Re: 2014 Crossroads Regional
 

hahaha, oh geez. So, in an attempt to figure out why it wasn't working for others, I closed the page and tried to open it again, and now it won't load at all. It was working beautifully before then. Now I feel your pain.::ouch::

Re: 2014 Crossroads Regional
 

Currently, match 60 is playing. My teams robot was just playing, 2 robots (including my team's) died at the exact same time.

The referees are not calling out red team bots for slamming blue team bots. However, the referees call penalties on blue team bots for lightly pushing other bots.

This Crossroads seems unfair, and since when do FRC challenges allow battlebot type tactics?

Re: 2014 Crossroads Regional
 

We need to start tracking outbreaks of this on each thread like the CDC tracks epidemics. Ground zero for Crossroads is Q60. Will it turn into a full CIR pandemic?

Re: 2014 Crossroads Regional
 

After further diagnosis, one bot was disabled after the bumpers fell off, and ours tripped the breaker, which had not happened all day long.

Re: 2014 Crossroads Regional
 

See? It's not all a conspiracy against your team. Also note that "slamming" another robot is not by itself illegal.

Re: 2014 Crossroads Regional
 

Crossroads match scores seem to be averaging 30 or 50 points above other regionals Lord of competition here

Re: 2014 Crossroads Regional
 

It seems like there was little "ramp up" time today, unlike the Michigan districts that we scouted last week. Match scores got pretty high early on, and not just due to penalties.

Re: 2014 Crossroads Regional
 

One thing I've noticed is there have been quite a few foul-heavy matches. However, from what I can remember (being on the field reset crew), the highest score (not counting penalties) was 245... there also was a 285 but IIRC there was 150 or so in penalties. I have noticed some-ramp up in the case of a few teams; however, it seemed that quite a few teams were already playing well by their first qual match. There have been lots of high scores and pretty intense gameplay (and it isn't even Saturday yet!). If this keeps up, it will be a very exiting Saturday afternoon.

One issue that at least one team brought to my attention today that I can comment on is tape durability. For some reason (looks to be lame adhesive) the gaff tape isn't sticking so well this year, at least on this field (which IIRC wasn't used in week 1). For quals, we've been somewhat conservative on tape repairs, mainly to keep the match to match times low and to save tape. Also, the only way the tape seems to be working is if it is applied in 3" strips.

This all being said, I'd imaging that during tomorrow's lunch break (and throughout elims) we will be more diligent on tape maintenance; However, I'm not the field supervisor so I can only guess from past experience.

On a lighter note, this whole tape issue kinda reminds me of the "pothole incident" that plagued the 2010 Daytona 500... but just like that race, patch the hole, keep on trucking on.

Good luck to everybody tomorrow, see y'all on the field.

Edit: this is my opinion, and my opinion alone. Nothing less, nothing more.

Re: 2014 Crossroads Regional
 

There was a lot of good competition. A bit of a rough day for us, as we had to retread the wheels a few times, and have had a mystifying problem tweaking an autonomous mode that works on the practice field but does something completely different on the competition field. Still we have scored at least one ball every match the first day in teleop, so that's something. I am glad that this year our overriding design principle was robustness. Because there is just a lot of contact in this game. It reminds me of 2006, which was I believe the first year for bumpers as well.

The end of our day was hectic, as we were in Q60, then the last scheduled match at Q65 then a replay of Q32 immediately following. Q60 and Q32 were probably our best played matches all day. In Q60 we started off three successful three assist cycles and in Q32 we finished off three 40 point cycles. It vividly demonstrated how important all three robots being on the same page is.

The venue is great. I like the big, open pit area separated from the competition field (and its noise) by a wall rather than a curtain. You can carry on normal voiced conversations in the pit. (Which is really important when you spend all day swapping The seating in the competition area is a bit snug, but the small size makes that easily bearable. You are really right on top of the competition.

I noticed this at week 1 at CIR, as well. The field crew was diligently repairing the tape after nearly every single match... never seen it so in need, before.

Re: 2014 Crossroads Regional
 

Did I hear it correctly that Semi-Final 2-1 had a fight between 2 drive teams?

Re: 2014 Crossroads Regional
 

........You're kidding me, right?

Re: 2014 Crossroads Regional
 

I caught the back end of it but I heard the announcer saying stuff like, "We dont like nor condone those kinds of actions and the alliance was given a penalty for uncivil actions."

That to me sounds like 2 or more drive teams got into it with each other.

Re: 2014 Crossroads Regional
 

The announcer said something about a fan coming down and physically accosting a ref. Unacceptable by any standards

Re: 2014 Crossroads Regional
 

Oh ok, thanks for clearing that up.