[Collin Fultz]

I thought that everything worked VERY well in Atlanta this year. I admit, I was a little skeptical about how the Wednesday-Thursday would work. It didn’t work out as I expected; it worked out so much better. This is due to the teams and the volunteers. I think that five people per team is enough to do some good work. To me, any more and there would be people standing around or it would get too crowded. Here is what Cyber Blue had to do Wednesday night and accomplished with five people:

•Install (4) Swerve Drive Modules
•Install chain for Swerves
•Align Swerves
•Remove old roller
•Install new roller
•Install new pneumatic lines
•Install new compressor
•Install spike for lights
•Install Lights
•Install line tracking photo sensor
•Install Velcro strap for battery
•Encrypt radio
•Install radio
•Wire Swerve Module
•Wire all new sensors
•Wire new compressor
•Wire new spike
•Install camera

With a well thought out plan and each person knowing their roles, we got all of that done and had time to weigh and size our robot. I see adding more people as creating too much of a crowd in the pits. It was nice that very few teams were setting up their pits, or crowding the aisles. If anything, more time would be a better change than more people. A HUGE thanks goes to all of the Inspectors, Pit Admin Volunteers, and teams who made Wednesday night such a success.

Some other thoughts from the weekend:

I thought all of the announcers and MC’s were terrific. Whether it was Mark, Tyler, Emerson, JonDarr, Andy, or Sir Charles, each brought their own style to Archimedes. I’ve been on that side of things before. It’s TOUGH. Game Announcing is one of the hardest volunteer positions in FIRST. Those who GA at Championships are the best from each region of the country. You guys kept the energy up and were fantastic. There will always be dissenters. Keep up the good work!

Food is expensive in every stadium in every city. That’s all that needs to be said about it.

Teams saving seats was a little frustrating. Not enough to make me want to do anything about it, but if FIRST wants it to be a “rule” it needs to be enforced. Most teams I saw were pretty gracious about it if random people wanted to sit near them for a while. I have no problem with teams saving seats by putting people in every other seat or something like that, but teams saving seasts with towels, banners, tape, etc is a little silly. If you want to get the best seats, have your team get there early.

On teams standing up, again I think most teams do this the right way, and if you have a problem with it, go talk to their team personally. It’s amazing how people think that an appropriate response to someone standing in front of them is to yell at them. A team stood up in front of us for their first match on Friday. I calmly went up, after their match, and told an adult in a team shirt that people behind them (not just the row behind, but most of the section) couldn’t see when they stood and asked if they wouldn’t mind sitting during the match. The mentor agreed and apologized and spoke to his students. It was never a problem again. It wasn’t a surprise when this same team received a pretty major award Saturday afternoon.

Overall, I thought the entire weekend was fantastic. Opening and closing ceremonies weren’t terribly long. The crowds were great, the volunteers were amazing, and the matches were exciting.

Thank you to those who have made Atlanta such a great host city since 2004. Now, on to St. Louis!