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Re: UCF Regional Competition
UCF was a blast! My congratualations goes out to everybody.
But there was a lot that could be improved/changed. I have a lot of complaints about it. $2.00 for water! Come on! at school from the machines its $1.00 and the same size. Its monoplozied. Not that I didn't mind the change of venue but NASA didn't try to sucker away our money. The Pit...out in the tent 1) The was holes in the "roof" and the sides were not flush with the ground and the "roof" letting water in. That ruins equipment. (386 on Friday was under at least and inch of water) In 180's pit we had a leak above our table that had a personal lathe and milling machine on it. 2) Humidity....from that to AC = condensation, meaning there may have been problems with bot that were out in the pit tent. I think that one of the problems with our robot. 3) A pit and it slopes....not that its major problem but its easier not to have the cart with the robot on sliding down towards the back of the pit when you're trying to fix it. 4) The back gate being closed for one its a fire hazard, two its more convienent to go out the back as many teams parked on that side of the arena. Furthermore a few teams should have been disqualified, for violating DQ Rule 5 (the one that deals with intentionally damaging the playing field/its compents) and ramming other robots which I saw in the few matches that I watched. |
i showed up to the pit on friday to find two of our boxes with about 6 inches of water in them.
the first box only had paper towels and a few steel rods. but the second case had all of our extra speed controllers, drill motors and transmissions, and a few spikes. i really enjoyed using a hair dryer to dry out the drill motor transmissions and opening all our spikes to pour out the water. and i almost had a heart attack when i saw our oscilloscope half covered in water. |
ya i feel bad fo rall of you in the tent it wasnt that nice theyu should of put of a better tent. For the wood floors terrible. AT least the inside pits where nice :) But overall i like ucf better the ksc
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Well, I was one of the Teams being blessed with being inside the building, but yea, I think the teams on the outside has the most problems, I believe Bosch and Heatwave were so close to the outside it was ridiculous, they only put a longer peice up to "stop the rain." On the other end wa Swamp Thing and 176 (excuse me for not remembering the name, I am sorry) and 6 on the other side, but at least that closed all the way.
The prices for food were outragous, they should of let outside food be allowed for the crew, but that be it. I don't know, leaking was bad, the boxes outside were pretty bad when it did rain, and they were under the walkways...ickness. I don't know, field damage was pretyt bad, and I mean HP falling, I still have to say, don't start the robot while we are in the field!!! They need to make that a rule, I feared for my life when I fell that one time..but we won't get into that... |
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Just curious, but why do you take an oscilloscope to competitions? |
176 is Aces High, and 6 got knocked out of most of their matches due to the rain, i know this b/c i was against them, what about 3 times that day. It was good to see that they got the problems fixed by our third match and got selected for the alliances. I was not envious of any of you out in that tent of yours.
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All four pressure mats need to be activated at the same time to begin autonomous mode, and there's a 3 second delay between when that first happens and when the robots begin moving. |
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I felt bad for Cogsquad since we were next to them and just to see that they couldn't run 3/4 of the day because of all that water stunk. I'm glad they did get going again, but now they need to pay for replacement parts it seems. They really needed a better system for the outside tents. We were near one of the AC units and in our pits and Cogsquad's when you stood up it was like being in a freezer, they had them pointing straight out at your pits, and when it rained out it sucked the rain in and blew it all over everything. I also agree that the cost of water and food was extremly ridiculous. However, I did really like the field setup. It was easier to see the field than at KSC. Some of the lower rows (where we sat) were hard to see because of all of the people, but from higher in the stands it was an awesome view, at KSC it was really hard to see the field.
On Saturday I couldn't stand all of the fixed matches. There were like 5 in a row where both teams had 8 high stacks and the robots would work and go right by the stacks, paying them no attention. Our team was even asked by an opponent to "fix" a match. We of course said no, but it was a great disgrace to see so many teams do that, and personally I was quite ashamed. We played the game the best we could, and some matches walked out with 1 point, 6 points, and I believe 8 points. I'm more honored to say I truly recieved 1 point in a match that we tried in, then to see other teams fix their matches and make 300 points. I was quite upset that so many teams would get involved and cheat like that. It completly ruins the spirit of FIRST. Overall I did like the way the field was setup very much. I just think they need to figure a different way for the pits because of all of the problems outside. I do agree that the food and water were way too expensive, but I think that's just cause of the UCF Arena prices, I don't know if FIRST could change that. As for the fixed matches, that's something FIRST should change by nationals. I'm proud to say that our team didn't play "fixed" matches. I don't see how other teams could do that and then say "Look at us we just went up in the rankings!" and keep a straight face. All-in-all I did think it was an awesome regional even if this post sounds like I'm complaining. A few fix-ups and it'd be perfect. |
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some of the auto modes were going even when the HP's didn't get back in time. i know this cause it happened to 108 when we played a match with them. they wanted to disable their auto mode so it didn't conflict with ours, so they had their HP stay off 'til 12 sec. well, he stayed off, but their auto mode went anyway and we collided at the center and stuck together for the first 20 sec of human control. i've heard similar stories from ucf as well. to the HP's: stay safe, but please try to get off the field quickly. |
I know there where issues with the arrangements, but consider the 2000 Championship. We had 6 inches of rain over the weekend and instead of a dry nice matting we had an ice ring.
