2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

What did FIRST do particularly well this year?

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

They had a game design that when played well felt like you were watching a sporting event.

The Championship Finals were extremely exciting and really came down to team strategies rather then one particular robot dominating the field.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

4 team alliances. Loved it.
More awards during division eliminations.
Inspectors emphasizing "Customer Service".

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Was this something new done with Championship inspections? Care to be a little more detailed?

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Single game pieces are the way forward. It was so much more rewarding seeing three robots playing a team sport rather than three robots performing a task in parallel.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Transparency and community reaction time.

It was great to see Frank/HQ react to controversial events in the community quickly and professionally.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

In the regional season it wasn't all that great, but at the championship level it was great to see what the world's best could do and the dynamic of the alliances

I will agree though that having one game piece made the game much easier follow and definitely led to some amazing performances and strategies at these upper echelons of play. Perhaps going to 2-3 game pieces per alliance could be a good balance between a low number of pieces and not having to overly rely on alliance partners?

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

The game itself--as a game--was a good game. Lots of action, lots of excitement, lots of score swings.
The reaction to "Not enough refs to handle the game" in Week 1 was pretty good, just wish it had been sooner, like before Week 1.
Frank (and HQ) being open and responsive when stuff came up, 'nuff said.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

During our initial meeting with Al, and later reiterated by the division LRI, we were encouraged to keep the inspection experience for the team a positive one. This happened at CMP, can't speak for the regionals and districts.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Also loved the Einstein webcast. Like, it was almost TV quality stuff. Really made the game accessible and understandable. Just need a few people to work on their speeches :rolleyes:

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

This game was designed for Eliminations/Championships. My family was glued to the screen throughout the day.

I have 4 young children (ages 7 and less) and we watched the action throughout the day today. Our dinner was interrupted by the second finals match (and it was Sloppy-Joe night!) - my 2 year old daughter left her plate and then went back about 45 minutes later to finish...

I loved Ultimate Ascent - but as a person that has coached a number of sports, Aerial Assist was a great game. I know that there were issues (BELIEVE ME - I KNOW!) but the game when it was played with great alliances was awesome. Anytime you can get 2, 6, and 7 year olds screaming along with a couple of 30-somethings, it was a great game.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Without a doubt - the sportscaster presence explaining the game was great. FRC did an incredible job. I will add that the camera work was great as well.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

I agree the sportscaster like analysis of the match and the interviews from the sidelines were great. It made it much more like a sporting broadcast and also gave a chance for more of the great MCs to be a part of the Einstein matches.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

The fact that this game couldn't be "broken". Meaning, there wasn't one robot design nor strategy that would guarantee a win.

You could play the perfect strategy one match but then have it defended against the next. (Einstein F1-2, for example).

I loved how scouting was incredibly important this year. It was absolutely necessary to scout in detail. This year was about thinking, not just building and driving. It reminded me of '05.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

This about sums it up for me. Last year was a lot less interesting in terms of strategy- you picked up frisbees and shot them. Then you climbed. This year, there are many different ways to play, allowing younger teams to do really well.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

I agree, but this year's rookies/young teams needed to be solid - meaning that they had to be able to contribute to the play. I love how FRC incorporates young teams and allows them to qualify for the Championships - but in order to prove their meddle, they needed to be at the top of their game.

I think that we saw this play out in the alliances that made it to Einstein - with no team less than a few years old contributing to the field play.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

I think the Einstein Field flowed a lot better this year. Last year, there was too much time between the matches due to awards being given out and guest speakers. It was much better when the matches occurred closer to each other, keeping the excitement going.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

I still stand by my hatred of the game during quals for both champs and at the regional level, and to a lesser degree at some regional elim matches.

But those were the greatest elim champs matches I have ever seen. Ultimate Ascent was thrilling, Rebound Rumble had a nail-biting finish, but I've never been as captivated with elimination matches period as I have been with Aerial Assist. Now if only the process to getting there was a bit different...

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Seeing those quick strategic autonomous changes in the Einstein finals was one of the coolest things I had seen in a long time.

The Einstein closing ceremonies (though only seen through a webcast this year) seemed a lot faster than in the past. Now, I was in the comfort of my own home so I can't speak on how the length was at the venue, but I think that FIRST really hit their goal of having a better length for the closing ceremony that kept everyone engaged throughout.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

This is virtually always true. The fact that 5136 was even selected by our Newton alliance is impressive. 4334 (2012) is the only rookie in recent history to actually play on the Big Stage. This year may have been a unique challenge for rookies, but looking at Einstein can't illuminate much in that regard.

