Four-digit team numbers
 

I am sure that you all have realized that the team numbers as they appear in the posts have four instead of three digits now. Does that mean that there are actually 1000+ teams now?

Actually......
 

Acutally isnt truely 1000+ teams because of the gaps in the numbering....but there is a team #999 this year....so Brandon is probably just getting ahead so next year there will be room for 4 digit team numbers if that is the way FIRST decides to go.....



:D


(This is the rumor mill....am i missing some kind of joke?)

I was just preparing for whenever team #1000 comes along

numbers
 

They do not have 999 teams they have around 650 teams.
The numbers given out @ random

yes.

[read Clarks post]

Re: numbers
 

Not entirely random...team numbers are assigned as follows(at least as far as I can tell):

1. All returning teams get to keep their existing team number.
2. Rookie teams get assigned a new team number, starting with the first number that was not used the previous year(i.e., if 2001 ended with team # 702, #703 would be the first used in 2002)
3. It's my understanding that because of the current limitation on team # size in the innovation first controller, some rookie teams were assigned numbers of teams that had once competed, but then dropped out for whatever reason.

How does the Robot controller display over 1000?

Rumor has it that there's a 4th digit (or at least an extra half digit) there behind the cover. So the board's already ready for the FIRST1K switch. :)

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't there 16 DIP switches to set the team number? That would allow team numbers up to ~64000, if the circuitry could handle it.

I've heard this as well, how true it is, i dunno...
Actually, I think the magic number is 12 DIP switches, but in either case, it's more than we'll need for a while...

It has 12 binary digits and it can support (much) over team # 999 it will display it as - - - on the screen but be normal as far as everything else is concerned, There are other posts with this subject in which i go into grater detail.

check the manual (page 20, 5.1).

team #1000 wil probably feel very special because of their number. And I believe it wasn't a coincidence that the last team registered for 2002 was team 999. Why did FIRST stopped on that team and didn't want the #1000 for this year?
(I'm asking this just because I THINK it happened, no evidences)

PS: by the way, I like the number "383" very much. :)

And I like 384 a lot too.

The Innovation FIRST controllers are prepared to accept a fourth LED, but it isn't physically in place on the versions we've got.

Also, FIRST looped registration back into the 700's once they got to 999.

If FIRST wants to stay out of the 1000's they probably can.

Just use up ALL the numbers < 1000. Will more than 350 new teams be here next year (there are 650 this year)?

But, if more than 350 new teams join next year then the Innovation First people will have to add an LED to the controller.

from the rumors i've heard, InnovationFIRST is supposed to come out with a new controller system this year. so... maybe they'll just go ahead and add another digit.

Personally I think once a team is gone,. their number should be retired ... like say, team #2 was a team until thius year... I think they give teams 3 years before they will use thier number, but ... I think once a team is gone, their number should be retired, especially if their number is really low!!

:: throws in $.02 ::

- Katie

At first i disagreed with this, but as I think about it, if Team 2 retires, some rookie team shouldnt be given that number, and veteran teams who have been around for a long time should not be bumped up.

simple solution
 

Instead of extending to four digits, simply increase the number of one-character numbers. If we add the numbers A, C, E, F (easily displayable) that should provide enough new numbers to last at least two or three years.

- Patrick

Haha,
The new rookie team 47A
"The Emergency Reserve Chief Delphi, when just one 47 isn't enough"

Re: simple solution
 

Interesting thought. What if they reassigned numbers to keep it in the three digits, but then assigned a letter to say how long they have competed? For example, Beach Bot would be 330E. I assume that someday they will have to go into the four digits, but if old teams don't keep coming back, there are going to be a lot of empty numbers. so they may as well reassign old numbers that haven't been used in several years.

If they are going to go into four (lets just say) characters, why not use numbers? Addind a letter would just make it more complicated than having 4 digit teams.

But, I personally don't see anything wrong with re-assigning numbers from teams that have left the competition. Maybe use up the 'original' numbers first, but why not re-use old ones - at least if that way they could avoid 4 numbers.

Re-Numbering
 

Personally, I don't give a flying potato if they renumber. In fact, I'm all for it, as long as that fabled new hotel at Disney is opened and they eliminate the even/odd/points championship qualifying system. But if the horrid system is not disbanded, current even and odd teams can be reassigned even and odd numbers as they had this year. Going by the time-date stamp on a team's original registration ticket, numbers are assigned 001-***, older teams acquiring lower numbers. A system of numbering can be derived to tell the age of a team by number as well. I can see that you older teams have become attached to your numbers, and a change of them after five years or so can seem odd, but just a few years ago renumbering occurred on a regular basis. I embrace renumbering.

