Team Update #15

[EricH]

http://usfirst.org/uploadedFiles/Rob...015%281%29.pdf

Major, major rules changes...

Spoiler for changes:

OK, the only changes are in the Administrative Manual. B&T load-in procedures & timing.

[GaryVoshol]

It's so major, it's been out there for hours and no one has yet commented. Must take a lot of thought to comprehend it all!

[Rick]

For convenience and to help ensure safety in the pit, five (5) people from each team will be allowed to bring their robots and equipment in to the event before the pit officially opens. Load in time may be available both the day before the event starts and early the day of the event.

Does this mean we can bring in tools, spare parts, etc Wednesday night?

Originally Posted by Ricksta

Does this mean we can bring in tools, spare parts, etc Wednesday night?

It doesn't say you can't BRING them, but you cannot start "setting up your pit" until the actual day. I think that bringing stuff like that and leaving it there is considered "setting up" your pit.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by SuperNerd256

It doesn't say you can't BRING them, but you cannot start "setting up your pit" until the actual day. I think that bringing stuff like that and leaving it there is considered "setting up" your pit.

Bring 'em and leave 'em. How is that "setting up" the pit? Maybe if batteries were put on chargers, you'd have a case there.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by EricH

Bring 'em and leave 'em. How is that "setting up" the pit? Maybe if batteries were put on chargers, you'd have a case there.

At every early load-in I've paid attention to, plugging in chargers and charging batteries is explicitly permitted.

[Rick]

I just received confirmation from the staff at the BAE regional that we WILL be allowed to drop off pit equipment tonight with the bot.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by EricH

Bring 'em and leave 'em. How is that "setting up" the pit? Maybe if batteries were put on chargers, you'd have a case there.

Considering many areans shut off power to the ptis during the night, leaving your batteries attached to their chargers overnight would be counter-productive anyway.

[R3P0]

The major change that I see is that you cannot set up your pit. All you can do is drop off your bagntag robot, spares, minibot etc, drop tools, put batteries on chargers and leave

In the past at least you could position your pit banners,dry erase boards, set up the pits displays and be READY for the competition. This is going to be a mess now. Being able to get into the pits and make sure they are ready on Thursday night was a key to having a successful competition. Now you will everyone scrambling to set up on Friday morning. I can only speculate that teams were working on their robot on Thurday night and they had to specify this. ( isn't this one of the reasons the whole day on thursday was dropped down to just a load in and set up pits?).

I challenge the GDC to sit at one of the competitions and look at the Chaos this will cause on Friday morning.Everyone will be scrambling to set up their pits. This will push less to get weighed, inspected, which will lead right to opening ceremonies where pits are close. Better why not have MORE volunteers checking to make sure that people are not working on the robot, instead of this?

I can only say this--> http://roflrazzi.files.wordpress.com...disappoint.jpg

[dodar]

Originally Posted by R3P0

The major change that I see is that you cannot set up your pit. All you can do is drop off your bagntag robot, spares, minibot etc, drop tools, put batteries on chargers and leave

In the past at least you could position your pit banners,dry erase boards, set up the pits displays and be READY for the competition. This is going to be a mess now. Being able to get into the pits and make sure they are ready on Thursday night was a key to having a successful competition. Now you will everyone scrambling to set up on Friday morning. I can only speculate that teams were working on their robot on Thurday night and they had to specify this. ( isn't this one of the reasons the whole day on thursday was dropped down to just a load in and set up pits?).

I challenge the GDC to sit at one of the competitions and look at the Chaos this will cause on Friday morning.Everyone will be scrambling to set up their pits. This will push less to get weighed, inspected, which will lead right to opening ceremonies where pits are close. Better why not have MORE volunteers checking to make sure that people are not working on the robot, instead of this?

I can only say this--> http://roflrazzi.files.wordpress.com...disappoint.jpg

Where are you seeing that they are getting rid of Thursday for Bag-and-Tag events?

[R3P0]

Originally Posted by dodar

Where are you seeing that they are getting rid of Thursday for Bag-and-Tag events?

In the past before bagntag events Thursday where you could practice etc. It was a whole day. But this was hard to have kids out of school for two days, plus all day on Saturday. Then Thursdays were changed to about a 3-4hour windows where you could set up your pit displays get tools etc positioned, and come in Friday ready to be inspected.

Sorry if my wording sounded like they getting rid of bagntag. My point was, The whole purpose of shortened Thurdays was to just get set up and leave. Now it's drop your stuff and leave in my interpretation.

[Karibou]

Originally Posted by dodar

Where are you seeing that they are getting rid of Thursday for Bag-and-Tag events?

I'm looking at the event list, and that may only be true for MI district events*, which are two days long instead of three. We don't have a Thursday practice day, but we are allowed into the venues on Thursday night to set up our pits and get our robots inspected. MI still runs slightly differently than other bag and tag events.

*If someone could back me up/confirm this, I'd appreciate it.

---

I don't think that bringing in tool boxes and leaving them there can really be constituted as setting up the pit. For some teams, yes, tool boxes on the provided table IS their pit set-up, but other teams have additional decorations and storage spaces, which is what the rule is really aimed at.


(I personally don't like that rule for multiple reasons)

[R3P0]

Originally Posted by Karibou

---
I don't think that bringing in tool boxes and leaving them there can really be constituted as setting up the pit. For some teams, yes, tool boxes on the provided table IS their pit set-up, but other teams have additional decorations and storage spaces, which is what the rule is really aimed at.

(I personally don't like that rule for multiple reasons)

Really I think the issue was that some teams were using the time to work on their robot.

Sure be nice to know what the reason was behind this update.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by R3P0

In the past before bagntag events Thursday where you could practice etc. It was a whole day. But this was hard to have kids out of school for two days, plus all day on Saturday. Then Thursdays were changed to about a 3-4hour windows where you could set up your pit displays get tools etc positioned, and come in Friday ready to be inspected.

Sorry if my wording sounded like they getting rid of bagntag. My point was, The whole purpose of shortened Thurdays was to just get set up and leave. Now it's drop your stuff and leave in my interpretation.

I looked at the agendas for these Week 1 Regionals: BAE Systems/Granite State, New Jersey, Finger Lakes, and Alamo. All are Bag & Tag events. Early load-in is on Wednesday evening for every one of them. Thursday is not abbreviated.

You might be thinking of the District competitions in Michigan. Those aren't changed from last year.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by R3P0

Sure be nice to know what the reason was behind this update.

The reason is stated in the update:

Two additional people are allowed in early to bag and tag events as compared to non-bag and tag events because they must bring in all equipment and robots themselves and because the lack of crates will mean a less cluttered environment.

What changed wasn't the early load-in itself, just the number of people permitted to help.