Poll: Views on the 6 Week Build Season

[Racer26]

...speaking of Ri3D, anybody know if the minds behind it are planning an encore performance for the 2014 game?

Its kind of interesting though, when you think about the growth in terms of the sheer number of events we hold, and how many fields it means need to be in existence.

Originally Posted by Kevin Pardus

Season / Weeks / Competition Dates / # Regionals / # Region CMPs / Districts / FIRST CMP Dates / Total Events / Minimum Fields needed

2010 / 5 / 04 Mar-03 Apr / 43 / 1 / 07 / 15-17 Apr / 52 / 10
2011 / 6 / 03 Mar-09 Apr / 48 / 1 / 09 / 27-30 Apr / 59 / 10
2012 / 7 / 01 Mar-14 Apr / 52 / 2 / 15 / 25-28 Apr / 70 / 10
2013 / 7 / 28 Feb-13 Apr / 58 / 2 / 17 / 24-27 Apr / 78 / 11
2014 / 7 / 27 Feb-12 Apr / 54 / 4 / 37 / 23-26 Apr / 96 / 13

2015 is going to be a pretty humongous leap too, what with at least 2 more (and probably 3-4 more) district regions coming online.

All of this feels an awful lot like we're currently riding the corner on an exponential growth pattern.

Its cool stuff to think about.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Racer26

...speaking of Ri3D, anybody know if the minds behind it are planning an encore performance for the 2014 game?

Its kind of interesting though, when you think about the growth in terms of the sheer number of events we hold, and how many fields it means need to be in existence.



2015 is going to be a pretty humongous leap too, what with at least 2 more (and probably 3-4 more) district regions coming online.

All of this feels an awful lot like we're currently riding the corner on an exponential growth pattern.

Its cool stuff to think about.

In FiM (I can't speak for MAR or any of the other districts) the district system provides its own fields except for the state championship.

[BBray_T1296]

Originally Posted by HP42S

Apologies in advance since I've never done FRC before, this could be an obvious question that everyone but me knows the answer to. I see lots of pictures and threads about people building their new drive base and what not during the off-season but how can they know what to build before the January game release? What if you're a rookie team and don't have a KOP from last season? Are you at a disadvantage before you even start?
Maybe it's better to start an unofficial team in the off-season and just buy the same stuff as the previous season KOP then you'd have some experience pre-kickoff plus you could, well, pre-build your drive base like all the other teams seem to do! Or does the game vary enough to force a chassis design change at kickoff? My observation is the same basic drive base seems to have been in the KOP for a few years.

Probably just proven I have no clue....

Teams design and prototype systems (usually drivetrain) because it is a pretty sure shot that we will be allowed to have a drivetrain next year (dont even get me started about a water game ). They make sure their designs will actually work and improve them before kickoff. As per the rules (2013 4.1.4 R16)

ROBOT elements, including software, that are designed or created before Kickoff are not permitted, unless they are publicly available prior to Kickoff.

So, teams publish their CAD and designs to Chief Delphi for community feedback (Co-opertition) and to legally allow them to build it next season.

Teams have to build another "ROBOT element" after kickoff, but it can be identical to the prior design.
It is (for all intents and purposes) impossible for teams to guess next year's game, and it would be foolish for anyone to build a game specific component before knowing definitively what the game will be. Systems such as drivetrains, however, are in the game every year (don't mention it! ), so work on improving them is certainly useful.
If you watched the Championships last year, you may notice the number of high seeding teams with only slightly modified KOP drivetrains. That should be a clear indication that even without a fancy, custom made set of wheels, teams are not necessarily at a disadvantage.

[HP42S]

Originally Posted by BBray_T1296

Teams design and prototype systems (usually drivetrain) because it is a pretty sure shot that we will be allowed to have a drivetrain next year (dont even get me started about a water game ). They make sure their designs will actually work and improve them before kickoff. As per the rules (2013 4.1.4 R16)

So, teams publish their CAD and designs to Chief Delphi for community feedback (Co-opertition) and to legally allow them to build it next season.

Thanks for providing an insight into how it actually works and I think it would certainly make sense for a rookie team to build something like the usual KOP drive train preseason so they also gain some experience before kickoff.
br

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by EricLeifermann

Having a build season that doesn't have a stop build day would just represent what many top level teams area already doing with practice bots, extending the build season way past the 6 weeks.

You say that kind of as if it were a desirable thing for the majority of teams to do....even though they haven't got to where the top teams are in terms of number and dedication of mentors, finding monetary and build space resources, etc.

The poll results are telling, a 70% majority of responses are 6 weeks, and my wild guess is that the top teams are over represented in the poll response.

[BBray_T1296]

Originally Posted by MrForbes

The poll results are telling, a 70% majority of responses are 6 weeks, and my wild guess is that the top teams are over represented in the poll response.

I would think it is safe to say "top teams" spend more time on Chief Delphi in the off season, for one reason or another.

[bduddy]

Originally Posted by BBray_T1296

I would think it is safe to say "top teams" spend more time on Chief Delphi in the off season, for one reason or another.

"Top teams" and their mentors are vastly overrepresented on CD in general. It's sort of annoying how people often represent the opinion of CD as the opinion of the FIRST community at large...