[Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

-May be close to 400 FRC teams at Championship (100 per division!)

-NO MORE FIELDS IN THE PIT!

-Goal is 9 qualification matches per team.

http://frcdirector.blogspot.com/2012...ship-ever.html

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

Best news I've heard all day!

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

But Black Eyed Peas Championship is best championship!

/sarcasm, despite love of catchy, infectious beats.



But just the sound of "100 teams per division" is awesome.

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

Not if you're a scouter... :(

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

The sound of all the fields in the dome is even better!

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

I think FIRST® realized a mistake, glad things are going back to the way they were.

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

I know that feel bro. I can imagine the pain of any scout dealing with the Friday night pick list.

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

Hmmm.... 9 matches means you see at most 45 other teams. Really at the mercy of the scheduling gods! Oh well, bring it on! :-)

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

At 100 teams per division, I hope we find out our division assignments earlier than in the recent past so that we can start pre-competition scouting!

9 rounds per team * 100 teams per division / 6 teams per round = 150 qualifying rounds in each division!

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

So they knocked it down to 9 matches. We had 10 last 2 years (up from 7 before that). I think 9 is enough, division seeding will always be highly dependent on the schedule.

We had 147 qual matches per division last year so 150 is easily possible. I think we could do 102 teams and 153 qual matches. Actually I think FIRST is prepping for at least 408 teams since if there is no overlap in qualifying teams in Weeks 6 & 7 there would be at least 411 teams. 345 (currently registered) + 36 (6 Week 6 Regionals) + 12 (MAR) + 18 (FiM) = 411

The automated scoring system this year speeds up cycle times tremendously. Every event has been running ahead of schedule from my observation (with scheduled dance breaks). Chestnut Hill field went down for like an hour early in the quals and we had no problem making it up.

What I really hope, is that they don't have any surrogate matches at Worlds (it is pointless and they do it every year). Why would you have surrogate matches when you have a wait list full of teams to fill those slots? Fill till you have a nice even number of teams with no surrogates, 2 problems solved. With 9 matches/team they just have to make it an even number of teams/divison.

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

This sounds amazing. What I wonder though, is why can't they make 8 divisions of 50 teams. They obviously have the space for all the pits. It is more space, but it seems like they could make enough space for those fields. And it would allow for more matches.

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

Very exciting.

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

Volunteers. Having twice as many fields would require twice as many volunteers to staff them. Now, I'm not educated about FRC's volunteer situation, but I'd say it's safe to say that it would be hard to get double the current amount to St. Louis.

Money. Having twice as many divisions would require twice as many field setups, twice as many sound/video/lights people and equipment. I'm sure it adds up.

It's the two things that drive the real world: money and manpower. If we can get a good supply of both, I'm sure FIRST would quickly expand the number of divisions. But it's rarely that easy...

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

You brought up a lot of good points. They have 18 fields, and I'm pretty sure they usually have at least 9 regionals a week(1 extra for Einstein), which each need 1 setup, so the field problem doesn't seem like an issue. For the dome reservations, it is an extra 8 - 12 matches, so that would take more time, but not that much more. Especially if they reduced 18 matches per team(what it is now x 2 because of the extra divisions), to like 15, they would have even more time to do einstein matches.

In terms of manpower though, I can't see a solution. Soon though, we will get to a point where there are too many teams coming, that there is no other option. Hopefully, FIRST will be making enough of a profit from the extra teams coming to CMP, that they will have enough money to bring those extra people.

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

Yes, but you have to remember that while the courts and FMSs themselves are already paid for, there's still quite a bit that each field requires that isn't on those trucks. All the surrounding equipment, the venue-based A/V and items not shipped with the fields, not to mention shipping what does need to be. Still very expensive, though the manpower issue is likely greater.

Why does FIRST need money to bring extra volunteers? Wait, have I been missing my per diem? Where's my check? :P [Please excuse that, what I mean to say is that volunteers mostly pay their own way (sometimes quite a lot). Very few people in the first umbrella get any money, though of course they are important people.]

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

FIRST provides food for volunteers, as well as shirts and passes to the finale, so there is a monetary cost to FIRST for increasing the number of volunteers even though we aren't paid.

I think Michael's point may have been in terms of the cost of the extra AV equipment, loading personnel, etc that aren't volunteers but are hired by FIRST to run things at Championships, however.

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

If you think it's difficult to hear team introductions and play-by-play in the dome now, just imagine what a mess it would be for 8 announcers. Also imagine the increase in traffic - doubling the number of robots in motion at any one time.

I love the idea of more matches so less luck is involved in the picking. They've got some hurdles to overcome to do it.