<----- is quite fond of team number

::hums James Bond theme to self::

The irony of all this is that no one here on these forums will have to worry about having a 4 digit team number...lol

Letters would be easy to display on the controller. So why don't they just write the team number in hexadecimal on the controller. There would be 4096 hexadecimal combinations in the 3 digits that way. There are already 12 binary digits (4096 combinations ... coincidence?) on the dip switchs for setting team number. The B and D would have to be written in lower case (b and d) so they didn't look like 8 and 0. Teams could keep their decimal numbers and who looks at the controllers anyway. The team number on the controller is just for radio communication. I'm sure the programmers on the teams could figure out how to program it.
Let's see, 365 in hexadecimal is ... 16D (16d is what it would look like on the controller)

Did anyone notice that in the championship event program (not the regular FIRST program), the letter from Dean says that "next year, all new teams will have four-digit numbers?" I guess that clears up part of the situation.

I think they should renumber. All the teams who have hosted a championship in their gym should get the single digit numbers in order of the year they hosted. After that I don't care. :-) Just so long as we go from 811 to 2. :)

I say they just let it go to 4 digits....and I'm sure whatever new controller system comes along ( oh boy! oh boy! ) will accomidate this idea. But fitting 247 on the back of our baseball jersey's was tough enough already!

no, the numbers shouldn't be redone, they can just go to a 4th digit and keep adding

I agree! I was always under the impression that if a team left FIRST then they could come back any number of years from now and have their same team number. I was not aware of any renumbering. Although I find nothing special in the actual number 271, to have any other number curls my knees and make my stomach stand on edge! Some teams I know by name, some I know by number, some I know by neither, and some I know by both! If any changes in numbering occur I will be TOTALLY LOST! As it is I'm Out there!:D

i agree, i love my teams number, 263, but i also wouldn't mind being number 1, hehe

I DUNNO
 

Someone probably brought this up already but there are still spaces. U know, some numbers were skipped when they were given out, so why not fill these in first?
After-all it would make things a little more interesting seeing that when i first started the competition the only way i judged how good a team was was by how low their #was :D

just find-out if the team will be comeing back or not!

well, one has to think, how much more time and money will actually be spent adding a 4th LED to the controller? it's almost nothing if you think about it. just a slight redesign so the opening is still centered, and so that everything fits (which basically means moving it over a few cm, and opening up over the 4th digit). then, they might require some more code to let the controller recognize 4 digit numbers, but i assume that's easy to do (all it is is interpreting binary).

all in all, mocing onto 4 digits won't be amazingly hard. besides, i think they've been waiting for this day for a *long* time. 1000+ team numbers means that FIRST has started it's own culture, and it can only grow from here.

maybe they'll be nice and make it so that PBasic can hold more variables...

nah, that would be too nice :p

TOO BIG!
 

I am afraid of how big FIRST is getting. I was overwhelmed by the immense # and range of teams that were in the competition when i was a "fresh rookie", and now that i am going into my second year there is going to be teams over the 1000 point!
I have no chance of ever keeping track of this many teams, i think there is going to have to be another department on my team to fill... the "C.T.I.A" (Central, team, Intelligence agency)!
I m also afraid of the competition...*bites fingernails*

the only problem with this is that a lower case b and 6 look the same on an lcd. unless you add the top part of the lcd (make it an eight without the upper right side lcd) but i think that would just look plain kooky

There are some teams that have had their number since FIRST started assigning numbers...although in 97 and 96? im not sure if they had numbers that year, we were team 31....anyway some teams who have had their number won't be as reluctant to give it up and get a new one....

If FIRST fills in the gaps or re-numbers, teams should be given an opportuninty to decline being given a new number....but I doubt that FIRST would do that to teams

remember that it's not a decision by IFI or FIRST that limits the amount of variable space, but rather the physical memory limitations of the Stamp2SX processor...

Sure hope not, besides, our team number is 1037. I'd hate to give up that otherwise we might not go to nationals.

lol

I agree it would take MORE work for every one if FIRST did this and every one would get confused like they did 2 years ago with our shirts because it had a big 4 in the middle of it so everyone thought we were team 4 instead of 93.

I tell you what, there is a team 1111, and I think a 1064 from Milwuakee

hehe! outdated posts are funny. :D I wonder when Team 1337 will come along. They'll be worshipped.

Hahaha that's going to be great ...

th0u9h i r3411y c4n'7 574nd p30p13 wh0 0n1y 7yp3 1337! ;)

- Katie

I don't know when team 1337 will come along, but our team was happy enough to get the excellent number (in our opinion:D ) of 1000.

HAIL THE CYBEARCATS!

my team will stick to 0522 sounds good along side the McKee RoboWizards Team 522 from Staten Island NY :D
we wouldn't have any other number unless we were forced to take it :(