FRC Blogged- District Award Allocations and Kickoff Taping

[Steven Donow]

http://www.usfirst.org/roboticsprogr...Kickoff-Taping

Folks have asked what the allocations will be for awards at District Championships.

The Districts will have flexibility in how they allocate their awards, within boundaries. This gives Districts the ability to tailor the award package available at their Championships to local conditions – team capacity at their Championship, number of rookie teams in their District, leadership preference, etc – while making sure the meaning of each award does not vary too greatly between Districts.

For the 2014 season, allocation ranges will be as follows:

For Chairman’s Award:

One Chairman’s Award for every 6 to 10 allocated FIRST Championship slots, rounded to the nearest whole number.

In practice, for 2014, this means the New England and Pacific Northwest Districts can select 2 to 4 Chairman’s Award winners, the Mid-Atlantic Robotics District can select 2 or 3, and Michigan can select 3 to 5

For Engineering Inspiration Award:

All Districts, 1 or 2

For Rookie All Star Award:

All Districts, 1 or 2

For FIRST Dean’s List Award:

One FIRST Dean’s List Finalist for every 4 to 6 allocated FIRST Championship slots, rounded to the nearest whole number.

In practice, for 2014, this means the New England and Pacific Northwest Districts can select 4 to 6 FIRST Dean’s List Award Finalists, the Mid-Atlantic Robotics District can select 3 to 5, and Michigan can select 5 to 8

For all other judged awards presented at the District Championship, including the Woodie Flower’s Finalist Award, there will be a single winner.

When Districts have made their decisions regarding award quantities within the ranges above, they will be announcing them.

Kickoff Taping

We taped the segments needed for the Kickoff broadcast that involved the field on Saturday. This was the first time we had a chance to take a look at a fully assembled 2014 season field in person rather than on a display screen or on paper. I thought it looked great. Especially impressive was the...but, I guess I shouldn’t say any more.

As you may remember, a few weeks ago we put out a call for team t-shirts that the FRC staff could wear during the taping. FRC Engineering had the idea for staffers in the videos to wear team t-shirts rather than traditional FIRST or FRC shirts. Response was much greater than we expected! 123 teams sent in shirts for us to wear. I was at the taping only for a few hours on Saturday – and it went all day and in to the evening – but I can’t tell you how many times I heard someone shout ‘Wardrobe!’ meaning it was time for the staffers to change their team shirts to get ready for the next scene.

Many team shirts made the videos – but you’ll have to watch them to find out which ones. Remember, also, that in addition to the main Kickoff broadcast, we tape additional videos that present more detail. Staff were wearing team t-shirts during those as well. If time permits, these will be broadcast right after the main video on Kickoff day, and they should also be available on our YouTube channel later in the day. Whether you sent in team t-shirts or not, watching these additional videos will give you a more in-depth understanding of the 2014 season.

Less than a month until Kickoff! I’m very excited.

Frank

Interesting how they're letting each district choose how many of each award to give.

[Calvin Hartley]

Originally Posted by The one and only increasingly awesome Frank

Especially impressive was the...but, I guess I shouldn’t say any more.

This is obviously a hint. Important parts highlighted in red.

Seriously though, I like the variability allowed in the awards.

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by Calvin Hartley

This is obviously a hint. Important parts highlighted in red.

Seriously though, I like the variability allowed in the awards.

He's talking about the pyramids, of course

[Calvin Hartley]

Originally Posted by DevenStonow

He's talking about the pyramids, of course

There's three pyramids this year. Three dots, three pyramids. We've figured out the hint, now we can all go sleep for 3 weeks.

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Calvin Hartley

This is obviously a hint. Important parts highlighted in red.

Ellipsis - a series of dots indicating an omission.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis

Quick, how many wacky game ideas can we generate? Morse code? Falling? Leaving stuff out of goals? GO!

[Taylor]

Dean assigns homework at CMP, hardly anybody does it.
Frank mentions sending in shirts for the video, six score teams do it.

[Basel A]

Originally Posted by Calvin Hartley

There's three pyramids this year. Three dots, three pyramids. We've figured out the hint, now we can all go sleep for 3 weeks.

Well, no. he said "especially impressive was the," not were. It's singular. There's some singular impressive object or structure on the field. Likely central, probably similar to 2007.

[Calvin Hartley]

Originally Posted by Basel A

Well, no. he said "especially impressive was the," not were. It's singular. There's some singular impressive object or structure on the field. Likely central, probably similar to 2007.

Good point. Maybe there's three tiers to the pyramid. Oh... wait a second.


Taylor, I don't want your post to become lost in the jocular comments about this "hint." While I don't have time left (in class ) right now to comment, I would love to see people's thoughts on this. Reasons for lack of participation, how to improve participation, etc.

Originally Posted by Taylor

Dean assigns homework at CMP, hardly anybody does it.
Frank mentions sending in shirts for the video, six score teams do it.

[BigJ]

To be fair, making a good video (during a time of year when everyone is likely doing everything else in their life that doesn't involve robots) is magnitudes of effort and difficulty more than sending in a t-shirt.

[DonRotolo]

Quoted again for truth. Although we don't KNOW how many teams did it.

Originally Posted by Taylor

Dean assigns homework at CMP, hardly anybody does it.
Frank mentions sending in shirts for the video, six score teams do it.

If I were running a district, I would choose as many EI winners as possible, since there is a monetary award as well.

Anyhow, to te obvious game hints:

including the Woodie Flower’s Finalist Award

That incorrect apostrophe is surely a game hint. Coupled to the ellipsis, it is clear to me that there is a grammar element to this year's game, specifically punctuation.

Or maybe it's just a mis-spelling of ellipses, those oblong circle thingies...

[Akash Rastogi]

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

If I were running a district, I would choose as many EI winners as possible, since there is a monetary award as well.

I thought the NASA award excluded districts last year? Am I wrong, or thinking of something else?

Originally Posted by DonRotolo

Q
Or maybe it's just a mis-spelling of ellipses, those oblong circle thingies...

You mean footballs? Clearly, football game piece.

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

I thought the NASA award excluded districts last year? Am I wrong, or thinking of something else?

It excluded winners at individual District events, not winners from the overall "District/Region" (it's a matter of phrasing)

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by Taylor

Dean assigns homework at CMP, hardly anybody does it.
Frank mentions sending in shirts for the video, six score teams do it.

Number of FRC Team's that submitted Dean's HW: ~50
Number of FRC Teams that sent in shirts: 123

Although 'six score' does make it sound like more, it's only 2.5 times more, and as for the bigger picture, compared to the 2,500 FRC teams that competed last season, both still just barely scratch the surface.

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

I thought the NASA award excluded districts last year? Am I wrong, or thinking of something else?

Originally Posted by DevenStonow

It excluded winners at individual District events, not winners from the overall "District/Region" (it's a matter of phrasing)

I think he's trying to say the NASA Grant applied to FIRST Championship registration, but not District Championship registration.

[scottandme]

For MAR - here's the distribution that was given at the 10/26 meeting

18 Slots:
3 MARCMP Event Winner
2 Chairman's Award
2 Engineering Inspiration
1 RAS
10 "points" slots

There are only 5 rookie/1st year teams in MAR, Michigan has 89!