Field Crew Bragging Rights

[Mark McLeod]

Here are some stats on field turnaround.
Each event centers around the match times they set for themselves. Some events target 7 min per match while others scheduled 8 min per match, so a high number is not necessarily bad.

Queuers, drive teams, field reset, refs, scorers, FTA/FTAA, inspectors, etc. all contribute in working together to get teams the most matches possible.
High penalty counts, ref discussions, team/field issues, team disorganization, initial field crew training - all can slow things down.

Avg match cycle - # teams - # matches - Matches per team - Event - Week

0:06:25 - 58 - 97 - 10 - Autodesk Oregon Regional - 4
0:06:31 - 52 - 87 - 10 - Oklahoma Regional - 3
0:06:33 - 63 -105 - 10 - Washington DC Regional - 4
0:06:35 - 50 - 84 - 10 - Seattle Olympic Regional - 3
0:06:36 - 50 - 84 - 10 - SBPLI Long Island Regional - 4
0:06:39 - 50 - 84 - 10 - Seattle Cascade Regional - 3
0:06:41 - 41 - 74 - 11 - Lake Superior Regional - 2
0:06:42 - 52 - 87 - 10 - BAE/Granite State Regional - 1
0:06:44 - 60 -100 - 10 - San Diego Regional - 2
0:06:55 - 48 - 80 - 10 - Peachtree Regional - 3
0:06:55 - 56 - 94 - 10 - Greater Kansas City Regional - 2
0:07:00 - 42 - 76 - 11 - Boilermaker Regional - 3
0:07:01 - 51 - 84 - 10 - Wisconsin Regional - 2
0:07:02 - 55 - 90 - 10 - Lone Star Regional - 3
0:07:03 - 54 - 89 - 10 - Sacramento Regional - 3
0:07:04 - 64 -105 - 10 - Los Angeles Regional - 4
0:07:08 - 60 - 90 -- 9 - Chesapeake Regional - 3
0:07:11 - 64 - 96 -- 9 - Alamo Regional - 1
0:07:16 - 52 - 84 - 10 - Midwest Regional - 4
0:07:17 - 39 - 65 - 10 - Pittsburgh Regional - 2
0:07:31 - 38 - 76 - 12 - Waterford District - 2
0:07:33 - 61 - 90 -- 9 - New Jersey Regional - 1
0:07:31 - 48 - 81 - 10.3 - Overall Averages
0:07:37 - 43 - 65 -- 9 - Palmetto Regional - 4
0:07:42 - 34 - 55 - 10 - Hawaii Regional - 4
0:07:44 - 36 - 66 - 11 - WPI Regional - 2
0:07:50 - 44 - 74 - 10 - Finger Lakes Regional - 1
0:07:53 - 66 - 88 -- 8 - New York City Regional - 2
0:07:56 - 60 - 99 - 10 - Florida Regional - 2
0:08:01 - 40 - 80 - 12 - Ann Arbor District - 4
0:08:02 - 38 - 64 - 10 - Bayou Regional - 3
0:08:06 - 45 - 70 -- 9 - Arizona Regional - 3
0:08:14 - 40 - 80 - 12 - West Michigan District - 3
0:08:22 - 38 - 76 - 12 - Kettering University District - 1
0:08:36 - 30 - 54 - 11 - Waterloo Regional - 4
0:08:42 - 34 - 68 - 12 - Niles District - 4
0:08:47 - 28 - 52 - 11 - Saint Louis Regional - 3
0:08:47 - 39 - 78 - 12 - Detroit District - 3
0:08:57 - 50 - 84 - 10 - Israel Regional - 2
0:09:15 - 40 - 80 - 12 - Traverse City District - 1


P.S.
Minimum time is arount 4 minutes.

[Andy Baker]

Thanks, Mark, for posting this information. Having two people on the AndyMark staff (Mark Koors and Jerry Budd) who are FTA's, this information is very good to see.

While this information is very valuable, I also think that other information is needed to be considered, along with match cycle time, to get "bragging rights". It would be nice to get this information:

1. How many robots were able to connect to the playing field by the end of the Practice Day
2. How many robots, on average, ran each match

I believe that a combination of these things gives the field crew bragging rights, not just match cycle time. If one regional had a cycle time of 6:31 and had 4.5 robots run each mach, while another regional had a cycle time of 7:00 and had 5.2 robots run each match, I would give more credit to the second regional crew for getting more robots running for each match, even though they ran a 30 second slower cycle time.

It would be nice if FMS would spit out an "average robots per match" number along with this cycle time number. Is this possible?

Sincerely,
Andy Baker

[GaryVoshol]

0:08:42 - 33 - 68 - 12 - Niles District - 4


With only 34 teams (not 33) Niles was running 9 minute schedules on Friday and 8 minutes on Saturday. Looks like we got it spot on!

(Actually, it's incredibly easy to keep up with 9 minute cycles. We regularly got ahead, and had to schedule a dance number slowdown.)

