Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

There are always many good robots at champs that go unpicked. This year especially I saw many amazing shooters go unpicked.

With that said, I'm surprised you guys didn't make it into elims. You simply must not have fit into an alliance's strategy.

Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

I definitely understand how annoying it can be when when the luck of qualifications really holds you back but the alliance captains did do their scouting and most likely didn't even take seeding into consideration. If anything, it was more unlucky that your team ended up in the division with the most FCS's, your team also wasn't given a chance to demonstrate how they might handle tall defensive bots, while others were. And don't forget that a lot of good teams don't make it into eliminations, generally because of strategic compatibility.

Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

We generally stick to saying, "Excuse us, robot coming through!" and most people realize that means a robot is coming through the aisle that they should NOT even be standing in. On the one hand, just yelling "ROBOT" is rude and ineffective; on the other hand, trying to "navigate" through a sea of people who are crowding the aisles is just dangerous (especially with little children around).

In a perfect world, the aisles would be closed when robots were moving through (they are pretty big machines after all--think of the Home Depot aisle curtains). But that is not at all conducive to the FIRST atmosphere which includes visitors strolling through the pits.

I propose that teams keep their members in their pit area (or at least no further than a foot outside) and robot transporters use phrases or sentences to politely excuse themselves through the pits with one or two people leading the way.

Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

I want to see more solutions to the problems listed in this thread!

We should have enough LRIs and IMs to handle inspection for 8 fields of 50 robots to increase the number of matches per team. Still 400 teams total. It's whether we can fit two more practice fields and four more division fields within the space and if all the equipment is working (I know that we have at least one broken scale).

There needs to be a Pit Admin sign for FRC at normal person viewing level (not just the Division names hanging from the ceiling). A good portion of my time is spent being Pit Admin with the following questions being the most common: Where is Pit Admin, where do I put this (safety paper), where is lost and found, how do I get my crate moved, where do we check in, where is spare parts, where is the machine shop, where is the hall of fame, where is FTC, where is FLL, where is the other Division, have you seen my lost child, what do I do with a lost child?

FIRST needs to have a computer with a searchable database for team information versus a print out. I helped a bus driver from Michigan find his team after the event staff and police officer could not help him. He only knew the city of the team. Luckily, I had the master list of teams in an Excel file that included the team numbers, city, and sponsors. Additionally, it needs to include the teams' names to help make it complete. I cannot even begin to tell you how many teams I looked up for people.

The Pit Admin announcer needs to tell the crowd that the pit is closing not because the Volunteers and event staff want to go back to our hotels/homes, but because it is really about being fair to everyone about robot build/modification time.

I want teams to sit together and nobody left out. Nobody should be sitting/standing on stairs or standing in an aisle for safety reasons. Thus, I would like to see the number of team members plus four seats reserved for teams in the arena on their field (guests/spectators I'm sure would love to sit with a team and have the team explain). If you want to go to another Division's field to watch, you take what ever seats are left over. Einstein needs more seating. Must use the long side of the arena next time. It was way too loud. The buzzer went off and my ears nearly bled from the sound pressure.

Volunteer food times coincide with peak Robot Inspection times. I really need this fixed to ensure everyone who wants to eat gets to eat. For example: Breakfast starts at 6:30 am but the Pit opens at 7:00 am. Dinner on Wednesday evening is also a really tough one due to load in and bag-n-tag starting at 4:00 pm with inspections to follow. The food is far away from where we are located and it is a bit like swimming upstream in the flow of people to get to the Volunteer food room and back in a reasonable amount of time.

Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

Here is my list.

1. St. Louis in general. I’m sure a lot of teams were able to bus it in from other parts of the country, but for those of us who flew in, most of us probably had to connect through another hub city. I can only imagine how annoying this must be for those teams flying from international/rural destinations. I hope FIRST considers this aspect when they look at potential bids after next year’s Championship Event.

2. Increase qualification matches at CMP: I’m sure there is something that can be done to add matches to the schedule without reducing the number of teams. This would mean that you would likely have to add time. I personally came up with something like this

This makes space for about 180 qualification matches on a 7 minute cycle. You could have gotten ten matches for each team with only 166 qualification matches. Even running at a 7.5 minute cycle, you would get 168 matches. I’m sure teams could get the breaks that they wanted for lunch and other things on Friday (Look at 148’s schedule; they didn't have a single match Friday until around 1:15pm). Frank addressed this in his e-mail earlier today, so I’m sure this is something FIRST is looking into.

As for the part I have about Saturday. I think you can tie in things like the talent show/dance/top 5 exciting matches during the season and make the Finals the Finale as well.

3. Real time scoring needs improvement (already beaten to death)

4. Qualifying for Championship should be changed. Maybe something like this?

5. FIRST needs better infrastructure for media sources. What do I mean by this?

a. An actual PR effort instead of handing out 8GB flash drives with just 15 or so pictures form the New York City Regional on them along with a bunch of other text files. (that’s what those cool little FIRST bracelets that looked like powerbands were.)
b. Include the basics to create a webcast as part of the kit that travels with the fields around the country during the regional events. (Even if its’ at 480p for the first few years) and use this to your advantage. The faster FIRST can standardize things when it comes to media like this, the better the media opportunities for FIRST will get. Imagine utilizing this to have live look-ins for other regional events during timeouts or breaks, Imagine having the top 5 most exciting matches of the year replayed on the Einstein big screen instead of throwing paper airplanes waiting for match results… It would be easier for a media provider to pick up FIRST if all the infrastructure for the media was already created.
c. Pushing to try and get network executives/people in the sports broadcasting industry as part of the administration in FIRST. Having an insiders’ track to land a major media opportunity would be huge for this program.

