Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

Considering his team is 190 (Gompei and the Herd, based at WPI), and his location is Worcester, MA, I would say there's a pretty good chance. There are nice things about people having filled out their information (if you want to be essentially anonymous, go ahead, but I'm at least more likely to trust someone that I can tell something about as opposed to someone that has almost no public info).

Blanket statements from someone who may or may not have any first hand knowledge and words it in a rather belligerent way basically sums up everything I try to avoid on Chief; place water on the fire, not more fuel.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

I believe that what many of us are concerned about at WPI primarily is centered around the pit area of WPI. I've been to Battlecry since 2008 and have been a spectator at the WPI regional.

The renovation in 2012 really helped open up the spectator seating in 2013 making it a much more comfortable venue although the seating is a little shallow making the walking aisle a blockade for spectators but that's not a huge issue.

Food wise there isn't as much within immediate walking distance. There were several concession stands around the concourse of the arena in Boston plus many restaurants within two blocks. There are food choices around but less immediately inside the venue and again within several blocks of the Harrington arena. Even once you exit the campus you have to go a few blocks for a few restaurants and sub shops. In the past BC has done a BBQ on the first night with box lunches on day two coupled with a small snack area. I'd be interested to hear if there are plans to bring in extra food. Food trucks?! :)

The pits are a pretty awkward shape being a right triangle giving you a good amount of square footage just in a very odd formation for 10'x10" pits plus aisles. Over the past few events many teams had a hard time exiting their pits (sometimes through other pits so I've heard) and navigating through traffic since a majority of the teams are using a common aisle whereas a standard hockey arena can have three long aisles running front to back and one on each end connecting them to spread the traffic out.

To fit in the extra teams there is the small loading dock area which is where our pit was setup in 2013 (this year we were in the main room) which hasn't had the best of setups over the past two years to again fit a 10'x10' pit plus walking area. Last year we had to keep our pit stuff shallow so carts could maneuver around us and this year they had a new layout that looked tighter.

There is no cell service in the pits which is a huge downside unless you are one of the lucky higher numbered teams in the loading dock area which gets cell service.

The low ceilings in both rooms add to the feeling of claustrophobia and make it feel smaller/louder. The only other event I've competed at with ceilings so low was Bash at the Beach when the pits were in hallways.

I have big concerns for the pits being able to handle a large event like the District Championship. I know team wise WPI has hosted a 60 team event however very few teams had all of their team members plus families in attendance. There were no school tours/public audience like we saw this past year. We had a group of 30 school kids outside our pit for 15 minutes one day. With one common aisle at the DCMP any crowd will shutdown a majority of the pits and the main walkway to the field.

Travel wise WPI is a much better venue to host teams. Hotels in and around Boston were very expensive and far away from the venue. We ended up canceling our hotel reservation because we were staying 30 minutes away (where reasonable prices were) and we decided that leaving an hour and a half earlier to beat the traffic into Boston (another plus about WPI) was worth saving some money.

Load in will be easier at WPI!

I do not mean to come off sounding negative towards NEFIRST, WPI, or the volunteers who have put on Battlecry/WPI Regionals/District. They have all been fantastic events like no other I've attended. I'm just mostly concerned about what happens when the robots aren't on the field and the traffic jam in the tiny pits since the DCMP attracts more bodies in the door compared to what WPI has seen. There are many positives to moving the venue to WPI.

Just some thoughts and I know the event committee will do their best to tackles these problems however I know many of them cannot be fixed due to the venue itself.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

Just to add this to the existing discussion, there was some discussion about the pros/cons of WPI as a venue in this thread a little while ago.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

I wouldn't worry about the "feel" of the event at all. WPI knows how to put on a show, and have been doing so for years and years. They have the support of WPI Lens and Light for A/V, and the atmosphere in the arena is every bit as good as, if not better than, at a hockey arena. And WPI may not be known for their traditional sports, but they are certainty known for their robotics programs and activities. Ever since the expansion to both sides of the bleachers, there haven't been any problems with seating. Even before then, WPI put on 40+ team battlecry events, and always seemed to squeeze a little more out of their bleachers. I'm sure it'll be fine.

