[FRC Blog] FIRST Robotics Competition Registration Update

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by Katie_UPS

That particular system would give teams with no "local" regional a disadvantage, like teams where North Star and 10k Lakes in Minnesota are the closest regionals but still a few hours away, and there are more than enough closer teams to fill the slots.

That's easily solvable by determining which event is a team's "local" regional ahead of time. The simplest way would be to determine which event is closest to each team and call that local. If, at that point, you have more teams than spots for that event, spots could be assigned randomly for every team that hadn't opted to try for a different event instead. The unlucky teams would then have to go to their second choice.

[Andy Brockway]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

That's easily solvable by determining which event is a team's "local" regional ahead of time. The simplest way would be to determine which event is closest to each team and call that local. If, at that point, you have more teams than spots for that event, spots could be assigned randomly for every team that hadn't opted to try for a different event instead. The unlucky teams would then have to go to their second choice.

Back before we became a district, our team liked to travel to our events. Being forced into a local event is not something I would have looked forward too. We enjoyed playing in Trenton, Philadelphia, Rochester, Manchester, Worcester instead of always going to Hartford.

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by Andy Brockway

Back before we became a district, our team liked to travel to our events. Being forced into a local event is not something I would have looked forward too. We enjoyed playing in Trenton, Philadelphia, Rochester, Manchester, Worcester instead of always going to Hartford.

that hadn't opted to try for a different event instead. Teams should always have a choice.

[Bob Steele]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

That's easily solvable by determining which event is a team's "local" regional ahead of time. The simplest way would be to determine which event is closest to each team and call that local. If, at that point, you have more teams than spots for that event, spots could be assigned randomly for every team that hadn't opted to try for a different event instead. The unlucky teams would then have to go to their second choice.

We moved to this system in PNW District last year. In the first round of signups a team could wither "opt out" of their local event or register for their local "home" event. Opt out would mean that you wait until the 2nd round and you get 2 choices when it opens up. (Again this is District only)

Due to the wonky way home events were chosen (by FIRST), the event we were listed as "home" for us was actually further away from us than the one we wanted to compete at. We opted out and then signed up for the closer event the 2nd registration. (FIRST chose home events based on zip codes or something and not by actual distance.... they would not change it when we requested it before registration)

It worked out for us... it simply gives a team the best chance at the district event that is closest to them. They don't have to take it. In this way, a team is never frozen out of the local district event.

[SoftwareBug2.0]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

We moved to this system in PNW District last year. In the first round of signups a team could wither "opt out" of their local event or register for their local "home" event. Opt out would mean that you wait until the 2nd round and you get 2 choices when it opens up. (Again this is District only)

Due to the wonky way home events were chosen (by FIRST), the event we were listed as "home" for us was actually further away from us than the one we wanted to compete at. We opted out and then signed up for the closer event the 2nd registration. (FIRST chose home events based on zip codes or something and not by actual distance.... they would not change it when we requested it before registration)

It worked out for us... it simply gives a team the best chance at the district event that is closest to them. They don't have to take it. In this way, a team is never frozen out of the local district event.

We've also found the way things work to be curious from time to time. For example, before the home event system we asked if we could be guaranteed entry to the event that we host. The answer was not "no", it was "no because our IT department wouldn't be able to do that". That's a stupid response because they could always just adjust the number of spots held back with no special coding involved. A flat "no" would at least be honest.

Another curious thing is that the Alaskan team's home event is Wilsonville. While we'd love to see them in Wilsonville, it's about as far away from them as you can get without leaving the district. And I've heard a rumor that they've already made arrangements to stay in Seattle for a couple of weeks to compete, so if they choose to opt out it should not be a surprise to anyone.

[bobbysq]

Something interesting to note, 3 teams have somehow been signed up for events already.

https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/6319
https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/6320
https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/6321

I assume these are just for testing, but if you look on the firstinspires team list, a few rookie team numbers have been handed out as well.

[Tyler Olds]

Originally Posted by bobbysq

Something interesting to note, 3 teams have somehow been signed up for events already.

https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/6319
https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/6320
https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/6321

I assume these are just for testing, but if you look on the firstinspires team list, a few rookie team numbers have been handed out as well.

Those must be the teams with bots!

[Christopher149]

Originally Posted by bobbysq

Something interesting to note, 3 teams have somehow been signed up for events already.

https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/6319
https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/6320
https://www.thebluealliance.com/team/6321

I assume these are just for testing, but if you look on the firstinspires team list, a few rookie team numbers have been handed out as well.

Interestingly, there's a few more that aren't rookies:

Week 1:
http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/4075/2017 - Palmetto
http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/558/2017 - NE District - Waterbury
http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/2363/2017 - CHS District - Northern Virginia

Week 2:
http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/648/2017 - St. Louis Regional
http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/1288/2017 - St. Louis Regional

Week 3:
http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/1743/2017 - Greater Pittsburgh Regional
http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/3492/2017 - Greater Pittsburgh Regional

>a few rookie team numbers have been handed out

I'm intrigued by the 4 rookies in the same town in Guam.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Christopher149

Interestingly, there's a few more that aren't rookies:

Week 1:
http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/4075/2017 - Palmetto
http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/558/2017 - NE District - Waterbury
http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/2363/2017 - CHS District - Northern Virginia

Week 2:
http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/648/2017 - St. Louis Regional
http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/1288/2017 - St. Louis Regional

Week 3:
http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/1743/2017 - Greater Pittsburgh Regional
http://www.thebluealliance.com/team/3492/2017 - Greater Pittsburgh Regional

>a few rookie team numbers have been handed out

I'm intrigued by the 4 rookies in the same town in Guam.

If you go to the actual event pages on the FIRST website, you'll see nobody is registered for these events anymore.

My understanding is that there was a brief glitch where registration was open at the end of last week, a few curious people poked around the system, and FIRST re-closed registration and deleted all of their signups.

[Nate Laverdure]

Originally Posted by Christopher149

I'm intrigued by the 4 rookies in the same town in Guam.

Great job once again GuamFIRST!

[PayneTrain]

Originally Posted by Nate Laverdure

Great job once again GuamFIRST!

~I already signed up for Crowd Control~