Week 1 Analysis

[Rohawk1]

-Scout to see if bots "play nice with others"

-Edxu is right, truss shots can easily sway a match

-Human Players can really screw up a match

-Alliance selection will decide (most of the time) if you win, so scouting programs have to be excellent this year.

-quick two assist cycles with one defense bot worked well.

[markmcgary]

Originally Posted by BigJ

I only watched for an hour or so yesterday, and it was mostly superb. If you are looking for small improvements, sometimes there seemed to be music from the venue and possibly music from your streaming computer playing at the same time.

I was real happy with the Citrus Circuits streaming video also. The only tiny issue I noticed was the fade to black during camera angle changes. Sometimes they happened at just the wrong time. Maybe a cross-fade instead?

Thanks to 1678 for hosting the IE streaming video!

[PVCpirate]

Originally Posted by Citrus Dad

Do you have an opinion about webstreaming at Inland Empire? Our team ran that one, and we're hoping to run it at UCD.

Great stream, the full-field view is the best for webcasts because I feel like I'm up in the stands, and I'm not going to miss anything. My only complaint was that the score on your in-match overlay was often different from the one on the projector screen. I'd like to see the official score. Other than that, you guys did a great job with it and I'd love to see it for more events.

[BBray_T1296]

Originally Posted by markmcgary

I was real happy with the Citrus Circuits streaming video also. The only tiny issue I noticed was the fade to black during camera angle changes. Sometimes they happened at just the wrong time. Maybe a cross-fade instead?

I am fine with hard switches in sporting events personally. Cross fades are better than fade to black, but cross fades are generally unintelligible while both feeds are shown at once.

One thing to note (didn't watch any regional but Alamo). When the MC is announcing the teams should be the only time the alliance station cam should be used. Showing the drivers during a match is annoying, and useless. We want to see the robots. Generally speaking I also hate to see the view of one robot mega close to a camera, it is cool seeing them up close, but again, I want to see the match.

[Citrus Dad]

Originally Posted by dag0620

Well I can personally comment on that.

It was a great webcast. I liked having the full field view separate from the production company, but still having the timer, scores, etc. I know doing that independent of the FMS must not have been easy, but it was great!

Keep up the good work!

Thanks!

[Citrus Dad]

Originally Posted by BigJ

I only watched for an hour or so yesterday, and it was mostly superb. If you are looking for small improvements, sometimes there seemed to be music from the venue and possibly music from your streaming computer playing at the same time.

Thanks. Yes we're aware of the audio issue. We actually used Skype to send audio to avoid hardwires, but it had some reliability problems.

[Citrus Dad]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

Are you all going to publish anything on how you ran yours? I really liked it in the offseason and now, and I can't be the only one curious to try it out myself.

Yes, I've asked the students to prepare a write up (in part because they are seniors!) and we'll share it on Chief Delphi.

[cmrnpizzo14]

Originally Posted by Citrus Dad

Do you have an opinion about webstreaming at Inland Empire? Our team ran that one, and we're hoping to run it at UCD.

Loved the full field with the score overlay. It took my favorite part of the Michigan webcasts, the full field view, and improved it by putting the score up and removing the awkward fish-eye view.

[Madison]

In the Southfield final 1 video -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPlx4MOkVck -- it looks as if the robots are disabled a second or two before the buzzer sounds the end of the match.

Any ideas why? Did the clock hit zero when the robot were disabled or when the buzzer sounded?

[AdamHeard]

Originally Posted by cmrnpizzo14

Loved the full field with the score overlay. It took my favorite part of the Michigan webcasts, the full field view, and improved it by putting the score up and removing the awkward fish-eye view.

I prefer the fish eye view to the stood back midfield view.

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by Madison

In the Southfield final 1 video -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPlx4MOkVck -- it looks as if the robots are disabled a second or two before the buzzer sounds the end of the match.

Any ideas why? Did the clock hit zero when the robot were disabled or when the buzzer sounded?

I noticed the same thing in some (but not all) matches at GTRW.

[Abhishek R]

Originally Posted by Madison

In the Southfield final 1 video -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPlx4MOkVck -- it looks as if the robots are disabled a second or two before the buzzer sounds the end of the match.

Any ideas why? Did the clock hit zero when the robot were disabled or when the buzzer sounded?

This occurred in several matches at Alamo too. The robot would suddenly stop moving and the buzzer was always delayed.

Since the autonomous lights and goals were sometimes delayed, and possibly the computation of assists, I think this may be connected to the other issues we have been seeing with the field systems.

[FearMyRush]

From what I have seen in the streams that I have watched fouls are huge in determining the outcome of the game, however defense is also important. There is no sense in sitting there after your alliance has shot or passed the ball when you could be obstructing another alliance from scoring. Beware G40 for it is always watching...

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Abhishek R

This occurred in several matches at Alamo too. The robot would suddenly stop moving and the buzzer was always delayed.

Since the autonomous lights and goals were sometimes delayed, and possibly the computation of assists, I think this may be connected to the other issues we have been seeing with the field systems.

There were oddities I dont remember from previous years. Sometimes at Alamo, the clock would hit zero, the lights would go out, the robots would stop, and the buzzer would sound. Those events drug out over the course of at least 2-3 seconds. Odd...

[Anthony Galea]

This is probably going to come off as long, whiny, and un-GP, but bear with me. I would like the referees to LEARN the rules, or at least be consistent. I am only posting this now because I fact checked beforehand.

First, during eliminations, whenever someone from our team would go up to the question box, we would be told, "You need the alliance captain in the question box"
I will simply quote the Game Manual for this:

T13
If a TEAM needs clarification on a ruling or score, one (1) pre-college student from that TEAM should address the Head Referee after the ARENA reset signal (i.e. PLAYER STATION LED strings turn green). A TEAM member signals their desire to speak with the Head Referee by standing in a Red or Blue Question Box, which are located on the floor near each end of the scoring table. Depending on timing, the Head Referee may postpone any requested discussion until the end of the subsequent MATCH.

Second, in Q-24, 3667 (This is in NO way putting them down) got disabled with the ball between them and the opposing low goal. We ended up losing the match, due to that reason. Afterwards, we sent a team member to the question box to inquire if, during that match, we were allowed to hold up the dead ball sign to render the ball dead. The referee told us yes, that we could. Later, when we were at the practice field, a referee came up to our drive team, and told us they were wrong, and that what they told us was incorrect. Our drive team was okay with that, because we had not tried using it since then, and they had delivered the correct rule.

Fast forward to Finals Match 1 (we are blue). After autonomous, a missed ball is on the red side of the field, and it goes in front of the red low goal, and there is chaos (as usual) around the ball, and 453 (red, once again, NOT putting them down) gets disabled with the blue ball between them and the wall, and the red low goal behind them. Because of what we were told earlier, we did not hold up the dead ball sign (which is also reinforced by the Q&A here), yet no possession call was made on 453, which should have been a G12, a 50 point technical foul. After the match, the referees said that we needed to hold up the dead ball sign. This lost us F-1.

So, to add on to everyone's complaints about missed calls, G26 (sodizzle, Joseph, and Tom, I agree with you on those miscalls, I mean come on, BLUE BOX) and G40 (which actually isn't too hard to not get called on as long as you're careful and take a tad more time), if you are a referee, PLEASE read the rulebook.