Possible interference during San Diego Finals

[Boltman]

Originally Posted by PerryParadox

As a part of that winning alliance this seems like a huge lack of foresight on the refs part, the kid should definitely not have been allowed that close, the whole event was a bit off due to the fact of it being hosted at a new area on such quick notice.

Agree...they could not do the arena due to hockey being played and scheduling. The Del Mar arena was interesting but there were not enough seats and I can see why that kid thing happened. Really not much demarcation going on. the FTC demo was nearby too and that attracts kids.

Hopefully if they do it again there they re-think the layout and add more viewing seats so not as many people are around the teams competing. Overall I have no real complaints on the venue its was fun and kinda of neat being semi outside.

[indieFan]

It's possible that it was one of the Judge's kids. (Although, knowing the bulk of the Judges from SD and LA, I doubt that's the case.)

Should the kid have been there? Depends on whose kid he was. An older student or adult watching him would have helped to prevent this sort of situation.

This is NOT limited to little kids. I was at a regional doing some job (RI, perhaps?) and didn't realize that I was getting closer and closer to the field to grab balls that were coming out of play. The Regional Director put his hand on my shoulder and pulled me back. (Yes, I'm still embarrassed about this, but big enough to admit it.)

If you've never volunteered field side, I guarantee you that it is extremely difficult to follow anything going on outside of your role.
- Judges - Watch specific robots to see how they perform
- Referees - Watch specific areas of field or robots to track rules violations/scoring
- FTA - Watches field to see if anything needs repair between matches
- Field Supervisor - Tracks time, communicates with other groups to let them know what's happening field side, such as which match is competing, among other tasks
- CSA - ??? (This is new to me.)
- LRI - Watches robots to see if anything is not within the rules at the start of the match, changes were made to robot that wasn't inspected, or damage to robot to know what inspectors need to follow up on

These are just a handful of the positions that are field side. Since ALL of the field side positions are busy, who is supposed to have been responsible for spotting the kid and keeping him from doing what he did?

Knowing the great group that puts on the SD regional, they will address this situation if they end up in the same venue next year provided they get the necessary input. (Boltman and other SD regional participants need to get an email to the Regional Director or someone on the Regional Committee.)

[EricH]

CSA-Control System Advisor

Basically, if somebody's control system is having fits, an orange hat will descend upon their pit (or be summoned to the robot) and help them figure out the problem.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by indieFan

It's possible that it was one of the Judge's kids.

Or a VIP's kid. The VIP was getting a special tour of the sidelines, and the kids got away.

[rsisk]

I was sitting on the opposite side of the field and watched this happen. To me it looked like the kid picked up a ball from outside the field and put it in, but obviously that was not the case. The mom reacted, but as soon as the kid stepped away from the field, she turned her attention back to the game.

After the incidence, the mother and two kids were asked to leave the field area.

[ratdude747]

Originally Posted by DareDad

What was the score on that? Clearly that red robot decided they couldn't pick up the ball in the corner, so by moving it into the field where it was accessible it did have the potential to affect the outcome.

Pretty sure I'd have smacked the field E-Stop if presented with that situation. I hope someone impressed upon that kid the importance of staying a safe distance.

If I saw that I would as well *foghorn*. Little kids are unpredictable and shouldn't get that close to the perimeter, let alone at all inside it.

[BotDesigner]

Originally Posted by rsisk

I was sitting on the opposite side of the field and watched this happen. To me it looked like the kid picked up a ball from outside the field and put it in, but obviously that was not the case. The mom reacted, but as soon as the kid stepped away from the field, she turned her attention back to the game.

After the incidence, the mother and two kids were asked to leave the field area.

I thought the same thing when I saw it happen on the live-stream. I didn't think much about it though.

[kiettyyyy]

Yeah, we noticed this and brought it up to the FTAs and head ref. It didn't affect the outcome of the match.

The venue was pretty small and we did have issues with non-badged (driver team, volunteers) individuals walking field side.

Fortunately, the event ran rather smoothly toward the end of Friday and all-day Saturday!

[Wes2443]

Originally Posted by steelerborn

Which match was this in?

The point difference in the third match was only one ball.
So if it was in that match, it would really affect the outcome.
And would have forced a fourth final match.

