Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

I would like to see more teams participate in the Divisional Elimination rounds and on Einstein. Here's how I think that it could work:

It starts with allowing teams to arrive at the Championship event ready to compete instead of in desperate need of repair. So, after the final regional, teams would be able to ship their robots home for repairs and modifications until a second ship date prior to the Championships.

At the Championships, teams could begin the inspection process on Wednesday evening, with completion on Thursday morning.

Qualification matches would begin on Thursday afternoon and finish on Friday. The selection process would begin on Saturday morning and be expanded to 16 teams per division. Both Divisional Finalists would move on to Einstein and compete through two brackets (winners and losers) with the two bracket winners competing for the Championship.

Re: Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

Good idea but it will never happen due to these reason:

1. Alot of teams don't uncrate their robot on Wed. Alot of teams uncrate on Thurs.

2. Thursday is a pratice day and every team needs to practice for the competition. Also some teams change items on their robot around or test new items out.

3. Also take into consideration that FRC is not the only competition that is at the Championship Event. You got FLL and FVC.

Re: Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

Well I'd like to see them add two more playing fields - With six fields more mathces - downside quicker turnarounds.

Re: Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

Then you would also have to have enough volunteer to work those two additional fields. There are many key positions that require certain key people and it's already strained finding enough quality volunteers as it is...

Re: Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

With six fields you would have a hard time doing the eliminations as they are now.

Re: Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

Keep 4 divisions - use six fields would speed up the elims, haven't thought it out all the way but it could work quite well - the limiting factor would be the staff to run six fields. I agree with the above post about being hard enough to get volunteers for four - but if FIRST posted early enough maybe just maybe it could be done. Just think instead of 7 matches you might get in ten - maybe have a couple of interdivisional mathces - be creative.

Re: Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

It's been some years since I've volunteered at an event, admittedly, but my recollection and my experience with the last several seasons makes me believe that such pivotal positions are filled by the same small group of people again and again, from event to event and year to year. As such, it's no small surprise that finding additional qualified people to fill those roles at new events or on new fields is challenging. The VIMS is a great tool for making the information and availability of these positions accessible, but it is not useful for overcoming what appears to be prevalent, though understandable, 'nepotism' in the volunteer selection process.

Perhaps FIRST might consider offering one or more off- or mid-season orientation sessions for people interested in filling these vital positions so as to increase the number of qualified candidates available to their volunteer coordinators.

I'm curious how many others would be interested in volunteering as a score keeper or referee or event assistant, for example, but don't bother because of the perception that they're not among the existing pool of preferred candidates and that FIRST doesn't want to risk derailing an event because of an inexperienced volunteer.

Re: Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

I have figures for the FLL World Festival. How many referees did they need? 4 or 8? Scorekeepers - 1 or 2? You know how many total volunteers there were? 165+. 42 judges. The majority of volunteers are doing "grunt" work, gophers. Without them there would be no elite positions to fill. Like everything else, you put your time in to get your experience and qualify you for the top jobs. I was incredibly fortunate to be selected as a judge for my first time volunteering in Atlanta, but I'm sure it was based on my long experience with FLL as a parent, and my working for two years in local and state events.

Re: Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

The constraint limiting expansion of the Championship from four active fields to six is not the availability of the volunteer staff. It is based on the frequency allocations utilized by the radio systems, and the interstitial spacing required to ensure that there is no cross-talk or signal degradation between the fields when they are all active simultaneously. This may change in the future if a new radio system is implemented, but for the time being there is a technical limit that will keep us to four active fields.

-dave

Re: Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

That would be an interesting feature: Whose robot are you controlling?

My main suggestion is the same one I have for the season overall: keep all prices as low as possible, the economy's flat, and money's tough to come by

But yay for earlier Championships!

Re: Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

Dang! Can't use that one now...
</me wads up and throws out really good idea for 2007 game>

-dave

Re: Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

*Predicts the huge grin on Dave's face as he dreams up an even better & more challenging idea.*

Re: Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...7&postcount=37

What's this? Dave saying radio links keep us to 4 fields, and JVN says that next year we get an updated radio? hhhhhhhhmmmmmmmmmmmmm... interesting. :D John also said they tested it (albeit an early version) at IRI last year, any IRI field people remember more than 40 channels?

Re: Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

It was only tested after competition rounds on Friday, I believe they were just trying to see if it worked. I don't recall any significant messing with channels or anything like that.

Re: Suggestion for 2007 Championships
 

Last year after competition on Friday the host teams 234, 45, and 393 were asked to try the new radio system out. We changed the radio on the robot and then 5 or 6 mock matches before packing up for the night. I am not sure what data they were looking at.