[roborat]

I can't remember having any connection problems on Friday or Saturday at Pittsburgh once we all got the updates correctly on our robots on Thursday. It was a very smooth event.

[Mark McLeod]

The WPA kiosk keeps track of who hasn't setup their robot bridge.
FMS keeps track of who hasn't successfully connected by the end of practice day.
FMS knows who was bypassed in each match, but not why.

Those kinds of stats aren't part of the published official record though, so FIRST has them, but I don't know if they get uploaded to the HQ servers, or are still traveling the world stored in the individual field systems.
More detailed notes are usually hand kept by the FTAA, because of the variety of problems and causes that are usually tracked.

All the fields I worked delayed matches as long as necessary to get all robots working. Long Island didn't start a match with a robot that failed to connect, unless a robot issue was identified that needed time-consuming repair, dead batteries, etc.

I have those stats for Long Island because I worked it, but not for other events.
The hand records maintained by the FTAA every year are really useful for follow-up with the teams in the pits (and for debunking conspiracy theorists from the stands).
Mike (our FTAA) keeps track of robots that didn't show up, robots that failed on the field and the reason (sometimes supplied after a pit visit), connection issues, unusually low battery or bad battery conditions, slow packet transit times, and anything else unusual that needs to be followed up with the team in the pits.

At the end of the day on Thursday we make everyone who either had connection problems or who hadn't connected yet, come to the field for a special connection party. That's true for each of the events I've been to so far this season (NJ, WPI, LI).
There's always one or two robots that still don't come...

[jvriezen]

Querers, drive teams, field reset, refs, scorers, FTA/FTAA, etc. all contribute in working together to get teams the most matches possible.

Hey, don't forget the inspectors, making sure the radios are configured correctly and helping to prevent the smoke and fire, which would definitely slow things down.

John Vriezen
Team 2530 "Inconceivable"
Mentor, Drive coach, Inspector

[PaW]

Thanks for posting this, Mark.

In Seattle, "Cascade" seemed to be consistently ahead of schedule relative to "Olympic", so I'm still trying to wrap my head around the data. The volunteers did a tremendous job considering the huge pit area and the simultaneous queueing announcements on the PA system. Thursday turned out to be an extended long day (til 9pm), with everyone feverishly working to get either field sync'd and/or inspected. Kudos to all the volunteers!

Also, a big shout-out to the Oregon crew.... bragging rights for now! :)

[Richard Wallace]

...

(Actually, it's incredibly easy to keep up with 9 minute cycles. We regularly got ahead, and had to schedule a dance number slowdown.)Same comment re: St. Louis in Week 3. With only 28 teams participating (probably because most teams from outside the area would much rather come to St. Louis about a month from now!), we ran 11 seeding matches per team, at a 9 minute pace. Had to hold the field crew back to stay that slow -- added some dancing, etc.

Re: Andy's comment earlier, I agree field crews should brag more when they get 6 robots out there for a match. That sometimes requires support from the pit side as well; inspectors, teams, and experts on site all contribute.

[alectronic]

I was the scorekeeper for Olympic, and as stated in some of the other posts, much of the data is never made public, beyond match times and such.
According to my notes, we only bypassed about 6-7 robots in those 84 matches, and none in eliminations. And we only ever bypassed when they had no code, low battery, etc, things that are not quick fixes.
As for cycles, we did get down to a 4:39 at one point Friday. I think it really helped that we stayed on Thursday and had everyone connect.
Teams: Remember to have 2.27.2011 as your DS (yes, even if the other one is "OK", just get the newer one anyways.) and make sure you have v28 of the cRio!
But I agree, it would be nice to know some of the additional data, but I doubt we will see that before long.

[Chris Hibner]

Any chance for standard deviations as well?

I was watching some competitions on webcast where the match turnaround was fantastic - some of the best field crew work I've ever seen, and the turnaround average in your list looks pretty poor for that event. I've seen events with great crews where one robot comes out and won't connect and throws a 20 minute outlier into the mix.

I was wondering if there would be a good way to separate out the outlier matches from the bulk of the matches that went as planned.

[Mark McLeod]

Here's a spreadsheet of the data if you want to play.
All match times are calculated, so you can filter or just see outliers.
You can check it for errors too while you're at it. I haven't gone back over it to verify yet or to make sure it's scored consistently.
Send any corrections/additions back and I'll include it in future updates.

I think all rematches are accounted for by leaving them out and using the elapsed time of the original matches, since it isn't in the official record, but an incorrect calculation could easily have been missed.

There are some obvious outliers that I may or may not have included. It's hard to remember. Single outliers didn't have a great impact on the overall time, and some events seemed to skip lunch to play catchup.

[colt527]

The crew that I worked with at Pittsburgh and SBPLI Long Island were both absolutely fantastic! At both Pittsburgh and Long Island like Mark said, we had the general policy not to start a match until all robots connected to the field, or we at least knew why the robot was not connecting (cRIO not getting power, something of that sort). At Long Island before every match you would see some combination of Mark, Bharat Nain (our FTA), Mike Massa (our FTAA) and myself walking the field checking on every robot making sure radios were plugged in and connecting during the start up sequence.

