2011 Lesson Learned :The Positive

[Koko Ed]

What do you think FIRST doo particularly well this season that deserves recognition?

[PayneTrain]

The fields rarely had massive downtime. Finally, the bane of drive teams everywhere may be disappearing!

[Grim Tuesday]

The fields rarely had massive downtime. Finally, the bane of drive teams everywhere may be disappearing!

I would disagree with that; At FLR the field was down almost all of Thursday.

[PayneTrain]

This being one of the two incidents I can think of, I used the qualifier "rarely". Week 1 Regionals exist to dispel the gremlins that weren't caught in Week 0 (and more official Week 0 events/GDC planned early finalization would fix this almost all the way)

Being at NJR last year, where we stood around for four hours on Thursday waiting for FMS to wake up from its 10-month slumber, and at VCU, where between the inifinite tie games and field downtime I would have been better suited to tent out in the Siegel Center, I know field downtime sucks. Having little field downtime where I was this year was a blessing.

[Tetraman]

I would disagree with that; At FLR the field was down almost all of Thursday.

There was a greater underlining issue that created the Thursday downtime at FLR. I wouldn't consider it something FIRST should be at fault for. It will be addressed for the next FLR, so it's really FLR lessons learned.


Now then:

-A great game. This year was a great challenge, with only "entering the opponent's lane" penalties being the rule that frustrated teams. I like the 'empty field' games as they are much faster and easier to play defense in. I can't wait to see what the retooled GDC will give us for next year. I would rather not see minibots for another 8 years though.

-High Profile celebrities actually being at the event. We've seen our share of some celebrities make a 4 minute video and play it at champs, but it's so much better to actually have those celebrities at the event - even for one day and for photo-ops. I would think FIRST should get in touch with the other Mythbusters that aren't already involved with FIRST/VEX/Robotics programs and have them be apart of the Championship celebrations. Ask Jamie Hyneman to be on the GDC maybe?

-The Kickoff. I can't remember a better kickoff than this year. Good speakers, tons of information, and some speeches that weren't just the usual "You are the future". The reveal and rules explanation part of the kickoff still needs a bit of work, as the explanations are still vague and all over the place.

[pfreivald]

The game this year was top-notch. The notion that you had to be better than everyone else at what you decided to do made it a very exciting, and challenging, erm, challenge. The importance of autonomous and endgame being on par with teleop made for a very interesting strategic and engineering challenge.

The support. Teams can get support when they need it because of how FIRST has structured what matters. Awesome.

[DonRotolo]

I'm going to focus on CMP rather than the game.

1. Super well-run, even better than last year in ATL. Outstanding job, testament to what good planning can do.
2. The location of the venue - right at the edge of the serious downtown area - is excellent. unlike ATL, where a 4 block walk got you the CNN food court, in STL a 4-block walk got you anything from The Dubliner Pub to Hardee's. Great variety, mostly of the non-fast-food type. OMG, Culture!
3. Spaciousness of the pits.
4. That 50-yard-line seating at the dome. Nice and soft and comfy and everything...

I also want to thank FIRST and the venue management for opening up the doors at hall 5 on Friday, cutting thousands of feet off the commute from pits to dome (via the courtyard).

I also want to thank FIRST for recognizing the noise issue and dropping the music during matches.

You know,, maybe it wasn't perfect, but it was awful darn close. See my post in the 'negative' thread for some minor quibbles.

[Taylor]

1. Surprisingly spacious pits. Escorting my (very) pregnant wife while pushing a stroller, I expected lots of logjams and unintentional crashes. Neither appreciably happened; aisles were sufficiently wide and people were courteous and respectful.

2. Wonderful staff taking care of a potentially sticky seating situation. The colored wristband technique chosen for the Einstein matches was potentially very confusing; the two ladies who worked with EJD security staff and the FIRST participants were exceptionally patient, gracious, and professional. Each belligerent parent shouting at them was greeted with a disarming smile and nod; these ladies deserve a round of applause (and probably a pay raise).

[Jared Russell]

THE CHAMPIONSHIP:

1. The venue was huge, convenient, and ultimately, I think St. Louis will work well as the host of CMP for the next few years.

2. The Friday night concert was a blast for our students.

EVERYTHING ELSE:

1. The robot rules continue to be relaxed in areas such as pneumatics and bumper mounting, and this flexibility leads to more creative robots and less stress on teams.

2. Playing a game that we had basically played before led to a pretty deep field of competitive bots at all of the events that I attended or watched.

3. The minibot race was extremely spectator friendly.

4. Game pieces were cheap and available (eventually).

5. Auto mode was done well. The right balance of difficulty and points, and there was an incentive for going above and beyond (2 tube autos).

[rsisk]

The extra week of robotics competitions leading up to an awesome set of teams at the Championship.

[thefro526]

The Championship:

1) Fields in the pits weren't all THAT bad (excluding seating). It was cool being able to see teams like 1114, 2056, 1503, 254, 968, 2415, and 233 play up close, you definitely get something out of it that can't be gotten in the dome.

2) The Finale, from what little time I spent there, seemed pretty cool. Not sure if it was better than the ATL finale, but it wasn't bad.

