Team 254 Presents: Chezy Champs

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by Pat Fairbank

We'll be releasing the source and binaries to Cheesy Arena within the next couple of weeks, once I remove the CC branding and write some documentation.

I can't wait.

One thing I'm wondering is how easy will this be to run alongside the real FMS at regionals, just so we can use the graphics on web streams. Basically we would have to enter the match schedule and hand input scores, unless the new API gets integrated.

The event was awesome to watch live and I thank everyone that worked on it for showing us all how an FRC competition should be broadcasted.

It would be nice to know how much the setup cost for other off-seasons/regionals that want to invest in this. Plus how many people were dedicated to the production experience for the viewers.

[Mark Sheridan]

This was absolutely the best off-season event I ever been too. I can vouch for 766, 3309 and 3476, they had a fantastic time.

A few things I thought were awesome:
1. The Chezy Arena was fantastic. The pedestal lighting timing, and real time scoring were awesome. I thought the LCD displays for the driver stations were cool and very useful for making sure your robot was connected. Plus there was no arena faults that I was aware of, absolutely awesome.
2. The team of FTAs and mentors that were debugging robots on the field was amazing. They caught so many robot issues, got so many robots running and helped so many team fix their problems. They really made sure everyone got the most out of their matches.
3. The Refs were really good and there were only 4 of them. They made some very excellent calls. Plus they were super nice too.
4. Of course the best MCs Paul and Karthik, they had some really good match intros and play by plays. I am going to have to listen back to all their jokes.
5. The whole gamesense crew took this event to a whole new level. I am still processing how sureal have such a professional commentary at an robotics event. All my students were really proud to hear their name in match analysis. It was really inspirational for them to step into that limelight.

Overall, I was very happy to come to this event. I big thank you for all the volunteers for making this happen. I look forward to the 2015 chezy champs.

[Eugene Fang]

Originally Posted by NWChen

Who were the award winners?

The awards are up here: http://www.thebluealliance.com/event/2014cc

I was really disappointed that I moved out of the Bay Area in time to miss the inaugural Chezy Champs, but the production value of the GameSense stream and Cheesy Arena's nice score overlays made it an amazing remote-viewing experience.

Also, it was great to have Cheesy Arena publish scores, rankings, and alliance selections to TBA throughout the event. I hate hunting around for offseason event results, and the results were available faster than those for official FIRST events!

[Jonathan Norris]

Originally Posted by Pat Fairbank

We'll be releasing the source and binaries to Cheesy Arena within the next couple of weeks, once I remove the CC branding and write some documentation.

The lights are custom -- the Phillips lights and DMX controllers are prohibitively expensive so we made our own, driven by an embedded processor which was controlled over the field network via UDP.

Cheesy Arena was incredible Pat, I was blown away by it. I probably watched the arena/video setup more for the first hour I was there then the matches. Looking forward to taking a peak at the code.

FIRST is missing a HUGE opportunity to improve their code (FMS/CRio libraries/Driver Station/ect.) by not open sourcing it all. There are so many incredible student and mentor programers that could help build the future of FIRST if they just let us send pull requests... I hope you guys continue to lead the way in open sourcing everything and showing FIRST that a small group of students and mentors can build better systems then they could ever pay for.

[Pat Fairbank]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

One thing I'm wondering is how easy will this be to run alongside the real FMS at regionals, just so we can use the graphics on web streams. Basically we would have to enter the match schedule and hand input scores, unless the new API gets integrated.

The event was awesome to watch live and I thank everyone that worked on it for showing us all how an FRC competition should be broadcasted.

It would be nice to know how much the setup cost for other off-seasons/regionals that want to invest in this. Plus how many people were dedicated to the production experience for the viewers.

That's a cool use case for Cheesy Arena I hadn't though of. I could add functionality to pull in a match schedule for an existing event, and then it wouldn't be that hard to run it standalone for the purpose of webcast overlays. The realtime scoring for this year's game only took two (albeit really capable) people, and you'd need one more to start/stop the match and control the overlays.

Other than the scorekeepers, we had one person on the video switcher and one camera operator, plus the six-person GameSense crew.

