2011 IRI

[Billfred]

After a combined 24 hours on the road round-trip, I'm back in Columbia in one piece and still trying to catch up on everything.

It's always great seeing everybody again at IRI--almost verging into family reunion territory with the awesome far-flung people, the slightly eccentric types, the newfound in-jokes, and the one who's just a little too fixated on the bourbon. A few thank-yous:

Thanks to the volunteers at setup for giving a guy as much of a crash course as one can realistically get at setup. I went up a day early to get a feel for things when we do SCRIW in the fall, and I feel like I'm better for it...and perhaps that I need to bribe some of you Indiana folk to come down to help us locals.

Thanks to 1640 for sticking around after the event to help tear down. Combined with the host teams and us general stragglers, we were out the door at 5:30. True story.

A big thank you to everyone who laughed at the talent show comments. I was sitting in the cafeteria minding my own business when Andy came up and said the words every IRI-goer thinks they want to hear: "I need you to judge the talent show." About three minutes and a cupcake consumed on the run later, I was walking across the stage and hoping I'd measure up against the great group of mentors I shared a table with. The first few laughs were a huge relief. (Also, thanks to Libby Kamen in particular for not freaking out too much when I put my phone on screen with what sure looked like her number. It was doctored, so anyone that copied it down: quit calling WUSC-FM here in Columbia. )

On a related note, a shout-out to the Daisy Style group. When we went back to deliberate, we each knew it would either be Ian or Miss Daisy. That performance was epic.

Thanks to Katie Widen for not actually killing me.

Thanks to whoever kicked the air into high gear. The hot gym on Friday showed the dedicated ones, but the air conditioning was certainly more comfortable.

Thanks to Chris Picone for being a pretty awesome roommate for the trip, Andy Baker for his hospitality, and Mark Kramarczyk for joining us afterward for a spell.

Thanks to the host teams of 45, 234, and 1024 for an event that went off with minimal hitches. This was my fourth IRI, and I certainly plan to make it for a fifth!

(And after this weekend, there may or may not be a listing in my phone that reads "Andy Baker Clap Clap Clapclapclap"...)

[mwmac]

Originally Posted by Nick Lawrence

Some digging found this.

-Nick

Thanks!

[Travis Hoffman]

To whomever came up with this year's IRI tagline, "Robotic Redemption", I salute you! After St. Louis, where a heinous schedule and a few self-inflicted missteps led to a 5-5 record and missing the eliminations, to come back and put up a much better showing against a MUCH, MUCH better field (seriously - the best colllective group of teams I've ever had the pleasure of competing with!) was true redemption for Team 48. The relative consistency we showed in Tennessee and North Carolina was back, and the new ramp deployment (thanks, 3138!) and minibot we used worked out very well. Fun times.

We were also excited to be selected for the IRI elims (thank you, 548!) - something that hasn't happened since we were an alliance captain in 2007. That was very refreshing. I wished we could have put together a more memorable run, but that wasn't to be.

I am very proud of my team for their showing in the first quarterfinal match, seamlessly switching from defense to offense after 469's gripper broke. If that had to be the last match of the competition we appeared in, I couldn't ask for more out of our drive team's performance.

An alliance captain strategic decision switched up the strategy in the 2nd quarterfinal match - to be clear, 48's robot and team was ready and rarin' to go in the 2nd match if needed - no technical difficulties whatsoever.

Thanks as always to the IRI event planners for one-upping most official events in the organization, execution, and excitement departments. The quality and fun of this event will motivate us to work even harder next year to ensure we are worthy of invitation next season. Keep up the great work!

[Jimmy Nichols]

Despite our poor performance on the field, worst finish since our teams inception, we had a great time. Reconnecting with friends we don't get to see that often and making new ones is what I enjoy the most from IRI.

It was great to get to have a front row seat to the elims. I think this was the first time I actually got to see all the finals matches. It was awesome.

Congrats to all the teams and I can't wait until next year.

[Travis Hoffman]

A few 1126 folks brought up an interesting question after 1114 missed their auton and the ubertube fell onto the netting in SF1-2.

What would the ruling have been had one of the red alliance's drive team members jumped up to "punch" the ubertube off the netting and back onto the field?

[Kearse]

<G58> COACHES, DRIVERS, and ANALYSTS may not touch GAME PIECES at any point during the
MATCH.
Violation: PENALTY

That being said, the IRI reffing staff may have made a different call (2 penalties to cancel out the 6 given by the ubertube possibly). I can't see it going without penalization though.

[Travis Hoffman]

In looking through the rules some more, how do these rules apply to this situation?

 
<G31> ROBOTS, HOSTBOTS, nor MINIBOTS may not touch anything outside the FIELD boundary. Violation: Disablement 

FIELD – the 27-foot by 54-foot carpeted playing area, bounded by two ALLIANCE WALLS and a Guardrail System. 

One could claim that touching ubertubes on the netting should have resulted in immediate disablement!

But perhaps this rule is really the one that could have been applied to make the rest moot:

<G35> GAME PIECES that exit the FIELD will be placed back on the FIELD approximately at the point of exit, at the earliest safe opportunity, by FIELD staff. 

GAME PIECE – any one of the four plastic inflated objects used to score in LOGO MOTION. 

