Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

Hey guys,

So I know that there are 3 ways to make it to the Championships: Win a Regional, win an Award (Chairmans/EI/Rookie), or get an open-lottery bid.

It seems though, that every year there are teams that everyone says "should be at the Championship". There are always teams with amazing robots that either get unlucky, or miss out on winning a regional by a close loss in the finals. Those teams are devastated that they can't compete again.

On that note, there are plenty of teams that are just "handed" a spot in the Championship by lottery.

In my opinion, because there are more spots in the Championship than regional winners, that FIRST should award a Championship bid to more categories than just the aforementioned ones. There are so many teams who embody what FIRST is all about who would definitely make Atlanta a better experience. It would also courage more teams to strive to meet those goals, instead of just vying for that lottery pick.

Examples
Robot Awards: Industrial Design, Motorola Quality or Engineering Excellence
Team Awards: Gracious Professionalism Award, Team Spirit Award, Entrepreneurship Award
or even give it to the #1 seed.

If these winners happen to overlap more than expected, then yes, FIRST can give out open bids to fill up the gaps in the Championship.

Thoughts?

Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

Personally I'm glad FIRST leaves some spots open to general teams. Teams should be allowed to go at least once every 4 years because every student deserves a chance to experience it regardless of a team's funding situation (complicated robot, booking reservations at an elevated price because it's only 2 weeks away, etc), mechanical abilities, or the fact that other veteran teams come in and snipe their regionals every year. Without the lottery some teams would NEVER get a chance to go to championships, and let's be honest -- FRC is, and should be, about opportunity more than it is about competition.

Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

It's not totally open. FIRST tries to keep it a little fair and give every team a chance to attend every couple years. If you didn't go to the Championship in 2009 you get first dibs on the open spots. I'm sure there were more than enough teams to fill all the open spots back in October.

Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

For large teams it is a lot of work to plan a trip to Atlanta in 1 or 2 weeks. Many teams couldn't attend just because of being unable to get plane tickets.

Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

I think that losing the open registration spots will be a natural consequence of the growth in number of teams. There's already too many teams for every team to get to go once every four years (1808/4=452 teams per year, which is more spots than are available). And that's before you consider that there are some teams that will qualify every year. Look at Michigan for example, with teams now needing to qualify for the state championship.

There are, however, many oportunities at championships for teams to go even without their robot. If/when championships becomes by qualification only, there's still the conferences, volunteering, checking out matches, meeting teams, and a number of other reasons to attend.

~Allison

Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

Due to the inspirational experience of participating in the Championship, I think the current system of having open slots as well as teams qualify based upon winning the regional, Chairman's Award, Engineering Inspiration, and Rookie All Star Award should not be changed. However, as the number of teams increases every year this system may not be sufficient due to the limited space at the championship. When the current system becomes insufficient I would like to see a points system used that is similar to what Michigan uses to qualify teams for the state championship for the Championship. This way a team that is competitive i.e. (#1 seed, regional finalist, wins a technical award) can still compete at the championship.

Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

There have been numerous systems used over the years to split up the open registration.

1) Anybody, regardless of attending a regional or not. Ended sometime around 2000, IIRC, due to the number of regionals climbing to the point where it could end.
2) Even/odd. Ended around 2002, IIRC.
3) Points system, based on awards won the previous year. The more points, the earlier. Ended roughly 2004.
4) Time since last Championship. Still in use.

Pre-qualifiers and at-event qualifiers should not be changed. These teams deserve it. (Even though some of them do take up multiple slots.;))

If someone can come up with a reasonably fair way to balance out the open registration and the "So close, yet so far" teams, that would be great. (Ditto for if somebody can come up with a good reason why FIRST didn't start moving teams off the waitlist until Week 3 at least this year...)

Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

I think the open qualification system is important. Teams should be able to experience the championship at least once every 2 years if they so have the funding to do so, and making the Championship qualification-only would change FIRST into purely a robotics competition, significantly raising the stakes for every team at the regional level.

Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

That's how FTC does it. To make it to the world championship you have to win a regional or the Inspire Award (there isn't even an Engineering Inspiration Award). The Inspire Award is the FTC equivalent of Chairman's. There are some teams that qualify almost every year (mostly the teams that qualify every year have excellent Inspire Award credentials). The competitiveness of FTC Champs is ramped up considerably from regionals without hurting the values of FIRST, so yes, I do think doing qualification on merit only would be a good idea.

Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

Does the Championship have room for 6 or 8 divisions? I never had a chance to go so I can't tell for sure, but this seems like it would solve the issue entriely.

Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

I don't think there is room. You might get 8 fields onto the floor, but then FTC and FLL have to find a new place, and 8 fields worth of spectators need to find seating.

Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

This was one of the reasons I quit FTC, and my least favorite part of the program other than the Kit of Parts. In FTC, it's actually a lot worse. You have to be the Alliance Captain. Your Championship fate isn't determined by how good you are, but how good your qualifying schedule is. The first pick isn't guaranteed a spot, so you're SOL if you're the best robot at the competition and seeded 3rd because you had no partner one match.

If you make it qualification only, you have to make it more fair.

Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

I would agree with that. The qualification process for FTC is screwed up, though I've never heard of a first pick not making it, and most second picks do go, but it's still really annoying and there are amazing robots every year that don't qualify. My point is more that a strict qualification process for FRC wouldn't destroy the values of FIRST, especially a fairer/better one.

Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

All that goes out the window next year, as the championship moves to St. Louis. That would be an interesting thought. 6 divisions, and then on Einstein they play everyone plays everyone once, and the two alliances with the most wins, and for tie breaks you look at the record against between the two. But i doubt the spacial gains will be that large seeing that both are football stadiums.

Re: Why Give Open Bids to the Championship?
 

for all those people talking about how every team should get a chance. ask FLL kids if they even know about the World Championships.

The fact FIRST is moving championships 2 weeks later is a good thing, But getting into/out of St. Louis is a much harder task (They aren't a hub for airlines like Atlanta was for Airtran/Delta) than one might think.

because Championship is two weeks later, i propose this program

FIRST would be able to determine which teams qualify almost immediately if they keep the data up-to-date in their system. Teams would now have 3-4 weeks to plan their trip to Championships, and this would ensure we get teh best competition possible while giving every team a great chance to attend championships once every four years.

P.S. You would still get a automatic bid if you won your regional, or got Chairmans, EI or Rookie All-Star.