6. Let's try to get a bigger space for Karthik next year instead of this.

That’s all I could think of right now, otherwise this has been an excellent season.

Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

If you can find four fields worth of volunteers willing to go 10 hours without breaks, then we have a 40-way tie for volunteer of the year.

Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

Reading through this thread I see some think that there are too many teams attending with not enough time for play, the robots are not as qualified, and the money is too much for 8 matches. I also see comments that FIRST is about inspiring students so none of the above matter.

Here is just a thought based on my experience from many years ago when my son was a student and not the active volunteer alumni he is now. His rookie team had no chance to go to championship. The robot did not perform well and even if it had the money would have not had been there for the team to go.So to attend the World championship in Atlanta, I took off work, I took him out of school and we went on our own.The ultimate road trip. It was a life changing experience and perhaps a more valuable experience than some of the times we attended with a team with a robot later. In Atlanta, my son attended NEMO workshops, visited pits, met mentors and students, and just took the whole championship experience in. (When attending as a contender, it is easy to be so focused on a robot, there is so much that is missed.) I suggest that certain deserving teams go as a smaller contingency, purely as a learning experience, with their most involved student leaders and do the same thing. Perhaps FIRST can deem them a special name, such as Inspire Teams, which does not qualify them for robot matches, but as a group to go for the learning experience and opportunity. Since it is a smaller group without a robot, charge a smaller amount, say $2000 that includes workshops, conferences, special meetings, a tour of the Hall of Fame, meet and greet with FIRST special guests and so on. Since FIRST is about INSPIRING students, this seems a perfect solution for both the arguments above. Less robots, but more learning opportunities on how to be a better team. If adding to the financial bottom line is important for the FIRST budget, smaller teams consisting of leaders attending but still paying for the experience at a lesser price, addresses that situation as well.

My son was also given the blessing of being asked to attend with other local teams who qualified and I continue to be grateful to those mentors/teachers with those teams who made it possible. I am also grateful to the NEMO folks, who provided workshops on how to be a successful team. Restricting less "elite" teams from attending would keep younger teams from learning how to become an "elite" experienced team. Having the opportunity to learn from those teams - PRICELESS. There is a great solution here for all parties here somewhere. Oh, as a side note, later teams my son was involved with did go to World championship after learning the ropes from experienced teams and workshops at the World championship. That's how it is suppose to work, right?
And the finale party in Atlanta was purely fun and inspiring with the wonderful location with lots of room for everybody and fireworks. It may not be doable in St. Louis, perhaps because of the logistics and weather, but it is what everyone misses. Is Forest Park too far away? Or can that park mall avenue with all the fountains and statues in front of the capitol be roped off? Could fireworks light up over the arch like they do on the 4th? Just some thoughts. Thanks for all the hard work. It is an enormous effort I know, and hard to find some solutions with so many folks to consider. Over all, great job! Again, an amazing experience!

Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the most basic level, this is what FIRST can be about!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it about Inspiration or Recognition?

Comments on submissions from the "Old Guard" coming soon...

Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

9 foot falls. not fun to watch.

Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

Admission is free. It would be strange to charge $2000 for a team to do all of that stuff when all they have to do is show up and do that stuff as it is now.

Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

It may have already been said, but I feel like there needs to be a regional limit. Teams that already have more experience are the ones who go to 2, 3, or 4 regionals a year. If anything, rookies should have more chances to earn a trip to the Dome. Powerhouse teams ending their season with 2 or 3 Regional Winners trophies really hurts the competitiveness of FIRST. Also, a team who's robot can already smash half of a regional to pieces getting extra to work at the regional the week before just kills the entire build season.

Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

Ideally you'd have every single regional during the same week. That just can't happen logistically though. I think that if a team is capable of going to multiple regionals, they should be able to. Priority should be (and is) given to teams who go to 1 or 2.

Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

There are hundreds of threads on this. The general consensus is that any team can attend 4 if they so choose. It is probably a good idea to start this in one of those threads instead of here, because this is a "problem" every year, not just 2013.

Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

This year was MUCH better for teams that went to multiple regional and won, because of the Wildcard. So that is much less of an issue now.

Re: 2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative
 

One of my hats was as the trainer and go-to person for the St. Louis Convention temporaries, ie, the "Event Information" booth in the lobby in front of the entrance to the pits. This is year 3 for me doing this job. They were asked non-stop questions over the 4 days by teams, and the public. We had various printouts of teams but it wasn't until Sat. that I saw your master list of all the teams in pit admin, sorted by geography and thought "there it is!" We spent way too much time flipping through divisions, through programs, through assorted lists. By Friday I would have traded my vest with 13 pockets to have a computer with a searchable database. We were slammed with these inquiries about teams just because of where this booth was-I have so many stories including crying moms. And depending on whether they wanted a pit visit vs. watching the team on the field in the Dome and which section to send them to there, guided the conversation. In addition, I would love to have a little more coordination between pit admin and the event information booth. This is doable!

I hate I am posting in the "negative" thread.
Can we make a "it's doable" thread?