Bill's Blog -- Possible changes to regional agendas and shipping.

[johnr]

http://frcdirector.blogspot.com/ Sounds abit ominous. Thoughts?

[Chris is me]

Sounds like regional events might get most of the "good" of district events without the districts. At the right event, 60 teams could do 9 quals last year and finish early (granted it was week 6). Bet they're looking to extend that around the country.

More matches means a more accurate Top 8 and more fun for everyone. I would be more than happy to have 9+ matches at every regional next year, but hopefully not at the expense of Practice Day. Running until 6 or 7 on Friday would make sense though.

Perhaps the nature of the game means faster reset? Overdrive seemed like a quick reset game. You get bonus points for helping with field reset within a match!

[rsisk]

Hmmm, maybe a new award sponsored by General Mills? Something to do with getting your team on a box of Wheaties?

[nuggetsyl]

I think teams should keep there robots all the time, shipping is getting to expansive. I am not a fan of the bag idea at all. You will have another unenforceable rule and we have too many of those in first right now.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by nuggetsyl

I think teams should keep there robots all the time, shipping is getting to expansive. I am not a fan of the bag idea at all. You will have another unenforceable rule and we have too many of those in first right now.

What's wrong with relying on Gracious Professionalism? The teams that would find it okay to cheat the bag system aren't the teams that consistently do well anyway.

[johnr]

I like to think that the mentors would enforce the bag rules if for no other reason but to get some time off.

[rsisk]

For those of us unfamiliar with it, how did the bag system work?

[EricH]

On ship day, you put your robot in a bag and someone outside the team (e.g., school principal) signs off on some paperwork. You have to use the serial-numbered zip ties provided. Any time you take the robot out of the bag (for a fixit time or a competition), you have to use a new zip tie. I believe the zip ties were checked at the events before unbagging.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

What's wrong with relying on Gracious Professionalism? The teams that would find it okay to cheat the bag system aren't the teams that consistently do well anyway.

Realize that in some situations the teams may be told by people who are unfamiliar with the concepts of GP that they have to do well, I know we don't like talking about it but companies sponsor us for a reason, very rarely is it just because they feel like it. Most often they sponsor us so that when we do something their name is out there attached to it. I hate to say that some companies would encourage teams to break the rules but you never know.

I would, however, hope we are all a little more firm in our beliefs than to be swayed like that.

Originally Posted by johnr

I like to think that the mentors would enforce the bag rules if for no other reason but to get some time off.

Amen!

[Justin Montois]

Sounds like we will see some positive changes this year. I hope we get them sooner rather then later of course.

9-10 Matches would be awesome. I hope this extends to Championship as well.

The bagging idea is something that should have been instituted years ago for certain areas. I think teams within X miles from their regional should be allowed to just bag it and bring it with them. We are only 20mins from our regional site. Having FedEx ship it there is really unnecessary.

I'm excited for the changes though, I hope we hear about the final details soon.

[Wayne TenBrink]

In my estimation, if you want to see the future of FRC, just look at the 2009 Michigan pilot.

If you are not familiar with it, it featured "district" events leading up to a State Championship. The events were locally managed, smaller in scale, limited to 40 teams, and ran Friday/Saturday only. Teams hauled their own robots, and had an "access window" in lieu of the practice day. Instead of $6000 for the KOP and 1 regional, we paid $5000 for the KOP and 2 districts.

We liked it very well. We had 12 matches at each competition (which is enough of a reason all by itself). Mentors (& students) only needed to miss one day of work (or school) per event. There was an "objective" rating system for ranking teams within the pilot area & to qualify for the championships. The robo-bagging has its quirks & opportunities for cheating, but generally worked out very well.

A few weeks ago, FIRST notified teams that they had "voted to make the District Event Model an approved alternative competition format for future FRC seasons" starting in 2011. The latest from Bill's blog is consistent with this direction. Reducing the overall cost of participation is necessary for continued FRC growth (or even maintenance in this economic environment).

I hope this happens. We had some concerns early on, but were very happy with the changes.

[waialua359]

Decreased cost for FIRST and teams within driving proximity. INCREASED cost for teams in remote areas/States/Countries.
I just hope its not too much more.

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

What's wrong with relying on Gracious Professionalism? The teams that would find it okay to cheat the bag system aren't the teams that consistently do well anyway.

Let's not get into that. And I agree with nuggetsyl.

As for bagging and getting robots to events: Learn to work together more. 1676, we'd love to take a bus ride to Palmetto again sometime soon.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

1676, we'd love to take a bus ride to Palmetto again sometime soon.

That would be TOO cool to endure, I'd have to ride on the roof!

[ttldomination]

The bagging option is indeed interesting, but I have to call integrity into question on this one. I'm not entirely 100% on how this is implemented, for example how do they ensure that we actually placed the zip ties there at the moment we signed "off"?

But I would like to try to implement that FIRST-wide, but the issue then becomes the teams who have to endure the shipping costs anyways...it's not quite helping them any..