3 is the number and the number shall be 3...
 

...thou shalt not go to 4 Competitions, 5 is right out!

I have heard that teams that are signed up for more than 3 competitions (not Chief Delphi, by the way, though I will admit that we would LIKE to go to more, but we just can't) are being asked which one(s) they are dropping.

Is this the case? True, not true?

Anybody with the inside scoop, spill your guts ;-)

Joe J.

One... two ... four... three sir...Three!
 

Actually for us it would be two.

I think I would speak for many teams where the financial situation this year does not accomodate for three competitions this year.

Joe,

My son is a freshman at WPI this year.

He called me last Sunday night to say that he had received an E-mail from the team and that they had been requested (read: told) by FIRST to drop one of the 4 events they were signed up for. This was to apply to any other teams who had also registered for 4 or more events. (more? jeez what a schedule!!)

The RedJammers are set for 3 in '02.

KSC - Long Island - Toronto

Robots up and down the Eastern Seaboard

Rumors true-

WPI was scheduled to attend Virginia, Silicon Valley, UTC, and the Championship..

Our team leader was emailed a while back and asked "if you had to opt-out of one regional, which one would it be?" It was decided to we'd drop UTC and last week FIRST asked us to do so, due to the fact that there were 4 or 5 New England teams that hadn't gotten into any competition..

It makes our schedule easier, but harder for us to bring more students to competitions..

I think that it may depend on the status of teams for certain regionals whether people are asked to drop them or not..

Ah well.. it's almost kickoff time :P.. just 3 more weeks of term to get through ;-)

Counting down the days....
 

Just as a general note, the Build starts in 36 days!!!!!!!




- Katie

True ....
 

We were asked to drop one of our regionals.......

We gave up KSC .....

:(

we are going to the Buckeye Regional, Motorola Regional and Nationals...i think that was decided as final...but i am not certain at this point...clark probably can confirm this

we're planning on going to Buckeye, Chicago, and Nats. but we're having hard enough trouble getting enough money to pay for our 1st entry fee not just 3. lets hope we find some $$CASHMONEY$$

Cool! That's where we'll be, too (except nats :(

Yes
 

Yes DJ.... Those are the 3 competitions we are going to :D

Our team is only going to one competition (UTC).

I hear ya bro. But there is still hope for chaos at nat's. there is always hope. NEVER FORGET THAT!!!!!

Our team also has no chance of going to nationals.

Doesn't mean we're not going to try to build a kick-butt bot though :D :cool: !

Re: True ....
 

Hold the phone.....I hope this was a request and not an order. There is nothing on the FIRST website that limits the number of regionals you can go to is there? I think if a team had enough tact it would not go overboard on the number of regionals but if a team decided to go to as many regionals as they wanted to there shouldn't be a problem.

Sad .... But True ....
 

It was manditory..... We didn't want to. FIRST says that there is now a 3 event cap on ALL teams ..... and that it may go down to 2.



:(

I'm not too surprised that FIRST asked teams to drop out.. Just due to the sheer number of new teams in it this year, things are gonna get hectic and readjustments will be made each year.. FIRST is still growing at an insane pace, and perhaps it will be detrimental to the development of other teams.. Who knows..

If FIRST is going to limit the number of regionals/comps this year, how are teams expected to generate enough points for this years', or even next years' Championship? It seems as though multiple regional winning teams will grab all the points, and many other teams will be right on the fringe of qualifying. I don't want to start the debate over qualifying again, but this rule further limits a team's chance to qualify.


BEN

Of course, you have to keep in mind we don't know what the formula will be for qualifying next year...they may change the number of points needed...

Could it be that FIRST is wanting to try to force us to "have a life" beyond FIRST during the January-April time frame. Their not allowing teams to participate in more than 2 regionals does at least a little to accomplish that.

Also, as may have been previously mentioned, not all that many teams are able to enter more than two regionals, and the limit would serve to equalize things to some extent. From our team's experience, each regional is a major learning experience leading up to National, and while we have never entered more than two regionals, I suspect that if we did, we would continue to learn at the third (or fourth) regional as we do at the first two.

Numbers vs. Design
 

My impression is that FIRST is just trying to keep room available for teams.

I doubt that they actively wanted to limit teams to fewer than 4 events.

To me it seems pretty clear that it is just a numbers game. Given that they didn't have slots for everyone that wanted to go to regionals, they had to cut back somewhere. The logical first place to start is to limit the number of competitions that a team can go to.


Joe J.

I believe that the folks at FIRST are attempting to do the best they can with the situation that is before them.

Faced with the almost overwhelming growth of the robotics competition coupled with the tremendous logistics of running an operation of this magnitude they need to enforce limitations somewhere and I believe this is just the beginning.

Hey, let's be realistic 3 regionals for one team is A LOT of time, travel and $$$. Team members missing school/work and everything else associated with attending any event is something that must be considered. I don't think that 3 is a bad number at all.

I would much rather there be some sort of reasonable limt such as this rather than see a team get "shut out" of even attending just one event.

Eventually we will find some sort of compromise for the Nationals situation. As has been mentioned somewhere here before the idea of an East Coast/West Coast championship with the semi-finalists, finalists and various award winners moving on to the Nationals may be a viable option. Who knows for sure.....

Two things are for sure:

It takes time for things to evolve and not everyone is going to be happy with the results.

A little clearification .......
 

What is bugging me about this whole issue is that FIRST is limiting the number of EVENTS that each team can sign up for not the number of regionals.

-so-

I could sign up for two regionals and the championship ....

-or-

I could sigh up for three regionals and increase my chances to win a 4th event (the championship).


hmmmmmmm..........

We chose to guarentee our attendence at the championship since we are an even number team. Next year, will be a different matter if the rules carry over.

My crystal ball says that eventually we all will have to earn our way to the championship by performing at a single regional.