Re: [FTC]: What do you wish FTC would...
 

I've been told (not sure I was suppose to be told, but so were many others, so it's out there) that the NXT/Samantha is done, that they are moving on to something else, and the announcement will be made "any day now". Of course, that was a month ago, so maybe something has changed. I'd expect to see it at St. Louis. I wouldn't have said anything at all about this, except that it's obvious that the NXTs are at the end of their support cycle and need to be replaced, and that the replacement might not be EV3s because I think we would have seen some field tests with EV3s by now. FLL will be starting their 3rd year with EV3s in August, so why not FTC? Watching the RobotC code change logs, it seems like work is still heavily underway to support the EV3 -- there are a ton of changes every week -- and it does not seem to be ready, yet. So maybe they are going a different direction.

The static thing is horrible and killed our robot multiple time at the regional championship despite making sure we followed the wiring, surge protector, and other suggestions very closely AND that it didn't happen at two previous competitions nor on our own field. Maybe the humidity was really low that day -- I don't know. It happened to at least one other team that we know of as well.

I didn't mind purchasing the field kit - it saved a lot of time and ensured were using the standard configuration -- but the price didn't seem justified for the cheap quality of the materials. We did share it with multiple teams, so I may have felt different if I was trying to support one team and couldn't share the cost.

Re: [FTC]: What do you wish FTC would...
 

I think that the field kit is a great option, and one that a lot of teams might choose. But I think teams and tournaments should have the option of building their own, and maybe there should even be multiple places that could sell a kit?

Re: [FTC]: What do you wish FTC would...
 

This year's field had a DIY version available on the game page on the FIRST site.

It wasn't exactly hidden that there was an alternative to buying an AndyMark field.

Re: [FTC]: What do you wish FTC would...
 

But the DIY kit was made from different materials which gave it a different coefficient of friction on the ramp, for example, so it was not really the same field. Honestly, it seemed like it was an afterthought when folks asked for it.

That's different from coming up with a field specification that you can make or purchase, where the result is identical, and then having AndyMark or other vendors build their field to the same spec as everybody else.

And there were no DIY options for rolling goals. Rolling goals could have been cut from wood with rotating caster wheels, but having custom molded plastic shapes made it essentially impossible to build 100% spec compliant versions.

Re: [FTC]: What do you wish FTC would...
 

The Judging requirements for the Inspire Award have been adjusted from previous years. The rubrics have been eliminated all together. The guidance in the Judge Manual now states:

"Once the list has been created, the winner and finalists of the Inspire Award must be determined. The Judges should look over the top contenders for the other Awards, and if these same Teams are repeated throughout multiple Award categories. At this point, it will be clear on which Teams should be placed into the Category of Inspire Award."

What may be throwing off some Judges is the reference to "Team will have demonstrated success in accomplishing the task of creating a working and competitive robot." Many try to use Qual Points or Rank to make this determination. I believe this to be wrong. You can have a competitive robot and have a bad day. That's the way we judge in MN.

MN Judge Advisor

Re: [FTC]: What do you wish FTC would...
 

I was a volunteer in the Vex era--I refereed the Championship finals of Half-Pipe Hustle. After several years away due to limited time available, I've been a game announcer in South Carolina the past two years now.

It does seem like the control system on the robots is a little cobbled together, akin to the old cRIO system in FRC but up a notch. The end-to-end system leads to spontaneous robot dropouts, unexplainable difficulties that knock an event from two fields to one, teams not running because they picked the wrong program on the NXT, replays because hyped-up kids knock out a USB hub, and if I ever hear "Select Red 1 Driver 1" again... It just doesn't seem that VRC has these issues!

I don't think integrating Vex's control system is necessarily the answer without a wholesale change in FTC's electrical system, but they do have the bogey to hit. Robots that work well and events that don't have murderous field delays are an express ticket to rewarding, satisfying competition experiences.