From the floor, it was much, much better. We knew when we would be playing and how long we had to prepare. The volunteer-to-coach communication was infinitely better than last year (and they really were putting an effort in last year). We all really enjoyed watching, and the pace felt a lot better overall. Of course, not having a last-second scoring error --> bumper switch may be biasing my opinion, but kudos to FIRST. Many thanks!

Fixed your post there for you well, for me, Sam.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Totally agree. I saw so many launcher and grabber designs that worked equally well.

Also, with hindsight being 20/20, there were a few more factors we should've included in our scouting, for example, the performance of a human player can hurt a match just like a missed shot.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

2753 (2009) was a rookie. The next year (2010) there were two rookies, can't remember who and who. The last time a rookie won the Championship was way back in the early days before Einstein Field existed.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

1992?

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

1994, I think (maybe '95). Woodside H.S. (now FRC100) from CA won in their first year.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

My bad Eric, I should've articulated 'recent history' as 'a 4-year high schooler's FIRST career'. 2010 was awesome with 3357 and 3138 (both semifinalists).

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Just my opinion, but I think the best thing FIRST did this year was respond to community feedback. They weren't always able to respond immediately, but it's pretty obvious that Frank reads Chief Delphi. Compared to previous years, FIRST did a great job responding to issues the community had, and while there are always areas for improvement, I felt FIRST was much more in touch with what we thought this year compared to years previous.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

I've heard 1995. We're still the only rookie ever to have won an FRC championships (aside from the first year).

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

-Aerial Assist, in pure implementation, was a great game. The robot and strategic diversity (even with all the three-day builds) was a great step up from the past few years, even Ultimate Ascent.
-Frank has done a great job of communicating with teams the rationale behind things, and apologizing when he or his staff goof up.
-Einstein was incredibly exciting, and the up-tempo presentation style was definitely no small part of that.
-The AndyMark AM14U chassis was a gamechanger. 80th-percentile drivetrain right out of the box. 90th-percentile with bolt-ons.
-It took until Einstein, but thanks to Q&A's interpretations on things like Kinects and CheesyVision the autonomous period became a chess match for the first time since 2009. As someone who remembers the great chess matches of 2006, I hope the GDC was noticing.
-4-team alliances certainly opened up possibilities at Championship.
-FRC Teams' Twitter was pretty nice this year too.
-Championship front-few-rows seating was an overall success on Curie for me.

All told, I greatly enjoyed this year.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Since you said everything I would have thought of after a session of proper sleep that I have yet to get, I'll agree and elaborate. After the last few seasons I was left saying "I'm ready for the season to end", but this time I said "I'm ready for a new season." Sure I'm tired and after spending the last 4 months in 5th gear I'm ready to take a little breather, but this year showed a lot of positive potential for the organization. Everything people took issue with at the championship event last year was gone and replaced with far better alternatives that we will certainly see in the future. Mistakes made by people in FRC and on teams during the year have mostly fixed themselves. There were no riots at champs with this game getting under people's skin a lot more than in year's past.

But what everyone has been talking about is the game of inches we all got to watch on Einstein. Over two breaks of 5 minutes, two teams made drastic changes to the previous match's strategy to gain half seconds of an advantage in a 10 second period of a 150 second match. Watching Eisntein this year was electric, not painful. The team quality on the field didn't change, but the design of the game and the structure of the event on FIRST's part made it great. Like I said before, I think the GDC has earned another run at a game like Aerial Assist. Something that is a thrill to watch in the stands, but maybe less of a heartbreaking roller coaster behind the glass and in the rulebook.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Initially was not sure about the "team viewing area" - in theory it made sense, but in practice I was not sure it would work.

After being able to take guests down to the "front row" for one of our Archimedes matches - awesome idea in theory and in practice. Execution was great by the volunteers who were monitoring. Having the chance to introduce some young friends to the game up close was a great experience for me as a long-time fan and for them as new visitors.

Glad that the 3-D printing was still in full swing mid-morning Saturday, great to have a hands on activity or "take away" for our friends.

Thanks!

