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Unread 01-08-2002, 22:41
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ahecht ahecht is offline
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I was in Manchester, and they didn't say there would be any changes to the qualification system, although there was talk of having two Nationals in the future, either two at Epcot or one on the East Coast and one on the West. Both were pie in the sky ideas, but the FIRST people seemed receptive.

These are the notes that I took:

The game will be simpler next year, with no abstract concepts that could cause confusion (such as this past year's entanglement issue). That said, there will be absolutly no rule changes after the kickoff. There is a dedicated game developement team this year, and they started planning the game way in advance so that there is plenty of time to trouble shoot.

The game will be 2 on 2 again, and it was hinted that the playing field itself will be different from last year. They said that they have tried to make the game more TV and spectator friendly, but they also promised that last year.

In a change from last year, FIRST will no longer accept credit cards for shipping -- teams must provide a FedEx or UPS account number.

The 2003 kickoff will be held January 4th, and this year there will be 12-14 remote kickoffs. The remotes may also have workshops at them. The list of sites hasn't been made yet, but places that had a remote kickoff last this year will probably have one again. My suggestion that the Kickoff be held later in the day so West Coast teams don't need to get up at 5:00am was well received.

There will be a total of 22 regionals next year, and a complete schedule will be posted on the FIRST website within the next 10 days or so.

The kit of parts will be very different this year, in that some of it will be shipped out to teams as soon as payment is received (as early as October). The preseason kit of parts will contain software packages, instructional materials, and, most exitingly, EduRobot. EduRobot is the prototyping kit that was used at the Rookie Workshop this year, and is being provided to all teams on an exparimental basis thanks to an anonymous donor. The EduRobot (EduRobotics.com) kit includes a miniature version of the robot controller with built in wireless modem, operator interface, motors with built in speed controllers, erector set parts, connectors, wheels, etc. The robot controller on the EduRobot is the Issac16, which can do everything the FIRST controller can, except it has less motor outputs and sensor inputs.

Other changes to the kit of parts includes better battery chargers, which means 4 amps or higher. The Chiaphua motors will also be obtained directly from Chiaphua, not Atwood, and may contain a more standard output shaft.

The manual will be in three parts, with the administrative part being given out in mid-December.

The Yahoo message board will be gone, and replaced with another outsourced board. They felt that a vBulletin system like this one would be too time consuming to maintain, but they said that the new boards would probably be ad free.

There was some discussion that some pneumatics parts may not be available, but the idea that veteran teams might not get a compressor was met with strong opposition.

The idea was also thrown out there that all teams would be responsible for providing a volunteer to do robot inspection, since the students often know more about the rules than the volunteers do. There would still be official oversight, and an appeals process.

Since Small Parts can no longer handle the load of ~650 FIRST teams, FIRST is working out a deal with "a large supplier with distribution centers all over the US and Canada" to provide a special catalogue of discounted approved parts. They wouldn't name the company, but my first guess would be McMaster Carr.

The IFI controller will be essentially the same. There was no word on whether we will see new controllers that are T1k compliant or whether obsolete team numbers will be reassigned.

FedEx will probably donate shipping, but FIRST will be much more strict about not replacing lost airbills. They will no longer accept handwritten ones. Also, teams are strongly discouraged from shipping robots cross-town -- these complementary airbills are only for teams that cannot drive to the drayage site.

Due to the skull cracking incident, FIRST has been notified by their insurance company that they are no longer allowed to have music, dancing, or fun (just kidding ) at the team parties. This was not FIRST's decision, it was the insurance companies. The parties will be shorter, and "any entertainment or activities will be targeted to decompressing the students." Everything from skill competitions to jugglers and talent shows were proposed, but the Team Party (which is now officially called the Team Social) will not resemble those of the rescent past.

There may be four new awards at regionals this year. The first, which is almost a sure thing, is the Regional Animation award. It is not yet decided if winning this will be required to will the national animation award. There will also probably be a Web Site Award. Two other awards were brought up, but all that they have are the names, not definitions. Apparently, a "higher power" suggested the names, but nothing more. These two awards are the Resourcefullness Award and the Communication Award. Many ideas were thrown out as to what these may mean, but nothing was concrete at all.

The judging of awards may also be different this year. It was proposed that all non-technical awards be peer-judged, either using a ballot the way the Play-of-the-Day award does, or using a panel of representatives from each team.

The discussion then went into griping about nationals, but all suggestions were met with "we'll talk to Disney, but don't forget the 7 figure village they build for us."
__________________
Zan Hecht

Scorekeeper: '05 Championship DaVinci Field/'10 WPI Regional
Co-Founder: WPI-EBOT Educational Robotics Program
Alumnus: WPI/Mass Academy Team #190
Alumnus (and founder): Oakwood Robotics Team #992


"Life is an odd numbered problem the answer isn't in the back of the book." — Anonymous WPI Student

Last edited by ahecht : 02-08-2002 at 11:52.
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