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

Wow. 400 teams, 9 qualification matches, and (this is just what I heard from a mentor) they're opening up at 3:00 on Wednesday, from which we CAN WORK ON the robot until 8:30 while simultaneously setting up pit structures, then qualifications start at 1:00 on Thursday. That sounds...odd, but I'm not sure quite how that works out. Either way, I'm excited. Can't wait to go to my second World Champs (Definitely going to break out the 2010 Atlanta jacket when I go.) :) PM me if you want to t-shirt trade!

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

And I appreciate everything FIRST gives us. However, having both read their financial statements and struggled through the event volunteer shortage, I'm fairly confident saying a good part of the manpower issue is in volunteer bodies rather than complimentary supplies. I do agree about the A/V issue, as both myself and Phil mentioned. But you are correct, I had not meant to sell short FIRST's volunteer support, only clarify that money is not the (only) limiting factor to "bringing those extra people".

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

I believe they're opening at 4:00, can anyone confirm?

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

You are indeed correct and I am wrong. Good call on catching that. The pits do open at 4 to five team reps. The qualification matches, as well, do start at 1:00 on Thursday. The rest of the schedule people can look at.

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

Oh my goodness!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my last year as a student and I am extremely happy about the championship! I cant wait until St Louis and I cant wait to go back next year to Volunteer and the year after and so on!!!!!! This year is so amazing! Thank goodness for FIRST!!!

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

Can we just enjoy the moment?

I was excited to click on the thread and find out the 2012 plans so far... and I found that we are already picking things apart.

Sorry, just not in the mood to be nitpicky tonight.
Jane

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

This.

There are two threads currently going to discuss potential ways to change championships (including people throwing around ideas of increasing the number of divisions). Can't we keep all that riff raff in those threads? I'm with Jane--let's use this thread to celebrate and get excited for this year's event and not spend our time worrying about next year!

I won't be able to attend this year and wasn't at the event last year, but I'm glad that they moved the fields out of the pits. I know many were upset about that last year and it was a bit of a hassle, so I'm glad FIRST listened to those concerns. :)

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

Everyone is raving about having nearly 100 teams per division. I honestly don't know how I feel about this. I'm not so sure that many teams is a good thing.

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

Has anyone been able to locate a map/layout for the pits/stadium?

- Sunny G.

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

Pity us poor Robot Inspectors. You usually have 5-6 inspectors per division. That's 17-20 robots per person :ahh: :ahh: :ahh:
Please be patient when you want your robot inspected. We will get to at our earliest inconvience :D

Also, what is the load in like? This will be FRC Team 1501's first Championship since 2007.

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

Wayne,
It has been a long time since you were at Champs. We are expecting a lot more inspectors to handle the load, get everyone inspected and be ready for matches starting on Thursday afternoon. The number will more like 15 per division plus a few more if I can get them. This includes Inspection Pit Managers to handle weigh and size, the inspection paperwork, and assigning inspectors. We move staff as we see a need to get everyone inspected on time. We also plan to have inspectors regularly checking in at the fields to answer questions and support Refs and FTAs. Inspectors will be working hard to get B&T checks done as soon as possible after you open your crate and will remain until the pits close each day. LRIs from regional events are asked to wear their black vests and most everyone will be wearing the bright green hats so you can recognize them from afar.

Please note: This is the big show! There will be the most experienced inspectors checking over your robots at this event. I am sorry if something was missed at your regional, it will be checked at this event. If it is not compliant, it will need to be made legal. We will advise you on changes that will need to be made. Look over my inspection thread here on CD and be sure that your bumpers are in order, you have only legal motors, pneumatics and batteries, and your robot has an electrically isolated frame. This year nearly half of all robots failed some portion of the bumper rule. Your bumper segments must be a minimum of 8" long (measured at backing i.e. the 3/4" plywood), fully backed by robot frame, have no hard parts in the corners, must have your team number in only four locations (approx 90 degrees apart), may not be split across bumper segments and must be white or outlined in white. Please review all the bumper rules (4.1.6 Bumper Rules) and check the accompanying figures in the rule book. As of this writing, Rev C of the Inspection Checklist is still the valid document and this will be used at Champs.

Re: [Bill's Blog] The Biggest and Best Championship Ever
 

5 people are allowed in to unpack the robot, get inspected and setup the pit station (no practice field).

Potential Scenario:
Pits open at 4:00 5 people enter without the pit and supplies only what is needed to uncrate and work on the robot. This is because they are waiting in a long line of people wanting to get in. They recieve a call at 5:30 (or later) saying that their trailer is at the load in area and to come out and get their stuff. This allows 5 people to be more productive over a longer period of time and focus on getting robot changes made and inspected. Otherwise they would have to wait to begin work until they can enter with all of the supplies and pit.

Never attending St. Louis how long does it take to get everyone loaded in? And are the 5 team reps allowed to enter leave and re-enter?