pic: Stronghold AMAA Live with Frank 6/21 8:30PM EST!

[ATannahill]

How many defense securing pins did FRC go through this season? Do you have other similar fun* facts about materials used during the season?

*I have a weird definition of fun, so what?

[Sperkowsky]

Originally Posted by rtfgnow

How many defense securing pins did FRC go through this season? Do you have other similar fun* facts about materials used during the season?

*I have a weird definition of fun, so what?

Speaking of defense pins I have like 20 I accidentally stole from worlds. Frank do you want them back?

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by rtfgnow

How many defense securing pins did FRC go through this season? Do you have other similar fun* facts about materials used during the season?

*I have a weird definition of fun, so what?

Failure rates for defense securing pins are likely multi-modal, due to the variety of components used. At six events I attended, I saw pegboard hooks, zinc-plated machine screws (12-24 and 1/4-20), round pins, and socket head cap screws used for this purpose.

Strong drive trains overpowered them all, but some pins are tougher than others. I believe they popped out more frequently than they snapped.

[aciarniello]

Our team had communication issues that only presented while connected to the FMS this season (and in previous years as well). This is a weakness that we would like to correct on our end, but this is challenging without access to an FMS. Are there plans to create some sort of a "FMS Simulator" to help teams to diagnose these kind of issues?

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by rtfgnow

How many defense securing pins did FRC go through this season?

As someone on an event planning committee for a district this year, I doubt Frank has that information, or if he does it's likely not very accurate. Securing pins were not really something the field crew kept track of, and many events used various securing solutions that they came up with on the fly, and, consequently, would also not be tracked.

[Tyler Olds]

Originally Posted by cbale2000

As someone on an event planning committee for a district this year, I doubt Frank has that information, or if he does it's likely not very accurate. Securing pins were not really something the field crew kept track of, and many events used various securing solutions that they came up with on the fly, and, consequently, would also not be tracked.

Just as a side note, even if he doesn't know doesn't mean that Frank won't have fun with the question. While we can't make all questions to Frank comedic (whether it's intended to be or not), it's okay to have some like this.

[Sperkowsky]

Here are my real questions

Where do you see FRC in 6 years? # of Districts, Champs, # of teams, ect.

Is there going to be a trailer for this years game like last year?

Are there going to be new world championships division names this year?

Have you picked out a radio for next year yet?

[mwmac]

It would be good to hear if Frank can share any insights on the number of divisions at each of the 1/2CMPs....

[ctt956]

Two questions:

1. Winning Chairman's and Engineering Inspiration affect district rankings. Why not make the marketing-related awards separate from the robot competition with different rankings for both? This way, the best robots would win the competition and be ranked high in robot performance, while the Chairman's teams could be ranked high in marketing/outreach/etc, but if their robot wasn't the best, they wouldn't take the top spot from a better robot just because they won Chairman's. Both are important.

2. Why was cheering noise level decided as the best way to have the audience vote on defense selection over using an app on a phone or something like a ResponseCard?

[Brian Maher]

I'm a bit late to the party here, but I have a question:

Why not base wildcard distribution on a more holistic standard, e.g. district points, rather than simply finalist alliance position? District points are designed to be an all-encompassing measure of competitive success, so why use a simpler, less thorough method that ignores results that FIRST has deemed important (qualification rank, alliance selection, awards) in determining which teams have succeeded most at a district event?

[Tyler Olds]

We're going online in just a few minutes. Hope you can join us!
www.twitch.tv/firstupdatesnow

[marshall]

Originally Posted by Tyler Olds

We're going online in just a few minutes. Hope you can join us!
www.twitch.tv/firstupdatesnow

Thanks for asking my questions! And thank you to Frank (I know you're reading this!) for answering them.

[Sperkowsky]

Since this thread got bumped anyway I have to ask.

Who is ready for Polar Plunder 2017?

[Foster]

Is this archived some place? Twitch won't let me watch it after the event.

[Tyler Olds]

I'll be uploading tonight, we had a couple issues with Twitch so I have to do a little bit of editing. I will post here and on social media when it's uploaded.

Thank you to those who watched live and thanks to those who will be watching the archive. We had a great time with Frank and we were thrilled he made the time to answer some tough and light hearted questions.