I can't speak to the cost of the production equipment since we got most of it with the PNW field we rented, but their forthcoming white paper should explain it. The field electronics added up to around $2000, which includes the networking hardware, LEDs, alliance station displays, and cables. Considerably less than the $100k+ cost of the official electronics, judging by how much insurance offseasons using them are expected to obtain.

[Metonym]

Originally Posted by Pat Fairbank

I can't speak to the cost of the production equipment since we got most of it with the PNW field we rented

You guys received a slightly modified version of what we used at most events, lets just say our inventory lists are bit messed up right now and I don't know what was sent. But I can still give the value of the equipment we generally take to districts, which is about $20,000+. I'm being a bit generous, there is a lot of stuff that is being tested and stuff we need to inventory before I can really be sure of our gear cost.

Originally Posted by Pat Fairbank

forthcoming white paper should explain it

Oh don't remind me. I don't know how close we are to finalizing that. The FIRSTWA staff isn't very large and there is always something else that takes priority.

On another note, I sadly didn't get the chance to sit down and watch the broadcast properly, but after seeing the VODs I was a bit disappointed in some production choices. Otherwise it looked great and I congratulate the Game Sense crew on a great first event as a production team. Did the highlight reel get posted anywhere?

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by Metonym

Did the highlight reel get posted anywhere?

I should have the highlight reels posted tonight, didn't have enough time to get them up before we left Cali.

[AdamHeard]

What a great event!

Everything about it was pleasant... it's just the little things that add up.

The match timing was hectic, which is common for CA offseasons... but usually we're not playing such good teams every match and have more room to breath!

I hope everyone enjoyed me embarrassing myself in a "Bro-Tank", my team always comments I take things too seriously so I figure if there was any event to be Chezy it was this one. I apologize for anyone suffering from eye damage due to the paleness.

As for our performance, I think it is a great reminder to our students (and other teams) that the phrase , "Fail to plan, plan to fail" is always true. A lot of little details were overlooked going into the event, and these add up to bite you. This combined with the completely unforseeable failure of driveshafts made us play awful. I know my student leaders will learn a great deal from this painful lesson. I hope no one gets offended by this, but winning a non-champs event as a 3rd is not how 973 would like to win events.

As for our drive failures, we started snapping our gearbox output shafts (3CIM ballshifter we turned to .5" round then milled to 7/16" hex, snapped at that junction) at this event and ran out of spares Sunday morning. We actually didn't even have spares made, we just pulled them from practice bot. Similar geometry hasn't failed on us before, so this was scary. This game is far more intense than previous years though. The same shafts did last our 2nd regional and champs for reference. This combined was terrifying to us as we couldn't predict when they'd break again (as some had lasted several events, some had lasted 3 matches). If we broke another in elims we'd have to be subbed out.

For other small and combined reasons, we weren't able to reliably shoot top goal or truss (there was a time lag on the truss release, which made aiming to the HP very difficult). We also were bending frame in a way that made our intake incapable of picking up balls in most matches. All of these will be fixed of course!

I warned most of the alliance captains I could find, because 973 is very conservative when drafting teams, as I would appreciate knowing such risks about potential picks.

We very much appreciate our buddies on 1678 and 254 taking chance on us, I guess it was easier for their alliance to take the risk for two reasons. First, they were darn good. Second, they knew the next seeded team was 114, who was likely the quality of their non-973 options anyway. So if we died, they'd have a decent replacement.

For those accusing us of being deceptive, we're just as good of friends with 971 as the above teams, and they chose to PASS on us knowing the risks we had. If I were any of the alliance captains, I likely would not have picked us (except maybe in 1678's spot, knowing 114 was the backup). I'm glad we broke no shafts in elims, as it would have been very upsetting to us to let others down.

We are also grateful to teams 4543 and 5136 for allowing our scouts to work with you for alliance selections. Our students were bummed that the scouting they practiced wouldn't be useful for guiding picks for 973, so being able to discuss and have some input with picks of other teams was a cool experience for them. Sounds like some of the students made some new friends out of it too.

Watch out for 5136 in the future, they're a team that gets it. They work within their means and are looking to also increase their resources. I'm excited for their potential.