Even though the rules seem to indicate this *should* have happened throughout the season, if it was not common for official FIRST events to return regular game pieces resting on the netting back to the field, then it is natural for the IRI folks to follow suit.

Originally Posted by Kearse

That being said, the IRI reffing staff may have made a different call (2 penalties to cancel out the 6 given by the ubertube possibly). I can't see it going without penalization though.

[Brandon Holley]

Team 125 finally arrived back in Boston last night around 1:15 am Eastern time.

We had an absolute blast at the NUTRONs first IRI. Some unfortunate luck did us in for 2 of our matches, and that is all it takes to fall off the radar at an event this deep.

A huge congratulations to team 11 on their huge performance. They were an absolute joy to watch through the eliminations. Everyone on MORT should be ecstatic with their performance.

And finally a huge thank you from team 125 to team 11 for all the help with the trip this weekend. We had a great time traveling and staying together and are looking forward to more cooperation in the future!

Thanks to everyone who made IRI a succesful event, the NUTRONs hope to be back soon...

-Brando

[LeelandS]

From the rules Travis posted above (primarily, G35, also using the definition of the field and game piece), it seems to me that the IRI Staff should have worked to get the Ubertube back on the field. The Ubertube IS a game piece, and, technically, the net area is NOT in the parameter of the field.

Also, Travis said that if FTAs didn't replace netted Ubertubes in regular season, IRI shouldn't be any different. I would agree with that statement if the active Ubertube rule wasn't in effect. There was no real point to return an Ubertube to play in "official" competition because it would just clutter up the field. At IRI, that Ubertube could have made the difference between the Red Alliance being eliminated or going into a third match, especially if HOT and The Simbots didn't have waste precious time trying to get it back down, in vein.

It seems to me the situation should have played out like this: When Simbot Steve missed it's autonomous and netted that ubertube, FTAs should have immediately went to return it to the field, as soon as the bot backed away from the alliance station and netted area (As per the "at the earliest safe opportunity" part of G35). Had this happened, 67 and 1114 wouldn't have had to attempt to reach for the tube (which SHOULD technically have resulted in disablement). It seems, had the situation panned out like this, the tide of the match could have been turned.

Long story short: A short-sight in making rule changes. No one would have even contemplated this discussion had it not happened and, in my opinion, cost the alliance an elimination. There will always be situations that can't be accounted for, and this is one that just happened to arise at a horrible time. It's a woulda-coulda-shoulda situation. So it goes.

Still, a great match by all involved. Despite missing (IMO) the most valuable piece in the game, the alliance battled to no end, the likes of which only 1114, 987 and 67 could battle. It was a great match, and a hard earned victory by 2056, 33 and 217.

IRI was a great event. I'm honored to have been involved, and I congratulate every team on a world class performance for every match.

[GaryVoshol]

Tubes that got caught in the netting were not returned to the field during the regular season at any of the events I attended. I guess that was an unwritten exception to <G58>.

I would have thought something fishy if a team member reached up to put the tube back into play - but I'm not sure if I would have come up with the right penalty or not. I don't recall hearing of a <G58> being called all season.

And I never considered calling a <G35>. I thought trying to retrieve the tube was a brilliant play, and stopping the unsuccessful try after not too much wasted time was another brilliant move.

Thanks to IRI for having me - it was great to be in "the best seat in the house" (even if we don't get to sit down very often).

[jcbc]

Originally Posted by Billfred

Thanks to 1640 for sticking around after the event to help tear down. Combined with the host teams and us general stragglers, we were out the door at 5:30. True story.

We were glad we could help! We had a great time at IRI despite our overall performance. The programming team and I especially enjoyed being able to use the practice field to debug some new code since our team is currently homeless. Special thanks to Alan Anderson and the rest of the volunteers for understanding and letting us use the field until they absolutely, positively needed to break it down!

[Kit Gerhart]

Only at IRI....
We had consistently decent alliance pairing, we played well, we didn't break, and we ended up 3-6 in the Q matches. There is no FIRST-related event anywhere that has close to the depth of field of IRI.

Thanks to 1126 for picking us. We put up some good scores, but not enough for 1114 and company. If only they had put that ubertube on the net during one of our matches. OK, we probably still wouldn't have beaten them.

Anyway, congrats to Bees, Chickens, Kids, and 2056. Sorry, I can't think of the right nickname for 2056.

Another great IRI. I'm already looking forward to next year.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Kit Gerhart

. Sorry, I can't think of the right nickname for 2056.

The Screaming Tylers?

I don't actually know if they have a nickname other than "OP Robotics".

[dodar]

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

The Screaming Tylers?

I don't actually know if they have a nickname other than "OP Robotics".

The "Charlie Sheens". Cuz they are always...winning! lol

[GCentola]

Originally Posted by Kit Gerhart

Only at IRI....
Thanks to 1126 for picking us. We put up some good scores, but not enough for 1114 and company. If only they had put that ubertube on the net during one of our matches. OK, we probably still wouldn't have beaten them.
.

It was our pleasure to work with you guys! Putting up 123 points against that alliance was still a great show! We definitely didn't go out without a bang! Im sorry you guys never got your triple tube working