Our team didn't catch this in our match videos until later that night so we aren't sure. As part of the drive team for team 2443 I would say this was not match affecting unless if it happened in the third match possibly. I personally cannot identify this match, maybe for being so tuned into playing defense, but it may have been Finals 1.

Originally Posted by PerryParadox

As a part of that winning alliance this seems like a huge lack of foresight on the refs part, the kid should definitely not have been allowed that close, the whole event was a bit off due to the fact of it being hosted at a new area on such quick notice.

Originally Posted by kiettyyyy

Yeah, we noticed this and brought it up to the FTAs and head ref. It didn't affect the outcome of the match.

The venue was pretty small and we did have issues with non-badged (driver team, volunteers) individuals walking field side.

Fortunately, the event ran rather smoothly toward the end of Friday and all-day Saturday!

We are just glad others and the refs saw this and came to a decision whether it was match affecting or not. We weren't sure if others saw this. We thought there was some lack of enforcement on the officials part (as expected from Week 1), but we respect their judgement and understand the job's difficulty. We thought the event ran smoothly and enjoyed our time at the venue. Thanks a bunch for hosting us.

[rsisk]

Originally Posted by Wes2443

...
As part of the drive team for team 2443 I would say this was not match affecting unless if it happened in the third match possibly. I personally cannot identify this match, maybe for being so tuned into playing defense, but it may have been Finals 1....

Definitely not F3, I was not in the arena for that match. Pretty sure it was F1

[logank013]

So this isn't exactly what happened in this clip but at our district event, there were a few instances in which a boulder was shot, hit the tower, and left the field. Sometimes, the boulder was given to a HP to be bowled back in. Other times, a volunteer or whoever got the Boulder would reach their hands in and set the Boulder right next to the wall. What is the correct way to renter these boulders per rules? The reason I bring this up is because we were the main team at the event that launched boulders outside the field via ricochet of the tower. I'm not on the drive team but it appeared that we made sure if the boulders were placed into the field in any way that wasn't through the HP, we didn't want to touch them.

[CadetGizmo]

Is there a video of F1 (or whichever match it was) on Youtube? Asking only because of school wifi reasons.

EDIT: Cheated the system, saw the video. That's actually pretty scary. What's more, it kinda was in the general vicinity of at least 2 robots, so I'm sorta surprised a ref didn't notice. They have enough to worry about I guess.

[rich2202]

Originally Posted by logank013

So this isn't exactly what happened in this clip but at our district event, there were a few instances in which a boulder was shot, hit the tower, and left the field. Sometimes, the boulder was given to a HP to be bowled back in. Other times, a volunteer or whoever got the Boulder would reach their hands in and set the Boulder right next to the wall. What is the correct way to renter these boulders per rules? The reason I bring this up is because we were the main team at the event that launched boulders outside the field via ricochet of the tower. I'm not on the drive team but it appeared that we made sure if the boulders were placed into the field in any way that wasn't through the HP, we didn't want to touch them.

3.2 Match Logistics: BOULDERS that exit the FIELD over a GUARDRAIL during a MATCH are placed back into the FIELD approximately at the point of exit by FIELD STEWARDS (REFEREES, FTAs, or other staff working around the FIELD) at the earliest safe opportunity. BOULDERS that exit the FIELD over a CASTLE WALL during a MATCH are returned to the COURTYARD at the corner of the GUARDRAIL and CASTLE by FIELD STEWARDS at the earliest safe opportunity.

[angelah]

As a mother my first thought was... Where are the children's parents? A short wall is not sufficient protection between a small child and several 120 lb machines programmed and controlled by students.

[logank013]

Originally Posted by angelah

As a mother my first thought was... Where are the children's parents? A short wall is not sufficient protection between a small child and several 120 lb machines programmed and controlled by students.

Don't know if anyone else had this issue but in 1 or 2 matches, we weren't even able to control our robot. Now it didn't go smashing into any walls or anything. Just over half of the functions stopped working for no reason. Everything was perfectly fine after a power cycle. My point is if a robot does goes out of control (especially in auto or using certain auto teleop functions), a kid definitely shouldn't be that close to the field.