New Blog Pit Assignments at the FIRST Championship

[IndySam]

Pit Assignments at the FIRST Championship

Pit Assignments at the FIRST Championship New this year!

We are assigning each FIRST Robotics Competition team pit with an alpha-numeric address. To find out your Pit Address, simply click on the Teams link in the Championship App, choose FRC Teams, then find your Team Number. Under your Team Number, you will see the Pit Address for your Team.

For example, S19, means Aisle S, Pit Number 19. The pits closest to the Dome entrance start with A, and the pits closest to the practice fields are letter V. When you load-in on Wednesday, be sure you know your Pit Address, so you can quickly find your location.

Don’t worry, Teams are still laid out by Subdivision and roughly in numerical order.


Bag and Tag Inspection at Championship Good news!

In an effort to save time through the Inspection Process, we will not be checking your Bag & Tag forms! Once you arrive in your pit, feel free to get your robot out of its crate and bag and get into the Inspection Process as soon as possible!

Innovation Faire and Scholarship Row

Visit the FIRST Innovation Faire located at the The Marriott Grand Hotel. Join us for a Maker Faire-inspired area featuring FIRST Sponsors, Alliances, Suppliers, Scholarship Providers, and other Special Guests. All FIRSTChampionship attendees are encouraged to participate in the FIRST Innovation Faire, where attendees can receive exciting giveaways, witness new technology demonstrations, and participate in fun, hands-on activities for all ages. Scholarship Row at the 2016 FIRST Championship Innovation Faire is a place for Participants, Parents, and Mentors to talk with representatives from some of the colleges, universities, and organizations that make available FIRST Scholarships.

This is an ideal opportunity for sophomores and juniors who are planning for college to talk first-hand to college representatives. Seniors can find out about scholarships that are still available for the coming fall, and for freshman, it's never too early to start thinking about college! Wednesday, April 27: 11am – 5pm (Scholarship Row closed on Wednesday) Thursday, April 28: 10am – 5:30pm Friday, April 29: 10am – 4:30pm Saturday, April 30: 8am – 12pm (Saturday Scholarship Providers indicated with *)

FedEx Innovation Challenge

FedEx Innovation Challenge is a social media-based competition consisting of math and science problems, scavenger hunt activities, trivia and more. All teams competing at the 2016 Championship in the FIRST Robotics Competition and the FIRST Tech Challenge can participate for a chance to win! Get more details here.

Registering Spectators Great job to those teams who have pre-registered for the FIRST Championship through the Experient website! Please note that pre-registration is NOT open to spectators. All spectators will be expected to register on-site! - See more at: http://www.firstinspires.org/robotic....L5wMU5sr.dpuf

[notmattlythgoe]

This pit map stuff is dumb.

#thingslythgoewouldsay

[Ty Tremblay]

Originally Posted by notmattlythgoe

This pit map stuff is dumb.

#thingslythgoewouldsay

What map? All I see is a bunch of numbers and letters.

[orangemoore]

Originally Posted by Ty Tremblay

What map? All I see is a bunch of numbers and letters.

What numbers and letters?
All I see is pixels zoomed in and indistinguishable words zoomed out.

[notmattlythgoe]

Originally Posted by Ty Tremblay

What map? All I see is a bunch of numbers and letters.

[Chris is me]

When you hover over a pit block to find out what team is on it, it doesn't even tell you the team's number, so you don't even know if you're close to the right part of your division to find your team. There's no way at a glance to figure out roughly where your team or any particular team number is. I don't think whomever designed this app has ever had to navigate an FRC pit before.

[AdamHeard]

Is there any way to view this info without the app?

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Is there any way to view this info without the app?

Yeah this is an issue. Yes smartphones are common, but it seems like a HUGE oversight to have it ONLY available via App. I mean seriously?

I haven't downloaded it yet. I hope the app is a one-time download with all information or syncs to a local copy, because not everyone has good cell signal in and around the Americas Center and Dome.

[SteveB2977]

If spectators are required to register, that HAS to be available ahead of time.

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Is there any way to view this info without the app?

Originally Posted by Nuttyman54

Yeah this is an issue. Yes smartphones are common, but it seems like a HUGE oversight to have it ONLY available via App. I mean seriously?

I haven't downloaded it yet. I hope the app is a one-time download with all information or syncs to a local copy, because not everyone has good cell signal in and around the Americas Center and Dome.

https://guidebook.com/guide/53130/

As far as I can tell the app does get updates pushed to it but a consistent connection is not needed to navigate the app.

It may be prudent for the link above to be on the FIRST Championship website if it's not there already, but I'm not a cop and can't tell them what to do.

[IndySam]

This isn't about safety. This is data collection, plain and simple.

[Ryan Dognaux]

Originally Posted by IndySam

This isn't about safety. This is data collection, plain and simple.

Agree 100%. This has nothing to do with safety and it's a huge inconvenience for all attendees.

Does my 9 month old child need a badge too? He's a pretty huge security threat.

Why would any FIRST outsider stand in line for an hour to get a badge? And I'm not exaggerating, people stood in line last year for over an hour.

Not happy that badges are back again this year. Not one bit.

[Dan Petrovic]

Originally Posted by IndySam

This isn't about safety. This is data collection, plain and simple.

You may be right, but if something were to happen, knowing who is in attendance can be valuable.

Originally Posted by Libby K

In my head, spectator registration is okay (sorta), but making everyone register day-of is awful. Why not leave it open ahead of time and speed the process along for badge pickup?

I didn't think about that. Pre-registration should definitely be available to spectators.

[rich2202]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Is there any way to view this info without the app?

https://guidebook.com/guide/53130/

If you click on Teams, you can search for your Team's name (I have no idea why they don't put your team's number there too). When you click on the Team's name, the page shows the pit number.

Under Maps, the FLL/FRC Overview Map shows the general area and aisles. You can make a pretty close to where the pit is. I have no idea why they didn't post a higher res graphic.

[Libby K]

At the bottom of the blog post:

Registering Spectators Great job to those teams who have pre-registered for the FIRST Championship through the Experient website! Please note that pre-registration is NOT open to spectators. All spectators will be expected to register on-site!

That seems like a great way to bring people in from "outside the tent"...

"Hey, come in there's this awesome thing happening! Just kidding, wait in an hour-long line to get a badge first..."

I'm not sure if that's more concerning than the phrase 'roughly in numeric order'. Roughly?! What does that even mean?