2011 Lesson Learned: The Negative

[rsisk]

The pits by the fields were loud but this could be fixed with half height curtains around entire field.

Crowded bleachers on the pit fields. Could be helped by taller bleachers with more rows. And teams not saving seats. Heard of some very poor behavior by teams I had higher expectations of.

Not enough trash containers for all the trash. Made it difficult to properly dispose of trash.

HOF off in a corner of the pit where it was hard to find. Should have been in the public walkway area.

Need a good web page for the public to learn of the event.

More signage to direct the public at the event.

Leave the food out until the end of the mentor breakfast.

[torihoelscher]

Originally Posted by rsisk

Crowded bleachers on the pit fields. Could be helped by taller bleachers with more rows. And teams not saving seats. Heard of some very poor behavior by teams I had higher expectations of.

What field were you on? I had teams surrounding me in the stands and it did get annoying at times! But if we had more seats, it would have stunned the issues.

[rocknthehawk]

Originally Posted by torihoelscher

What field were you on? I had teams surrounding me in the stands and it did get annoying at times! But if we had more seats, it would have stunned the issues.

Curie was packed, and the bleachers appeared to be smaller.

[Blackphantom91]

Originally Posted by rocknthehawk

Curie was packed, and the bleachers appeared to be smaller.

I feel you on that one

It was strait up communication and delivery for me, the rest of the tournament was excellent. I also think that it was cool to do a game that's similar to another but It also cuts the work and design process significant and teams that did well in 07 also did well in 11 (not to take away anything from them they deserve to be where they are). Mini bots where the coolest thing to me.

[slijin]

Field issues. I observed at least 2 major FMS problems during StL. Following opening ceremonies Friday, I stopped in front of the Curie field to watch the first match of the day. 5 seconds into teleop, the buzzer blares and the timer goes to 0, ending the match.

During our first elimination match, the field timer apparently jumped from 16 to 6 seconds or something of the sort, resulting in the refs nullifying that match result.

Needless to say, I was sorely disappointed by the persistence of such an issue into the Championships.

On a side note, I saw at least 2 instances of towers being triggered by bots crashing into them, leaving VERY close minibot races up to human judgment, which imho, cannot be empirically accurate nor reliable in a race between 1-2s minibots. Putting light compression springs on the suspension bolts would have been a very simple fix to that issue, even if it was a slight modification to field design.

[apalrd]

Originally Posted by slijin

On a side note, I saw at least 2 instances of towers being triggered by bots crashing into them, leaving VERY close minibot races up to human judgment, which imho, cannot be empirically accurate nor reliable in a race between 1-2s minibots. Putting light compression springs on the suspension bolts would have been a very simple fix to that issue, even if it was a slight modification to field design.

On a related note, I saw several issues of towers failing to trigger. We failed to trip the sensor on one of the Curie-field towers, and our scouts say that tower failed to register at least one more hit, from 1718 (and that's only one tower, on one day)


More issues:
Seating (already discussed)

Aside from the seating issues on the pit fields, I though the event ran very well.

[rocpe]

For us, FIRST Championship was an extremely positive experience. We had a blast and look forward to returning in the future. But as long as you asked:
1. The Curie Bleacher situation was wholly inadequate during the qualification rounds and worse for eliminations. Significantly more seating is necessary.
2. There needs to be a path (separate entrance?) to the fields that doesn't require safety glasses. The lines for safety glasses and pit entry could have been reduced and streamlined.
3.Garbage cans would have been nice. What was that sticky stuff on the floor in the dome?
4.Sound system needs improvement and should be checked/tested periodically. Announcements were made over each other and were generally inaudible. Seating in the dome requires use of the sides. It would have been nice to have the speakers from the side fields on during Einstein and the awards so all could hear. If it weren't for Bill's tweets, we wouldn't have had any idea what was going on.
5.Speeches were way too long particularly before the Finals and Awards.
6. A match should NEVER start if Field Connectivity has not been established and teams indicate that they are not ready. We and our playing partners work too hard to get to this point to have a field issue leave us for dead. And unfortunately, it was not an isolated instance.
7.Five minutes spent with each team is under 30 hours in total. Everybody here deserves some time in the sun with FIRST brass. I know it's tough, but it's necessary.
8.How about some readable maps and a schedule being available early to allow for some team planning to enhance the overall experience. Not knowing where things are and when they run is a problem.

[Tom Line]

Originally Posted by slijin

Field issues. I observed at least 2 major FMS problems during StL. Following opening ceremonies Friday, I stopped in front of the Curie field to watch the first match of the day. 5 seconds into teleop, the buzzer blares and the timer goes to 0, ending the match.

During our first elimination match, the field timer apparently jumped from 16 to 6 seconds or something of the sort, resulting in the refs nullifying that match result.

Needless to say, I was sorely disappointed by the persistence of such an issue into the Championships.

