'm sure the elimination rounds will be very interesting!

[jajabinx124]

Looks like the team list was updated for MRI. 2169 is no longer on the list and 4549 the iron bulls were added.

[topgun]

I just posted the tshirt design for the 2016 MRI on Chief Delphi. This was a product of the FireBears media team and is the first time we have done an event tshirt for the MRI.

At the MRI, anyone can order the size, style (short or long sleeve), and color (Ash Grey, Cornsilk and Sky) and the tshirt company will make the shirt for you as you watch.

Also, a new addition to our food offerings this year will be mini-donuts! You will be able to bring back enjoyable memories of those carefree days at the Minnesota State Fair as you snack on mini-donuts and watch exciting robot action.

In addition, our media team will be conducting team interviews, Team 2052 - The KnightKrawlers will be doing live webstreaming of the on-field action, plus we will be awarding $1000 in scholarships to two 2017 seniors.

Of course, that is the off-field action. The on-field action will be extra exciting as we have most of the top teams in the state putting them into a competition against each other for the first time this season!

Only 9 more days to wait!

[Chief Hedgehog]

Looks like the team list was updated for MRI. 2169 is no longer on the list and 4549 the iron bulls were added.

Sad to see KING TeC not make this one, but the IronBulls are a great addition! CIS is almost ready to compete again. We will be bringing about 30 students in tow.

[Chief Hedgehog]

It looks to be a great field, but there a number of top robots missing (looking at you 3102, 5172, and 3026). Without two of the best robots in the state (5172 and 3026), this will have a little more parity.

I would venture a guess that the top teams after quals will be (in no particular order):

2052
3130
2175
4778
4536
2502

The rest of us will fall in line somewhere after these. I am looking forward to meeting up with some of the best teams in the state!

[Bryan Herbst]

Also, a new addition to our food offerings this year will be mini-donuts! You will be able to bring back enjoyable memories of those carefree days at the Minnesota State Fair as you snack on mini-donuts and watch exciting robot action.

This is going to be a problem. I have no self-control when it comes to mini donuts.

[Jon Stratis]

This is going to be a problem. I have no self-control when it comes to mini donuts.

You aren't the only one. I might have to leave my wallet at home to avoid them!

[SteveB2977]

Instead of a dance song break I sense an FTA vs. LRI mini-donut eating contest.

[Jon Stratis]

Instead of a dance song break I sense an FTA vs. LRI mini-donut eating contest.

Note to self: hit the gym extra hard this week...

[Truelight]

Team 2220 will be holding roundtable sessions throughout the morning and into the afternoon. Here is the schedule:

9:00AM
Safety Networking
10:00AM
Women In Robotics Empowering Sisters (WIRES)
11:00AM
Team Project Management
1:00PM
Outreach Fundamentals

These sessions are meant to be a causal sharing of best practices and everyone is welcome to participate. They will be held in the cafeteria.
Shout-out to the FireBears for working with us to run these sessions the past two years, Thank you!
We hope to see you all there!

[silverD]

Team 2052 - The KnightKrawlers will be doing live webstreaming of the on-field action

Here is the link to the webcast: http://www.team2052.com/mri/

[silverD]

Here is the link to the webcast: http://www.team2052.com/mri/

We are Live Now!

[jajabinx124]

Alliance Selection:

1) 2052, 2987, 4536, 2855
2) 2175, 3130, 3042, 2823
3) 3184, 4215, 1816, 3244
4) 2846, 3883, 2491, 2502

[jajabinx124]

Alliance Selection:

1) 2052, 2987, 4536, 2855
2) 2175, 3130, 3042, 2823
3) 3184, 4215, 1816, 3244
4) 2846, 3883, 2491, 2502

Elimination Results:
1st seed, W
2nd seed, 3rd
3rd seed, F
4th seed

[Whatever]

Alliance Selection:

1) 2052, 2987, 4536, 2855
2) 2175, 3130, 3042, 2823
3) 3184, 4215, 1816, 3244
4) 2846, 3883, 2491, 2502

For completeness sake, 2847 respectfully declined 2846.

[maxnz]

For completeness sake, 2847 respectfully declined 2846.

Also, there were no tiebreaker matches. All matchups were decided in 2 (other than the 3rd place matchup, which was a single match)

[cpapplefamily]

Told you all we would be in the mix :D
But really thanks for the wonderful day and very well ran event. Also thank you to our Alliance 3184 Blaze Robotics, 4215 Tritons, and 1816 The Green Machine for trusting in us as your alternate bot during Alliance Selections and bringing us onto the floor to attempt to nudge off that very strong #1 alliance. If we could go a few more rounds at it.......

[Whatever]

Also, there were no tiebreaker matches. All matchups were decided in 2 (other than the 3rd place matchup, which was a single match)

It was also really nice to see that Isaac had recovered enough to attend. My wife was sorority sisters with Isaac's mom so our family has been keeping him in our thoughts.

[Kingland093]

Huge shout out to the number 3 alliance! Especially my old team, 4215! Awesome job getting through to the finals! My first competition away from the team and I was definitely experiencing FIRST withdrawal. Still got to help with scouting remotely from all the way here in Canada!:)

Great job to all the teams today! congrats to 2052, 2987, 4536, and 2855 on the win!