We also monitored robots during the event so if one stops moving we would go and try to see why. This gives students the best experience at the event and also allows us to do "conspiracy theory control".

A few extra things to point out. There are times where other factors limit turn around time ... for example, at Pittsburgh we were running too fast and getting too far ahead, so we had to add in a few dance breaks to not have a huge gap before alliance selection :P

Teams being punctual and responsible also make a huge difference to overall turnaround times. So I need to thank all the teams for their amazing effort at SBPLI! And obviously, huge thanks to all the field crew that I worked with to make Pittsburgh and Long Island awesome events!

[George A.]

I think New Jersey was striving for an 8 minute match cycle? (don't quote me on that though) so seeing that we had 7:30 is pretty awesome, ESPECIALLY since we were a week 1 regional. Judging from the data we did pretty well (only 2 other week 1 regionals were faster).

It's also awesome to see that the numbers are going down the further into competition season we are going.

[Andrew Bates]

Wish we competed in Michigan, Districts are getting 12 matches per team.

[Racer26]

Waterloo could have easily had 12/team, and probably even 13/team if they'd gone for a 7 minute cycle.

Alliance selections were done by 11:15.

[sithmonkey13]

About the St. Louis Regional:
Last year, if a robot did not connect, you were bypassed and the game started (happened to us)
This year, the field crew would help you out, trying every solution you could think of, even getting a new DS for a team on the first qualifying match on Friday (I know because as a driver on the same alliance, I was right next to the crew).
The crew would even spend time waiting for robots that were in the middle of repairs or had two close (time wise) matches.
Sometimes, these delays were slightly stressful (like when using a battery with questionable charge) or were beneficial (a delay allowed a battery to get to full charge, just in time for the next match)
Despite these delays, we still would average around 10 minutes ahead of schedule (sometimes we were told they were delaying to get closer back to schedule, like before the first final match)

My thoughts: Although occasionally annoying, delays and longer field reset is not necessarily bad, just means that a regional with less people can be less rushed and give a competitive atmosphere to the teams, with breaks for the fans and even drive teams (because you usually need to go to the bathroom at points other than during lunch). Would I want to have had a faster time at St. Louis, no, keep up the good work and I hope next year we can also wait for robots to connect.

[rsisk]

Even after telling all the teams in LA what software versions were required there were teams that still had the wrong version on Saturday. I think next year I take screen shots of how to check the version and how to wire the radio and show it to each team as they get their radio configured. I think telling them is just too much information for some of the team members to absorb while their radios are configured.

[Mark McLeod]

I went to every team in the LI pits and inspected their software versions personally, then stood there while they updated to the latest.
Always get a few "we have the latest version," but it's only the latest version they know of.

Still on Saturday, Ken had a team appear at the field with a new laptop using older Driver Station software.

You just can't win...:)

[Blackphantom91]

Kansas City was pretty good Saturday and Friday. Thursday it was looking pretty bleak but we got it together pretty fast the next two days, which I thank everyone who contributed. I guess these could be used for next year to try to beat the times of the regionals and make things more efficient and make the events even better. But look on the bright side gives more chances to have the refs dance!::safety::

[yarden.saa]

I am confused, last year the Israeli regional was very slow because of communication problems you all know, but this year there were not any problems and the matches were running smoothly, so how it can be possible we are the last in a big difference?
How the other regionals are quicker?

[Zuelu562]

BAE/GSR (Week One regional and the quickest field reset of week one) had a very very good set of FTA's (As Coach I worked with them a few more times than I would have preferred to, but they were very professional and good to work with). Field Reset was lightning quick thanks to a very ingenious field re-setter who developed his own tube removal tool and a very experienced set of Refs and Scorekeepers.

[Mark McLeod]

Long times aren't necessarily bad.
Times could be compared against the original pre-play schedule, but that gets overwritten in the FIRST database.

The shorter times are really events that push the limits to get teams the most number of matches possible, but it's a guessing game when the FTA first sets up the play schedule. It can't be changed after they commit themselves, so it reflects how some Regional Directors/FTAs are more conservative than others.

The FTA probably scheduled 9 minute turnarounds to be on the safe side, because of what happened last year.
The schedule can also be setup to have longer times the first morning in order to allow everyone to learn, then pickup the pace with faster times in the afternoon.
It looks like Israel ran just shy of 12 hours the first day to keep up.
A couple of rematches also slowed things down, and I missed the dinner break.
So a corrected time would be 8:57 per match (I adjusted the original post to reflect this).

You'll notice that the Michigan District events are mostly at the bottom, too.
That's because they decided on a fixed 12 matches per team and a small number of competing teams.
They don't need to run that fast to keep up, so the pace can be slower.

I am confused, last year the Israeli regional was very slow because of communication problems you all know, but this year there were not any problems and the matches were running smoothly, so how it can be possible we are the last in a big difference?
How the other regionals are quicker?

