Quote:
Originally Posted by Rob
Negatives:
It seems that the four divisions field crews have a "race" each year to see who can finish their qual matches the earliest, with the prize bieng invited to be the field crew on einstein. I may be way of base here but from my observations it appears that this is the case. While this may be a good way to keep the volunteers entertained, I strongly feel that this creates a situation where rules and policies can be bent and the experience of teams can suffer. Teams work really hard to get to the Championship event. This "race" against the other divisions can detract from the teams experience and lead teams to feel as if the field crew believes the teams experience comes second to accelerating the schedule to finish early.
My second gripe is not Championship specific except that I feel that there should be consistency among ref calls across the board. A team should not be left scratching their head when presented with a ruling that seemed obvious. Specifically I am referring to an instance where the plastic cover to the field gate came off and was pushed in front of our tower. It interfered with our drive system and prevented us from reaching the tower to hang in a match that we lost 8-7. I can't think of a more clear example of a field failure, which should have resulted in a replay. The head ref informed us that we should not have driven over it. I beg to differ as we had a single path to the tower and it was blocked by this piece of the field that broke off. We may not have been able to elevate for the win, but would shure have appreciated the opportunity to try.
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Regarding your first negative comment: we noticed a decided "push" by the field crew as well. Point of fact, in the eliminations we had all three of our robots on our alliance break at nearly the same time. Two kickers and one pneumatic system. In all three instances, the refs were pushing to immediately get back on the field and play.
In one case, a timeout was called and the refs started yelling at us to get on the field with more than a minute remaining.
Indeed, during the eliminations with all the ties our team went through we were on the field for 7 (SEVEN!) consecutive matches. Even after using an air compressor to blow off the engines and compressed air cans upside down (instant liquid air) our torque had dropped too low to be able to turn the robot easily - the driver had to rock the bot to get it to turn.
If the qualification matches need to go fast, that's fine. The eliminations need to slow down a bit: teams need a little cool off time! Especially when running that many consecutive matches.
Regarding the plastic panels on the field, we knocked those off this year no fewer than a dozen times. I was a little shocked that they still hadn't fastened them on, even in the championships. At one point in the eliminations we knocked yet another of the gate panels off, and the corner of our robot got wedged on the vertical edge of the foot plate. We pulled loose.....luckily. So I agree with you there.