[Chief Hedgehog]

Thank you to Roseville Area High School, the Firebears, and the volunteers for making this event possible. Special thanks to Tom L. and the FireBears mentors as their vision and dedication have made this event possible for so many years.

It was great to see the college students from NDSU and UofM working the event - the strength and future of MNFIRST grows with the work from these young adults! Steve B. did an excellent job working with new announcers and emcees.

A lot of smiling faces in the crowd and in the pits - another great MRI, kudos to you team 2846!

[Team2847]

Team 2847 was very honored to be chosen, unfortunately we could not stay for the finals due to other conflicts.

It was a great event and we had the chance to try 5 different drivers at this event. It was a great learning opportunity for a team that is basically re-building!

Looking forward to the Mini-Minnie event to give the drive team more time!

[MrRoboSteve]

Hard to believe that there were $6000 in scholarships this year. Impressive.

[jajabinx124]

Even though this was an off-season event, it was definitely worth a 5 hour bus ride back to the cities to volunteer at. :D Congrats to the Winners, Finalists, and the 3rd place alliance. I was happy to see 4536 the MinuteBots win their first event ever.

Hard to believe that there were $6000 in scholarships this year. Impressive.

Speaking of those scholarships congrats to the scholarship winners- especially Kaya Parsons who was a former teammate of mine back when I was on Team 2052!

[maxnz]

Even though this was an off-season event, it was definitely worth a 5 hour bus ride back to the cities to volunteer at. :D Congrats to the Winners, Finalists, and the 3rd place alliance. I was happy to see 4536 the MinuteBots win their first event ever.

Don't forget us! :) It was our first win ever too. Thank you again to 2052, 2987 and 4536 for choosing us as your backup. It was even more exciting when we were called in to play in Finals Match 2!

[Jardanium]

Thank you to the Firebears for a totally awesome event, and for the $500 scholarship. Definitely on my to do list for volunteering next year! :)

[maxnz]

Just wondering, will the match results be uploaded to TBA? Or do we have to go rewatch the stream?

[silverD]

Just wondering, will the match results be uploaded to TBA? Or do we have to go rewatch the stream?
I just uploaded them to YouTube, here is the playlist. (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4I-L0XyEtqgA6rkJ1cv-WxSR8wkKU_ye) I plan on submitting them to TBA soon.
Nate

[maxnz]

I just uploaded them to YouTube, here is the playlist. (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4I-L0XyEtqgA6rkJ1cv-WxSR8wkKU_ye) I plan on submitting them to TBA soon.
Nate

Cool! What about the data such as matchups and scores?

[Doug Frisk]

Just wondering, will the match results be uploaded to TBA? Or do we have to go rewatch the stream?

Here you go, feel free to get them to TBA.

[maxnz]

Here you go, feel free to get them to TBA.

I can do that when I get home this afternoon. Thanks!

[maxnz]

I can do that when I get home this afternoon. Thanks!

Match schedule and results have been submitted.

[plnyyanks]

Here you go, feel free to get them to TBA.

Match schedule and results have been submitted.

Thanks, imported!

Doug, you got a rankings report as well? I can import that too

http://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2016mnri

[Doug Frisk]

Thanks, imported!

Doug, you got a rankings report as well? I can import that too

http://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2016mnri

But of course.

[plnyyanks]

But of course.

Imported those too, the event should be all set.

Thanks for saving the data!

[maxnz]

Imported those too, the event should be all set.

Thanks for saving the data!

Thanks for adding it!

[Caleb Sykes]

But of course.

Do you happen to have score breakdowns for every match as well?

[Doug Frisk]

Do you happen to have score breakdowns for every match as well?

No, that would be posted by the FMS to the FIRST website during a normal event. That upload is disabled during an offseason event and while the information is in the database it really can't be pulled out.

[maxnz]

No, that would be posted by the FMS to the FIRST website during a normal event. That upload is disabled during an offseason event and while the information is in the database it really can't be pulled out.

Suggestion to FIRST for future seasons: if there is other data for each match than just the scores, let off-season FMS access that data.

[Caleb Sykes]

No, that would be posted by the FMS to the FIRST website during a normal event. That upload is disabled during an offseason event and while the information is in the database it really can't be pulled out.

That was my guess. I know that there are some (https://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2016cacc) off season events that publish this info, but those tend to be the exception and not the norm. Thanks anyway though.

[Doug Frisk]

That was my guess. I know that there are some (https://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2016cacc) off season events that publish this info, but those tend to be the exception and not the norm. Thanks anyway though.

I'll have to look into how this is accomplished. Maybe I can get that data uploaded for Prior Lake.

[Caleb Sykes]

I'll have to look into how this is accomplished. Maybe I can get that data uploaded for Prior Lake.

I would appreciate it. :) I can run component statistics and publish them if these data are available.

[plnyyanks]

That was my guess. I know that there are some (https://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2016cacc) off season events that publish this info, but those tend to be the exception and not the norm. Thanks anyway though.

Those events used Cheesy Arena (https://github.com/Team254/cheesy-arena) instead of offseason FMS. Cheesy Arena was written to fully integrate with TBA and can post the full complement of information that you get from official events.