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

I heard the same skepticism from a lot of people, and the first day, it seemed underutilized. By Day 2 though, folks really seemed to get it and utilize it well.
Even if it had been a flop, I really appreciate the proactive efforts towards solving problems exhibited. I think this is a great emphasis for them to be taking.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Being able to unbag the robot for demonstrations after ship day was phenomenal. We could immediately show off the beautiful, professional looking machine we had spent weeks making, rather than just talking about it or demoing a partially functional old robot. Big help.

Frank has been an incredible "face of FRC" that has been transparent, honest, and always willing to listen. He is a large part of why I have such hope for the future of FRC.

Chairman's at multiple events was fantastic. Totally changed the game and gave our presenters a chance to improve.

Lots of Championship changes went very, very well. Fourth robot was awesome, awards in division elims were awesome, Einstein was very watchable.

The increasing number of Robot in 3 Days projects and COTS solutions for robots is very nice to see and is definitely raising the competitive floor. A distinct middle tier of robots is now the norm at events.

In spite of RI3D, there was a reasonable amount of design diversity this year which was cool to see.

I'll think of more later.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Rankings shown on the scoreboard were a nice touch.

In championship elimination matches, the match was "QF 1-1" and not "Match 1" (or whatever it used to be).

Alliance selection results directly from the FIRST website for divisions were a much needed change. See here.

4 robot alliances at champs were a nice addition. Alliances with less overall firepower can use it to their advantage to make changes on the fly.

As much as I didn't like the idea of it at the start, the team viewing area at the front actually worked out pretty well.

I didn't die from dome food, so that's always good.

I liked the involved human player aspect. It wasn't as extreme as 2009, nor was it just shoving disks through a slot. Similar to 2011, I think human players had a good role.

45 pounds pretty much saved our build season, and we only lost one day to snow.

The coat racks at GTRW were an excellent touch, I wish they did that for all events.

The Windsor venue was awesome! Very roomy, loads of space in the pits, and a wide open view of the field.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Just FYI, this wasn't just for WCMP. They definitely were the new format for DCMPs, and for at least a few weeks of competitions before. Either way, a much appreciated change, and it made it so much easier to immediately tell what match was playing during the eliminations.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Frank. Keeping in touch with his customers, recognizing and addressing issues, even admitting he made a mistake (and making it right).

Keeping the 112" perimeter rule (and not the sizing box).

2 new Districts.

It's a little mixed, but the game. I like how no one robot could win it by themselves, don't care how good you are - you need your alliance partners. But, of course, it made for some discomfort among the powerhouse teams.

FMS. It actually worked this year, hardly anyone had comm issues, what a pleasure.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Quarter final-1 on archimedes really highlights that point. Nobody had seen the 8th seeds strategy yet(at least I havent), and they upset the 1st seed alliance.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

While the strategy may have surprised the #1 alliance, the #8 alliance weren't the first ones to use it. I'm not sure who was the first team to use the strategy, but 2771 did is several times at the Michigan State Championship. 1918 used a variation of the strategy in QF 2.3 at the state championship, too.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

A lot. (Most of these have probably been mentioned already.)

1. Mixed point for most people, but I loved the need to work with your alliance partners and the depth of strategy it provided. 1 game piece is the way.

2. Working FMS. Thank goodness.

3. Honesty and transparency from HQ.

4. Champs webcasting was pretty good quality.

5. Auton length was good. So was the mobility option.

6. The low goal. Combined with assists, there was still an easy way to score well and stay in the game without the need for too much technical finesse.

7. Sticking to the sizing perimeter.

8. Stacking Curie. :P #CurseGoesPoof

9. No ability for a chokehold, or for 1 bot to solo.

10. Much better kitbot.

11. Multiple event chairman's.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Prolly all been said but:

1. Mostly Working FMS

2. Auton was of a great length(although, this isn't a 'one size fits all' thing, it'll be different next year)

3. Mobility

4. Short field reset = TONS of matches. Awesome.

5. "FIRST is the coolest, freshest, dopest, most amazingest experience in the world."

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

FMS/FTP problems have been an issue throughout the season. It was a fairly big issue again at champs.

I would have expected instead to see this in the thread Lessons Learned: The negative

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

A game with no safe zones and where simpler robots could contribute to scoring. I felt that the lack of safe zones made defense very necessary. The fact that every robot could be involved in offense/scoring but all be doing something different opened the game up to tons of strategy where you could be playing a different part in each match. This game also had very intense moments where tons of game-deciding points depended on a single finishing action (scoring the ball and ending the cycle).

