Admin manual is out
 

The Admin Manual is out here. http://www.firstinspires.org/robotic...-and-qa-system

2 thinks I notice. Eliminations are now called eliminations again instead of playoffs. Also the provision for unbagging for robot demonstrations is gone now, which is kind of disappointing.

Re: Admin manual is out
 

Am I missing something? All I see are a few hieroglyphs on the left (one of which looks like a download, the other two are trying to tell me something I'm sure). Yet the download is introduction only and the admin manual section says 'coming soon'.

Re: Admin manual is out
 

We unbagged for one demo in spring of 2014. Trying to keep straight what we could and could not do, while being able to do the demo at all, was so confusing that we decided we would just do demos with the practice robot, even for the rest of 2014, when the practice robot was made of 2x4 lumber and the competition robot of mostly 1-1/4" square c-channel 6061 aluminum.

I downloaded all five chapters (as separate documents). Perhaps the links will help?

Administrative Manual

• Section 1 - Introduction
• Section 2 - Team Resources
• Section 3 - Team Organization
• Section 4 - At The Events
• Section 5 - Robot Transportation

Re: Admin manual is out
 

Yes, all I'm seeing is a four page PDF with just the introduction..

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Did they pull the link? I'm not seeing it - just section 1 which is "about FIRST" boilerplate.

Edit: super ninja'd

Edit2: GeeTwo, only your first link works, the rest 404 on me.

Re: Admin manual is out
 

The expected Pit setup is as announced.

(Note: I got the manual as soon as it was posted, before the links were broken.)

I'm pretty sure a lot of folks were planning to ride in on hoverboards this year...

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I think they meant the handle-less segways people have been calling 'hoverboards', not the things from Back to the Future.

Although for safety reasons I would assume the Back to the Future kind are banned too.

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I know, but it sure would be the year of the Back to the Future hoverboards wouldn't it?

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So the rest of us can expect to wait until the 18th, or maybe later, for the Admin Manual? This makes at least two years in row that something has been mistakenly released then..

Eliminations? I wonder if we are back to a win-loss-tie then, I guess it would make sense since there should be some type of defense this year (we need bumpers). It would be nice if the averages stuck around, I'm not a fan of 8 seed against 1 seed in a win/lose scenario in quarterfinals.

Re: Admin manual is out
 

i guess if someone downloaded it they could share it with the rest of us?

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Don't you think if FIRST took it down that they probably did so because at least some part of it was wrong?

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Or something gave away the game... Yeah let's let FIRST fix this

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I was at a few unofficial events during the summer & fall where people were using them (I've also heard them called Swagways??? ugh) and, while I can understand the convenience - believe me, I thought about getting one for Championship - the people riding them ended up running into doorframes, robot carts, and just generally creating more chaos than they seemed worth.

I can totally understand where glide-boards, Segways, scooters etc would be worth it for larger events (I wouldn't be able to walk by day 3 of Champs some years if I didn't have my wheels), but it's just not a safe environment for everyone and their mother to be clogging up walkways with these devices.

p.s. I know that some who know me, know that I use a Segway at CMP and this probably sounds a little bit hypocritical. For what it's worth, I have an injury that limits my mobility - it's not an excuse by any means, but it's a decent reason to have one at the CMP's massive venue.

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Just for the record, I completely agree. I have a friend who has one and I've fallen off it numerous times. I can't imagine what it would be like with hundreds of people driving around on them and falling off after they hit a bump or the masses of people.

Theoretically one person could even fall off and knock into another who knocks into another creating the most awesome and potentially painful domino effect ever! Maybe they should allow them just to make this happen.

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Swagways* were banned in the dormitories of my university because they apparently they have been known to catch fire while charging. I personally don't want to be anywhere near something that poorly engineered.


*Everyone I know who calls them that (including myself) is mocking the observed majority of owners.

Well I'm still bringing my "hoverboard" to our local regional in NYC. Regardless it will be nice for the 1m walk from the train station to the center and in the center up to the actual competition area.

I figured they would be allowed since historically people rode segways at events but I guess not.

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I hate to be the one to point this out, but FIRST may be the least of your hoverboard worries...
'Hoverboards' are illegal in New York City

It'll probably continue to be debated and may change by March.

Re: Admin manual is out
 

If you don't post a copy you should immediately delete it from your computer ;)

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Your also technically not allowed to ride most bikes on the sidewalk if your over 12. I will probably just risk it.

I heard a story about the first guy to get charged for it (Riding a hoverboard) in England. But it was only because he also went into a conveinence store and stole some stuff.