[colt527]

I went to every team in the LI pits and inspected their software versions personally, then stood there while they updated to the latest.
Always get a few "we have the latest version," but it's only the latest version they know of.

Still on Saturday, Ken had a team appear at the field with a new laptop using older Driver Station software.

You just can't win...:)

Even if we sharpied the latest version numbers on the inside of all the safety glasses given out, we would still get old versons popping up here and there on competition days :P

[yarden.saa]

Long times aren't necessarily bad.
Times could be compared against the original pre-play schedule, but that gets overwritten in the FIRST database.

The shorter times are really events that push the limits to get teams the most number of matches possible, but it's a guessing game when the FTA first sets up the play schedule. It can't be changed after they commit themselves, so it reflects how some Regional Directors/FTAs are more conservative than others.

The FTA probably scheduled 9 minute turnarounds to be on the safe side, because of what happened last year.
The schedule can also be setup to have longer times the first morning in order to allow everyone to learn, then pickup the pace with faster times in the afternoon.
It looks like Israel ran just shy of 12 hours the first day to keep up.
A couple of rematches also slowed things down, and I missed the dinner break.
So a corrected time would be 8:57 per match (I adjusted the original post to reflect this).

You'll notice that the Michigan District events are mostly at the bottom, too.
That's because they decided on a fixed 12 matches per team and a small number of competing teams.
They don't need to run that fast to keep up, so the pace can be slower.

There were 2 rematches at the end of the last match in day 2 (out of 3), so it wasn't affecting because we played the amount of matches that we needed, but there was a delay between the matches

[Joe Ross]

Long times aren't necessarily bad.
Times could be compared against the original pre-play schedule, but that gets overwritten in the FIRST database.

It's still available on the qual schedule page. For example, for Israel, http://www2.usfirst.org/2011comp/events/IS/schedulequal.html

It looks like Israel was scheduled for 8 minutes

[Zuelu562]

It looks like Israel was scheduled for 8 minutes

On that note, BAE/GSR was scheduled for 6 minutes, and fell at 6:42, not bad.

http://www2.usfirst.org/2011comp/events/NH/schedulequal.html

[pathew100]

You'll notice that the Michigan District events are mostly at the bottom, too. That's because they decided on a fixed 12 matches per team and a small number of competing teams.
They don't need to run that fast to keep up, so the pace can be slower.

We're also somewhat more lenient regarding robot problems. You won't get bypassed if you don't connect right away. We'll try everything to make sure all teams get to play all their matches, even if it means running a little late.

[Alan Anderson]

[Michigan District events will] try everything to make sure all teams get to play all their matches, even if it means running a little late.

Michigan District events run "late" by Regional standards anyway. Nobody is expecting to get out of there before a 6pm supper on Friday, so there's probably a bit more of a drive to play the matches vs. keeping to the schedule.

[Dad1279]

........I believe that a combination of these things gives the field crew bragging rights, not just match cycle time. If one regional had a cycle time of 6:31 and had 4.5 robots run each mach, while another regional had a cycle time of 7:00 and had 5.2 robots run each match, I would give more credit to the second regional crew for getting more robots running for each match......

+1. I would give (even) more credit for striving for 100% comms for the final matches. A few minutes delay at that point wouldn't matter. Finals shouldn't be decided on communication problems.

[Koko Ed]

Even after telling all the teams in LA what software versions were required there were teams that still had the wrong version on Saturday. I think next year I take screen shots of how to check the version and how to wire the radio and show it to each team as they get their radio configured. I think telling them is just too much information for some of the team members to absorb while their radios are configured.

The one that kills me is teams bringing the e-stop with them to the field still on.
How many times do you have to be told not to bring it or have it on? It makes connecting to the field harder.

[Pat Fairbank]

The one that kills me is teams bringing the e-stop with them to the field still on.
How many times do you have to be told not to bring it or have it on? It makes connecting to the field harder.
I'll do you one better. A team came onto the field Thursday at Waterloo with the 2009 KwikByte driver station, and asked the FTA how it was supposed to be hooked up...

[Koko Ed]

Here are some stats on field turnaround.
Each event centers around the match times they set for themselves. Some events target 7 min per match while others scheduled 8 min per match, so a high number is not necessarily bad.

Queuers, drive teams, field reset, refs, scorers, FTA/FTAA, inspectors, etc. all contribute in working together to get teams the most matches possible.
High penalty counts, ref discussions, team/field issues, team disorganization, initial field crew training - all can slow things down.