In regards to the pits, for battlecry, the loading dock area is also used for pit space. Even so, things were rather cramped this past battlecry, with few walkways and some very convoluted paths through the pits for some teams. WPI has tried a lot of things out in regards to pit arraignement in the past few years, and I am sure they have further innovations up their sleeves. Perhaps moving some pits underneath the bleachers, or even upstairs into the (absolutely phenominal) practice area would help alleviate some of the space concerns.

Some upsides to WPI as a venue that no one here is talking about:

• Like boston, a location very central to most NE teams
• Donated venue, which saves NE FIRST money and allows them to put it directly towards the teams, improving other events, and other things we'd all love to see
• The best practice setup in FIRST outside of the Championship. The spare NE field, elements and all, is fully set up in the upstairs basketball court (accessable through a rather large elevator), along with several traditional wooden quarter-field setups.
• Excellent onsite machine shop
• No restrictions on food brought into the venue

For reference, I've been to every WPI FRC event since Battlecry 8 as either a competitor or a spectator.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

I do have my concerns about DCMP being held at WPI this year and the venue' capability, mainly concerning pit space. With that said, I want to re-stress what Francis mentioned here. I know the NE FIRST leadership took choosing where to have DCMP very seriously, and weighed several options and venues. They looked at all aspects of choosing a venue, both in the venue itself, the local volunteer support, and the surrounding area resources (hotels, attractions, etc.) They certainly did their homework.

If things end up not working out to satisfactory conditions, I'm sure district leadership will look to make changes. Until then though, give NE FIRST the benefit of a doubt, and give WPI a chance to prove themselves.

At the end of the day, (for NE or elsewhere), whether your happy with this years schedule or not, it is set in stone. Focus on making upcoming season as great as you can. To those behind the scenes who aren't as happy with where things fell, just focus on giving the teams the best experience possible. After all, in the end thats what matters. :)

Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

Francis is the Director of Fun for Battlecry@WPI. It's one of the things in FRC that has earned all of its positive reputation, imo.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

For reference the pit map for the 2014 WPI District event with 40 teams in attendance is located here thanks to a post by David Givens in a linked thread. With 40 teams with 9x9 pits the pit is fine although no one prefers a 9x9 pit.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/52xf9sc3ud...2014_Final.pdf

To fit the additional teams from Battlecry that was planned to be a 60 team event (ended up being 59) the empty space along the top wall is filled to add more pits and the space in the loading dock was used (roughly 10 teams give or take IIRC). The loading dock is located down a short hallway off the to the top left where it says, "Pit Admin". The pit size was also slightly smaller than 9x9.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

Ignoring those silly distinctions the distribution actually looks really nice. The really remote teams (Northern Maine, Vermont) have a hike but, otherwise, it's not too bad looking.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

The UMASS (Dartmouth, MA) District is seems out of the main densities but otherwise the placements look excellent based on actual team distribution.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

It does look a little out of the way but it is within 1-1.5 hours for teams in the Worcester/Boston/Rhode Island area which is close to how far we traveled to get to events at UNH, NEU, WPI, and BU. Maybe 2015 rookie registration will add more teams in that corner of the region?

Either way nice work NEFIRST getting events close to teams! Hopefully we can see a northern NH/VT event soon.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

I figured this would end up being the case. Unsurprising, this makes the district placement more logical than basing it off of team population. Can you do a map for the districts last year?

Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

With 2014 teams or 2013 teams? I can do it tonight in either case.


On a related note, does anyone actually know how the MAR region is defined? I know NJ,DE and some parts of PA but I have no idea where that boundary is. Halp?

Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

I believe that up to about Harrisburg is where the MAR region ends.

Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

If someone can confirm this I'm fairly certain I can do similar maps for each district. Or, if someone has a list of the various teams I can filter by that too...

Re: [FRC Blog] 2015 Events are Being Posted!
 

Here's a PA map delineating the counties participating in MAR when they first drew the line.