Should be interesting to see how the laws play out. Between these things going on fire and drones "Spying on people, and going near planes" the media really has a lot to talk.

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But Swagway is the actual name of one of the companies making these.

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Darn, so much for my grand plan to fly a drone through the arena while driving behind it on a hoverswagboard.

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I assume while wearing heavily tinted safety glasses?

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Probably reflective too.

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I know that FIRST has had a standing policy that their documents should not be rehosted, so I'm not going to post to CD. I have read through them, and I will say that there does not seem to be anything which reveals the game. The only thing I noticed that was strange was that we are already past the December 8th deadline given to request a robot transportation exemption (that is, to request free shipping donated by FedEx for a regional).

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On that whole "hoverboard are illegal in NYC" thing, watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmad...l=CaseyNeistat

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The 7 train is finally open at Hudson Yards - 34th street now it is fantastic and right on the corner of Javits.

The problem is then we would also need everyone to buy a metro card. On day 1 when only our more dedicated members come we will probably do that but trying to get 40 people to buy a metro card on top of their lirr tickets will be hard. I keep a metro card with me at all times. But that's only because I lived in queens for a while. No one else on our team keeps metro cards with them and its also an added expense on top of the already pricy peak lirr tickets.

Good point though. The new station is very nice and very convenient. I transfered to there when I went to NYCC and it was nice and easy.

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It's back up again.

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It's still there.

5.4.3 Robot Displays
To assist teams with their promotional and community relations activities, robots may be
unbagged and operated briefly after “Stop Build Day” for display purposes only.
 The intent of this option is to allow teams to briefly show their robot to their
community, sponsors, or potential sponsors after “Stop Build Day”.
o Unbagtging a robot and putting it on display for many hours (i.e., more than
four (4)) at a time would not be considered a “brief” display.
 The Robot Lock-Up Form must be used to track the unbagging and rebagging of the
robot during this period. In the “Explanation” column of the form, enter “Robot
Display”.
 No activity that could be considered “work on” or “practice with” the robot is allowed.
 Brief displays of robot functions – driving for example – are allowed, but not to the
extent that they could be considered practice.
o A good way to avoid turning a robot display period in to a practice session is
to have non-drive team members operate the robot, and only for as short a
time as necessary to show the robot’s capabilities.
 If you have any questions about the Robot Display option, please email
frcteams@firstinspires.org.

Re: Admin manual is out
 

One year I made the mistake of wearing a 4-digit pedometer to St. Louis champs. That was the same year I learned what an IT band is and how it can really wreck one's entire day.

I can only imagine how much more walking happened in Atlanta...

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It was not in the manual yesterday. That must have been something that got added in when they took it down.

EDIT: Also looks like they changed the eliminations vs playoffs thing. They're still called playoffs. My guess is they were just testing and put up the admin manual from a few years ago.

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The robot display section was not in the original copy of last year's manual either.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...1&postcount=18

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I was just reading the manual and saw it called playoffs. Are they inconsistent throughout? Or, possibly worse, did they change it upon noticing the reaction earlier in this thread?

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If you read the whole thread, you'll notice that the admin manual was taken offline and re-uploaded. If you're reading the current version, you won't notice. If you're reading the version that was uploaded earlier, eliminations take the place of playoffs.

Re: Admin manual is out
 

That's the point I was posing - why did they change that term?

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I rather suspect that they uploaded the wrong version--also noted earlier in the thread--and figured that out fast enough to limit the damage, but not fast enough to prevent FIRSTers from noticing before it was taken down. It happens from time to time.

Re: Admin manual is out
 

I do not have acrobat or acrobat pro, only reader, so my document comparison is based on visual side-by-side inspection. I see the following differences. I'm only counting content changes, and excluding spacing items like white space differences, where pages break, and differences in capitalization. I am not following links. The release documents are less than 25% of the size of the pre-releases, even chapters 3 and 4 which had no differences in content.

• Section 1.3 (GP): The pre-release version appends "& Pappalardo Professor Emeritus of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology" to the description of Woodie Flowers as the caption beside his portrait.
• Section 2.3.3 (Blog): the early version appends "from the Director of FRC, Frank Merrick".
• Section 5.4.3 (Robot Displays) added to Table of Contents and document after pre-release.
• Section 5.7.2 (Shipping to CMP): pre-release file had a duplicate of bullet 5 which was numbered 6, and bullet 6 as in the official version was numbered 7.
• Chapter 6 (awards): was not in the pre-release.

There were several 2016-specific items in the pre-release, most notably early pit setup allowed in certain venues, and the history patch for the team gonfalon (aka standard).