2014 Waterloo Regional

[JTEarley]

does anybody know the current standings?

[Navid Shafa]

Originally Posted by Mike Soukup

I got word from Karthik that FMS is unable to FTP the results after each match. They plan to manually FTP during lunch and at the end of the day. I will withhold my snarky comment about the unreliability of the FMS data feed, this really isn't a hard problem to solve.

Hopefully they can get this figured out for tomorrow.

Thanks to 1114 for posting this on Facebook (as of match 35):

[bduddy]

I'm not sure that FIRST realizes exactly how much things like working Twitter feeds and live streams matter to making FRC an event people want to, and will, watch.

[Yipyapper]

Originally Posted by Racer26

781/4678/3683 just put up 265 Auto+Teleop Points. Nicely done.

Thanks.

In case anyone was wondering what happened to us after that match, a robot smashed into us and slipped out our left drive chain, beat up the left drive talon and disconnected a couple of spots on our welded shooter frame. For the next three matches, we only used the rollers and could not shoot/truss/etc with the shooter.

We hope that it will work a lot better tomorrow, but the damage was pretty bad. Rough game out there (the other alliance had 250 in foul points and a yellow card, in case you were curious). Really fun regional to watch, though, and teams like 3683, 4039, 4678, 1114, 254 amongst many, many others are all wonderful to interact with in the competition.

And if you wanted more clarification on the overturn, the call was initially made against a team on the other alliance for damaging our elephant ear, which won us the match along with a normal foul. We didn't feel it was right, so we mentioned it to the referee when the other alliance began protesting. Winning is great and all, but it felt pretty crappy to win like that.

Only thing I can think of right now, though, is the damage we took. It'll really hurt our scores, record and scouting data for other teams.

[magnets]

Originally Posted by bduddy

I'm not sure that FIRST realizes exactly how much things like working Twitter feeds and live streams matter to making FRC an event people want to, and will, watch.

They obviously don't care. Many people have commented that the current field system is way too complicated and poorly implemented. Streaming of events has been happening since 2003, and 11 years later, it hasn't got much better. There is very obviously internet access at this regional, but for some reason, it doesn't work with the FMS. The method of getting twitter data for matches is total nonsense. There's no reason why FIRST shouldn't make the data available in a way that actually makes sense.

The problem is that the FMS isn't set up in a way that lets FIRST modify it to fix problems easily. The field issues with inconsistent hot goal timing and pedestal delays are still causing multiple replays at each day at each competition for 5 weeks now. The fact that they can't figure out how to fix it in this amount of time is very telling.

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by magnets

There is very obviously internet access at this regional, but for some reason, it doesn't work with the FMS.

This is the second Canadian regional that's had no trouble at all streaming 720p video from the venue, but can't seem to get FMS updating to the web.

Historically, Waterloo hasn't had any issues of this nature from what I can recall. I wonder if something changed in the FMS for 2014 that's broken updating at *some* events.

[magnets]

Originally Posted by Racer26

This is the second Canadian regional that's had no trouble at all streaming 720p video from the venue, but can't seem to get FMS updating to the web.

Historically, Waterloo hasn't had any issues of this nature from what I can recall. I wonder if something changed in the FMS for 2014 that's broken updating at *some* events.

Yes, the FMS this year has changes. Changes include new fonts for the score, rank near team numbers, a score bar that looks good in a 16:9 ratio. There is also a longer delay between teleop and auto, and I think the scoring tablets are set up a little differently. I just hope that the new FMS for the 2015 control system works better than this one.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by Racer26

This is the second Canadian regional that's had no trouble at all streaming 720p video from the venue, but can't seem to get FMS updating to the web.

Historically, Waterloo hasn't had any issues of this nature from what I can recall. I wonder if something changed in the FMS for 2014 that's broken updating at *some* events.

It has been stated at the event that this is a problem with the FIRST FTP server.

[Bochek]

Originally Posted by Cory

It has been stated at the event that this is a problem with the FIRST FTP server.

It must be the server side, because I am uploading match archives via FTP from the same network connection.

[Akash Rastogi]

4039 is dirty. Really nice driving.

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by Cory

It has been stated at the event that this is a problem with the FIRST FTP server.

I don't debate that this may be the case, but other events are able to upload, so obviously *something* at HQ is working. Its strange.

Anybody know if the field in Waterloo is the same field that was at GTRW?

Perhaps there is a setting off on the field server?

[Navid Shafa]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

4039 is dirty. Really nice driving.

4039 has been performing consistently well today. They definitely are a top 5 bot at Waterloo. Looking at their robot, I'm curious if they were inspired by past 2056 style design methods, or if they have any relation to OP.

[Woolly]

Originally Posted by Akash Rastogi

4039 is dirty. Really nice driving.

Their drive train is a bit weaker than I would like, but they've got shooting down.
They need to get with a team that has a strong drive train and good drivers that can run picks for them.

But if they hold on to that #1 spot in the rankings, that won't be a problem.

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by Navid Shafa

4039 has been performing consistently well today. They definitely are a top 5 bot at Waterloo. Looking at their robot, I'm curious if they were inspired by past 2056 style design methods, or if they have any relation to OP.

I know 4039 has practiced at the facility that 1114/1503/2056/2852 share. I'm sure there is 2056 influence afoot.

Originally Posted by Woolly

They need to get with a team that has a strong drive train and good drivers that can run picks for them.

But if they hold on to that #1 spot in the rankings, that won't be a problem.

4039/254 v 1114/2056 could make for interesting finals.

[George Nishimura]

Originally Posted by Racer26

4039/254 v 1114/2056 could make for interesting finals.

That would be one tricky pick list. The possibility of having to choose to play any one of 254/1114, 2056/1114 or 254/2056 as a consequence, before even thinking about 1241/1285/3683/4678/etc.

With so few teams but so much depth, it's ambiguous as to whether it's a case of 'impossible to get wrong' or 'impossible to get right'.