Avg match cycle - # teams - # matches - Matches per team - Event - Week

0:06:25 - 58 - 97 - 10 - Autodesk Oregon Regional - 4
0:06:31 - 52 - 87 - 10 - Oklahoma Regional - 3
0:06:33 - 63 -105 - 10 - Washington DC Regional - 4
0:06:35 - 50 - 84 - 10 - Seattle Olympic Regional - 3
0:06:36 - 50 - 84 - 10 - SBPLI Long Island Regional - 4
0:06:39 - 50 - 84 - 10 - Seattle Cascade Regional - 3
0:06:41 - 41 - 74 - 11 - Lake Superior Regional - 2
0:06:42 - 52 - 87 - 10 - BAE/Granite State Regional - 1
0:06:44 - 60 -100 - 10 - San Diego Regional - 2
0:06:55 - 48 - 80 - 10 - Peachtree Regional - 3
0:06:55 - 56 - 94 - 10 - Greater Kansas City Regional - 2
0:07:00 - 42 - 76 - 11 - Boilermaker Regional - 3
0:07:01 - 51 - 84 - 10 - Wisconsin Regional - 2
0:07:02 - 55 - 90 - 10 - Lone Star Regional - 3
0:07:03 - 54 - 89 - 10 - Sacramento Regional - 3
0:07:04 - 64 -105 - 10 - Los Angeles Regional - 4
0:07:08 - 60 - 90 -- 9 - Chesapeake Regional - 3
0:07:11 - 64 - 96 -- 9 - Alamo Regional - 1
0:07:16 - 52 - 84 - 10 - Midwest Regional - 4
0:07:17 - 39 - 65 - 10 - Pittsburgh Regional - 2
0:07:31 - 38 - 76 - 12 - Waterford District - 2
0:07:33 - 61 - 90 -- 9 - New Jersey Regional - 1
0:07:31 - 48 - 81 - 10.3 - Overall Averages
0:07:37 - 43 - 65 -- 9 - Palmetto Regional - 4
0:07:42 - 34 - 55 - 10 - Hawaii Regional - 4
0:07:44 - 36 - 66 - 11 - WPI Regional - 2
0:07:50 - 44 - 74 - 10 - Finger Lakes Regional - 1
0:07:53 - 66 - 88 -- 8 - New York City Regional - 2
0:07:56 - 60 - 99 - 10 - Florida Regional - 2
0:08:01 - 40 - 80 - 12 - Ann Arbor District - 4
0:08:02 - 38 - 64 - 10 - Bayou Regional - 3
0:08:06 - 45 - 70 -- 9 - Arizona Regional - 3
0:08:14 - 40 - 80 - 12 - West Michigan District - 3
0:08:22 - 38 - 76 - 12 - Kettering University District - 1
0:08:36 - 30 - 54 - 11 - Waterloo Regional - 4
0:08:42 - 34 - 68 - 12 - Niles District - 4
0:08:47 - 28 - 52 - 11 - Saint Louis Regional - 3
0:08:47 - 39 - 78 - 12 - Detroit District - 3
0:08:57 - 50 - 84 - 10 - Israel Regional - 2
0:09:15 - 40 - 80 - 12 - Traverse City District - 1


P.S.
Minimum time is arount 4 minutes.

I'm actually surprised Midwest times out as well as it did.
To be blunt UIC Pavilion is the worst facility of all the events I attend. It's old, tight and unsafe in some aspects (there's some sort of fault line running through the arena that goes through the que line and into team's pits. I think it's where the divider for the hockey boards were). Because of how tight the place was we had to have teams exit through the corner to the left of the scoring table which caused bottlenecks galore. The Field Supervisor made the call to slow down getting teams on a bit so we could get teams off so teams weren't crashing into each other carrying robots. I thought the turnaround times would be closer to 10 minutes but things were going smoother on Saturday once all the software issues got squared away and the teams got used to the routine of getting onto and off of the field.

[Koko Ed]

I'll do you one better. A team came onto the field Thursday at Waterloo with the 2009 KwikByte driver station, and asked the FTA how it was supposed to be hooked up...

To have one of those they obviously can't be rookies so they have no excuse to do this.
There can only be one response to this
http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc356/Lotanpwnsu/DoubleFacepalmDeMo.jpg

[ATannahill]

You are wrong about them not being rookies, Ed. Andymark still offers them. I know because every year someone tries to be helpful and buys one.

[Koko Ed]

You are wrong about them not being rookies, Ed. Andymark still offers them. I know because every year someone tries to be helpful and buys one.

Well if they're just rookie we'll downgrade them to a single facepalm.
http://i131.photobucket.com/albums/p281/matt518672/facepalm.jpg

[Karibou]

You'll notice that the Michigan District events are mostly at the bottom, too.
That's because they decided on a fixed 12 matches per team and a small number of competing teams.
They don't need to run that fast to keep up, so the pace can be slower.

The high number of matches and low number of teams also means less time for teams between matches. There's more of a last-minute panic in the pits if your robot isn't working. I know that matches don't wait for anyone (aside for robots having connection issues on the field, sometimes), but the shortened repair time is probably a slight contributer to the match pace.

[JesseK]

I thought it felt like we were moving through matches much quicker than usual in DC. I was exhausted by the end of Friday, but man it was nice to have 10 qual matches in a regional!

[Retired Starman]

At Peachtree two small things helped a lot.

