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Unread 25-03-2009, 19:50
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Re: Discrepancy at Chesapeake, Israel, Waterloo?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kingofl337 View Post
Log the following times per team
1. Field E-Stop Status Per Robot
2. Driver Station Connection -> Ping is fine
3. Wifi Bridge Connection -> Again Ping
4. System Watchdog
5. User Watchdog
6. Log The console data being sent from the cRio for each team.
Well I think everyone needs a reality check on this one.....

I think the Lil Lavery comments are typical of what happens in these threads, everyone starts making assumptions about something that is contributed and before you know it it turns into the "finger pointing" fest. And for the most part thats why people who are in the "know" on things won't comment because nothing positive will come of it.

I didn't say it was the teams fault, I didn't say it was the volunteers' fault. I said "I wasn't there" so I don't know what happened, most of this stuff is at the discretion of the volunteers at the event and we can only hope they did the right things based on whatever circumstance they were dealing with.

As for what FMS has for trouble shooting, well, its about 2X what the IFI systems had (I know, I paid alot of attention to it the 2008 season). We can do this based off of how versatile ethernet is compared to other communication systems. Everything listed above and more is monitored, logged, and warnings issued. If its not being used, it because the operators are missing something. Fact is, FMS won't even let you start a match unless all 6 teams are linked with bots (or bypassed). QOS is monitored to make sure that the link between operator and robot is less than a 25ms loop (there and back), averages about 23ms. Thats what the Green Blinking light is you see on the score keepers table is, indication to the MCs and Announcers that the teams are technically ready to play the match. If someone was bypassed, it was a call made by the field personnel based on whatever circumstance they were dealing with. Fact is, I've had alot of scorekeepers comment to me that they are amazed by the way FMS is helping to run events this year....

I think sometimes people forget that we are dealing with very complicated devices that are essentially all prototypes, many built by people who are just getting their feet wet with technology. These aren't consumer toasters you buy at the local Target and even those don't work all the time. So sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, if the volunteer field personnel spent time fixing every bot that was not working on the field when it comes out, the tournaments would not finish in the alotted time. So its all sorta a wrong if you do, wrong if you don't situation, i.e. a no win. Its just the reality of the situation.

And just so you know, I'm very much a proponent of all bots must run on the field during the tournament if we can make it happen, soo much so that when the PHX event got down to the last bot that hadn't run during a match yet (the team had alot of issues they were trying to overcome), we figured that the teams radio wasn't working correctly, we didn't have a replacement they could use, couldn't find any close to the venue (guess teams had already bought out Best Buy), so I drove 45 minutes Friday night (each way) to find a store that had a couple WGAs, paid for it myself came back and gave it to the team Sat morning so they could run their last couple matches, let them have it.

So I guess what I'm ptting across here is please don't make assumption about what I put out or FMS capabilities, if you have questions, I'll answer you. PM me if you want, I've tried to answer all the messages that I've got this year. I want nothing more than every FIRST team to have an awesome time. And for the most part we've acheived that this year. People forget how long it took to get acclimated to the new IFI system after the introduction in 2004 (it took years) we are doing our best to make sure we work out the kinks as soon as possible.

THX
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