FIRST's statement on Einstein

[nuggetsyl]

Originally Posted by Meredith Novak

We were using a new bridge, rev. B1, with 2.0 firmware. We never died throughout the entire event. JT and I wired a bridge backward and burned it up, so we ordered the new one. Maybe it was a fortunate mistake...

We also bought a new one becasue of issues we ran into in florda.

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by Meredith Novak

We were using a new bridge, rev. B1, with 2.0 firmware. We never died throughout the entire event. JT and I wired a bridge backward and burned it up, so we ordered the new one. Maybe it was a fortunate mistake...

Interesting that you guys had the RevB bridge...at some of the MAR events IIRC they strongly recommended that teams NOT use that one, and I believe at Rutgers a team wasn't even allowed to use the RevB bridge.

[BrendanB]

Originally Posted by Natchez

Please allow me to respectfully disagree. The Jones Dome has a disaster plan in place that includes how to handle a nearby tornado and, although I can not find the plan online anywhere, I suspect that the plan calls for partial shelter-in-place and partial evacuation to the tunnels when practical. The plan should not, and probably does not, call for withholding information from the people who will be directly affected.

In my view, what should have been done is that the field level should have been evacuated to the tunnel area leaving the floor bear and the people in the stands should have prepared for the roof to blow off and the glass in the exterior to shatter .... I don't really know if that is to shelter-in-place or proceed orderly to the tunnels; that is why the disaster plan is in place. FIRST should have followed the Jones Dome Disaster Plan.

Consider this, if you were at a Rams game and it sounded like a train was about to hit the stadium, do you really believe that it is right to let the players, staffs, & others remain on the field and hope bad things don't happen when there is very good shelter only a few hundred feet away. Also, if we enacted a "hush hush" policy in these circumstances, it seems unfair that we would not warn the people who decided to go to the bathroom or get a hotdog in a highly glassed area.

The roof blowing off a dome is a real fear and when a couple of panels get ripped off, things escalate in a hurry. In a dome, being under the primary roof is the first or second most dangerous place to be located.

Now, please allow me to defend my actions. I was on the floor and heard the sound of a train about to run into the Jones Dome from all directions. Knowing that bad things were happening outside and the fact that I did not have my handy crystal ball with me, I took action to remove participants and patrons from underneath the primary roof and into an "enclosed" area. First, I identified where people could go and then encouraged them to move to the tunnels; okay, I did not encourage the Robonauts but demanded the Robonauts get a move on it. I texted all of the Robonauts mentors (we had a group set up so it only took me a few seconds to text them) and asked them to get everyone to shelter. FIRST, obviously having their crystal ball in hand, told people that everything would be okay ..... just trust us. In review, I suspect my actions were more closely in line with the Jones Dome Disaster Plan for tornadoes than FIRST's actions.

When I read things like "the LAST thing FIRST should have done was make an announcement" because we can't trust people, I wonder what America is coming to,
Lucien

I was not at the event but I was in contact with several friends and family there and monitored the weather when I did find out what was happening. Quickly moving from the floor to safety is relatively easy because there is plenty of room and not a lot of people. The stands is a completely different scenario because there is tons of people and limited space/walking area. Leaving a crowded stadium at the end of a game is extremely crowded and chaotic add to that chaos, panic, and disorder and you have yourselves a death trap for smaller people. Looking back to events like hurricane Katrina the main shelter was the dome in a catagory 5 storm.

The best thing to do was let people know of the serious weather outside/keep people indoors which they did and not create undue panic/hysteria. Yes there are events where we ask, "Why wasn't a warning given/more action taken?" and other times wonder why chaos was created over nothing and someone got hurt. I'm not advocating that the weather wasn't serious, but it wasn't serious enough to evacuate the building and create a panic.

I'm sure FIRST has an evacuation plan considering tornadoes tragically ripped through St. Louis the week before the Championship last year. Some might say they felt in serious danger from where they were on the floor, others in the nose bleeds say they thought the hail sounded cool and felt not danger.

[thelemmonator]

While the events that took place on Einstein a very unfortunate it will not tarnish my view of FIRST and what the organization stands for. I plan to work as hard as I can next year to spread the message of FIRST and bring a regional to Calgary along with hopefully up to 30 new FRC teams in the southern Alberta area. As well as continuing with 4334 to have a successful second year and return to Worlds in St. Louis next year. The "Eh Team" shall unite again!

[1986titans]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

I was not at the event but I was in contact with several friends and family there and monitored the weather when I did find out what was happening. Quickly moving from the floor to safety is relatively easy because there is plenty of room and not a lot of people. The stands is a completely different scenario because there is tons of people and limited space/walking area. Leaving a crowded stadium at the end of a game is extremely crowded and chaotic add to that chaos, panic, and disorder and you have yourselves a death trap for smaller people. Looking back to events like hurricane Katrina the main shelter was the dome in a catagory 5 storm.

The best thing to do was let people know of the serious weather outside/keep people indoors which they did and not create undue panic/hysteria. Yes there are events where we ask, "Why wasn't a warning given/more action taken?" and other times wonder why chaos was created over nothing and someone got hurt. I'm not advocating that the weather wasn't serious, but it wasn't serious enough to evacuate the building and create a panic.

I'm sure FIRST has an evacuation plan considering tornadoes tragically ripped through St. Louis the week before the Championship last year. Some might say they felt in serious danger from where they were on the floor, others in the nose bleeds say they thought the hail sounded cool and felt not danger.

I'm not sure how many people are aware of this, but FIRST was in contact with the NWS in St. Louis. It's probably about the most responsible thing they could have done in this type of situation -- going to the people who know about the storm.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by BrendanB

hurricane Katrina the main shelter was the dome in a catagory 5 storm.

I basically agree with your post, and I am satisfied with First's handling of the situation.

I just want to point out that hurricanes and tornadoes are very different beasts.

[Citrus Dad]

Originally Posted by Citrus Dad

1717 went dead in a qualifying match in which 1662 saved their gravy by scoring a zillion baskets.

An interesting question is whether the combination of so many 'bots using so much band width was higher than in a typical regional.

As many of you know, the real reason for 1717 going dead was deliberate wifi jamming by a rogue mentor. This was the same person who disrupted the Einstein matches.

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by Citrus Dad

As many of you know, the real reason for 1717 going dead was deliberate wifi jamming by a rogue mentor. This was the same person who disrupted the Einstein matches.

Is there any proof of this? If I remember correctly from FIRST's statement and team 548's statement that this was never said. Also, REALLY old thread revival.

[Citrus Dad]

Originally Posted by Jay O'Donnell

Is there any proof of this? If I remember correctly from FIRST's statement and team 548's statement that this was never said. Also, REALLY old thread revival.

I was correcting my earlier statement for the record that there was a problem with the bandwidth--that turned out not to be true, so my observation was incorrect.

What FIRST or Team 548 said officially doesn't mean that they covered all of the issues. I've discussed this directly with an individual who has direct knowledge and stated that the disruption began with 1717 and then moved on to Einstein.