1. The Queue teams placed stickers on robots that got to the start line on time. This small reward for punctuality was eagerly sought after by teams.

2. Robot Inspectors on each end of the field checked each robot to make sure the battery was plugged in, that the radio was plugged in (power and communications on both ends), and that the driver station was booted. Further, inspectors told students to turn on their robots as soon as they hit the field-- before aligning robots and placing game pieces.

Rewarding punctuality and making sure everything is ready to go helped keep Peachtree in the fast end of the list. One unplugged cable can cost a match two minutes in turn-around time.

[Mark McLeod]

1. The Queue teams placed stickers on robots that got to the start line on time. This small reward for punctuality was eagerly sought after by teams.
The queuers at Long Island did this as well. I think they had three levels of promptness stickers and we had a special overflow queuing area for the real early birds.

During the closing awards ceremony, the most on-time team (FRC Team 2161 Walt Whitman HS) was formally presented with a special award-an ubertube signed by all the field crew in appreciation.

[Carol]

The queuers at Long Island did this as well. I think they had three levels of promptness stickers and we had a special overflow queuing area for the real early birds.

During the closing awards ceremony, the most on-time team (FRC Team 2161 Walt Whitman HS) was formally presented with a special award-an ubertube signed by all the field crew in appreciation.

This is being done at many regionals. Perhaps the Lead Queuer training suggested it?

[Koko Ed]

This is being done at many regionals. Perhaps the Lead Queuer training suggested it?

I think Lead Quers decided to do something to encourage teams.
That's why I set up those seats at Chesapeake for the drivers to sit with their controls behind the stations. So they'd willingly do it (no room to do it at Florida or Midwest).
When you do things that the teams enjoy doing (like rewards or premium seats behind the drivers station between matches) the kids will practically fight to get to the field.

[woogit]

I'd like to know how each of the regionals did on popping tubes. Truck 8 did pretty awesome I'd say.

[RobotsVsKittens]

Does anyone have updated data to include last week?

Thanks Mark for compiling the list and thanks to crew at SBPLI for making it my favorite regional to work year after year!

[Mark McLeod]

I have the data in an updated spreadsheet, but I'm in Richmond for the VA Regional and won't be able to post it for a few days.

[Fletch1373]

I believe the CT regional holds the record for earliest time the truck was packed Saturday with 6:20pm. We have photos to prove it, and our FTA txted pictures to a bunch of people(including Bill Miller, FRC director, and a few of the other FTA's and FIRST staff)

[Mark McLeod]

There are some long outliers still included here. I just haven't gone through them to eliminate the really long ones.
Partially, they are there because they could indicate the extremes to which the field crew went to get teams running, but there's still no way to tell what the cause of any single holdup might have been.

A Maximum cycle less than maybe 4 minutes higher than the average cycle time would be a flag that the field crew wasn't holding up matches to try to insure that every team is connecting properly.
Of course, the further an event falls behind, the more pressure to keep the matches moving, so it may not be consistently true throughout an event.

Avg match cycle - # teams - # matches - Matches per team - Min Cycle - Max Cycle - Event - Week

