2015 Midwest Regional

[Mark Holschuh]

Thanks to our alliance partners, teams 16 and 2358. I've always wanted to play in eliminations with the Bomb Squad. I can check that off of my FIRST bucket list now.

I was amazed at the accessories that the Bomb Squad had for their robot. They certainly are one of the fastest stacking teams at a feeder station, and Alliance captains at the Championship should take note of all the special options this team has to offer.

A special thanks to Bearbotics. They were able to strip down their robot and adapt it into a canburgler with Bomb Squad parts between eliminations matches. Parts were literally flying off the robot.

Our alliance certainly didn't hold anything back. It was a lot of fun!

[pwnageNick]

Originally Posted by Sunshine

New update clarifies what happens when a team declines during aliance selection. This update would have had a great effect had Team 2451 - PWNAGE been brought in as a replacement. If I'm interpreting the update correctly, 2451 could not be first alternate after declining because their robot was not functional. FYI, we were told that they had fixed their bot and was indeed the first alternate.

5.4 Playoff MATCHES
At the end of the Qualification MATCHES, the top eight (8) seeded Teams become the ALLIANCE Leads. The top seeded ALLIANCES are designated, in order, ALLIANCE
One, ALLIANCE Two, etc., down to ALLIANCE Eight. Using the ALLIANCE selection process described below, each ALLIANCE Lead chooses two (2) other Teams to join their ALLIANCE. If a team declines the ALLIANCE Lead position or doesn’t send a representative for ALLIANCE selection, they are ineligible to participate in the rest of the Tournament. If the declining/absent team would have been an ALLIANCE Lead, all lower ranked ALLIANCE Leads are promoted one spot. The next highest-seeded team moves up to become the ALLIANCE Eight Lead.

5.4.1 ALLIANCE Selection Process
If the Team declines, that Team is not eligible to be picked again or to be a BACKUP TEAM, and the ALLIANCE CAPTAIN extends another invitation to a different Team. If an invitation from a top eight ALLIANCE to another ALLIANCE Lead is declined, the declining Team may still invite Teams to join their ALLIANCE; however, it cannot accept invitations from other ALLIANCES.

Yes, this rule update was the result of events that unfolded at Midwest. Under prior rules, we were still eligible to be a backup robot and were first in line due to being ranked so high. There was a worry once we got our robot working (around the end of Quarterfinal matches) that someone would call for a backup and it would put us in an awkward situation.

Hopefully this rule will stay for future FRC seasons to come so that no other teams run into this situation.