Overall it was a well run event and lots of fun. The humor the Paul/Karthik combo brought along with the reduced seriousness of the event was a nice change of pace compared to the typical event. I hope (and expect!) an even bigger and better Chezy Champs next year!

[Michael Corsetto]

254, thank you so much for showing the world how truly awesome competitive robotics at the FRC level can be. When you combine passion, skill and an unwavering desire for excellence, its no wonder Chezy Champs has become the best event in FRC.

And it goes a lot deeper than proper pedestal and hot goal timing:

• The signage was clear and helpful.
• The food vendors were many.
• The atmosphere was relaxed but energetic.
• I didn't hear a single kid yell "ROBOT" all weekend.
• FTA's could debug problems faster with the diagnostics page on their smartphone.
• They took a break between qualification matches and alliance selection to let us make pick lists.
• Elimination Matches ended on time.
• API to put match data in the hands of the GameSense crew.
• No fog horns.
• Few penalties.
• Scorekeepers keeping score so the refs could call the game.
• Awesome trophies.
• And the list goes on...

Poofs, you put on an incredible event. I can't thank you enough.

And a HUGE thank you to the GameSense crew and FIRST WA for helping make this event possible. GameSense worked unbelievably hard to put together the best live coverage of an FRC event in history. They truly are the ESPN of FIRST and its a shame we can't clone them to cover every event. FIRST WA, thanks for sending the field and AV equipment, you guys have an incredible set up!

Huge thanks to 254 and 973 for taking our all-Einstein, "Suns Out, Guns Out" alliance all the way. Nice to play on the same side of the glass for once this season.

Thanks to 971, 846 and 2135 for making the finals the most epic matches I've ever seen. It was amazing how high the scores were with all that defense!

Special thanks to our friends on 148, 1318, 1983 and 2928 for coming from out-of-state for this event. We hope you want to come back next year, and maybe bring some of your friends with you! **cough** 118 **cough**

This really was the Best in the West. We can't wait for CC 2015!

-Mike

Side note: For those of you interested, I told 973 on Sunday morning that there was no way they would be available as a 24th pick, and I would literally do a backflip if we got to pick them. Well, it happened, and here is that backflip.

[icecube45]

Originally Posted by AdamHeard

Second, they knew the next seeded team was 114, who was likely the quality of their non-973 options anyway. So if we died, they'd have a decent replacement.

ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ We're decent! ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ

[Citrus Dad]

Originally Posted by kevincrispie

Weren't you ranked 7th and on the 6th seeded alliance in 2013 at Central Valley? (still counts as </= 2 years as far as I'm aware.)

Just because you played the draft intelligently and ended up winning the competition with a solid robot doesn't mean you can claim a number 1 or 2 seed out of it.

urrrr, right... We like to forget that part....

[Citrus Dad]

I second Mike's comments. Incredibly fun. Every match seemed to count toward having an impact on the final rankings and alliance choices. 254 demonstrated that we can have a high quality event outside of Regionals for a reasonable cost. All in all a great success.

My only complaint - the match schedule had us competing with and against several teams (e.g., 2928, 846) 3 or 4 times, while we never were in a match with others (e.g., 3476, 696). Not sure what's the setting on matchmaker to avoid that problem. I know that the Poufs were rushed at the end due to late drops. Only a minor complaint.

[Francis-134]

We have posted the raw images of all the robots at the event at our imgur. These are the same images you may have seen over the weekend.

[AllenGregoryIV]

Originally Posted by Francis-134

We have posted the raw images of all the robots at the event at our imgur. These are the same images you may have seen over the weekend.

Thanks for posting this. Now to do this at every event, with a custom background per event. Seems pretty easy to do it as part of inspection. Perhaps have the back ground right behind the scale. Get weighed and get your photo taken.

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

Thanks for posting this. Now to do this at every event, with a custom background per event. Seems pretty easy to do it as part of inspection. Perhaps have the back ground right behind the scale. Get weighed and get your photo taken.

Better yet, integrate it with FMS and a high quality webcam. Put your robot on the scale, get the weight, take a picture, it's automatically labeled and linked to the FMS. Then have it published on the FIRST website team list and show them before each match.