0:06:16 - 49 -- 77 -- 9 - 0:04:00 - 0:11:00 - Smokey Mountain Regional - 5
0:06:25 - 58 -- 97 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:13:00 - Autodesk Oregon Regional - 4
0:06:31 - 52 -- 87 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:10:00 - Oklahoma Regional - 3
0:06:33 - 63 - 105 - 10 - 0:04:00 - 0:13:00 - Washington DC Regional - 4
0:06:35 - 50 -- 84 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:14:00 - Seattle Olympic Regional - 3
0:06:36 - 50 -- 84 - 10 - 0:04:00 - 0:11:00 - SBPLI Long Island Regional - 4
0:06:36 - 57 -- 97 - 10 - 0:04:00 - 0:10:00 - Northeast Utilities FIRST Connecticut Regional - 5
0:06:39 - 50 -- 84 - 10 - 0:04:00 - 0:13:00 - Seattle Cascade Regional - 3
0:06:41 - 41 -- 74 - 11 - 0:04:00 - 0:15:00 - Lake Superior Regional - 2
0:06:42 - 52 -- 87 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:17:00 - BAE/Granite State Regional - 1
0:06:43 - 53 -- 89 - 10 - 0:04:00 - 0:11:00 - Boston Regional - 6
0:06:44 - 60 - 100 - 10 - 0:04:00 - 0:11:00 - San Diego Regional - 2
0:06:50 - 64 - 128 - 12 - 0:05:00 - 0:12:00 - MI State Championship - 6
0:06:54 - 62 -- 96 -- 9 - 0:05:00 - 0:15:00 - Virginia Regional - 6
0:06:54 - 52 -- 78 -- 9 - 0:05:00 - 0:11:00 - Dallas East/West Regional - 6
0:06:55 - 48 -- 80 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:11:00 - Peachtree Regional - 3
0:06:55 - 56 -- 94 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:14:00 - Greater Kansas City Regional - 2
0:06:56 - 55 -- 84 -- 9 - 0:04:00 - 0:12:00 - Philadelphia Regional - 6
0:07:00 - 42 -- 76 - 11 - 0:04:00 - 0:16:00 - Boilermaker Regional - 3
0:07:01 - 51 -- 84 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:30:00 - Wisconsin Regional - 2
0:07:02 - 55 -- 90 - 10 - 0:04:00 - 0:13:00 - Lone Star Regional - 3
0:07:03 - 54 -- 89 - 10 - 0:04:00 - 0:16:00 - Sacramento Regional - 3
0:07:04 - 64 - 105 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:19:00 - Los Angeles Regional - 4
0:07:04 - 52 -- 87 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:16:00 - North Carolina Regional - 6
0:07:08 - 45 -- 75 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:14:00 - Colorado Regional - 6
0:07:08 - 60 -- 90 -- 9 - 0:05:00 - 0:17:00 - Chesapeake Regional - 3
0:07:08 - 60 -- 90 -- 9 - 0:05:00 - 0:17:00 - North Star Regional - 5
0:07:11 - 64 -- 96 -- 9 - 0:04:00 - 0:11:00 - Alamo Regional - 1
0:07:15 - 56 -- 94 - 10 - 0:04:00 - 0:25:00 - Silicon Valley Regional - 5
0:07:16 - 52 -- 84 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:37:00 - Midwest Regional - 4
0:07:17 - 39 -- 65 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:21:00 - Pittsburgh Regional - 2
0:07:23 - 58 -- 87 -- 9 - 0:05:00 - 0:13:00 - Buckeye Regional - 6
0:07:30 - 48 -- 81 - 10 - 0:04:44 - 0:16:47 - Overall Averages
0:07:31 - 38 -- 76 - 12 - 0:05:00 - 0:26:00 - Waterford District - 2
0:07:33 - 61 -- 90 -- 9 - 0:05:00 - 0:13:00 - New Jersey Regional - 1
0:07:35 - 63 -- 95 -- 9 - 0:05:00 - 0:23:00 - 10,000 Lakes Regional - 5
0:07:37 - 43 -- 65 -- 9 - 0:05:00 - 0:12:00 - Palmetto Regional - 4
0:07:39 - 40 -- 80 - 12 - 0:05:00 - 0:12:00 - Troy District - 5
0:07:42 - 34 -- 55 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:13:00 - Hawaii Regional - 4
0:07:44 - 36 -- 66 - 11 - 0:05:00 - 0:15:00 - WPI Regional - 2
0:07:45 - 29 -- 62 - 13 - 0:04:00 - 0:12:00 - Utah Regional - 6
0:07:45 - 39 -- 72 - 11 - 0:05:00 - 0:23:00 - Las Vegas Regional - 5
0:07:47 - 40 -- 80 - 12 - 0:05:00 - 0:13:00 - Livonia District - 5
0:07:50 - 44 -- 74 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:18:00 - Finger Lakes Regional - 1
0:07:53 - 66 -- 88 -- 8 - 0:04:00 - 0:20:00 - New York City Regional - 2
0:07:56 - 60 -- 99 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:16:00 - Florida Regional - 2
0:08:01 - 40 -- 80 - 12 - 0:05:00 - 0:18:00 - Ann Arbor District - 4
0:08:02 - 38 -- 64 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:23:00 - Bayou Regional - 3
0:08:06 - 45 -- 70 -- 9 - 0:05:00 - 0:19:00 - Arizona Regional - 3
0:08:14 - 40 -- 80 - 12 - 0:04:00 - 0:17:00 - West Michigan District - 3
0:08:22 - 38 -- 76 - 12 - 0:05:00 - 0:21:00 - Kettering University District - 1
0:08:36 - 30 -- 54 - 11 - 0:06:00 - 0:20:00 - Waterloo Regional - 4
0:08:42 - 34 -- 68 - 12 - 0:05:00 - 0:22:00 - Niles District - 4
0:08:47 - 28 -- 52 - 11 - 0:05:00 - 0:19:00 - Saint Louis Regional - 3
0:08:47 - 39 -- 78 - 12 - 0:05:00 - 0:22:00 - Detroit District - 3
0:08:57 - 50 -- 84 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:19:00 - Israel Regional - 2
0:09:15 - 40 -- 80 - 12 - 0:05:00 - 0:28:00 - Traverse City District - 1
0:09:52 - 36 -- 59 - 10 - 0:05:00 - 0:18:00 - Greater Toronto West Regional - 5
0:09:59 - 36 -- 60 - 10 - 0:06:00 - 0:18:00 - Greater Toronto East Regional - 5

[pathew100]

Just another data point for the Michigan State Championship. We started all 128 qualification matches with 6 robots. (And all eliminations as well).

I know we had the advantage of high quality machines and field experience for all the teams but it was a great accomplishment for us!

[Mark McLeod]

I held Michigan State Championship out since it's really in a different class, much similar to Championship.

