2013 Lessons Learned: The Negative

[MrBasse]

Originally Posted by faust1706

9 foot falls. not fun to watch.

I think I have to go against this one... 9 foot falls are a huge draw for a crowd (think NASCAR). Nothing could make the entire audience come together like a robot taking a dive this year. Even more so when that robot actually showed up to their next match and performed. There was nothing in the manual that said you had to climb, and those that chose to take the games name for what it was and climb were well aware of the risk involved.

After climbing the pyramid 20+ times in competition, we only fell once. That time was completely due to bad coaching on my part. A lot comes down to what you build and how you build it. Climbing itself wasn't hard to do, designing a fail safe method of climbing was the tough part.

[Denise Bohnsack]

Originally Posted by Nemo

Admission is free. It would be strange to charge $2000 for a team to do all of that stuff when all they have to do is show up and do that stuff as it is now.

A good point but I have a good answer. If "Inspire" teams without robots were given special structured opportunities with opportunities to attend special workshops it would be worth the charge. Also bringing a smaller group of team leaders would be more affordable for some teams. More importantly: Many schools will not let students go unless there is some "official" invitation to attend and the school can justify it as a sanctioned activity. Schools are paid per student for the student to attend class each day at their facility so they are careful which activities they let students take off class to attend. I hate to admit this, but when I took off work and took my son out of school to attend the Atlanta World Championship, I had to call him in sick, otherwise under school policy it would have been an "unexcused absence" even though we were attending the FIRST championship and the school had a FIRST team. (I contend my son had previously missed no days before and had good grades so I feel the absence was justified and the learning experience he had at championship was educational.) So inviting schools to attend championships in some official capacity, (maybe through certain awards or special invitation or award) which honors them and gives the team an opportunity to attend minus the robot gives credibility to the teacher who requests permission for her team to attend.

Another thought: Maybe this is a bad idea, I am just throwing it out there. Could there be an extra field for a B championship, played by robots who are rookie teams, wild card teams, wait list invitees, and teams who might qualify other ways but maybe don't have the experience of championship under their belts? Perhaps teams that have a slower or problem robot but have great community programs which qualify them to attend World.

I am not complaining here, because FIRST is not about the robots, but in one of our matches, one of the rookie teams was confused and failed to show up, and the other team showed up with the wrong bumpers, and was not allowed to play. So it was our 1 robot, against 3. Again, this is just how it goes and we were just happy and honored to be at championship, but perhaps if these teams had a chance to compete at championship on another field and learn how the system works, (Championship the first year is overwhelming) it would be a good thing for all. And all the matches would move quicker with less teams playing for the World Championship honor. Perhaps this is a bad suggestion, but it is something to think about. And maybe this idea could solve some of the issues I am reading about. It also would serve as a field for emcees, announcers or referrees in training. As I stated before, just attending World Championship without a robot is an amazing experience and one I wish more students,teachers and mentors could experience, good robot or not.

[Kidney]

I didn't like a couple of things about kickoff this year. I feel like they showed the game animation way too early and it wasn't as suspenseful as it was in previous years. Maybe I'm weird, but I actually liked sitting through a few hours of talking and animations and whatnot before the game reveal, I think it built up more suspense that way.

This is also more of a local thing, but the St. Louis FRC Kickoff at the Science Center was in a different area than where it used to be (was in planetarium last season and before) and I feel like the atmosphere wasn't as epic as it used to be. Also they used to play a slideshow of the pics from the STL regional the previous year and it was a fun nostalgia spree each time before kickoff.

Plus no Stephen Colbert, man...

[Mykey]

Originally Posted by Denise Bohnsack

Another thought: Maybe this is a bad idea, I am just throwing it out there. Could there be an extra field for a B championship, played by robots who are rookie teams, wild card teams, wait list invitees, and teams who might qualify other ways but maybe don't have the experience of championship under their belts? Perhaps teams that have a slower or problem robot but have great community programs which qualify them to attend World.

I do not think that labeling anyone as "B" teams is a good idea.

The wildcard teams are there because they "earned" the way. Being seeded 4 of 60+ teams in a regional is an accomplishment. If 6 teams show up with prior wins then the only way to not be a "B" team would be to beat out the "A" teams from other regionals?

Also... stacking the deck against rookie teams seems to be an excellent way of discouraging newcomers.

About the waitlist: I must admit that my first reaction to hearing that teams could "buy" their way to championships was not positive. I felt a bit of contempt for them. I was wrong to feel that way. The championships are, as they should be, about more than just rankings.

[themccannman]

Originally Posted by Kidney

Maybe I'm weird, but I actually liked sitting through a few hours of talking and animations and whatnot before the game reveal, I think it built up more suspense that way.

ohmygodno, kickoff was perfect this year, for some of us western teams getting up at 4 am to go to kickoff sucks as it is, waiting through 2 hours of talking is a waste of our time. I liked this year where we showed up to kick off, got the game, saw the field and left, it was much less dreadful than last year.

[Nemo]

Originally Posted by Kidney

Maybe I'm weird, but I actually liked sitting through a few hours of talking and animations and whatnot [snip]

Yeah, that is a little odd.

Our team doesn't have a close local kickoff, and traveling out of state for that event isn't practical when we can watch the same animation at home and then immediately use our home facility to start working on the game. So kickoff is one part of the year when we get to make our own decisions about how much introductory material is appropriate. We keep the kickoff on in the background and wait for the good parts. I've watched the whole thing a couple of times, and I end up zoning out for parts of it. Planning the kickoff warrants the same type of editorial restraint as planning Einstein - while the messages might be 100% on the money, the attention span of the average viewer (adults included) is finite.