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

I based my comments on the four events I attended. In all of these there were no major issues related to FMS*

*Well, unless you count the shortened match timer at Mt Olive district - but this was as much a human error as an FMS thing.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

And it was no coincidence that an alliance captain from Michigan selected 1918. If we wanted to beat an amazing #1 alliance, we had to get a little out of the box and we knew all of the capabilities of 1918. When our time to pick came around and our two picks were still on the board, we couldn't believe it.

Even without that strategy (i.e. playing a more "normal" strategy), 1918 was one of the best robots and team on Archimedes. Those guys are great.

On to the topic:

- The awards at the divisional level + streamlined Closing Ceremonies / Einstein matches was awesome. This made it my favorite championship event ever.

- The game was one of the best I have ever seen from a spectator standpoint. The assist rules were a little weird for a first time spectator, but after two matches everyone seemed to catch on. Elimination matches at MSC and CMP were some of the most exciting FIRST matches I've ever witnessed. There were some negatives about this game, but this thread is not the place for that. I've long said that the main focus of a good game should be making it spectator friendly, so I think that this game is a success overall.

- Frank has really changed FIRST for the better. FIRST is really becoming a customer focused organization and that comes from the top down. Nothing is perfect, but they seem to be striving for it.

- The human player involvement for this year was almost perfect. A great team needed a great HP and without that component, a great robot did not equal a great team. But at the same time, the HP didn't take focus away from the robots like in 2004.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

1. Being able to submit Chairman's at multiple events. While our team never really was in contention for this award, being able to have our students go through this process was very helpful. I feel all the students who had a hand in the process were inspired through our efforts. I've seen the change in the mentality of members of our team since presenting and like in all things iteration is wonderful. I felt our presenters learned a great deal about themselves and how to present information in a variety of ways. (without stage fright!)

2. Single game piece game. While there were aspects of this game I did not enjoy, requiring alliance members to work together with one object did a lot more (in my opinion) for pushing the spirit of coopertition than the bridge ever did.

3. Frank. You deserve the free corn dogs. (Shame there never were any in the first place…)

4. Volunteers: At the events I attended (Boilermaker and Queen City), the volunteers I interacted with were helpful, well-informed, and nice!

5. Interactions with other teams: Shout out to teams 4028 and 201 for loaning our team spare air tanks at Queen City. I love that FIRST is an environment where you can work together and depend on future opponents and have there be no hard feelings in the process.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Having a power outlet at the drive station. Convenient for those with or without a classmate.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

How could I forget this:

Playing "Grand Finale" of 2112 by Rush as the music during one of the Einstein matches. That was brilliant.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

This so much. I thought that putting something in to encourage everybody to attempt something in autonomous was a great addition. Unless something was wrong with a robot I don't remember seeing very many robots that didn't move in auto this year.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Divisional awards- While a lot of people were disappointed that teams wouldn't be recognized on Einstein for their achievements or their win would be clouded by having 4 overall winners of certain awards, it was nice to see more teams get recognition for their efforts compared to previous season! There are so many good teams/robots at these events!

No unbag checks at Champs was great! Not only was it nice because our unbag form was with our group at arrived at 7pm but also because it wasn't needed. It was nice to be able to open the crate and open the bag at the same time as it made load in less stressful trying to chase down inspectors. Last year we even had one inspector make us wait 30 minutes after we grabbed him so as to not give our team an advantage over teams still walking in the door.

The closing ceremonies were great! Time was utilized effectively and time that usually was quiet with music was filled with commentary and the team interviews after a match which made it feel more like a sporting event.

45lbs of witholding was nice! It allowed teams to improve more throughout the season and the already low level of competition on the field would have been lower without it with teams able to work on more between competitions.

Loved teams being able to submit Chairmans at multiple events.

It was nice to have a field with game elements easy to build at home! Last year's pyramid was a tough element to build properly.

All day qualifications on Thursday was a great addition to the WCMP as well as opening earlier on Wednesday.

The practice field was handled well with having lots of balls on the field. Initially I was concerned about how the fields would shape out but it worked well for teams.

Districts in New England!