It has the distinction of teams that have all played two or more times, so there's little likelihood of a robot not being able to connect to the field and the drive teams/field crew have all been trained repeatedly at prior events.


Here are the comparable numbers:

Avg match cycle - # teams - # matches - Matches per team - Min Cycle - Max Cycle - Event - Week

0:06:50 - 64 - 128 - 12 - 0:05:00 - 0:12:00 - MI State Championship - 6

[Ster]

Chiming in to comment that we did not start a single match at the Smoky Mountain Regional with a robot bypassed due to failing to connect. We also had twelve rookie teams competing.

[Alex Cormier]

I held Michigan State Championship out since it's really in a different class, much similar to Championship.



Both of the GTR's should be too. It was very hard to try to keep the pace going faster due to two regionals in one building doing "ping pong" matches.

It was an amazing sight to see and watch though!

[Mark McLeod]

I wondered why they were matched to such a slow pace.

They coordinated the start of one match on one field to the end of a match on the other?

[Alex Cormier]

I wondered why they were matched to such a slow pace.

They coordinated the start of one match on one field to the end of a match on the other?

Yes, so East would start and then west would run right after and so on. If there was an issue with one field, we would either wait or skip to the other field. If we didn't have to do that, I would think we would easily be at the front of the pack.

[RobotsVsKittens]

0:06:36 - 50 -- 84 - 10 - 0:04:00 - 0:11:00 - SBPLI Long Island Regional - 4
0:06:36 - 57 -- 97 - 10 - 0:04:00 - 0:10:00 - Northeast Utilities FIRST Connecticut Regional - 5

Oddly similar stats for two regionals of which I was part of the field crew!

[Alex Cormier]

Can we get an update with the CMP data?

[Mark McLeod]

Field - #teams - #matches - # per team - Target -- Avg match --- Deviation --- Min Cycle ---- Max Cycle --- Std Dev
------------------------------------------- Match Cycle -- Cycle

Archimedes - 88 ----- 147 ----- 10 ----- 0:06:00 ----- 0:06:04 ----- 0:00:04 ----- 0:04:00 ----- 0:10:00 ----- 0:01:03
Curie -------- 88 ----- 147 ----- 10 ----- 0:06:00 ----- 0:06:18 ----- 0:00:18 ----- 0:04:00 ----- 0:18:00 ----- 0:01:55
Galileo ------ 88 ----- 147 ----- 10 ----- 0:06:00 ----- 0:06:21 ----- 0:00:21 ----- 0:04:00 ----- 0:14:00 ----- 0:01:32
Newton ----- 88 ----- 147 ----- 10 ----- 0:06:00 ----- 0:06:21 ----- 0:00:21 ----- 0:05:00 ----- 0:16:00 ----- 0:01:38


Archimedes field crew wins the efficiency contest.

P.S.
I did not include the rematches on Curie and Newton in the above calculations.
On Friday both Archimedes and Galileo finished their matches before awards, while Curie (3) and Newton (1) had to finish afterwards.

[Koko Ed]

Field - #teams - #matches - # per team - Target Avg - Avg match -- Deviation --- Min Cycle ---- Max Cycle --- Std Dev
----------------------------------------- Match Cycle - Cycle

Archimedes - 88 ----- 147 ----- 10 ----- 0:06:00 ----- 0:06:04 ----- 0:00:04 ----- 0:04:00 ----- 0:10:00 ----- 0:01:03
Curie ------- 88 ----- 147 ----- 10 ----- 0:06:00 ----- 0:06:18 ----- 0:00:18 ----- 0:04:00 ----- 0:18:00 ----- 0:01:55
Galileo ------ 88 ----- 147 ----- 10 ----- 0:06:00 ----- 0:06:21 ----- 0:00:21 ----- 0:04:00 ----- 0:14:00 ----- 0:01:32
Newton ----- 88 ----- 147 ----- 10 ----- 0:06:00 ----- 0:06:21 ----- 0:00:21 ----- 0:05:00 ----- 0:16:00 ----- 0:01:38


Archimedes field crew wins the efficency contest.

Curie and Archimedes team queing crews traded divisions so they both ended up affecting the rating and both crews end up Einstein.

[Mark McLeod]

Curie and Archimedes team queing crews traded divisions so they both ended up affecting the rating and both crews end up Einstein.
If you really want to get into the nitty gritty, there's data enough to calculate separate ratings for queuers and the personnel who did move with the field changes (Refs, scorer, field reset, cooperative teams count too).

I'll leave that to someone else though.

[Fallout coach]

Wish we competed in Michigan, Districts are getting 12 matches per team.

Not only do Michigan teams get about 12 matches prior to alliance selection, we only pay $5000 for our kit of parts and TWO district events.

[Karibou]

Not only do Michigan teams get about 12 matches prior to alliance selection, we only pay $5000 for our kit of parts and TWO district events.

Yeah, but we still have to essentially win twice to qualify for CMP :/