Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

I definitely agree on space between the pits and more bleachers.
However, I think there would be no way to solve your problem with the speeches; during finals the teams still have to have enough time to get ready for their next matches, so if there weren't any speeches then we'd have been staring at paper airplanes and people working on robots across the stadium for five minutes anyway.

I did feel like there should have been better seating for the concert. One person suggested having it on the longer side of the stadium so there would be more space on the lower levels. Perhaps just sticking more teams in the standing area would have helped as well, since it seemed a little empty in places.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

...so at a start we can move the almost 30 minutes of speeches that happened before the matches to between the matches...

Yes, there were times that teams weren't quite ready, but there were more times when robots were sitting as long as their teams were, but yakkity-yak was still the order of the day.

Something should be done (besides turning it into a 'gee I'd better stay on script!' joke). I'm just sayin'...

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

I'm really confused why "it's dope" somehow shows a profound misunderstanding of FIRST. Can you elaborate?

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

The pits by the fields were loud but this could be fixed with half height curtains around entire field.

Crowded bleachers on the pit fields. Could be helped by taller bleachers with more rows. And teams not saving seats. Heard of some very poor behavior by teams I had higher expectations of.

Not enough trash containers for all the trash. Made it difficult to properly dispose of trash.

HOF off in a corner of the pit where it was hard to find. Should have been in the public walkway area.

Need a good web page for the public to learn of the event.

More signage to direct the public at the event.

Leave the food out until the end of the mentor breakfast.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

If the GDC wants to make rules to emphasize offence & lots of scoring, fine. But if so the rules to do that need to be less subjective. A great example is the "flow of the game" in G48-C. There was a lot of inconsistency in how blockading was (or was not) called; no surprise there.

Better balance would also help. Giving a red card for accidentally brushing a tube possessed by a robot in the lane? Seriously? How on earth is that worse than "Repeated or egregious violations...." of rule G48-B (*deliberately* contacting an opposing robot inside its frame perimeter) drawing only a *possible* yellow card? The situation is made even worse by allowing that red card to be caused by the other team.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

http://www.google.com/search?sourcei...=define%3Adope

Yeah, I realize that it was meant to mean "cool/good", but I don't think it was the right word. It also showed that he didn't really know anything about the game at all.


To add to things I didn't like was referees not calling penalties on teams because they "didn't know the rules". In Boston, a team was repeatedly knocking tubes out of our gripper, and taking them. The head ref refused to call them, because they A: Didn't posses the tubes for more than one second
B: Something to do with them not knowing the rules


The team came over to us and apologized later, but it made us lose the match, and drop quite long way in seeding. Speaking of that, sometimes a red card isn't a good enough reparation. When you lose a match due to someone jostling you during the endgame, they get a red card, and you lose the match. You still drop just as far as you would have had they not gotten the red card. I don't think there is any way to avoid it, but hey, we're FIRST, we can think of ways to innovate!

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

I find that getting a yellow card in addition to a red card is unnecessary. It makes it so you can't screw up again. Every time you get a yellow card from that point of you get a red card again. It basically is a chain reaction where a team gets a red card to start and then gets a red card for every single new card they get.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

What field were you on? I had teams surrounding me in the stands and it did get annoying at times! But if we had more seats, it would have stunned the issues.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

We got both. But the latter will draw more to a TV special than the former. FIRST needs that exposure.

Most of my complaints are minor, and have mostly been mentioned. In order of importance:

1. Leave the doors at hall 5 open, so the walk to the dome (via the courtyard) is short. My knees hurt today.
2. Six fields in the dome please, I know it can be done. I'm OK with the concert - this is a LOT bigger than most folks realize - but next year let's focus on the overall experience for the teams. (And if fields are in the pits again, More Seats!! a 50% increase would still not be enough)
3. Power in the bleachers PLEASE. Few teams scout on paper, and technology needs power. We Can Share, honest!
4. More Trash Pails
5.Better food by the pits, and keep it available longer. The line at funnel cakes was 50 people at 2pm Friday, simply because that was the only thing resembling food available. Not At All Healthy.

Noise level was almost acceptable, but I use ear plugs and it wasn't a huge issue. Our pit was facing the field and my voice hoarse all the time from having to shout to communicate to someone 2 feet away...the whole weekend.

I'll post in the "things liked" thread later, but for a first year location, this was very well-organized, laid out and run. It was actually better-run than Atlanta, even though STL had never done this before. Outstanding!

Don

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

Including 1676. I had to chastize some of the well-intentioned parents on our team TWICE to stop saving seats in the bleachers. :mad:

If you don't have a butt to fill that seat, you don't need it. When the butt arrives, we'll make room.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

We had some encounters with a very, very obnoxious parent -- actually screaming at people who sat in seats, and not once (which is unacceptable) or twice (which is equally unacceptable) but continuously for 30+ minutes (which is unacceptable but hilarious insofar as it doesn't keep us from viewing the games).

As with most things, this is unenforceable by fiat, so the expectations should be made so clear that it is almost entirely enforceable through social pressure. (Isn't social change what it's all about?)

That said, playing in football stadia and needing to save seats equates to a failure of the social-event design process, IMO... More iterations are needed!

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

I really think that FIRST needs to start making announcments at the beginning of events. If saving seats is a rule then lets make sure it happens! I am horrified of stories I have heard from the public who attend events not with teams!

For anyone complaining about FIRST events and speeches especially Dean's, come to GSR or any event that he goes to! I have been to 13 regionals with a "Dean" speech and the more I focus on his message the more the hour plus he speaks flies by. This is a robotics competition with a message. Had Einstein had music then I'm sure that it wouldn't have been so bad.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

Curie was packed, and the bleachers appeared to be smaller.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

I feel you on that one

It was strait up communication and delivery for me, the rest of the tournament was excellent. I also think that it was cool to do a game that's similar to another but It also cuts the work and design process significant and teams that did well in 07 also did well in 11 (not to take away anything from them they deserve to be where they are). Mini bots where the coolest thing to me.

Re: 2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative
 

Field issues. I observed at least 2 major FMS problems during StL. Following opening ceremonies Friday, I stopped in front of the Curie field to watch the first match of the day. 5 seconds into teleop, the buzzer blares and the timer goes to 0, ending the match.

During our first elimination match, the field timer apparently jumped from 16 to 6 seconds or something of the sort, resulting in the refs nullifying that match result.

Needless to say, I was sorely disappointed by the persistence of such an issue into the Championships.

On a side note, I saw at least 2 instances of towers being triggered by bots crashing into them, leaving VERY close minibot races up to human judgment, which imho, cannot be empirically accurate nor reliable in a race between 1-2s minibots. Putting light compression springs on the suspension bolts would have been a very simple fix to that issue, even if it was a slight modification to field design.