On a side note, I saw at least 2 instances of towers being triggered by bots crashing into them, leaving VERY close minibot races up to human judgment, which imho, cannot be empirically accurate nor reliable in a race between 1-2s minibots. Putting light compression springs on the suspension bolts would have been a very simple fix to that issue, even if it was a slight modification to field design.

Those were not field issues. The field crew has a method of testing the fields that involves running a 'fast' auton that is only 5 seconds. They accidentally left that setup in and tried to run matches (several times). Oops!

[torihoelscher]

Originally Posted by rocknthehawk

Curie was packed, and the bleachers appeared to be smaller.

In Newton it was insane. Very nice people and also so not very nice people...but it happens. Had a lot of fun none the less!!

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by rsisk

And teams not saving seats. Heard of some very poor behavior by teams I had higher expectations of.

Including 1676. I had to chastize some of the well-intentioned parents on our team TWICE to stop saving seats in the bleachers.

If you don't have a butt to fill that seat, you don't need it. When the butt arrives, we'll make room.

[pfreivald]

We had some encounters with a very, very obnoxious parent -- actually screaming at people who sat in seats, and not once (which is unacceptable) or twice (which is equally unacceptable) but continuously for 30+ minutes (which is unacceptable but hilarious insofar as it doesn't keep us from viewing the games).

As with most things, this is unenforceable by fiat, so the expectations should be made so clear that it is almost entirely enforceable through social pressure. (Isn't social change what it's all about?)

That said, playing in football stadia and needing to save seats equates to a failure of the social-event design process, IMO... More iterations are needed!

[BrendanB]

I really think that FIRST needs to start making announcments at the beginning of events. If saving seats is a rule then lets make sure it happens! I am horrified of stories I have heard from the public who attend events not with teams!

For anyone complaining about FIRST events and speeches especially Dean's, come to GSR or any event that he goes to! I have been to 13 regionals with a "Dean" speech and the more I focus on his message the more the hour plus he speaks flies by. This is a robotics competition with a message. Had Einstein had music then I'm sure that it wouldn't have been so bad.

[Koko Ed]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

Including 1676. I had to chastize some of the well-intentioned parents on our team TWICE to stop saving seats in the bleachers.

If you don't have a butt to fill that seat, you don't need it. When the butt arrives, we'll make room.

It seems to me that parents are more or less the problem.
They are very aggressive about protecting the interests of their own team instead of the values of FIRST,
My team was denied a place to sit twice by two different teams. I told them just take them off your list (ironically one we ended up working with in the elims and the other was never on our list in the first place).
Apparently FIRST has some sort of Poor Behaviour Reporting Forum to turn in when these things happen. So what is a civillian supposed to do when they show up and are rejected and ejected by an overzealous and territorial team? Maybe Dean needs to make nipping this behavior in the bud homework for the teams.

[Taylor]

1. Seating in the pits. There was nowhere to eat in the pits except for to sit on the floor. If you don't want food in the pits, I understand that - but don't put vendors there!

2. Severe lack of trash receptacles in the pits. I'm surprised the pits were as clean as they were, given the minimal trash can situation (and the fact that these cans were always full anyway)

[rotolomi]

Overall in my opinion, well executed for the first year. But, of course, there were negatives.

- The bleachers in the pits. I had several problems with them. I didn't care so much that they were right next to the pits (in my opinion the short distance was very convenient). The small bleachers left a lot of people standing in the way in the pits trying to see matches. The bleachers were very uncomfortable and made my already bad back miserable (but not much can be done about that, I've never sat on comfortable bleachers...). There was so much garbage that gathered beneath the bleachers because everything kept falling through them. My jacket dropped 3 times as did my wallet and my GameBoy (unless my GameBoy was stolen).
- The long walk from the Dome to the pits. It was annoying to have to walk what felt like half a mile to get to the pits. Also, the Dome was a bit confusing to get around in - but that could also be just me.
- Safety glasses were required to get to the stands in the pits. Quite a few members of my team were left stranded, not allowed into the stands, because they did not have their safety glasses on them and you had to cross the pits to get to the stands. I know that there were safety glasses that could be borrowed, but it was a minor inconvenience to have to turn around and get your safety glasses if you wanted to leave the stands.
- The food. Maybe I just don't look in the right places but the food (including boxed lunches/dinners) was, as usual, overpriced and gross. All the food that I saw in the pits and in the area outside the pits was either unhealthy (cough cough, funnel cakes) or gross (did anyone else make the mistake of buying the Chinese food?) and all of it was overpriced. Apparently the food in the Dome was good, but the Newton division was in the pits for 2/3 of the competition and the Dome was a very long walk (see my 2nd bullet).
- Lack of trash cans. You had to walk across the pits to throw something away, and there were no trash cans in the stands, so garbage accumulated quickly.
- Power. My team used a boat battery for power because we scout with our laptops and there was no power available in the stands.

So only a few minor issues that have been more or less discussed already, but overall a good, fun competition