Re: [FTC]: What do you wish FTC would...
 

My wishlist:

1) Better microcontroller: less glitchy, more storage space, more input/output ports, faster processor

2) LabView implementation with less bugs

3) Better wireless module: less flaky electrical connections, less expensive, less availability issues, smaller

4) DC Motor controllers with lower failure rate

5) Easier / better ways to use non-Lego sensors

6) Motors without gearboxes attached and/or gear motors with smaller reductions and/or rules that permit removal of gearbox from gear motors

7) Smaller 0.80 module gears (such as 20 tooth) for Tetrix motor shafts

8) Rules prohibiting defensive autonomous strategies in which robots run into or block opposing robots

9) Lower points for major penalties - the values are insanely high for certain penalties every year, and it ruins many matches

10) Better visibility for the crowd somehow - not sure how to do this except by using screens and cameras, but it is an important issue in FTC

11) Game design that makes the games comprehensible to casual fans

12) Fix the weird wheel tread traction test guideline wherein you run it at a stall and fry the motors during inspection

13) Keep the excellent rule changes that simplified inspections and broadly opened up the allowable materials

Re: [FTC]: What do you wish FTC would...
 

1. Have a longer autonomous. Most of the interesting and challenging programming work centers around autonomous. The last couple of years, they have restricted the number of points that can be scored and limited the time. If there was more time, people could run routines that looked for blocking robots and avoided them. If their were more points available and more time, the game could be won in autonomous - a powerful incentive for the programming team.

Maybe add an ability to the FCS operator to cut short the autonomous if all the teams indicate their autonomous is done, so we are not waiting for 45 seconds after a robot runs down the ramp. Head ref could ask the teams to put up their hands when their robot is done, then ask the FCS operator to kill autonomous and move to teleop.

Re: [FTC]: What do you wish FTC would...
 

This is a really good idea and would move things along, especially in the early part of the season.

Re: [FTC]: What do you wish FTC would...
 

I'd like to see as much emphasis as FLL to keep adult hands off the bot. What do you say when the kids are sitting around the pit while the mentor is elbows deep?

I'd also like to see a requirement for the notebook to show the entire build. Many successful bots have been with teams for several years, that's hard for a school class which starts with a box of parts to compete with.

Financial considerations to keep it available & competitive to as wide of an audience as possible - a chance for less established teams to perform well and not get discouraged.

Re: [FTC]: What do you wish FTC would...
 

Another things that I would like to see FTC improve on is awards, specifically the banners. FRC teams get a banner for Chairman's, as well as the Winning Alliance, and Woody Flowers according to the steam I was watching this past weekend. Why is it that only the Inspire Award gets one in FTC?

Re: [FTC]: What do you wish FTC would...
 

I would like to see more Jr. High teams. I personally believe FTC to be a smaller version of FRC that acts as a sort of bridge between FLL and FRC. Sizing cube, motor limit, auto-teleop matches, alliances, qual/final matches, drive team, awards, and games are very similar to FRC, but scaled down in a way.

FTC and FRC bots have to start in a sizing box, but FTC has less restrictions than FRC typically has.

FTC bots are limited to a set amount of motors of (usually) one type, where FRC has many different types of motors, each with a limited amount (CIMS, ect).

FTC and FRC share the auto-teleop match system, but FRC has a shorter auto period.

FTC and FRC both have alliances for matches, but FTC only has alliances of two where FRC has three.

FTC has four alliance captains in finals, whereas FRC has eight. The pick order slightly differs where FTC picks 1234 1234, where FRC picks 12345678 87654321.

The drive teams are exactly the same, except for FRC has an additional human player.

The FRC games usually focus on one task with associated parts (stack totes to earn more points from RC), where FTC has multiple objectives of somewhat equal value (balls into rolling goals, rolling goals up ramps, center goal).

It is FIRST's goal to see a FRC team in every high school, and with that logic I would like to see a FTC team in every jr. high school.