[sbrierty]

We at team 624 have refrained from commenting publicly on the events in Orlando to give FIRST a chance to work through and potentially address what transpired in the quarterfinal matches. The posts by mentors from 1902 and 233 were very detailed and informative. We’d like to add our account of what happened and voice some concerns over the process that lead to the disqualification of the #1 seeded alliance after two convincing victories on the field.

As the post from 1902 stated, our alliance felt we would be more competitive if they removed their shooter and instead relied on their extremely high quality drive train and experienced drivers to provide defense during the eliminations. We were aware of the decision to add ballast and after 1902 confirmed with a robot inspector that this was within the rules we even helped provide materials to secure the batteries and add the blockers to their machine. Two of the lead build mentors from 624 were present when four of the 1902 team members took their robot to the inspection station. They had to go in search of an inspector, as none were nearby at the time. The inspector had them place their robot on the scale, took note of the weight, and looked over the robot. He said they were good, and one of the 1902 mentors even confirmed asking if he was sure there wasn’t anything else that needed to be done, and he responded “No, you’re good to go”. At this point we were fully confident that their robot was fully inspected and in a legal configuration (given a robot inspector was asked about the batteries before they were installed, and they were on the robot for the re-inspection). It’s difficult for us to hear that our alliance didn’t do everything reasonable to ensure we were within the rules and ready to compete in the elimination matches. If at any point an inspector (or referee, judge, opposing alliance, etc..) had raised concerns about the batteries we could have very easily taken them off and used another heavy material, or nothing at all, and it would have had no impact on the outcome of the matches that were played.

The inspection process and lack of uniformity has been thoroughly discussed in this thread so I won’t pile on, but we would also like to discuss what happened following the quarterfinal matches. The above account of our actions probably took you well less than five minutes to read, however our team (and to our knowledge our alliance) was never given the opportunity to present that information before the issue had already been argued thoroughly (between the head ref and the #8 alliance, between the head ref and lead robot inspector, and finally between the head ref and FIRST headquarters). During that long delay and conversation we were never asked to provide our side of the story, never asked what we did to get re-inspected, never included at any point before they announced the decision. We believe the information that 1902 and we have presented was not a part of the conversation at any point before they handed down the red cards and sent us packing. We understand that there is nothing requiring the head referee to include our alliance in those discussions, however I don’t understand how a huge, regional altering (and possibly season altering for 233 and 1902 if they are unable to qualify for the Championship event) decision could be made without first gathering all of the facts. By the time our team was brought into the discussion the first thing we heard was “this decision has come down from FIRST headquarters and will not be disputed”. When asked which specific rule was broken that warranted the disqualification we were told that it wasn’t important.

Based on the conversations and posts from teams 179 and 1251, had they been presented with our side of the story as well as the potential consequences (Red cards and DQ) they did not understand what their challenge would lead to. In a similar controversial elimination match at the Utah regional the teams were given the opportunity to withdraw their challenges after the issues had been discussed. I believe (and they are free to correct me) if given the opportunity and knowing it would result in our disqualification, that the #8 alliance would have withdrawn their challenge. They would have understood that we were misled by a robot inspector and were not trying to gain an unfair advantage; and removing those batteries would not have changed the outcome of the matches.

Our last concern is the way the results were presented to the spectators (both in the audience and watching on the various webcasts). The emcee was given an explanation of the ruling and he then relayed that ruling to the crowd. The way they chose to announce this to the crowd was: “During the matches between alliance #1 and alliance #8 it was deemed that a robot had changed their configuration and had not gone back to re-inspect that configuration. Their configuration in both of those matches was deemed illegal, and it was egregious. So, thus, a team on the red alliance for those matches has been issued a red card for both of those matches”.

The implication to everybody listening was that the alliance cheated and was either ignorant of the rules or intentionally tried to get around them. Fortunately as more information has been made public by the teams involved there has been an outpouring of sympathy and understanding from the FIRST community, but as yet there has been no acknowledgment of mismanagement from FIRST or Orlando regional officials. There’s no way to go back and change the result but FIRST can learn from these mistakes and take steps to ensure other teams aren’t subjected to this kind of heartbreak.

It’s a shame those elimination matches cast a shadow over our regional experience because there were so many positives from that weekend. The refs have a more difficult job this year than in any I can remember and I believe they are doing the everything in their abilities to run the matches fairly and smoothly. There are absolutely no hard feelings towards the members of teams 79, 179, and 1251 (even 1251 for that bruising and very effective defense played in those two matches – I hope we don’t have to face that again in St. Louis). I think we all regret the way things turned out and the sympathy / apologies, though unnecessary, were much appreciated. It was amazing to be able to meet and interact with so many top tier teams who we have watched and respected for years. We learned a lot from the way you build your robots and how you interact with and run your teams. The volunteers were extremely friendly, welcoming, and helpful. Our alliance partners throughout the tournament were a joy to work with and we hope to see many of you at the Championship in a few weeks. If anybody is looking to see another part of the country next season we would love to have you at one of the very competitive Texas regionals. Come play with us in Houston at Lone Star next year!