Hey, I would take those bathrooms over the small sweltering portable ones at Epcot.

This is my sixth year in FIRST and I can say that I would pick EPCOT over Houston any day. It did not feel like nationals. There were to many things missing. Like everyone else I agree the pits were too far, the food was disgusting, and I did not like the fact that there were not screens at the fields. I also did not like the fact that all the playing fields were so seperated. EPCOT was also much more fun.

Without going into too much detail about reffing (it is a very difficult job), the flipping call in the playoffs on Curie were discussed by all 5 refs. Three (including the two closest to the action) called it as intentional, one called unintentional, and one couldn't see. It was a majority decision based on what the closest refs saw, which was activation of a pneumatic ramp with another robot on top to flip them over. It may not have been called intentional had the alliance not been shouting "flip! flip!" and celebrating when it did. I was the ref on the corner closest to the red alliance, and I know what I heard and saw.

I can also say the refs do actually have the most difficult job during the competition, since no one wants to give penalties, or DQ, but there are rules, and they must be enforced. Of course some calls will look bad to the spectator, especially if a call is made against your team, but keep in mind, the refs are much closer to the action and can see exactly what's going on. It is their best judgment what is fair to all competitors. Great job to all refs out there, and I look forward to working with all of you in the future.


Back to the original topic, I think Houston did a great job, given they really had no idea what they were getting in to (as a city). EPCOT has an advantage because they know what to expect and accommodate for. They have the experience of hosting FIRST championships for countless years. Granted, there were issues (the ramps, bathrooms, etc) but it's nothing that can't be ironed out given more time to plan, and given they know now what to expect. I thought the crowd was a lot more energetic here than in EPCOT last year, especially with each division having a dedicated place, free from the noise pollution of each other, and more than adequate seating. Overall I had a great experience, the people were fantastic, and the competition breathtaking.

There were four divisions, but five playing fields with the teams playing most of their Q matches on their "home" field and one or two on the Einstein field.

Agreed, those bathrooms at the competition site at EPCOT were tiny and they smelled horrible! Ive been going to stadiums for sporting events for years, (so maybe this is just me) but I didnt really notice the bathrooms in the astrodome.


On a second note

I really liked the venue. Yeah bladdy bladdy blah you had to walk for 7 minutes to get from your pit to the field. My thoughts: Whoopie doo! I prefer to call it :ahh: "Excercise"... no matter how much some people try to avoid it....we all need it, and its required to remain healthy :ahh:. Thanks to Houston we all will remain a little healthier because we got our exercise :rolleyes:


We were in a world class facility in one of the newest domes in the world that will be hosting the Super Bowl in 2004. I personally thanked Bob Hammond when I saw him for being one of the people to get the Reliant Center as the Venue and I hope that FIRST returns there next year.


Finally

Who gives a darn if you dont like the rides, we had admission to a six flags that was just opened to teams. You should be greatful and not complain and moan.

Heh now that Ive vented that one off, im going home from school. Ill post my ideas for improvement for next year later....

As a first timer to Championships I really have a hard time saying which is best. Things I know are
1 - the trip to the pits was long but you are younger than me and on 1 morning by 10:30 I had made 6 trips back and forth. Someone kidded that this was FIRSTs way of bring P.Ed into robotics.
2 - I heard a lot of volunteers that thought that it was much nicer in the air conditioning than the humidity and heat at Epcot
3 - visiting other teams in other divisions was a choice you could make. I visited every team in Curie and found it good to have them all together. For team scouting it was also easier than having everybody all spread out.
4 - The Curie division rocked the house. We (I) had soooo much fun. I believe that things are as you make them and the kids at Curie where great. BTW thanks team 48 for the hair.
5 - As time goes on we remember " back when I was younger ". The past times almost always seem best. Think of us rookies and what excitement we saw. The freshness, competition, and friendships.
I may be lecturing and maybe Epcot was better but to those who only know Houston what could be better.

If we return to Houston, I bet ramp-friendliness will be a major consideration in the design of teams' robot carts. To use a slogan from my model airplane experience, "lightness is a virtue."

Epcot, by far. Why? Granted, I though Houston was nice, it just couldn't handle all of the teams.

