Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

it is unfortunate that SVR had to end in a controversial and chaotic matter, but there are a few things left to point out.
1. this game was not meant to be defended. though yes defending by herding balls is reasonable, there was significant contact between robots especially outside the bumper zone. In the second to last match 254's pneumatic pressure switch was flipped by a teams manipulator.
2. Our ball was popped for roughly half the second final match. this should eliminate any questions about that match given i don't think anyone doubts that 254 could've hurdled at least once in the time it took to replace it, making up for the difference making penalty.
finally congrats to all rookie teams, award winners, and everyone attending.
especially to CHS who was the third alliance leader and made it to semis in their rookie year.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

The fact that the ball popped accidentally should eliminate questions? I disagree. No one intended to pop the ball. It was an accident. What if the ball had remained full, but we had succeeded in defending it?

I cannot say what would have happened if that ball was in play, but I don't think you could either.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

its more that they had the ball their, but their was significant confusion over whether it should be put in

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

also 254 was in possession of the ball when it popped

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

I don't understand what the popped ball has to do with anything..

I understand the problems with the ref call, and am saying out of that!

A popped ball is part of the game. There is no rule saying the ball can never be popped ever. Or they wouldn't of made it inflatable...

So regardless of what would of happened or would not of happened with that ball, point is it popped (in a gripper , not in a gripper , popped by red , popped by blue) doesn't matter the reason and it has nothing to do with the outcome of the game

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

I was talking about the delay in which the ball was replaced and when it was popped

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

I don't mean to hurt any feelings, but I'll speak frankly as our scouting leader.

For our alliance, we were looking for 2 hurdlers and 1 defensive bot in our alliance. Therefore, we accepted our partner 2024 becuase they could hurdle relatively reliable.

After that, we looked at defensive bots (which, by preventing at least one opponent from scoring 8 points, is a way higher benefit to the alliance in f than 2 points a lap), and the top of the list list were 8, 2628, and 114. All three played excellent defensive games. As you saw in finals, 8 played great defense, and how much defense can determine a game.

Also, 8 and 2628 showed good driver thinking under pressure by knocking off enemy balls that would have scored 12 points otherwise.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

Perhaps it wasn't considered safe to put the ball back in instantly? Or even when it got to the field? The rule on replacing the balls never says "immediately"; it says "at the earliest safe opportunity."

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

Way back on Jan 10, the GDC gave this answer
And on Jan 14

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

A trackball can be safely introduced at any time. By my understanding of the rules, it should have been introduced regardless of whether it was safe to recover the popped one. As the Q&A notes, the popped one would then be considered field debris.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

See the Q&A Gary quoted. Replacements for broken trackballs come in:

• at roughly the same location
• at the next safe opportunity

and debris (the old one) might not be removed until after the match. So it's not when it's safe to recover the old one, it's when it's safe to put a new one in. A robot right there makes it kind of unsafe to put a new one in, wouldn't you say? (IIRC, there was a robot in the immediate vicinity for quite a while.)

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

agreed!

If I remember correct there was a robot, by that popped ball for most of the time ( and if I'm even more exact it was a red team bot :ahh: )

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

I can see where some may say that, but I don't think it'd be unsafe to toss it over the robots and onto the floor.

The person reintroducing the trackballs onto the field does not have to step foot onto the field, or reach over the field border.

There seemed to be a lack of understanding of where and when balls should be reintroduced to the field at SVR in general. In a previous match a ball went out of bounds and was returned to the quadrant PRIOR to that which it exited the field from.

I thought it was a blue bot, but my memory is fuzzy.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

Team 8 was defending both of the trackballs, they had stopped moving for a while where it might've been considered safe but the ball was being rolled over from the volunteer area and by the time it was there 100 was pushing 8 for the inflated ball.

Re: Silicon Valley Regional 2008
 

In regards to paying referees, if we "do the math" like Marc Leone famously suggests, we get:
48 teams x $4000 (according to a previous post) = $192,000

I don't remember exactly, but if we had 10 referees, paid $1000 a weekend, (thats more than $300 a day and more than $30 an hour), then FIRST would be left with $182,000 for the Regional.