2014 Waterloo Regional

[Navid Shafa]

Originally Posted by Navid Shafa

Will 1114 and 2056 get to play together?
Will 254 overthrow 1114's Blue Banner Count?
Will 2056 keep their 17 Regional Win streak alive?

• The Canadians Brothers were split.
• 254 moves up to 34 in the blue banner count and overtakes 1114's previous all-time record.
• 2056 is now at an 18 Regional Win streak, they are looking to add one more on the year at Windsor Essex in week 6.

[TikiTech]

Originally Posted by Tungrus

@ 1:17 in video 1114 was driving to stop blue robot from picking the ball. Though blue robot was moving with extended appendage, it was 1114 who drove into them. From my couch it looks like refs made correct call.

I wonder how long the argument was trying to show that they were forced, by damaged caused by another robot, G14. to violate rule R3. Though G14 would not apply because the damage was not caused by "Strategies aimed solely at forcing the opposing ALLIANCE to violate a rule"

So much influence the new rules update... Some regionals there was little defense!

Still such a supreme round of matches. Well done to all competitors!

Aloha!

[Reanna]

Which teams received wild card slots? (If any)

[ErvinI]

Originally Posted by Reanna

Which teams received wild card slots? (If any)

3683 did, I believe that was it (due to 254 winning CVR).

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by ErvinI

3683 did, I believe that was it (due to 254 winning CVR).

That's correct.

[Abhishek R]

Originally Posted by ErvinI

3683 did, I believe that was it (due to 254 winning CVR).

Glad to see them going to Champs, they played great here and at GTR.

[Ian Curtis]

Originally Posted by FRC Director Blog

We’re seeing lots of penalties being called. We’ve modified G40 and G28 to hopefully reduce the frequency of these particular fouls being called, which were the most prevalent. We did not adjust the points associated with these penalties. With all game-play related penalties, we don’t want an alliance to perceive a potential strategic advantage to intentionally ‘taking the foul’. This is carefully considered when assigning point values. Also, regarding G40, the penalty is high because this is a potential safety issue.

Source

Bold for emphasis. Does the GDC assume broken bits don't count for the purposes of the 20" extension rule? Is there precedent for whether they do, or do not count?

[Thad House]

I was watching the videos of the finals, and I'm wondering why the 2 seed was blue? I always thought that the higher seed was the red alliance. Looking through the rules, I actually didnt see anything in the elimination rules saying what the rules about this are.


Also, these were some absolutely amazing matches. Such a great alliance and strategy.

[Anthony Galea]

Originally Posted by Thad House

I was watching the videos of the finals, and I'm wondering why the 2 seed was blue? I always thought that the higher seed was the red alliance. Looking through the rules, I actually didnt see anything in the elimination rules saying what the rules about this are.


Also, these were some absolutely amazing matches. Such a great alliance and strategy.

The top alliance in the bracket is red, not seed. So because of that, this is the bumpers per round:

1: R R R
2: R R B
3: R B B
4: R B R
5: B B R
6: B B B
7: B R B
8: B R R

[Bongle]

Originally Posted by Thad House

I was watching the videos of the finals, and I'm wondering why the 2 seed was blue? I always thought that the higher seed was the red alliance. Looking through the rules, I actually didnt see anything in the elimination rules saying what the rules about this are.


Also, these were some absolutely amazing matches. Such a great alliance and strategy.

You can also think of it as the highest-seed alliance that each alliance has defeated to that point.

The winner of 3683 (winner of 4v5) vs 4039 (winner of 1v8) will either be or have defeated the #1 alliance, so they get the red bumpers to signify their fearsomeness.

[john.hobbins]

Not 100% sure about this, but I did take lengthy looks at 1114's antennae over the last two regionals and know that one purpose is to secure the shooting mechanism while manually transporting the robot on/off the field. Basically it stabilizes the shooting mechanism by clipping them on to the side of the claw shooter which keeps it steady while moving the robot when it is not in a match. They are also hinged at the bottom and perhaps the hinged portion released and dropped down (meaning it was not actually broken, but just in an undesirable position?) which resulted in the penalty. Too bad either way as no one wants to see matches determined this way. That 1114 robot is one heck of a beautiful machine...

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by john.hobbins

They are also hinged at the bottom and perhaps the hinged portion released and dropped down (meaning it was not actually broken, but just in an undesirable position?) which resulted in the penalty.

This is incorrect. It was definitely broken.

Originally Posted by john.hobbins

Too bad either way as no one wants to see matches determined this way.

You seemed pretty happy about it from your vantage point behind the scorers table.

[Cullenwelch88]

I personally don't think anyone would be happy with what has happened.

[Karthik]

Aside from the nonsense during the semifinals, The Waterloo Regional was once again an amazing event. It was great to see our friends from Team 254 make the journey all the way from California, and even better watching their robot dominate on the field. Our team had a lot of fun hanging out with you guys and is looking forward to doing more of it in St. Louis.

Congratulations to Team 2056 on extending their regional win streak to 18. You guys kept improving throughout the weekend, and proved to everyone why doubting 2056 is never a good idea. It's easy to forget how impressive your streak actually is. We're now on eight seasons of 2056 never losing a regional, competing against the top teams in FIRST. Unreal. Also, congratulations to Team 865 on their 3rd ever regional win. It was great seeing you convert from a defensive robot in qualifying to an assisting robots in the eliminations.

A special shoutout goes to Team 3683, on earning their first ever trip champs with a Wildcard generated by Team 254. We love working with you guys both at our practice field and at competition. We're pumped to see you see you show off your robot on the big stage in St. Louis.

Thank you to our alliance partners Team 4039 and 4907. In case you haven't been paying attention, Team 4039 has been the most under the radar team in FIRST over the past two seasons. We really hope you qualify for Champs in NYC, because it would be a shame to see an elite robot as theirs miss out on chance to play with and against the best.

In terms of individuals, three people very close to our team took home some hardware this weekend. Tarjote Chaggar from 2056 won the Volunteer of the Year, Matt Alderson from 4039 won the WFFA and Krysta Peralto from 3161 won her second Dean's List Finalist Award. It was great to see such amazing people earn these prestigious honours.

Finally congratulations to Team 1334 for a long overdue Chairman's Award. I've thought you've deserved a CA for the past 5 years, but for whatever reason you kept getting passed over. It rather satisfying to see you finally get the recognition your program deserves.

[BenB]

There seems to be some confusion over the purpose of the wings on our robot, so I thought I would clarify.

They were originally designed to aid with catching. It was conveniently located to serve a dual purpose of supporting our claw in starting configuration while the robot is turned off.

The wings can be in three positions, actuated by a 3/4" bore pneumatic cylinder on each wing. When the cylinder is fully extended, the wings are open and extend ~18" outside our frame perimeter. Due to a compression spring on the cylinder rod, when the cylinders are "retracted", the wings extend ~3" outside our frame perimeter; just enough to allow the starting config hooks to move past them during match play. To put the robot in starting config, we pull the wings in further, compressing the springs around the cylinder rod and hook them onto the claw.

The damage we sustained in SF1-3 sheared the 1/4" steel cylinder rod on one of our wings, which is always completely inside our frame perimeter.