[indubitably]

Originally Posted by themccannman

ohmygodno, kickoff was perfect this year, for some of us western teams getting up at 4 am to go to kickoff sucks as it is, waiting through 2 hours of talking is a waste of our time. I liked this year where we showed up to kick off, got the game, saw the field and left, it was much less dreadful than last year.

I agree it was wayyyy better this year but I do think that it needed a bit more build up. I remember asking people around me to reassure me that this was, in fact, the game animation because it caught me by such surprise. I don't think it needs more speeches or anything, just a little hype is all.

[Nate Laverdure]

Something not mentioned so far (because I'm probably the only one who cares): can the MCs bring back the original pre-match cadence?

Red team are you ready?
Blue team are you ready?
Drivers behind the lines...
3, 2, 1, go!

Saying those two lines would only take a few extra seconds, and it would do a lot for my sanity and stress level if my team ever lets me be drive coach again.

[EricLeifermann]

Originally Posted by Nate Laverdure

Something not mentioned so far (because I'm probably the only one who cares): can the MCs bring back the original pre-match cadence?

Red team are you ready?
Blue team are you ready?
Drivers behind the lines...
3, 2, 1, go!

Saying those two lines would only take a few extra seconds, and it would do a lot for my sanity and stress level if my team ever lets me be drive coach again.

They do something along those lines at every competition I've ever been too. Its not always both alliance but "Drivers are you ready?" and they look at both alliances for thumbs up be for saying the rest of the schpeel that you mentioned.

[Taylor]

Originally Posted by themccannman

-snip-
kickoff sucks as it is, waiting through 2 hours of talking is a waste of our time. -snip-

These folks are bright, intelligent leaders in their respective fields that are giving collectively millions of dollars, hours, and resources straight to you because they believe in you. If they choose to talk to you during kickoff, it's probably because they have something important/inspirational to say, and you should probably pay attention.

I have always been confused by the hordes of people who swarm Dean wherever he goes, give two minute standing ovations whenever his name is mentioned, and then gripe when he wants to talk to us.
Dean Kamen is a pretty smart dude. If he wants to talk to me, I want to listen.

[Tyler Olds]

Originally Posted by Nate Laverdure

Something not mentioned so far (because I'm probably the only one who cares): can the MCs bring back the original pre-match cadence?

Red team are you ready?
Blue team are you ready?
Drivers behind the lines...
3, 2, 1, go!

Saying those two lines would only take a few extra seconds, and it would do a lot for my sanity and stress level if my team ever lets me be drive coach again.

Actually saying the "Red team are you ready...." part does add on quite a bit of time, especially if we wait for acknowledgement from the alliance members (if we don't, then what is the point of saying it at all?), and when we are generally working on a very tight match rotation (this year was a little bit of an exception because the FTA's overestimated the amount of time needed for match rotations) we try to shave off every second we can.

The current way that Emcee's are directed to say it is:
(Wait for Green Light, look to see if FTA, Head Ref, teams, and Scorekeeper are ready)
Drivers behind the lines...
3, 2, 1, go!

...or some sort of similiar varient.

[MARS_James]

Originally Posted by Nate Laverdure

Something not mentioned so far (because I'm probably the only one who cares): can the MCs bring back the original pre-match cadence?

Red team are you ready?
Blue team are you ready?
Drivers behind the lines...
3, 2, 1, go!

Saying those two lines would only take a few extra seconds, and it would do a lot for my sanity and stress level if my team ever lets me be drive coach again.

At Orlando, South Florida, and Newton (the three events I attended) the MC's all said this or something similar:
"We have a green light:
Red Alliance are you ready?
Blue Alliance are you ready?
3, 2, 1, GO!"

Sometimes they would add in the drivers behind the line but not always.

[Nate Laverdure]

Again, this is an exceedingly minor issue.

Originally Posted by Tyler Olds

The current way that Emcee's are directed to say it is:
(Wait for Green Light, look to see if FTA, Head Ref, teams, and Scorekeeper are ready)
Drivers behind the lines...
3, 2, 1, go!

At Chesapeake, Greg Needel explained to me that his instructions are to omit these lines during qualifications, but to say them during eliminations.

Originally Posted by Tyler Olds

Actually saying the "Red team are you ready...." part does add on quite a bit of time, especially if we wait for acknowledgement from the alliance members (if we don't, then what is the point of saying it at all?)

I'd argue the point is to help develop a rhythm for everyone involved in the field operations. It's a verbal cue that prompts people to transition from "setup" tasks to "gameplay" tasks. Like every NFL quarterback knows, messing with the cadence has subtle but powerful effects on mental preparedness.

[Lij2015]

First time posting on here, just been scouring lately.
Not anything about the game that hasn't already been said, but I just want to see if anyone else's team had this problem.
Did anyone else have to format their cRio's multiple times to get it to work?
It took at least 3 times when we added something, switched it to a smaller one, or did it on our second robot.

[apples000]

This isn't really a complaint, but in most matches in the events that I was at/watched, the announcer uses the phrase "pre-programmed instructions" to describe autonomous mode. Also, the check to see if the alliances are ready is useful. Just because a team's robot is connected doesn't mean that they have selected their auto mode on the smart dashboard. I've seen them start without everybody ready only twice, but it would be a good thing to bring back.