Re: The 2008 Beantown Blitz (Hosted by team #125)
 

Zip Ties Galore :)

Re: The 2008 Beantown Blitz (Hosted by team #125)
 

Can someone explain what the rules for the Gold balls were at Beantown Blitz? One of my team members had an idea just like this and I wanted to know if it worked out well.

Re: The 2008 Beantown Blitz (Hosted by team #125)
 

Which ever alliance won hybrid mode was given control of the Goldenball during tele-op. It was sitting on top of a wooden frame above the right-side robocoach fence at each end. Using a pole, the robocoach of the respective alliance was allowed to hit the ball into the match at any point they wished during the 2 minute period. In the result of a tie, control went to the Blue Alliance for even numbered rounds and the Red Alliance for the odd numbered rounds. During eliminations, a coin was flipped to make it more random.

While in play, a Goldenball scored 4 points for the alliance in control of it for rolling across the finish line and 10 points for being hurdled. A Goldenball scored no bonus points for sitting on top of the overpass at the end of the match.

Re: The 2008 Beantown Blitz (Hosted by team #125)
 

Could either alliance control it? Or only the one that won hybrid?

Re: The 2008 Beantown Blitz (Hosted by team #125)
 

It could be controlled by either alliance once it was entered onto the field of play by the alliance that won the hybrid mode or the tie-breaker.

Re: The 2008 Beantown Blitz (Hosted by team #125)
 

I'd like to say a big THANKS to all those that worked at the 2008 Beantown Blitz! The organizers did a great job with the pre-event preparations; the "drive-in/drive-out" pit unloading/loading was awesome; the drink and pizza lunch in the pit areas was convenient and not horribly overpriced; the field reset crews, announcers, and scorers all did their jobs quickly and effectively, being a help to teams, rather than an impediment; the judges were very encouraging to all the teams they interviewed, taking a genuine interest in the designs of the teams, and the referees did a great job of not only making the right calls, but also explaining their reasons and rationale to teams that were penalized. In all, I thought that everyone I encountered who was involved with running the tournament sought to make the event an enjoyable one for the participants.

We were very thankful for the opportunity to run both of our robot configurations as two separate teams and were honored to receive a robot design award for each of the two robots.

We'd also like to thank our alliance partners: #1-seeded Team 181 for choosing Speed Racer as the first pick and Team 2593 for giving us a well-rounded alliance -- we enjoyed the run to the semifinals and are sorry that we had to e-stop Speed Racer just over half-way through the deciding match. We're also grateful to Team 1350 for choosing our "big bot" as their first choice and 1027 for their contribution, too. Having our #7 seeded alliance go out in the quarterfinals to the BTB Champion Alliance of 348, 121, 69 was a very respectable showing!

I'd also like to thank some of our opposition: Team 88 for their gracious professionalism in calling their timeout on Speed Racer's behalf in the semifinals; Teams 121, 177, 195, and 2079 for their gracious words regarding our robots, and Team 663 for politely shedding Speed Racer from their robot after we spent what seemed like half of one match (including completion of a half-lap of the field) while being "high-sided" sideways on the un-bumpered side of their robot. There are probably many other teams that deserve our thanks that I didn't witness personally.

We're looking forward to Beantown Blitz again in 2009!

PS: Video of Speed Racer's round with 7-lines in autonomous and 13-lap teleop is now on our team web pages at http://www.mechanicalmayhem.org/teamvideos.asp

Re: The 2008 Beantown Blitz (Hosted by team #125)
 

What did the teams think of the Bonus ball? Again just curious if it was well received or not.

Re: The 2008 Beantown Blitz (Hosted by team #125)
 

Missed one little part Tim. In the event of a tie after the alliance was selected to receive the golden trackball it was entered onto the field at one minute remaining in the match by one of the referees.

MikeM.

Re: The 2008 Beantown Blitz (Hosted by team #125)
 

The Bonus ball was used on and off, at least it seemed to me. I know that when we had the option, my team chose to not put it into play. Four balls on the field was enough to make a mess and since it could be used by the other alliance, letting it on the field could backfire. One strategy I did see was towards the end of the match: with 5 or so seconds left, the controlling alliance would knock the ball off the pedestal and have it roll across the finish line for an extra 4 points. In another variation, in the Finals, my team attempted to hurdle the Bonus ball with time expiring: it was given a good poke, took once bounce halfway down the home stretch and JUST hit the front of the Overpass. Would've been pretty cool if it went for a hurdle. Overall though, it was an interesting game addition. Kudos to the BTB committee for adding it in!

Re: The 2008 Beantown Blitz (Hosted by team #125)
 

Is anyone going to put scores and video on TBA?

Re: The 2008 Beantown Blitz (Hosted by team #125)
 

i am not sure what people that attened have, but we are working go getting the tapes from the company that did the video, and have to convert them to a digital format. Possibly into a DVD of the event. Would there be interest in a DVD of the event? We do not have the capability to convert the tapes our self, so we would need to pay for it to be done, if there is interest we will consider doing it.

so anyone?

Re: The 2008 Beantown Blitz (Hosted by team #125)
 

If you can get digital copies I'd be more than happy to put them on the TBA servers.

Re: The 2008 Beantown Blitz (Hosted by team #125)
 

We are working on it tombot