FRC Blog - It Wasn’t Against the Rules

[BigJ]

Originally Posted by Mr V

Well they did use their time out before the 3rd match of the finals and it was a serious hit from one of their robots that caused the damage that needed to be fixed. So the time out was going to go to "waste" if it wasn't used at that point and while you may not be able to say that the damage was solely their fault they certainly played a part in it.

I think the concern (at least for me) is if I am an alliance captain and an opponent breaks down without a timeout after, say, Finals 1. I would really want to save my timeout because you never know when a DSC could decide to fry itself or whatever, and I hope I wouldn't be considered a jerk for holding the timeout.

[bduddy]

Originally Posted by Mr V

Well they did use their time out before the 3rd match of the finals and it was a serious hit from one of their robots that caused the damage that needed to be fixed. So the time out was going to go to "waste" if it wasn't used at that point and while you may not be able to say that the damage was solely their fault they certainly played a part in it.

I agree with you completely. Those details were missing from Frank's post, though.

[orangemoore]

I think all teams involved with a situation posed in the blog need to know/understand that it is up to the alliance to make the decision about the timeout. And it is their right to make what ever choice they want to. The people in the FRC community need to understand that there may be more to the situation that people don't know about. If someone were to choose not to give the timeout then that should be respected and not taken as being UN-GP. For the people who may assume that are the ones being ungracious. I personally hope that all teams would give the timeout but I would be fine and respect them if they didn't.

Note : I use give instead what the proper term is because I don't know how to phrase it.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

It is nice to hear they are making strides to fix the issues with hot goal and pedestal timing.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

It is nice to hear they are making strides to fix the issues with hot goal and pedestal timing.

This is still happening at the UC Davis regional and I assume everywhere else.

[Dale]

One of the things we've been doing in the Northwest for Girls' Generation and BunnyBots is playing by IRI rules where there are four robots per alliance, not just three. That means you have a built in backup. Championships will run the same way this year. What we do, though, is not allow timeouts at all. That makes it more likely the backup robot will play and keeps things moving.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

This is still happening at the UC Davis regional and I assume everywhere else.

Can we get confirmed reports of happiness or blar from other events?

[DampRobot]

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

This is still happening at the UC Davis regional and I assume everywhere else.

It may have been an issue for others, but for us pedestal timing has been pretty good for us.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by DampRobot

It may have been an issue for others, but for us pedestal timing has been pretty good for us.

I know pedestal timing is still being reported as an issue from GKC.

[GaryVoshol]

From the few times I could watch today, and in testing last night, at Escanaba there is minimal delay for the pedestals. Sometimes it lights up almost immediately after the ref pushes the end cycle; sometimes it takes 1 or 1.5 seconds.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

From the few times I could watch today, and in testing last night, at Escanaba there is minimal delay for the pedestals. Sometimes it lights up almost immediately after the ref pushes the end cycle; sometimes it takes 1 or 1.5 seconds.

Groovy. Now we just need to make sure the refs push the end cycle button on time (and not 15 seconds later, after the match ends...).

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

From the few times I could watch today, and in testing last night, at Escanaba there is minimal delay for the pedestals. Sometimes it lights up almost immediately after the ref pushes the end cycle; sometimes it takes 1 or 1.5 seconds.

Pretty sure pedestal delays are still a serious issue. Our team's second match today looked to have a delay of around 30 seconds. A ref and field reset worker eventually physically gave our human player a different ball. Our ref then told our student that if the student could watch the video we took and tell for sure that there was an issue then he would consider taking action. After the student confirmed the issue, nothing was done.

In the same match there was also some assists that failed to get counted for us, but that is just human error and wouldn't have made a difference in the match.

[waialua359]

Dallas overall went well with very few pedestal issues. Some, but only a couple.

The main issue is not correctly assigning assist points.
I saw 3 matches today that didnt award 3 assists whenever the last shot missed the high goal and rolled all the way back. When a robot drove back to get it and score, they only awarded that high goal shot vs. having the full cycle assist points.
It was corrected once when our alliance questioned it and the announcer even verified it with the head ref.
They also didnt initially call an assist where an inbounder threw it on a robot who spit it out from their intake roller a few seconds later.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

Groovy. Now we just need to make sure the refs push the end cycle button on time (and not 15 seconds later, after the match ends...).

Travis,

I know that you are upset over the pedestal issues, but comments like this make you sound like a 5 year old having a temper tantrum.

Maybe, instead of bashing the volunteers, you might lead the charge and work to get a groundswell of volunteers to help the refs?

hmmm? Maybe that would help ... instead of bashing those that are doing their best under difficult circumstances.

Just a thought.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

Travis,

I know that you are upset over the pedestal issues, but comments like this make you sound like a 5 year old having a temper tantrum.

Maybe, instead of bashing the volunteers, you might lead the charge and work to get a groundswell of volunteers to help the refs?

hmmm? Maybe that would help ... instead of bashing those that are doing their best under difficult circumstances.

Just a thought.

Perhaps for some, their best isn't good enough?

While I respect in general what volunteers bring to the table at each event, and I know in particular a referee's job can be difficult; what I do not, can not, and will not respect is repeated demonstrated ineptitude at doing one's job, especially when it is to the detriment of numerous paying customers in attendance. Mistakes here and there can be accepted; however, repeated infractions that affect single teams are inexcusable. Is it not a natural expectation of PAYING CUSTOMERS to expect referees to learn from their mistakes and make adjustments to their methods such that these mistakes are not repeated on a regular basis?

It is exceedingly silly to me to observe numerous documented cases where goal score entry is delayed by 10 seconds or more such that teams are ABSOLUTELY CRIPPLED IN THEIR ABILITY TO PLAY THE GAME, especially when these oversights occur late in close match situations.

Pardon me for not skipping through the GP daisies and blindly accepting such things repeatedly happening to multiple teams at a competition.