Bill's Blog 6/15/11: "What percent of viewers read the title?"

[sgreco]

Originally Posted by apalrd

The current radio (2011) takes approximately 2 minutes to boot up and connect to the field. If they expect us to be ready in, say, 3 minutes, this is far too long to wait.
The previous Linksys gaming adapter (2009-2010) was slightly faster, I don't know exactly how much faster.
The IFI system (2000-2008) could boot up and establish a radio connection in 5 seconds, always.

I don't want to get into a "back in the day" discussion, but I wonder what the percentage vote would have been if they asked who wanted the IFI control system back...

(I would vote for it)

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by sgreco

I don't want to get into a "back in the day" discussion, but I wonder what the percentage vote would have been if they asked who wanted the IFI control system back...

(I would vote for it)

I would vote for it too. With the way this system works where it just becomes a waiting game where 5 minutes can go by without connecting and without doing anything it will connect.

[Hawiian Cadder]

It might be cool if they gave us wireless power for the router and Crio. i know it is unlikely to happen, but it would be cool if you could just leave it on all the time at competition, and not worry about changing batteries affecting your robot.

never going to happen, but it would still be awesome.

we got bypassed once this year, and it was because we didnt plug the router back in after a tether. annoying mistake.

[apalrd]

Originally Posted by Hawiian Cadder

we got bypassed once this year, and it was because we didnt plug the router back in after a tether. annoying mistake.

With this years router, you can tether to one of the open ports on the radio and not disconnect the cRio from the radio at all.

[Hawiian Cadder]

Originally Posted by apalrd

With this years router, you can tether to one of the open ports on the radio and not disconnect the cRio from the radio at all.

i wish we had known that at our regional

[David Brinza]

A surprising 23.2% of respondents told us participating in more than one competition event a season would be a burden.

Time burden or financial burden?

Three additional days to participate in a competition is most likely not the driving factor keeping teams from participating in a second regional.

Raising an additional $5K or more (registration, travel, and misc expenses) can be a deal-breaker for many teams.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by rsisk

I'm glad to see that ~77% do not find a second regional to be a burden.

I would take these percentages with a grain of salt. Sometimes, the blog doesn't seem as informative as it seems chatty. Transparency isn't necessarily about being chatty.

For example - making a decision to compete in a competition takes planning and money. Making decisions to compete in more than one competition takes more planning and money. It takes effort. How is 'burden' defined?

Chatty.

Jane

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by JaneYoung

I would take these percentages with a grain of salt. Sometimes, the blog doesn't seem as informative as it seems chatty. Transparency isn't necessarily about being chatty.

For example - making a decision to compete in a competition takes planning and money. Making decisions to compete in more than one competition takes more planning and money. It takes effort. How is 'burden' defined?

Chatty.

Jane

I'm afraid I don't understand at all by what you mean "chatty." Please elaborate or clarify.

Akash

[Chris is me]

I honestly believe that the statistics for the minibot and field connection time are backward and someone just made a mistake. I can't figure out how so many people are fine with missing a qual match because of NI problems.

[craigcd]

I have been the Field Supervisor for the Bayou Regional for the last 5 years. One of the most frustrating parts of the game is to have six robots on the field, with one robot not connecting. This increases the cycle time between matches. I have another solution to the connection problem. Rather than bypassing a robot and starting the match with the robots that connect, give a fixed time (same one minute) that is started by the field supervisor after all robots are set and the players have left the field. All the robots that connect during that time will play normally. Any robot not connecting will still be allowed to connect to the field and start playing when it connects. You don’t connect you don’t play. You connect late you still play. I make my cycle times, you play more matches and the entire world is in harmony.

