Getting Picked

[archiver]

Posted by Bill Beatty at 03/29/2001 1:12 AM EST


Other on team #71, Team Hammond, from Team Hammond.



In our two regionals this year we had the good fortune of being a picker. We don't know what the other teams do, but this is what we do in selecting our alliance partners.

We do not usually look at the seeding chart except to see who is the auto seed and who is not available. Also, we don't pay much attention to sales pitches or advertisements. We do watch the practice sessions and the other elimination rounds very closely. We do look for speed, execution, reliability, proficiency, smoothness, stability, etc. With 7 or 8 elimination rounds you should be able to show your strong abilities. If you can do a task well and stay out of causing problems for your alliance, you will be noticed. If you are seeding low, don't give up. In Chicago the very last seed was picked by the number one seed! Hope this helps.

Mr Bill

[archiver]

Posted by Rob Zeuge at 03/29/2001 9:31 AM EST


Coach on team #121, Rhode Warrior, from University of Rhode Island and Naval Undersea Warfare Center.


In Reply to: Getting Picked
Posted by Bill Beatty on 03/29/2001 1:12 AM EST:



I agree that the sales pitches are mostly annoying, and our team also pays very little attention to them. The best sales pitch is showing that you can perform a function to help your alliance.

The biggest difficulty is trying to get accurate information on 85 teams. I predict that The top 2 teams will end up picking teams that they have played with at the nationals or at a regional. Because of the nature of these finals, it would not surprise me at all to see teams try to rebuild alliances that they had at regionals.

Is this fair...maybe not, but neither is life.

The moral of the story is...Be honest about your robot and driver abilities. If your best ability is to drive under the rail and reset the bridge by driving back over it, just let everyone in your match know.

If someone asks you to do something that you are not confident in, let them know. Several teams in NY asked us to drive under the bridge and aid in leveling it. Can we do that function, yes. Are we good at it, no.
Our honesty in situations like this helped us seed well despite a handful of awful matches.

Also remember that there are other awards than just the national champion, and some of them may mean more to a team. The most important thing is already accomplished, the experience that students gain from putting effort into this project will help them long after they have forgotten who this year's national champs are.

Anyway, Best of luck to everyone

Robert Zeuge
rzeu0470@postoffice.uri.edu

[archiver]

Posted by ChrisH at 03/29/2001 11:55 AM EST


Engineer on team #330, Beach 'Bots, from Hope Chapel Academy and NASA JPL, J & F Machine, Raytheon, et al.


In Reply to: Re: Getting Picked
Posted by Rob Zeuge on 03/29/2001 9:31 AM EST:



: The biggest difficulty is trying to get accurate information on 85 teams. I predict that The top 2 teams will end up picking teams that they have played with at the nationals or at a regional. Because of the nature of these finals, it would not surprise me at all to see teams try to rebuild alliances that they had at regionals.

Actually I rather suspect that FIRST will be assigning the teams from each winning alliance to different divisions. Admittedly there are the "spare" robots to deal with and teams that won more than one regional with different partners. But if your were even a finalist I expect you'll have to sort through the crowd pretty carefully to find familiar robots.

Somewhere I saw the phrase "semi-random" attached to division assignments. I would assume that means they plan to assign the top robots to specific spots and the rest randomly.

Chris Husmann
Team 330 the Beach'Bots

[archiver]

Posted by Joel G at 03/29/2001 12:11 PM EST


Student on team #442, Knight Riders, from Lee High School and NASA/ BOEING/ MEVATEC.


In Reply to: Re: Getting Picked
Posted by ChrisH on 03/29/2001 11:55 AM EST:



: : The biggest difficulty is trying to get accurate information on 85 teams. I predict that The top 2 teams will end up picking teams that they have played with at the nationals or at a regional. Because of the nature of these finals, it would not surprise me at all to see teams try to rebuild alliances that they had at regionals.

: Actually I rather suspect that FIRST will be assigning the teams from each winning alliance to different divisions. Admittedly there are the "spare" robots to deal with and teams that won more than one regional with different partners. But if your were even a finalist I expect you'll have to sort through the crowd pretty carefully to find familiar robots.

: Somewhere I saw the phrase "semi-random" attached to division assignments. I would assume that means they plan to assign the top robots to specific spots and the rest randomly.
DO you th

: Chris Husmann
: Team 330 the Beach'Bots

I have heard a lot of people on this forum talk about placing the top placing robots at the regionals into specific divisions to even out the playing field. How far down d u think the'll go . For ex. will they break up the top 4 seeded at each regional or d u think the'll break up just the bot's that place 1st or 2nd overall at each regional.

[archiver]

Posted by Bill Beatty at 03/29/2001 10:38 AM EST


Other on team #71, Team Hammond, from Team Hammond.


In Reply to: Getting Picked
Posted by Bill Beatty on 03/29/2001 1:12 AM EST:



: In our two regionals this year we had the good fortune of being a picker. We don't know what the other teams do, but this is what we do in selecting our alliance partners.

: We do not usually look at the seeding chart except to see who is the auto seed and who is not available. Also, we don't pay much attention to sales pitches or advertisements. We do watch the practice sessions and the other qualifying rounds very closely. We do look for speed, execution, reliability, proficiency, smoothness, stability, etc. With 7 or 8 qualifying rounds you should be able to show your strong abilities. If you can do a task well and stay out of causing problems for your alliance, you will be noticed. If you are seeding low, don't give up. In Chicago the very last seed was picked by the number one seed! Hope this helps.

: Mr Bill

[archiver]

Posted by Kevin at 03/29/2001 1:23 PM EST


Coach on team #308, Walled Lake Monsters, from Walled Lake Schools and TRW Automotive Electronics.


In Reply to: Getting Picked
Posted by Bill Beatty on 03/29/2001 1:12 AM EST:



: In our two regionals this year we had the good fortune of being a picker. We don't know what the other teams do, but this is what we do in selecting our alliance partners.

: We do not usually look at the seeding chart except to see who is the auto seed and who is not available. Also, we don't pay much attention to sales pitches or advertisements. We do watch the practice sessions and the other elimination rounds very closely. We do look for speed, execution, reliability, proficiency, smoothness, stability, etc. With 7 or 8 elimination rounds you should be able to show your strong abilities. If you can do a task well and stay out of causing problems for your alliance, you will be noticed. If you are seeding low, don't give up. In Chicago the very last seed was picked by the number one seed! Hope this helps.

: Mr Bill


While I agree that sales pitches can be somewhat annoying and that the best place to explain what you do well is on the field, I can think of cases off hand where a team did exceptionally well in the past, and was just below the auto-seed elimination teams. Yet, this team was not picked due to familiarity of other teams, and a general unfamiliarity with this team in particular. For this reason, not only do I endure the sales pitches, but I expect them, and I expect my team to make them, despite how well we think we might be known.

Also, I would hope teams will agree to do what would maximize their potential in each and every match, and that might mean that someone's ability could go un-demonstrated. This is why sales pitches and advertisements might actually be more informative than matches in some cases.

Just my thoughts / experiences.