[davidfv]

I would like to throw in my thoughts on the regional.

Volunteers
We could not have asked for a greater set of volunteers than we had at the Inland Empire Regional. Everyone that I interacted with was so nice and gracious and was able to answer questions even in the mist of all the confusion and chaos of the events. Special praise goes to the inspectors, who I saw go out of their way to make sure all the teams made it to the field. Another two people that I would like to recognize is Richard and Cory who helped in the queue line. They also went out of their way to help teams make sure they made it to their matches on time, even to the extent to find them in the pits and “gently nudge” them that it was time to get in line for their matches. This was extremely helpful when the teams are under pressure to get their robot repairs completed and keep the event on time. GREAT JOB by all the volunteers.

Referees
OK, you have read all the information on CD so I am not going to rehash that information. I officiate high school and college football and interact with NFL officials, the football officiating community has a philosophy in our penalty calling. “Does it have an effect on the play and is it at the point of attack?” So, for example, a human player in the box loses a little situational awareness and steps out of the box and the ball is nowhere near them. Let it go. A player steps out of the box in an attempt to catch the ball, call it. When asked a question about making some calls the head official (WHO DID AN AWESOME JOB), she said we focus on student safety first. One cannot argue with that philosophy. When accommodations had to be made for a student in a wheelchair and their alliance partners, it was great cooperation with the referees, field volunteers, and other teams to make sure that he could participate equally. Just Outstanding! I am going to say that I think they did the best job possible with all the duties they were assigned this year. IF they are consistent, good teams will adjust to the “strike zone” they are calling, not complain, and move on. Having the referees do the score keeping along with the officiating will have to evolve and change over regional weeks and into championships. Maybe have a scoring spotter help the official?

Teams
I am always amazed by the students and mentors of the teams. What a great group of people to be with during the event. It did not matter what type of robot the students brought to the competition, you could see the pride in the students, mentors, and parents of their robot and that they were there to have fun. When you are with the veteran teams, we will use your robot and drivers to the limits to help the whole alliance. When the pit announcer asked for a part for a team, I saw no less than two teams jump to help them out each time. When our wheel shaft broke in eliminations, we asked 294 for a few parts and they did not hesitate to see what else we needed even though we were very likely to meet up in finals. They helped us improve our pneumatic system. Talk about a class act of a team, I really enjoyed talking with Andrew and Dave about game strategy and how to play the game. Both of our qualification match losses were against them. Dave of 294 told me “Leave it all out on the field, and we can be friends again after the match”.

Alliance Partners
In almost all our qualification matches, we worked really well with our alliance partners. Everyone on the alliance was willing to put in their strategy inputs and listen to other opinions. GDC created a game that will make it hard for one team to go solo and really forced us to work together. Like football, only one ball on the field and not everyone can carry it. You have to have those linemen who open the holes and willing to do work in the trenches. My observations while watching teams develop strategy, the teams who had the attitude “We built the robot to do this, and we are darn well going to do it, heck with the rest of you” will not cut it this year. Or if during a match, they change strategy without communication, chaos started and the match went to pieces. This game is very dynamic and strategies WILL have to change, communication between teams is one element to winning the game. So advice is to be realistic about your robot strengths and weaknesses and put the team ego on the back burner to help the alliance be successful. A good strategy is fun for all to watch.

I really liked working with the coaches from 1678, Citrus Circuits, and 4161, T-Bird Tech. [Note back in 2012, 4161’s alliance beat our alliance for the San Diego Regional Championship]. When the alliance selections were done, 1678 and 399 crews went to 4161 to develop strategy. Suggestions were made to help 4161 fill the alliance role that 1678 developed. I could tell that the mentors and students were hesitant about some added features, but when talking with a mentor he said if the students are OK, then we are good to go. The students asked good questions about the strategy to make sure it was a good thing to do and gave the go ahead for the change. The key role they played in being the in-bounder and then helping to shut down the scoring for the opponent was amazing. 1678 and 399 were VERY lucky (more than most people know, as I was told after the competition) to have them available as the last pick.

A real special thanks go out to the judges who honored our team with the Chairman’s Award. You also volunteer your time and it is greatly appreciated. The award is a great honor and we hope to represent the Inland Empire at championships.

Good Luck to all the teams if you have another competition. If you are a team that this was your last competition, be proud of what you accomplished these last two months, write down the lessons learned and pass them on to the next team. Remember, we are not just building robots, we are building our future leaders. So, look forward to your future and good luck.

Thank you for a great regional.