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

The display of teams' rank next to their number on the game screen display. This is a useful piece of information (especially near the end of quals) that the audience should know. I am glad that this was added for 2014.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

I liked this too-- especially as someone who watched a lot of webcasts without the ability to go and check on the rankings consistently (as good at Tracker and Spyder are, they're only as good as FIRST's data), having them right there without having to double and triple check them on my phone was very nice.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Real Defense! No ZONES, LOADING ZONES, LANES, KEYS, or PYRAMIDS, robots who wanted to score had to get the ball over or around the other alliance. When clean defense was played, the matches were some of the most exciting in years.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

I love how the game evolved throughout the season, and even more at CMP. I'm sad I'll be out of town for IRI to see how the game will be played on that stage.

I appreciate the transparency and readiness to address concerns throughout the community.

I applaud the efforts toward team sustainability (Fundraising Toolkit) that allow all teams to take a good, hard look at themselves and access solutions that work.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

HOT goal autonomous. This is the first year since 2008 that the best autonom(ii? ouses?) were not just static scripts. I also liked how much HOT goals were worth relative to the rest of auto. They gave the mid-tier and high level teams another programming objective, while not overly penalizing lower-tier teams for not bothering with it. Given, there were numerous issues with the implementation of this system, but I really like the idea of a more dynamic auto.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

I'll be brief as I agree with all of the positives listed here.

To me the biggest positive was making the FRC community in general and the top teams in particular aware about the importance of helping inexperienced and struggling teams. I hope this leads to more efforts to reach out to those teams and continue to lift their level of play. We certainly will.

I liked the viewing areas for a particular reason--the teams competing for "team spirit" could no longer park on the rail and obstruct the view of the scouts of other teams. Unlike previous years, we had almost no problems seeing the field.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Please, keep pushing the robot interaction. This is by far my favorite game to date. The one ball per alliance made it feel like an actual sport rather than 3 robots doing independent things in parallel.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Are you talking about at Championship?

In MAR, you had to bring your own ball from home to the practice field or you had nothing to play with at the districts.
IIRC this was fixed for DCMP (or teams just left their balls there.)

Anyway, my positives:

1.) Frank. I'll say it before, I'll say it again. He is amazing. (Despite the lack of free corndogs). He is ALWAYS there for feedback from teams. I introduced him to 1923's Dean's List winner, Michael, and Frank's immediate response was: "Congratulations! Now tell me what you think about the season." That kind of recognition (hey, this is a kid who gets it, let's see what he thinks) is exactly the kind of thing EVERYONE on FIRST staff needs to have. He's responsive, he listens, and he addresses the concerns of the community. Every organization needs a Frank, but let's keep him for a while, ok?

2.) Submitting for Chairman's at multiple events. Awesome.

3.) Shortened Einstein without losing the excitement.

4.) Hall of Fame booth in the middle of the pits at WCMP. I hope it's a bigger display next year, but a step in the right direction.

5.) The introduction of YPD. Hopefully nobody ever has to use it for anything truly serious, but it's important to know that it's in place.

I agree with a lot of the stuff above me, but some of it I didn't get to see/experience in person, so I won't comment.

I know we all had our gripes about this game, but overall the 2014 -season- was pretty alright.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

I was talking about the full practice fields where FMS matches were played. It was nice having a ton of balls on the field and everyone was able to do their own thing or practice moves for an upcoming match with one another. Just like MAR we had similar experiences for practice in NE. We always bring our own field elements to competitions. It was annoying this year with the ball is so huge but it meant we always had a ball to practice with or lend to teams wishing to try a two ball.

The wooden fields could always use some improvement. Personally I wish there were more of them available especially first thing in the morning. I also wish they didn't put the darn truss so close the goal as it was impossible for our team to test a two ball auto like we would on the field.

Re: 2014 Lessons Learned: The positive
 

Personally, I really liked not having an endgame. I loved that everybody was playing the same game for the entire match, and that I didn't have to worry about playing with a team that had designed specifically for endgame without a particular plan for the other 75% of the match. I think it was easier to explain to spectators, and easier for them to understand as there wasn't a complete shift in game play at the end of each match. I also think it benefited teams that aren't strong in the strategy department as it was harder to make a poor strategic decision back in week 1 of build that would end up inhibiting their ability to be an effective alliance member for the entire season. No endgame was also an effective way to manage issues with balancing scoring between main game play and endgame :)