Additionally, we need to consider the arrangements made with the venue. Remember that the location is a College Basketball Arena and they have a few items too. I know that the FIRST Staff worked hard to resolve issues and the Judges worked hard to be concerned for all the teams safety. So lets all work together to help this location improve. Thanks |
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Yeah, most of Saturday was ruined by the rigged matches, but the most disappointing aspect of the Regional for me was not UCF or KSC's fault. The Elimination round scoring system bored me. However, the purpose of this thread is not to talk about EPs, so I'd just like to say that Central Florida was awesome, and that water at our school is 50 cents, not $1.00
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Yeah 710 was inside which was really nice behind the stage.. tho outside in the tents sucked.. I hated to even go out there when scouting bots for our next match lol.. i couldn't have imagined being out there
well i could But it was a lot better inside |
Well, the HP mats on the side closest to the stands didn't work right according to a few other teams that I was talking too. But also, it seems the only rule they bothered to enforce was the food and drink rule, not the safety glasses, nor some of the game rules. A few teams should have been disqualified. We know who they are. What's the deal with that? The rules EXPLICITLY say what are the disqualification rules.
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If the mats are working properly, the arena controllers always wait until all four are pressed before they begin the countdown to autonomous mode. I'd be really surprised if the FIRST staff on site didn't make sure that those mats were working properly, as overriding them is a very large safety hazard. |
All of the mats were checked every morning, and no robots would move until all four mats had been stepped on. There were a few matches where the human player's would get confused about not stepping on the mats in 10 seconds so that their robot's auton would not happen, but then forgot to step on within 15 seconds. There were at least 2 matches where no robots moved for about 25 seconds because of this. As far as safety glasses go, I can tell you for sure that it was enforced on the field, in the pits, well I can't speak for that. Food might have been expensive, but that is out of FIRST's hands. And as far as the pits, well, hopefully next year the new arena at UCF will be ready for us, and all the pits will be inside, or all the pits will end up in a much larger, and more leak-proof tent.
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Cover up
I am the pit crew chief for team 233, and i made sure that every night before i left everything was nicely ziptied into bins to both protect from weather and theft, not that i think anyone in FIRST would steal, but we were outside in a leaky tent. AS for food, we brought our own, put it in the bus and in our sponsor's truck we just went outside to eat.
I was really impressed with the competition this year, so many veteran teams made UCF the record setting regional, which is cool. As for our coming in second, it was more than i could ask for...i'd like to thank team 79 and 86 our allies in the finals for putting up an incredible show....i'd love to be partners with you in future. Krunch, your robot still scares me when i see it move with that four wheel steering. I think you guys were the king of destroyed boxes. Here's to the greatest alliance!! You get much Resistance (86) to Krunching(79) Pink(233) :) |
We got some angsty people here, awe, poor you all. I know, UCF did provide atleast space to do the working in, and I mean, you have to understand, it was their spring break, and they opened up the Union to us, brought in people to work the fast foods and such, so you have to give them that, though the outside PITS weren't the best. But it was their first year, so many next year will be better if they hold it there again. But yea, hit of advice next year, Buttons bag are good hidey holes, tool boxes and the back gate are the best ^___^ And shirts hiding stuff in a backpack, I had to have my Code Red daily, it worked pretty well.
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Re: Re: UCF Regional Competition
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That place was a monopoly. |
we can't really complain though, at the UCF regional they gave us some monopoly-like money that worked on campus as regular money, se we used that to eat. The food selection was also good.
...YUMMM... Sbarros..... |
Not like it was bad, they just needed to fix a few things. Oh, NASA KSC technically is a tourist trap so I'd expect to shell out some $$$ if you go isnide. Out by the field, at the trailer like they had a UCF the prices were cheaper (well its $1.50 for Soda, $1.00 water, something like that). Hey, at least they know some of this stuff ahead of time.
But really, my point is mainly the rules that were NOT enforced and the overall condition of the outside pit area was pathetic. |
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