"The 24" - Off-season Idea

[Alex2614]

Okay, I am going to attempt to reply to all of this at once.

We don't know exactly what venue we will want to host it at, but there are a number of places that have done all night events before (Relay for Life, etc).

Originally Posted by Alexa Stott

To add to my previous post: as someone on the planning committee for an off-season, this also sounds like a logistical nightmare.

For events hosted at a school, you need to have the custodial staff on hand. This would likely be hard to convince the district to allow, especially during the summer. I'd imagine events hosted at other venues have similar rules regarding having people from their own staff at the event. Just think what would happen if the bathrooms didn't get cleaned for the entire event. Gross.

Then there is the issue of concessions and having people to work them. Most of the volunteers that come from outside of the team end up in positions that require some knowledge of how an event goes (so things like queuing, field reset, reffing, etc.), which means most of our concessions are run by parents. Again, good luck getting parents willing to do this.

If you can figure out a way to make this work and take care of all those issues, then more power to you.

Perhaps a different idea would be 24 hours of robotics-related fun? Have teams come in the night before for an all-night social/movie night (and, of course, allow teams and individuals to opt out) followed by the competition the next day?

As far as concessions, there are lots of ways we can figure it out. We have people already willing to do it, but food can be handled in a number of different ways. For example, if one of the venues that I'm lobbying for ends up being it, we will be in the middle of Morgantown (one downtown, one on the Evansdale WVU campus). Both downtown Morgantown (with downtown WVU campus) and the north side (Evansdale) are thriving with shops, restaurants, etc. WVU's catering people have done lots of really large events, not the least of which are campus-wide festivities with 10,000-20,000 people, proms, conventions, etc. Most of the restaurants will probably be willing to donate coupons if they know hundreds of really hungry kids will be invading the streets of Morgantown. Plus, we've got some really dedicated and awesome people that have expressed interest in helping out.

As far as power tools, why don't we limit their use? From what I've seen at off-season events is that most teams don't need to do much repair/building/modifying because it's already done. This event tests your personal endurance levels, why not your robot too?

Lots of caffeine will be provided, definitely. Endless supplies. We're looking into some big-name sponsors for this.

Originally Posted by Alexa Stott

I also can't help but think people might, well, get a little bored. Imagine 20-21 hours straight of just qualification matches. You'd see the same teams playing each other over and over and over again. That's not really exciting.

You know, I never really thought of that. We will need to get creative, but I've got some ideas. Maybe we could do two competitions? With some kind of party or "robotics-related fun" in-between? Teams could also opt-in or out of the full 24 hours, and do just 12. The competition would start Friday night and into Saturday, so spectators off the street can wander in and see the excitement of kids competing after 12 hours or more straight. Around the time people will start wandering in on Saturday will be about the time for elims/awards ceremony, so now that I think about it, it won't be too bad. Especially if people are taking naps throughout the event.

This event will be coupled with a campus tour of West Virginia University, probably on Friday evening, led by students, faculty, and staff that can answer any questions you might have about attending WVU and why you should be a Mountaineer. For those of you that are looking into colleges, this would be a great opportunity to see a beautiful and growing campus (which, coincidentally, also houses an awesome FRC team, numerous other FTC/FLL teams, and a newly-started FIRST Alumni organization.

[Tetraman]

I would be in, but the team would not. There in lies the problem. I'm sure you could get a number of individuals into the idea, but to get entire teams into the idea, you won't have that many.

[Kevin Leonard]

I personally think this thing sounds really cool. If it happened sometime after IRI I would totally lobby for my team to attend (but probably not).
Good luck arranging this, and keep us posted!

[billylo]

Ok. This is do-able... suggestions to make it more fun without too much risk on machine handling...

1. Make it a charity competition event... the more points scored in the 24 hours, the more money raised for the charity of the alliance's choice. Do it for fun AND a good cause.

2. Use mega-teams (allow up to 3 FRC team robots to form a Rally-Team to go around the clock)

3. Add some social elements in parallel. Nerds need breaks too. Star-Wars/Star Trek/Real Steel/Iron Giant movie marathon, along with other chilling areas. (ultimate frisbee was a big hit at our RoboJam party in 610's field house.)

4. Follow golf's traditions. Honour system. Call your own penalties.

[ZipTie3182]

I would be in, but the team would not. There in lies the problem. I'm sure you could get a number of individuals into the idea, but to get entire teams into the idea, you won't have that many.

I don't know if this was meant by "mega-teams" but I think having people from multiple team compose a pit/drive team for a particular robot would make this more realistic. It would also add a fun cooperation element to the competition and allow people who are friends on various teams to actually compete with each other.

Most aren't crazy enough to want to do a 24 hour event but there's always those one or two on a team who are I would......haha

[SamanthaW]

If our team had the money or it wasn't so far a distance I would totally be down for that(I think most of the team would like it). It seems like such a cool idea!

[Brandon Zalinsky]

If this actually happens, I am so going! I know someone else who would, too (Jay get in here!)

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by Flak-Bait

If this actually happens, I am so going! I know someone else who would, too (Jay get in here!)

Sounds like my dream competition... I'm so in for this it's a great idea!

[Alex2614]

Haha, I just found this thread by chance when looking for something else. We just got done with our first ever 26-hour event, WVROX. Link to the thread here http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hreadid=128771

The event was fantastic, and went much smoother than any of us at MARS thought was possible.

[Whippet]

I would totally be in for something like this! The rest of the team, however...

What would be the rules on one-student teams with a sort-of-stolen robot?

[allgoodthehood]

Originally Posted by ZipTie3182

I don't know if this was meant by "mega-teams" but I think having people from multiple team compose a pit/drive team for a particular robot would make this more realistic. It would also add a fun cooperation element to the competition and allow people who are friends on various teams to actually compete with each other.

This sounds like an amazing idea, and I love the idea of having "mega-teams."


I don't know if my whole team would be interested considering were in Minnesota, have our own off season event, and were on a tight budget. However, I could defiantly convince quite a few team members to attend with me. I would love to see this event in action hopefully next year!