3) The Concert was really cool, and I can finally understand why the Stage took up almost half of the dome. I guess if you're going to do it, do it big.

4) Einstein's setup was very cool this year, the visual effects added something that had been missing before.

5) The Dean's list presentation was really, really cool. FIRST definitely stepped up the presentation for this award.

The Game:

1) Cheap and relatively available game pieces were awesome. being able to have half a fields worth of pieces without breaking the bank was really, really sweet.

2) Playing with a familiar game piece seemed to raise the overall competitiveness of many events from previous years.

3) Valuable autonomous was a nice touch, I enjoyed seeing most teams attempting to score and ubertube.

4) FIRST is onto something good with the concept of the Mini-Bot Race. It is exciting, but it's execution leaves something to be desired.

[rotolomi]

For the first year of Championships being held in STL, it was very well pulled off.

- The concert. I know there had been a lot of controversy about this about a week ago, but I had a great time. It was exciting, fun, and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. And the paper airplanes were great too ;)
- The pit fields. Surprisingly, I enjoyed being in the pits more than being in the Dome. It was a closer walk to the pits, it was a better view of the matches, the noise level wasn't bad, and the floor wasn't sticky in the pits! Also, I enjoyed the FTC and FLL pits as well as the FIRST store and Scholarship Row, which I wouldn't have bothered to look at had I not been so close by.
- The visual effects. The Championships seem to get cooler and cooler every year, with the LED banners on Einstein and the great views on-screen of Einstein final matches.
- The spaciousness of the pits. While traveling through the pits, only a few times was I caught in a cluster of people or had to jump out of the way of a robot. In general, there seemed to be a lot more room to walk around.
- The celebrities! I know a lot of people disagree with FIRST using celebrities to expose FIRST because we want to be known for the robots rather than the celebrities that attend our competitions, but I think this is just what FIRST needs. It will increase public interest, not to mention it's very cool to see Will.I.Am play with his FTC robot and to see Morgan Freeman walk 5 feet in front of you.

[rsisk]

The high definition screen on Einstein was very nice.

[Nemo]

Better seating for Einstein. It was hard to find good seats in Atlanta and easy in St. Louis.

[falconmaster]

When you think a ref might have a hard time making a call, make it so obvious that he can't make a call against you.

[ToddF]

Having posted in the "negatives" thread, I think it only fair to post in this thread as well. I'll go roughly in chronological order.

- Roomy pit: As a pit worker, I appreciated that the pit was bigger than our pit at either the Palmetto or the Virginia Regionals. Maybe we were just better organized, but it was much easier to do work in St. Louis.
- Pit location: This isn't a lesson learned, but was a positive for our team. Our pit was steps away from both the bathroom and the food stand behind the Curie bleachers. The commute to the Curie field was a breeze, and was only 7 minutes or so from the dome.
- Great atmosphere: Also not a lesson learned, but as this was our first trip to the Championship, one positive aspect was the shear number of teams from all the different leagues all having a great time.
- Roboprom: Nearly all our kids attended, and had a great time. Also set this event apart from a Regional.
- Friday concert: The kids loved it. It was a great reward for reaching the Championships. It wasn't perfect, but I've never been to a concert which was. The important thing was that the kids came away happy and energized. (Also a highlight of the concert was the Miley Cyrus video clip that every kid in the stadium boo'd. Just a reminder to the FIRST powers-that-be that teenagers decide for themselves what is cool.)
- The FIRST store: There should be at least a small store at every Regional.
- Much GP: I observed, and our team was the recipient of, some significant GP demonstrated by teams helping other teams with parts, tools etc.
- The talent show: The best thing about the after party.
- The level of competition: It was great to see all the best teams showing off their stuff. It truly raised the bar and gave our team something to aspire to for the future.

I wish I could include the actual competition experience as a positive, but there were simply too many logistical problems, especially at the Curie pit field where our division spent most of the time, to say I enjoyed the competition. Maybe the lesson to be learned there is to appreciate the competition environment at the Regional competitions, where there is adequate seating for all.

[Refresh]

The high definition screen on Einstein was very nice.
Yes it was very nice. Both the one facing the stands and the one that was facing the fields. The Instant replays were a nice touch also.

[rsisk]

The FRC Spyder app. Brilliant.

[Mike Soukup]

The FRC Spyder app. Brilliant.
Thanks, I'm glad you like it. However, FIRST has nothing to do with the app other than providing the results online in an inconsistent and difficult to parse format. The rest is done by outsiders.

[Bryan Herbst]

- The FIRST store: There should be at least a small store at every Regional.

I couldn't agree more. The FIRST merchandise is cool and I am very certain that FIRST would see a tremendous increase in sales if they marketed some of that at regionals.

I believe they are in the process of expanding this. From an email regarding the Lake Superior regional:

There is customized Lake Superior Regional merchandise available for purchase. It will include the names of the teams attending the event.

I don't remember seeing much at either of the regionals I attended though.

Actually, I just found this link: http://logolocltd.com/firststore/logomotion/LakeSuperior/.
Looks like there was a limited trial of new regional merchandise in the midwest this year.