[sgreco]

With reagrd to the time it takes the robot to connect, I think it really depends. If it's the team's fault that they connect late, then they can reasonably be expected to speed up, or risk losing a match. The problem is, it isn't always the team's fault. I've been in the driver station in both scenarios. It's a tough decision. You pay $4,000 for a regional. On average you play ~10 qualification matches. That's $400 a match. I don't think it's fair to tell someone who's paying that much that they have to sit out a match because they were 15 seconds slow connecting. On the flip side, if you save time by not allowing people who connect late to play, you may be able to raise the average number of matches per regional.

Or we could switch back to the IFI control system and solve both problems...(I promise this is the last time I'll suggest it).

[kramarczyk]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

I honestly believe that the statistics for the minibot and field connection time are backward and someone just made a mistake. I can't figure out how so many people are fine with missing a qual match because of NI problems.

I think the hidden assumption in the field connection question is that somebody else is being bypassed, not yourself. Bypass them, so that I can have more matches.

Likewise, the minibot is a lot more paletable once we have seen 'the solution' for this year's problem. I suspect the answers would have been different back on Feb 21.

[JaneYoung]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

I'm afraid I don't understand at all by what you mean "chatty." Please elaborate or clarify.

Akash

Good Afternoon Teams,

I’ve finished my first pass of the end of the season survey (my thanks to everyone who participated) and I’ve started to distribute the detailed answers to other departments to help them in future planning. Here’s some of what teams had to say:
76.5% of respondents liked the inclusion of a mini-bot in LOGO MOTION
69.6% of respondents would like to see some sort of mini-bot included in future FRC games (I have no comment on how soon that might materialize)
80.8% of respondents chose the quantity of qualification rounds (more rounds) over increasing the length of individual qualification rounds (more time spent on the field)
60.8% of respondents prefer giving teams a fixed amount of time to connect to the field over reducing the number of rounds in order to build in time so that all teams may connect to the field
A surprising 23.2% of respondents told us participating in more than one competition event a season would be a burden.
Human Resources tells me we’ve already received 5 applications for the new FRC Engineer position. If you’re interested, contact HR soon.

Summer hours start for the office staff in Manchester June 20th. We’re all still putting in full work weeks, but most of us are working longer days Monday through Thursday so we can get out earlier on Fridays. We will have a limited staff in the building on Friday afternoons, so please plan ahead if you need to contact someone.

206 days until the 2012 kickoff
See you then.

Sure Akash,

Just using the quote for examples:

This is Bill's first pass of the end of season survey. If it is his first pass, why do we need to know?

His comment about how soon another minibot might materialize. Why was that necessary? Either we'll have one or we won't and we'll find out in a timely fashion.

Why is 23.2% a surprise regarding the burden question? What is defined as a burden? Moving a team from point A to point B is a burden, whether we use donkeys, camels, buses, planes, trains, or automobiles. (See how easy it is to throw in a sly comment or one that I, the poster of opinion, think is sly?) The true comment regarding more than one competition should center around 'affordable' and 'manageable'.

What is pertinent in this blog post is that HQ is receiving applicants for the FRC engineer position and that they are changing their hours and team contacts should act accordingly with that shift. The rest, in my opinion, is chatter, based on his first pass statement and some of his commentary - perhaps to get more feedback/reaction directly or indirectly from us.

Jane

[Tom Line]

I wonder. The IFI radios were serial if I recall. The Crio has serial. Some laptops have serial. I'd be excited about a crio control system with a radio that connects in a couple seconds.....

This year's implementation of a minibot was a utter failure in my opinion. I don't want to see it again unless it's a programming/engineering challenge using an NXT controller and the NXT motors, with no modifications allowed.

I never want to touch another piece of tetrix.

[sgreco]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

I never want to touch another piece of tetrix.

This is funny because it's many people's perception that the inclusion of the minibot was a political move to help out FTC. The funny thing is it backfired because now everyone in FRC views Tetrix as low quality garbage (I don't plan on attempting to start an FTC team with such poor quality parts).

The problem with the minibot was not the concept of a miniature robot performing a task, but rather the junk that they required us to use, and the strict limitations on extra parts we could use.