Improve on Rutgers?!!!

[Wayne C.]

Now that THE NJ Regional is over for the season I wanted to ask the question:

Considering the venue, operations, pits- everything- if you were going to design a NJ Regional to replace Rutgers what features would you like to see improved? dropped? added?

(size of venue is an obvious answer- but what about other features?)

Also- what role do you see the teams playing in the working of a Regional?

Just asking.


WC

[Todd Derbyshire]

Besides the obvious of a venue change I personally would like a bigger pit area it was way too crowded the past two years.

[jasoni]

1) Larger venue - It's a very densely populated FIRST region. We should have a 50+ team event.

2) Larger pits - This year's pits were larger than last year, and they still seemed claustrophobic. Along these lines, I think having the power lines dropped from the ceiling rather than run across the floor should be a major requirement. I think Wayne might agree since we knocked out our entire row's power on more than one occasion.

3) Better viewing in the pit. One 27" TV located along the route to the playing field was inadequate. It would have been really nice to have a large projector/screen in the pit so we could easily see what was happening on the field.

4) More parking. I arrived early all three days, but I know in the past parking was a major issue.

Not much else. Rutgers would be a great venue for 25 teams. Nice tight arena, raised seating, convenient food, and central location.

[Ian W.]

hmm, maybe for all regionals a large viewing screen in the pits would be in order. not a bad idea. of course, it would probably be without sound, or at least not a lot, but at least you can see what's going on.

[Ricky Q.]

Originally posted by Ian W.
hmm, maybe for all regionals a large viewing screen in the pits would be in order. not a bad idea. of course, it would probably be without sound, or at least not a lot, but at least you can see what's going on.

At MMR, they had 2 big screens in the pit, one with the current rankings and the queue order, and the other showing the same as the big screen behind the field, and yes there was sound!

[Wayne C.]

We used to have big screen TVs in the pits at Rutgers. I don't know what happened to them. In may opinion a lot of the activity in the pit was rather subdued. The "Small Parts" area was especially underdeveloped.

As for knocking out power- well you should know better than to try to weld by putting aluminum angle across the prongs of plugs. Yeah it melts but it doesn't work well!!!


WC

[jasoni]

As for knocking out power- well you should know better than to try to weld by putting aluminum angle across the prongs of plugs. Yeah it melts but it doesn't work well!!!

It was worth a shot at least! We were trying to arc weld the old fashioned way.

[ChrisH]

quote:As for knocking out power- well you should know better than to try to weld by putting aluminum angle across the prongs of plugs. Yeah it melts but it doesn't work well!!!

It was worth a shot at least! We were trying to arc weld the old fashioned way.

I probably don't want to know what you were using for inert gas, an essential ingredient for welding aluminum. Can you say Thermite anyone?

[jasoni]

The whole conversation was sarcastic actually.

Somehow a piece of aluminum fell across the terminals, sparked, melted metal, and blew out the power for the entire row in the pit.

There are trace amounts of argon and other inert gases in air, so those might count.

[ChrisH]

The whole conversation was sarcastic actually

Actually I figured it was. But I didn't want anyone thinking it could be done that way. The trace quantities of inert gasses in the normal atmosphere are no where near enough to shield molten aluminium. Molten aluminum reacts violently on contact with oxygen. So when welding aluminum, the bead area is flooded with argon or some other inert gas to prevent that.

Think of this as your typical "don't try this at home" warning.

[HotWheels2002]

Rutgers would have been a lot better if they could have made:

1. Wider lanes through the pits
and
2. More than 1 small hallway to move from the competition floor to the pit area. (especially when you're the one who has to push the robot back to the pits)

I also agree that more coverage of the matches in the pits would have been nice. I liked the ergonomics of the VCU arena and pits much better.