2015 Lessons Learned: The Negative

[ThePaulitician]

This is all for FRC:

-I want to see FIRST do more robot durability challenges. For example, I would always love to see a hockey challenge (one on real ice or some sort of friction-lacking surface if possible) because if it is similar to the real life sport like in the NHL and at the IIHF championships, it would be very much into cooperating with teammates and strategy. Also, I know it is sort of risky and difficult, but if defense is allowed, I would like teams to focus more on durability and maybe even having "skating" robots as opposed to standard drive systems. And if defense is allowed to a certain extent, teams will need to build robots that can take checks, hits, and deflect pucks like ice hockey players. Although it would be a very big change, it would be a challenge that is harder to "exploit" if you know what I mean.

-Overall, I want to see challenges that make teams use their teammates and not "take advantage of the game" all by themselves. I understand that teams are allowed to do and build as they please but I mean in 2013 when SPAM (FRC 180) sat at the feeder station in South Florida and just kept sniping disc after disc, it seemed like it was not even fun or competitive anymore. I mean for me that would not be fun unless I was the human player (which I am now), and the drive team can't have fun with one control in use. I feel like a hockey challenge would be so cool though. Like especially if they implement powerplays and penalty kills where teams would lose bots temporarily due to penalty infractions. If in any way a hockey or similar challenge is done, it would be amazing. I would love to see challenges that require utilizing teammates.

-One thing I noticed about this year (especially at championships) was that there were too many game pieces and it delayed the game flow and game play. Although so many volunteers present, the re-configuration of gamepieces took a few minutes and it was even worse when there were scoring disputes because the field was closed until referees resolved it, holding up the field staff longer.

-The bandwidth for the field needs to be increased or re-allocated in some way. We originally had a camera on our robot at our first regional, but the bandwidth of the field only allowed us to process 7 fps, which was not even useful. So we scrapped the camera idea as a whole. The FTA and field staff already do good enough of a job, but if they could use more bandwidth, please do.

-I feel that because every year FRC has the clear, frame perimeter of the field as a way to make the field bound, FIRST should make money with this as they do in professional sports. Dean says FIRST is a sport of the future, so why not place ads there for companies. Although it may seem like an executive decision that I am in no way qualified to make or suggest, the money they make can be used to reduce costs to teams and save everyone money.

-About the two championships idea... It is a great idea but it is in the wrong places. It is great to see that FIRST is trying to accommodate to people from all over the world, but Houston and Detroit are the worst places to do it. It seems to be a North/South facilitator, which is reasonable as there are many teams from Canada, the Northeast, and Michigan of course. But in the South, everyone is so far apart. In South Florida, the closest team to us is 20 miles away. I would suggest doing an East/West duo of cities. Detroit is such a run down city that unfortunately does not have the means to rejuvenate. In St. Louis every hotel was booked within 20 miles in every direction from the EJD. If this shifts to Detroit, you can't book hotels in the east as you would be in the Great Lakes. I also feel that inclement weather could prevent flights and mess up competition scheduling. Not to mention, with the mass amounts of people coming into town, how are there going to be enough hotels to facilitate to everyone? I'm not saying this out of paranoia of being in dangerous areas, but in Detroit, the entire west side is slowly becoming a ghost town. Are teams going to have to stay in the abandoned houses or are they going to have to stay 1 hour west in Livonia, Ann Arbor, etc?

-Also, these recent competitions have not been the best to demonstrate with. Recycle Rush and Aerial Assist were awful for us in demonstrating. Our team could make the fields out of wood, but we never demo in areas with enough space. On top of that, this year, we were invited to meet some senators and legislators in Tallahassee (our state capitol) and I cannot tell you how embarrassed I felt when we showed them a game with monotonously colored totes and trash cans. I was ready to apologize to them personally. And as if that was not bad enough, spectators from all around were watching us on the elevated hill that the capitol sits on. Yes it was good that it is attracting eyes and it is hilarious for us students, but to adults and especially people who actually have the political power to enhance this program, the past two years robots were awful for showing off to people not familiar with the program.

-Most importantly, I know that Dean Kamen cannot attend every competition, but please make efforts for him to. My team saw him in Atlanta at Peachtree and the entire philosophy of FRCs were completely changed with one 30 minute speech. in my opinion, Dean is such a realist; he realizes our struggles with money and the reality of only having a 4-5% chance of actually winning a regional. Some teams out there, especially those in Florida, take this WAY too seriously and are too harsh on themselves and the other teams. I love the competition atmosphere but every robot does not need to be considered "overpowered" or "useless." Dean's speech at Peachtree taught me that at competitions, you should really evaluate your team in terms of competition as looking at what people are missing out on both at the regional and people who do not compete in FIRST. Your robot is so "you." It is unique to the team, whether it be in skill, design, or cosmetics.

Thank you to everyone who made this season another amazing success! You all really changed my life this year. It feels so invigorating to have gone to championships for a sport I was finally good at.