Re: Interesting Newsletter from NI
 

I am also a swimmer so here is my pool knowledge
1 Most places don't have Olympic pools in their area, and any team that does wont be willing to give up training for 3 days.

2 Any places that do have these often don't have as large of stands as you are looking for.

3 Many of the pools don't have enough room for pits around them, or in an adjoining building.

4 All of FIRSTS fancy video equipment and electronics don't mix with water very well. and due to limited space they would not do very well in the high humidity.

Re: Interesting Newsletter from NI
 

1 Most places don't have Olympic pools in their area, and any team that does wont be willing to give up training for 3 days.

Only need the Olympic size pool for the competition. Lots of other options for practice.


2 Any places that do have these often don't have as large of stands as you are looking for.

Not much to see from a stand anyway. However, there is a lot of video opportunities to see what is going on. We use a lot of underwater cameras and, of course, there is the video from the ROV itself.
We display the video with an announcer describing what is going on as well as a "pool side" commentator.
Not only do the 200-500 people on site watch, but we also webcast the video live so many others around the world watch also.

3 Many of the pools don't have enough room for pits around them, or in an adjoining building.

Our pit area is in a cafeteria building. No problem

4 All of FIRSTS fancy video equipment and electronics don't mix with water very well. and due to limited space they would not do very well in the high humidity.

No problem

Here is a link to a Youtube video. It starts with the "Problem video" and then shows one teams effort in "fast time". the video was edited by someone in Europe from the webcast feed. It was weird to clean up after the event and go home and see that it was already being circulated.

I can't see FIRST doing an underwater competition, but I can see FIRST teams competing in an underwater competition.

We will be announcing the 2009 competition on October 31 http://www.h2orobots.org/

Re: Interesting Newsletter from NI
 

I don't believe I've ever seen a venue that has 4 pools, so that 4 divisions could be run simultaneously. Not having a place for the Championship kinda puts a damper on the whole season.

Re: Interesting Newsletter from NI
 

In 2005 and 2006 we competed in the Neutral Buoyancy Lab at the Johnson Space Center. I think there were 6 events going on at once.

Depending on the tasks, multiple events can be going on simultaneously in one pool. Next June we will have two going on at a time. Four would not really be a big problem.

Re: Interesting Newsletter from NI
 

How would teams conduct repairs/servicing?

(Sorry, can't watch the video from school computers.)

Re: Interesting Newsletter from NI
 

Well, every team has a pit area. At our competition, each team has one 30 minute mission instead of multiple 2 1/4 minute missions. (although it could be different in future competitions)

Sometimes there are failures during a mission and the team has to attempt repairs while the clock is running (like NASCAR).

Re: Interesting Newsletter from NI
 

Why mess with water? How about small pellets instead? One would need a shop vac to clean up afterwards, but it wouldn't get everything wet. OK, I know that getting everthing wet is the whole idea of where this thread is going, but ...