Field Crew Bragging Rights

[sithmonkey13]

About the St. Louis Regional:
Last year, if a robot did not connect, you were bypassed and the game started (happened to us)
This year, the field crew would help you out, trying every solution you could think of, even getting a new DS for a team on the first qualifying match on Friday (I know because as a driver on the same alliance, I was right next to the crew).
The crew would even spend time waiting for robots that were in the middle of repairs or had two close (time wise) matches.
Sometimes, these delays were slightly stressful (like when using a battery with questionable charge) or were beneficial (a delay allowed a battery to get to full charge, just in time for the next match)
Despite these delays, we still would average around 10 minutes ahead of schedule (sometimes we were told they were delaying to get closer back to schedule, like before the first final match)

My thoughts: Although occasionally annoying, delays and longer field reset is not necessarily bad, just means that a regional with less people can be less rushed and give a competitive atmosphere to the teams, with breaks for the fans and even drive teams (because you usually need to go to the bathroom at points other than during lunch). Would I want to have had a faster time at St. Louis, no, keep up the good work and I hope next year we can also wait for robots to connect.

[rsisk]

Even after telling all the teams in LA what software versions were required there were teams that still had the wrong version on Saturday. I think next year I take screen shots of how to check the version and how to wire the radio and show it to each team as they get their radio configured. I think telling them is just too much information for some of the team members to absorb while their radios are configured.

[Mark McLeod]

I went to every team in the LI pits and inspected their software versions personally, then stood there while they updated to the latest.
Always get a few "we have the latest version," but it's only the latest version they know of.

Still on Saturday, Ken had a team appear at the field with a new laptop using older Driver Station software.

You just can't win...

[Blackphantom91]

Kansas City was pretty good Saturday and Friday. Thursday it was looking pretty bleak but we got it together pretty fast the next two days, which I thank everyone who contributed. I guess these could be used for next year to try to beat the times of the regionals and make things more efficient and make the events even better. But look on the bright side gives more chances to have the refs dance!

[yarden.saa]

I am confused, last year the Israeli regional was very slow because of communication problems you all know, but this year there were not any problems and the matches were running smoothly, so how it can be possible we are the last in a big difference?
How the other regionals are quicker?

[Zuelu562]

BAE/GSR (Week One regional and the quickest field reset of week one) had a very very good set of FTA's (As Coach I worked with them a few more times than I would have preferred to, but they were very professional and good to work with). Field Reset was lightning quick thanks to a very ingenious field re-setter who developed his own tube removal tool and a very experienced set of Refs and Scorekeepers.

[Mark McLeod]

Long times aren't necessarily bad.
Times could be compared against the original pre-play schedule, but that gets overwritten in the FIRST database.

The shorter times are really events that push the limits to get teams the most number of matches possible, but it's a guessing game when the FTA first sets up the play schedule. It can't be changed after they commit themselves, so it reflects how some Regional Directors/FTAs are more conservative than others.

The FTA probably scheduled 9 minute turnarounds to be on the safe side, because of what happened last year.
The schedule can also be setup to have longer times the first morning in order to allow everyone to learn, then pickup the pace with faster times in the afternoon.
It looks like Israel ran just shy of 12 hours the first day to keep up.
A couple of rematches also slowed things down, and I missed the dinner break.
So a corrected time would be 8:57 per match (I adjusted the original post to reflect this).

You'll notice that the Michigan District events are mostly at the bottom, too.
That's because they decided on a fixed 12 matches per team and a small number of competing teams.
They don't need to run that fast to keep up, so the pace can be slower.

Originally Posted by yarden.saa

I am confused, last year the Israeli regional was very slow because of communication problems you all know, but this year there were not any problems and the matches were running smoothly, so how it can be possible we are the last in a big difference?
How the other regionals are quicker?

[colt527]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

I went to every team in the LI pits and inspected their software versions personally, then stood there while they updated to the latest.
Always get a few "we have the latest version," but it's only the latest version they know of.

Still on Saturday, Ken had a team appear at the field with a new laptop using older Driver Station software.

You just can't win...

Even if we sharpied the latest version numbers on the inside of all the safety glasses given out, we would still get old versons popping up here and there on competition days

[yarden.saa]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Long times aren't necessarily bad.
Times could be compared against the original pre-play schedule, but that gets overwritten in the FIRST database.

The shorter times are really events that push the limits to get teams the most number of matches possible, but it's a guessing game when the FTA first sets up the play schedule. It can't be changed after they commit themselves, so it reflects how some Regional Directors/FTAs are more conservative than others.

The FTA probably scheduled 9 minute turnarounds to be on the safe side, because of what happened last year.
The schedule can also be setup to have longer times the first morning in order to allow everyone to learn, then pickup the pace with faster times in the afternoon.
It looks like Israel ran just shy of 12 hours the first day to keep up.
A couple of rematches also slowed things down, and I missed the dinner break.
So a corrected time would be 8:57 per match (I adjusted the original post to reflect this).

You'll notice that the Michigan District events are mostly at the bottom, too.
That's because they decided on a fixed 12 matches per team and a small number of competing teams.
They don't need to run that fast to keep up, so the pace can be slower.

There were 2 rematches at the end of the last match in day 2 (out of 3), so it wasn't affecting because we played the amount of matches that we needed, but there was a delay between the matches

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

Long times aren't necessarily bad.
Times could be compared against the original pre-play schedule, but that gets overwritten in the FIRST database.

It's still available on the qual schedule page. For example, for Israel, http://www2.usfirst.org/2011comp/eve...edulequal.html

It looks like Israel was scheduled for 8 minutes

[Zuelu562]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

It looks like Israel was scheduled for 8 minutes

On that note, BAE/GSR was scheduled for 6 minutes, and fell at 6:42, not bad.

http://www2.usfirst.org/2011comp/eve...edulequal.html

[pathew100]

Originally Posted by Mark McLeod

You'll notice that the Michigan District events are mostly at the bottom, too. That's because they decided on a fixed 12 matches per team and a small number of competing teams.
They don't need to run that fast to keep up, so the pace can be slower.

We're also somewhat more lenient regarding robot problems. You won't get bypassed if you don't connect right away. We'll try everything to make sure all teams get to play all their matches, even if it means running a little late.

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by pathew100

[Michigan District events will] try everything to make sure all teams get to play all their matches, even if it means running a little late.

Michigan District events run "late" by Regional standards anyway. Nobody is expecting to get out of there before a 6pm supper on Friday, so there's probably a bit more of a drive to play the matches vs. keeping to the schedule.

[Dad1279]

Originally Posted by Andy Baker

........I believe that a combination of these things gives the field crew bragging rights, not just match cycle time. If one regional had a cycle time of 6:31 and had 4.5 robots run each mach, while another regional had a cycle time of 7:00 and had 5.2 robots run each match, I would give more credit to the second regional crew for getting more robots running for each match......

+1. I would give (even) more credit for striving for 100% comms for the final matches. A few minutes delay at that point wouldn't matter. Finals shouldn't be decided on communication problems.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by rsisk

Even after telling all the teams in LA what software versions were required there were teams that still had the wrong version on Saturday. I think next year I take screen shots of how to check the version and how to wire the radio and show it to each team as they get their radio configured. I think telling them is just too much information for some of the team members to absorb while their radios are configured.

The one that kills me is teams bringing the e-stop with them to the field still on.
How many times do you have to be told not to bring it or have it on? It makes connecting to the field harder.