1.) Food was crappy and the prices for just nachos were in the $6 range! Sodas were $3.75, a dollar more than DISNEY!

2.) RAMPS SUCK. Especially when they are dirty and mundane.

3.) Security boarder-lined questionable. Searches went on constantly at Reliant, but then it was on-and-off at Astrodome.

4.) Dark, dingy, and gray was the name of the game here. No color, no soul to the games. Give me the fake turf at WDW any day.

5.) Bathrooms bordered being shut down for declination at Astrodome.

Now to Six Flags:

1.) DIRTY PARK. It made Astrodome look like Disney.

2.) Food was crap. The chicken I got was FROZEN. Yes, as in COLD AS ICE.

And for the good side, it seems like FIRST has found a new venue for the Champs. And we might go back to Disney...

More details?

Ok this was my first time going to nationals, my team is a mere second year team. Personally the long island regional was far superior a competition to this event. reasons...
1. Distance from the matches to the pits was insane.
2. The judges didn't give a crap about the match simulator program i wrote. It solves each and every problem associated with the match pairings.
3. Very simply, the bathroom trough. eww.
4. Does a segway have enough torque to pull the bot up the ramp?
5. Did i mention the distance between the pits and the field? I had to sprint back to the pit when my team was already in queue because my laptop battery died before I got to upload a program. I run a 60 flat quarter mile, so it was ok in the end.
6. Food was terrible. Everywhere. And my hotel didn't have internet to the rooms. That killed me more than anything.
7. Entertainment sucked. Ok six flags was cool, but it gets old quick.

Of course there were some good things about the event. But one thing that they should do in the future is keep the fields and the pits as close as possible in earshot or sight if possible. We had a awesome bot and almost flawless matches, but never got any recognition so we were out of luck for alliance choosing even though we were a REGIONAL FINALIST. ahem ahem we beat rage and ended hauppauges winning streak at 18 in the semi's at LI. But we love 358.

lol, yep. We went 7 and 0 at the nationals (Undefeated!), seeded 15th out of 73 teams and still didn't get picked. oh well.

Neither could Disney...thats why there was the qualification system put in ;)

Yeah but these were real sodas, unlike that watered down garbage disney calls soda ;)

Would you prefer stairs instead? :D

I dont remember having any security at disney besides a cast worker waving a giant glowing wand

Heh I think many people had more things to worry about then the texture of the floor ;)

It still beats those smelly, tiny little trailers at EPCOT



Now to Six Flags:

I dont think many people noticed and it wasn't that bad...

Heh Disney's party food wasn't anything spectacular either

Houston was very well organized, and had good facilities. I have to give credit to FIRST for whipping such a quality event together on relatively short notice. However, some of the "fun-factor" of EPCOT just wasn't there. I guess its kind of hard to top Disney for fun though.

I totally agree with the team 60 problem, it was unacceptable, after talking with them, hearing that the inspection took well over an hour, then a note left in the pit instead of telling them directly what went on then getting DQ'd before they even started auton in the first match, not what we are trying to promote in the first community. Shame, Shame, Shame on whom ever was the ring leader behind that circus.

I agree, it was missing something. Im not sure what it was.

I missed the publicity of Disney. I remember riding on buses at disney and meeting a couple from Canada who had gone to disney the year before and saw FIRST. When they asked my group why we were at disney i explained to them it was for FIRST. Unfortunately, it was the day after nationals, and they missed it. They told me that they were disappointed that they had missed it. Experiances like that did not occur at Houston. There was no explaining what FIRST was to complete strangers, because there wasn't a lot of people that just saw the event and investigated. At disney, people saw the venue as they were entering the park and stopped to investigate. I really enjoyed that publicity.

Also, i liked how einstein was used last year. You only had 3 matches there so it wasn't like you were in the heat for long. The big stage that was the focal point of the competition was exciting, this was missing at Houston as einstein was only used for finals.

Also, there was no options for food. At least at disney there were multiple places for finding food outside the area where your passes were good. And the FIRST provided food at the arena at Disny wasn't half bad. At houston there were no choices. Several members of my team were vegitarians, and had to have bags of chips because that was the only meatless food their vochers bought. At least at Disney they had cheese pizza.