In the spirit of gracious professionalism and everything FIRST is supposed to stand for the number #3 alliance thought it was the right thing to do by bringing said situation to the attention of Head Referee,(who said he couldn’t do anything about it and we needed to find the Lead Robot Inspector on our own) Safety Advisor, and then Lead Robot Inspector. We feel it was unfair for 522, The Robowizards, to have an advantage over all the other robots in the building.
We became aware of the large compressor, who’s picture is attached below, when a member of our team accidently tripped over the extension cord running to the field while walking around the outskirts taking photos of the competition. Upon following the cords, we discovered it actually ran to the field directly connected to, and filling, 522’s robot. The compressor was set up just outside of the field divider curtain with power cords running along the floor plugged into a vacated Google Exhibitor Booth a few feet away from the arena.
Upon tripping, and bringing attention to the lines, a mentor from Team 1279 that was in the vicinity commented on the legality of the compressor to a 522 member on the field. He was greeted with harsh remarks including multiple expletives. The mentor then decided to digress from the escalation.
At that moment, we grabbed our rulebook, and brought the information to the attention of our drive coach as well as the alliance captain. What followed was a series of moral letdowns for the NYC regional, and FIRST as a whole. The Head Referee informed the alliance captain he couldn’t do anything about it, and we needed to find the Lead Robot Inspector on our own.
The lead Robot Inspector graciously rushed to the field with us to deal with the situation appropriately, but at that time the compressor was already removed from the side of the field. It is a shame that this same photographic evidence here, along with all the eyewitness accounts of the event, and a technical timeout to contact FIRST, resulted in no consequences, and the situation was almost brushed under the rug as matches carried on unaffected.
We also believe the students from the alliance handled the situation the best they could, but their professionalism went unanswered by those in a position of authority.
Considering we have to be so political on this site without the risk of being censored and frowned upon, this is Team 1796’s official account of the unfortunate series of events that unfolded at the NYC regional, written by the members directly involved.
Below is the picture of the compressor, presented to field officials, that was used to refill the tank on 522’s robot. There are more pictures but I feel only one is necessary. Above all else,
the sheer size and power of this thing filling an FRC robot should have been a huge safety concern to everyone at the competition, and not brushed off as a silly rule.
It is a shame; this was the first regional for 25 of our 32 members on the team. And after speaking so highly of the respect, gracious professionalism, and honesty of the FIRST Robotics Competition, we were embarrassed to have to explain this situation as well as the lack of a resolution to all of our students.
Since FIRST’s stance on this is what’s done is done, Team 1796 will also move on; we can simply only hope similar situations will be handled more appropriately in the future. We are looking forward to SBPLI and seeing new friends, like 1279, there. With the hopes that you did not know what was happening on your alliance, huge congrats to 1635 and 125 for their win, the matches got pretty close and were very competitive. Best of luck in St. Louis.
