Quote:
Originally Posted by pitzoid
So of course as always, this is completely "unofficial".... but:
There's a "feature" in the field PLC network to tune the triggering on the towers to differentiate between base bot slams and the minibot top hat triggering. Needless to say that its a tough one to crack as when you think about the bots hitting the base hard, and then you have a 10' lever to throw around that switch plate at the top. So FIRST FRC Engineering Ryan at the NJ regional has been playing around with the tuning all weekend trying to figure out what works best as testing this in the lab was next to impossible being we didn't know how the competition bots would be interacting with the fields. Seems like he's finding the happy place for it. As always, refs have final authority on scoring...
Just like you guys know, no real substitute for Regional competitions, we've seen a few things pop up this week that didn't happen in Week 0 events, it'll all be sorted for Week 2, gotta love engineering development, keeps you on your toes...
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Along the same lines, in talking to one of the technical volunteers at FLR, it sounds like there is a minimum dwell time for the top plate (I assume to implement the differentiation between base slams and minibot touches) - the fast minibots may not be deflecting the plate long enough for the current field system to recognize it (BTW, there isn't anything in the rules (thankfully!) for how long plate would need to be deflected).
The complication is that end of match can also be triggered by all four towers being tripped, so false positives can be REALLY BAD (tm).
At least at FLR, the response was to use lots of eyes - the refs, the head ref, and addtional volunteers. AFAIK, they were watching plate motion (which is what the rules actually call for), and not just order of finish. Confusing for the for audience (I hadn't heard any announced explantion, but there may have been one.), but the officials seemed to do well.
Sounds like the engineering team is on top of this, and hopefully will have it fixed for next week.
--Karlis